{{Short description|Islamic conception of God}} {{pp|small=yes}} {{Allah|[Allah]}} {{Islam|beliefs}} In Islam, '''God''' ({{langx|ar|ٱللَّٰه|Allāh}}, contraction of {{lang|ar|ٱلْإِلَٰه}} {{transliteration|ar|al-’Ilāh}}, {{Literal translation|the God}}, or {{langx|ar|رب|Rabb}}, {{Literal translation|Lord}})<ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Gardet |author-first=Louis |year=1960 |title=Allāh |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |editor6-last=Schacht |editor6-first=J. |editor6-link=Joseph Schacht |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam |edition=2nd |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |volume=1 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0047 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Thomas Patrick Hughes |title=A Dictionary of Islam Being a Cyclopaedia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs, Together with the Technical and Theological Terms, of the Muhammadan Religion |date=1895 |publisher=Allen |page=531 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_uMdHU3g-gC&dq=rabb+meaning+in+quran&pg=PA531 |access-date=2 September 2025}}</ref> is seen as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe,<ref>{{qref|21|30|c=y}}</ref><ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam" /><ref name="EoQ-Böwering">{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Böwering |author-first=Gerhard |author-link=Gerhard Böwering |year=2006 |title=God and his Attributes |editor-last=McAuliffe |editor-first=Jane Dammen |editor-link=Jane Dammen McAuliffe |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān |volume=II |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |doi=10.1163/1875-3922_q3_EQCOM_00075 |isbn=90-04-14743-8}}</ref><ref name="Schmidtke 2016">{{•}} {{cite book |last=Treiger |first=Alexander |year=2016 |orig-date=2014 |chapter=Part I: Islamic Theologies during the Formative and the Early Middle period – Origins of Kalām |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=70wnDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 |editor-last=Schmidtke |editor-first=Sabine |editor-link=Sabine Schmidtke |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=27–43 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.001 |isbn=9780199696703}}<br />{{•}} {{cite book |last=Abrahamov |first=Binyamin |year=2016 |orig-date=2014 |chapter=Part I: Islamic Theologies during the Formative and the Early Middle period – Scripturalist and Traditionalist Theology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=70wnDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA264 |editor-last=Schmidtke |editor-first=Sabine |editor-link=Sabine Schmidtke |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=264–279 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199696703.013.025 |isbn=9780199696703}}</ref><ref name="Esposito 2016">{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=John L. |author-link=John Esposito |year=2016 |orig-year=1988 |title=Islam: The Straight Path |title-link=Islam: The Straight Path |edition=5th |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=22, 88 |isbn=9780190632151 |s2cid=153364691}}</ref> whose existence has no beginning and no end.<ref>{{qref|29|19-20|c=y}}</ref> God is conceived as the perfect, singular, omnipotent, and omniscient, completely infinite in all of his attributes.<ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam" /><ref name="EoQ-Böwering" /><ref name="Esposito 2016" /><ref>{{cite book |author1=Department of Philosophy, Ogun State University |author2=Department of Philosophy, Olabisi Onabanjo University |title=Journal of Philosophy and Development |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aQ7PXYUpXUEC |volume=7 |year=2001 |publisher=Department of Philosophy, Ogun State University |page=132}}</ref> Islam further emphasizes that God is The Most Merciful and Most Forgiving.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ibn 'Arabi|translator-first=Angela |translator-last=Jaffray|title=The Secrets of Voyaging|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m2VFDAAAQBAJ|year=2015 |publisher=Anqa|isbn=9781905937431 |page=51}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |last1=Stefon |first1=Matt |last2=Mamun |first2=Mudasser |last3=Duignan |first3=Brian |last4=Tesch |first4=Noah |last5=Afsaruddin |first5=Asma |author-link5=Asma Afsaruddin |last6=Zeidan |first6=Adam |date=2022-08-26 |title=Allah |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Allah |access-date=2023-05-09 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |archive-date=2008-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724153626/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005770/Allah |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Simon |last1=Ockley|title=The History of the Saracens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6FCAAAAYAAJ|year=1757|publisher=|isbn=|page=xlix (49)}}</ref> The Islamic concept of God is variously described as monotheistic, panentheistic,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Tawhid |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/tawhid |access-date=17 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107041300/https://www.britannica.com/topic/tawhid |archive-date=7 November 2021 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="EoI" /><ref>Anawati, M. M. "A Commentary on the Creed of Islam, Sa'd al Dīn al-Taftâzānī on the Creed of Najm al Din al Nasafi by Earl Edgar Elder." The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review 14.2 (1951): xxiv</ref> and monistic.<ref>Ahmadi, Fereshteh, and Nader Ahmadi. Iranian Islam: The concept of the individual. Springer, 1998.</ref><ref>Austin P. Evans ''A commentary on the Creed of Islam'' Columbia University Press New York 1950 p. xxiv</ref>
The Islamic concept of ''tawhid'' (unification) emphasises that God is absolutely pure and free from association or partnership with other beings, which means attributing the powers and qualities of God to his creation, and vice versa. In Islam, God is never portrayed in any image. The Quran specifically forbids ascribing partners to share his singular sovereignty, as he is considered to be the absolute one without a second, indivisible, and incomparable being, who is similar to nothing, and nothing is comparable to him. Thus, God is absolutely transcendent, unique and utterly other than anything in or of the world as to be beyond all forms of human thought and expression.<ref name="Abu Amina Elias">{{cite web|author=Abu Amina Elias (Justin Parrott)|url=https://www.abuaminaelias.com/aqeedah-tahawiyyah/|title=Al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah in English and Arabic|date=18 December 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210629025609/https://www.abuaminaelias.com/aqeedah-tahawiyyah/|archive-date=29 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Mohammad Ibrahim Teymori|url=http://www.afghanicc.com/books/TheCreedofImamTahawi-4thSpecialEdition.pdf|title=The Creed of Imam Tahawi|website=Afghan Islamic Cultural Centre in London, UK|access-date=2021-07-03|archive-date=2022-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603014440/http://afghanicc.com/books/TheCreedofImamTahawi-4thSpecialEdition.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The briefest and the most comprehensive description of God in the Quran is found in Surat al-Ikhlas.<ref name="Cenap Çakmak"/>
In theology, anthropomorphism ({{tlit|ar|tashbīh}}) and corporealism ({{tlit|ar|tajsīm}}) refer to beliefs in the human-like and materially embedded form of God, an idea that has been classically described assimilating or comparing God to the creatures.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s_EnAAAAYAAJ |title=Language of Religion, Language of the People: Medieval Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |year=2006 |publisher=Wilhelm Fink Verlag |isbn=9783770542819 |editor-first1=Ernst |editor-last1=Bremer |volume=11 |page=136 |editor-first2=Susanne |editor-last2=Röhl}}</ref> By contrast, belief in the transcendence of God is called {{tlit|ar|tanzih}}, which also rejects notions of incarnation and a personal god. Although {{tlit|ar|tanzih}} is widely accepted in Islam today, it stridently competed for orthodox status until the tenth century, especially during the Mihna.{{Sfn|Williams|2002}} Besides that, beyond purpose, excessive emphasis on God's uniqueness and transcendence may also mean stripping some of his human connotating attributes and names (Ta'til). Because, in addition to metaphors such as King (Melik) <ref group="Note">All except for ʻAsem, Al-Kesa’i, Yaʻqub and Khalaf in one of his narrations read al-Fatiha-4 as ''King of the Day of Judgement''.</ref> and Master (Rabb), it may also clearly contradicts the image of a god who is arrogant (al-Mutakabbir), angry (al-Jalīl), avenger (al-Muntaqim) but also compassionate (ar-Raḥīm), pardoner (Al-ʻAfūw) etc. and living Al-Ḥayy, who, as in Sufism, establishes a closeness with humans.<ref>"The man who realizes God as a friend is never lonely in the world, neither in this world nor in the hereafter. There is always a friend, a friend in the crowd, a friend in the solitude; or while he is asleep, unconscious of this outer world, and when he is awake and conscious of it. In both cases the friend is there in his thought, in his imagination, in his heart, in his soul."https://sufi.no/onewebmedia/innerlife.pdf</ref> (see; Sufi metaphysics, and Ali-Illahism) In premodern times, corporealist views were said to have been more socially prominent among the common people, with more abstract and transcendental views more common for the elite.{{Sfn|Cook|2024|p=140–141}}
==Nomenclature== {{Main|Allah|Names of God in Islam}} {{See|Monotheism in pre-Islamic Arabia}} ''Allāh'' is the Arabic word referring to God in Abrahamic religions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithgod.html |title=God |work=Islam: Empire of Faith |publisher=PBS|access-date=18 December 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327034958/http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithgod.html|archive-date=2014-03-27}}</ref><ref>"Islam and Christianity", ''Encyclopedia of Christianity'' (2001): Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews also refer to God as ''Allāh''.</ref><ref name="gardet-allah">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/allah-COM_0047|title=Allah|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Online|first=L.|last=Gardet|access-date=2 May 2007|editor1-first=P.|editor1-last=Bearman|editor2-first=Th.|editor2-last=Bianquis|editor3-first=C.E.|editor3-last=Bosworth|editor4-first=E.|editor4-last=van Donzel|editor5-first=W.P.|editor5-last=Heinrichs|publisher=Brill Online|archive-date=3 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403114258/https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/allah-COM_0047|url-status=live}}</ref> In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The Arabic word ''Allāh'' is thought to be derived by contraction from ''al-ʾilāh'', which means "the god",<ref name="EncyclopediaofIslam"/> (i.e., the ''only'' god) and is related to ''El'' and ''Elah'', the Hebrew and Aramaic words for God.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=isDgI0-0Ip4C&q=ilah|author=Zeki Saritoprak|title=Allah|editor=Oliver Leaman|encyclopedia=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge|year=2006|page=34|isbn=9780415326391|access-date=2020-11-11|archive-date=2024-05-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240523101258/https://books.google.com/books?id=isDgI0-0Ip4C&q=ilah#v=snippet&q=ilah&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Vincent J. Cornell|title=God: God in Islam|editor=Lindsay Jones|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Religion|edition=2nd|publisher=MacMillan Reference USA|volume=5|year=2005|page=724}}</ref> It is distinguished from ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|ʾilāh}}'' ({{langx|ar|إِلَٰه}}), the Arabic word meaning ''deity'', which could refer to any of the gods worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia or to any other deity.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithgod.html |title=God |work=Islam: Empire of Faith |publisher=PBS |access-date=2010-12-18 |archive-date=2014-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327034958/http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithgod.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It occurs in the Qur’an 2,697 times in 85 of its 114 suras.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Translation of the meanings Ayah 1 Surah Al-Fātihah – Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary – English Translation|url=https://quranenc.com/en/browse/english_waleed/1/1|access-date=2022-02-01|website=The Noble Qur'an Encyclopedia|language=en|archive-date=2022-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201093634/https://quranenc.com/en/browse/english_waleed/1/1|url-status=live}}</ref>
Whether or not ''Allah'' can be considered as the personal name of God became disputed in contemporary scholarship.<ref>Andreas Görke and Johanna Pink Tafsir and Islamic Intellectual History Exploring the Boundaries of a Genre Oxford University Press in association with The Institute of Ismaili Studies London {{ISBN|978-0-19-870206-1}} p. 478</ref> In Islamic usage and indoctrination, Allah is God's most unique, proper name,<ref>It is generally accepted that the word is not derived from any root and does not carry a dictionary meaning and constitutes the proper name of the real god, or even if it has a dictionary meaning, it loses this meaning when it becomes the name of the real god./Kelimenin herhangi bir kökten türemiş olmayıp sözlük mânası taşımadığı ve gerçek mâbudun özel adını teşkil ettiği, yahut sözlükte bir anlamı olsa bile gerçek mâbuda ad olunca bu anlamı kaybettiği genellikle benimsenmektedir. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/allah</ref> and referred to as ''Lafẓ al-Jalālah'' (The Word of Majesty). Those who claimed that Allah was the personal name of God also denied that this name was a derivative name. Jahm bin Safwan claimed that ''Allah'' is a name God created for himself and that names belong to the things God created.<ref>Morris S. Seale ''Muslim Theology A study of Origins with Reference to the Church Fathers'' Great Russel Street, London 1964 p. 58</ref> Some Muslims may use different names as much as ''Allah'', for instance Rabb, Rahman and "God" in English. The Quran refers to the attributes of God as "most beautiful names".<ref>{{cite quran|7|180|style=ns}}, {{cite quran|17|110|style=ns}}, {{cite quran|20|8|style=ns}}, {{cite quran|59|24|style=ns}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1708|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813080535/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1708|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 13, 2018|title=Names of God - Oxford Islamic Studies Online|website=oxfordislamicstudies.com|language=en|access-date=2018-08-13|quote=Encouraged by the Quran (7:180; 17:110; 20:8), Muslims selected ninety-nine attributes of God, describing his perfection, from the Quran and traditions. Referred to as "the most beautiful names of God," they describe a range of characteristics that balances the power of God (the Creator, the Sovereign, and the All-Knowing) with his love and mercy (the All-Loving, the Most Gracious, and the All-Forgiving). The names are frequently memorized and used in supplications. Preceded by the words Abd or Amat (male or female servant), they are often used in proper names (e.g., Abd al-Rahman, "servant of the Merciful").}}</ref> {{Blockquote|They are traditionally enumerated as 99 in number to which is added as the highest Name (al-ism al-ʾaʿẓam), the Supreme Name of God. The locus classicus for listing the Divine Names in the literature of Qurʾānic commentary is 17:110 "Call upon Allah, or call upon The Merciful; whichsoever you call upon, to Allah belong the most beautiful Names," and also 59:22-24, which includes a cluster of more than a dozen Divine epithets."<ref name="EoQ">Böwering, Gerhard "God and God Attributes". Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān.</ref>}} Beside these Arabic names, Muslims of non-Arab origins may also sometimes use other names in their own languages to refer to God, such as ''Khuda'' in Persian, Bengali and Urdu. {{Lang|ota|Tangri}} or ''Tengri'' was used in the Ottoman Turkish language as the equivalent of Allah.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Turks |volume=27 |page=472 |first=Charles Norton Edgcumbe |last=Eliot}}</ref> In Sufis, often characterised as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam, Hu, {{tlit|ar|Huwa}} (depends on placement in the sentence), or ''Parvardigar'' in Persian are used as names of God. The sound {{tlit|ar|Hu}} derives from the last letter of the word Allah, which is read as {{tlit|ar|Allahu}} when in the middle of a sentence. {{tlit|ar|Hu}} means 'Just He' or 'Revealed'. The word explicitly appears in many verses of the Quran: {{Blockquote|"{{tlit|ar|La ilaha illa Hu}}"|Al Imran:18}}
== The Divine Realm == In Early Islam, the concepts of the Throne (Arsh), Pulpit (Kursi), Pen (Qalam), and others Bearers of the Throne described as being in the immediate vicinity of Allah, who is considered a personal deity,<ref name="Wesley_2009">Williams, W. Wesley, "A study of anthropomorphic theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew Bible, the Quran and early Sunni Islam", University of Michigan, March 2009</ref> living in the heavens<ref>{{Cite web |title=bir söyleşide yaptığı ilgili açıklama | website=YouTube | date=15 August 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HrZ8Yu1m2g |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205025925/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HrZ8Yu1m2g |archive-date=5 December 2020 |access-date=15 August 2016}}</ref> along with concepts such as Allah's sitting on a Throne, His right, and His left, led to problems of understanding in later periods, when Islamic theology developed and adopted a transcendent understanding of God.{{Sfn|Williams|2002}} While these concepts were sometimes interpreted by theologians as metaphorical expressions intended to emphasize transcendence, others approached them with the attitude of "we believe in the essence, but we don't investigate how it is" ; "It (al-Kursī) is the "seat" of God's power, but without God sitting on it with bones, since bones and body belong to the created things".<ref>al-Jawzi Zad al-Masir fi Ilm al-Tafsir</ref>
Many Muslim communities emphasize the transcendence of God over local traditions and "allow...little room for mythological stories", although tales about jinn exist in all of them.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Bolle |first1=Kees W. |author-link=Kees W. Bolle |last2=Smith |first2=Jonathan Z. |author-link2=Jonathan Z. Smith |last3=Buxton |first3=Richard G.A. |last4=Stefon |first4=Matt |date=2017-01-03 |title=myth |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/myth |access-date=2023-04-30 |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en |archive-date=2021-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913072251/https://www.britannica.com/topic/myth |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Relationship with creation == {{See|Quranic cosmology|Seven heavens}} [[File:Royal figure enthroned and surrounded by Jinn of the Earth.png|thumb|Kashan, Iran, late 12th–13th century mina'i-fritware bowl. The scene in this bowl is depicting the enthroned Sulaymān surrounded by jinn.<ref>On the Exercise of Coastal Control through Observation and Long Distance Communication Systems in Seljuk Territory in the XIIIth Century</ref> In the Islamic belief, invisible beings (jinn, devils, angels, spirits, etc.) were as much a part of creation as the visible world.]] In Islamic argumentation, while the existence of things is dependent, contingent, temporal, and dependent on a being beyond themselves, God is eternal, independent, self-sufficient, and does not require any other being for His existence, thus existing solely by Himself. The word used for God in Surah Ikhlas (al-Samad) is thought to imply this. This relationship also signifies that since God is the sustainer, he is in need of nothing, and even as he gives, nothing is diminished from his treasury.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hassan Hasan Sheikh Salim El-Yacoubi|author2=Jane Biddle Merritt El-Yacoubi|title=Islam: The Language of Oneness: Tawhid, the Islamic Paradigm|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vrkxAAAAMAAJ|date=1994|location=Colorado: Boulder|asin=B001YVOZR8|page=71}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor=Thomas F. Michel|title=A Muslim Theologian's Response to Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATLYAAAAMAAJ|date=1984|publisher=Caravan Books|isbn=9780882060583|page=6}}</ref>
Purpose; It is believed that God created everything for a divine purpose; the universe governed by fixed laws that ensure the harmonious working of all things. Everything within the universe, including inanimate objects, praises God, and is in this sense understood as a ''Muslim''.<ref name="Gottlieb_2006">Roger S. Gottlieb''The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology'' Oxford University Press, 9 Nov 2006 {{ISBN|9780199727698}} p. 210</ref> Humans and jinn have to live voluntarily in accordance with these laws to find peace and reproduce God's benevolence in their own society to live in accordance with the nature of all things, known as ''surrender'' to God in the Islamic sense.<ref name="Gottlieb_2006"/><ref>Rebecca Stein, Philip L. Stein ''The Anthropology of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft'' Routledge 2017 {{ISBN|9781315532158}} chapter: Islam</ref> Muslims believe that God is the sole source of all creation, and that everything, including its creatures, are just a derivative reality created out of love and mercy by God's command,<ref>Sachiko Murata ''The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought'' SUNY Press 1992 {{ISBN|978-0-791-40913-8}} page 77</ref> "..."Be," and it is"<ref>{{Cite quran|2|117|style=ref}}</ref> and that the purpose of existence is to worship or ''to know God''.<ref name="patheos1">{{cite web |url=http://www.patheos.com/Library/Islam/Beliefs/Human-Nature-and-the-Purpose-of-Existence.html |title=Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence |publisher=Patheos.com |access-date=2011-01-29 |archive-date=2011-08-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110829020001/http://www.patheos.com/Library/Islam/Beliefs/Human-Nature-and-the-Purpose-of-Existence.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">David Leeming ''The Oxford Companion to World Mythology'' Oxford University Press 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-195-15669-0}} page 209</ref><ref>{{Cite quran|51|56|style=ref}}</ref>
=== Creation theories === {{Further|Predestination|Creationism|Quranic createdness}} Muslim theologians and philosophers, with only a few exceptions, agree that God is the origin of the cosmos' existence. However, there is disagreement about how God creates the cosmos and what types of causalities exist; While most philosophers adhered to a theory of emanation (''fayaḍān''),<ref>Husam Muhi Eldin al- Alousi The Problem of Creation in Islamic Thought, Qur'an, Hadith, Commentaries, and KalamNational Printing and Publishing, Bagdad, 1968 p. 179</ref> theologians usually preferred occasionalism (''iḥdāth''). The third theory, often represented in Islamic mysticism, understands the world as the manifestation (''maẓhar'') of a single reality.<ref name="plato.stanford.edu">McGinnis, Jon and Rahim Acar, "Arabic and Islamic Philosophy of Religion", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2023 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2023/entries/arabic-islamic-religion/.</ref>
"The emanation theory" states that the universe has emanated from God since eternity and assert a causal mediation between the lower and the higher things (i.e. the lower things do not come directly from God, but from the higher things). God is considered the only necessary existence, the rest of creation as contingent. Since God is described as "knowing" and "perfect," God must know Himself perfectly and know that He is the cause of all existence. But in order to have perfect knowledge of a cause, one must also know the effect of the cause. Therefore, God knows every form of existence in past, future, and present. Based on the model of ibn Sina, God knows about the existence of x because of x, whereas humans know about a thing x from another thing x'. Therefore, God would create the universe in eternity. To further support this argument, emanationists point out against Creation ex Nihilo, that, if God were to decide to create the universe at a certain point in time, God would have a change of mind, affected by something external. Since God is the source of everything, something external could not have affected God.<ref name="plato.stanford.edu"/> This was contrary to the idea that God was eternal and unchanging (changing things would have a lifespan and could not be god). Theologians found the emanation theory to be unconvincing, because the theory equates God to much with nature, by that, restricting God's freedom. Instead, they propose, God created the world from nothing at a certain point ''t'' in time. In response to the emanationists' objection, that for Creation ex Nihilo, a change in the will of God would be required, al-Ghazali explains that God has willed from all eternity, to create the world at a certain time ''t''. Additionally, God would not only have created the universe at a time ''t'', but also continues to create the universe in any following moment.
In Islamic philosophical-theological discussions, a distinction between God and creatures is made based on the immutability of God and the change and mortality of creatures depending on time. A variant of the theory of the manifestation of a single reality can be found particularly in Mulla Sadra, who was inspired by Ibn Arabi. According to Mulla Ṣadra, only God is eternal and perfect, the universe, including its inhabitants, is constantly changing. Because of that, everything is in a constant process of growth and decay. The prophets and the angels were also integrated into this universalistic understanding of God. According to Haydar Amuli, who also builds on Ibn Arabi's metaphysics, the angels are the representatives of God's beautiful names (and devils of the "imperious names of God").<ref>Ayman Shihadeh: Sufism and Theology. Hrsg.: Edinburgh University Press. 21. November 2007, ISBN 978-0-7486-3134-6, pp. 54–56.</ref> Islamic philosophy asserts that God is eternal (''qadim'') and thus timeless. Islamic theology defines time as the subsequent change of things, making a contradiction between an originated "world" (dunya) which is subject to change, and God, who is without change.<ref name="auto">Kukkonen, Taneli, “Eternity”, in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE, Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Devin J. Stewart. Consulted online on 04 March 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_26238 First published online: 2014 First print edition: 9789004269620, 2014, 2014-3</ref> Ghazali explains in his response to the question "what was God doing before creation?" that time does not coexist with God or the world. A contemporary of ibn Hanbal asserts an even more strict position, claiming that God transcends time, thus it cannot be said that God is "before things" or "the first cause".<ref name="auto"/> In Islamic philosophy, it is assumed that the "ayan-ı sabite", (The immutable knowledge of beings), existed in God's knowledge before beings came into existence;<ref>https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/48701</ref> with this assumption, it is argued that God is immutable in his knowledge as well as in his body. The other side of this theory involves discussions of predestination, human will, and responsibility. For if everything were predetermined, holding humans accountable for their actions would be absurd and contrary to divine wisdom.
===God and religion=== {{Main|Dawah|Tabligh}} {{Further|Prophets and messengers in Islam}} The claim that God communicates with humans is the foundation of the divine religion claim. Accordingly, God will communicate with humans on various levels and convey His wishes through them; this communication will take the form of divine inspiration, revelation (wahy), communication through angels, and finally, God's manifestation (tajalli) and direct face-to-face encounters with God. The possibility of these forms of communication, and if they are real, whether they are binding on others, are among the topics debated by Islamic philosophy and theologians.
Some Islamic theorists claim that there is only one religion of God called Islam and that all the prophets sent to every nation, numbering thousands in total, whome missions was to invite people to the same path; and they argue that every prophet preached the same core beliefs: the Unity of God and worshipping of that one God; avoidance of idolatry and the belief in the Day of Judgement. The Islamic understanding of tawhid teaches that these prophets are merely messengers of the message, and the consideration of prophets or religious figures as mediators or intermediate forms between God and humans<ref name="ReferenceB"/> is strongly rejected (Shirk). However, it is not uncommon for various Islamic groups to attribute extraordinary powers over the universe (Karamat) to their religious-political leaders.
Muslims believe that the Quran, like other holy books, is the literal word of God revealed to Muhammad. However, they believe that other holy books are outdated and corrupted, and that the Quran is under divine protection. Another divine word in Islam is the hadith qudsi. According to al-Sharif al-Jurjani, the statements of God in the hadith qudsi are "expressed through the words of Muhammad," while the Quran is the "direct word of God."<ref>[http://hadithqudsi.sacredhadith.com/about/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015050348/http://hadithqudsi.sacredhadith.com/about|date=2015-10-15}}, 3rd paragraph, October 2015</ref>
Muslims address/contact God directly in their prayers, supplications and dhikr, and also seek forgiveness and repentance from sins directly from God, as the Qur'an states: {{Cite Quran|2|186|q=And when My servants ask you about Me, then surely I am near: I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he prays to Me.}} In Islamic interpretations, it is believed that God will answer every prayer, but how this will happen depends on divine wisdom.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ali Ünal|title=The Qur'an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsJK_tPzh7YC|date=2008|publisher=Tughra Books|isbn=9781597841443|page=86}}</ref> Therefore, no human being should lose hope in God and lose his devotion to Him.
While Muslims accept God as unquestionable due to his greatness and wisdom, in theory everyone else, including the prophets, is questionable; {{Cite Quran|21|23|q=He shall not be questioned about what He does, but they shall be questioned.}}, however, in practice, in traditional Islamic sects, the Quran and authentic hadith can only be interpreted, while Quranism takes a different path in this regard and rejects the authority of hadiths.
== Attributes == {{Main|Attributes of God in Islam}} Al-Bukhari, in his ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī}}'', narrates a hadith qudsi that God says, "I am as My servant thinks (expects) I am."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hadithaday.org/hadith-qudsi/i-am-as-my-servant-thinks-expects-i-am/|title=I am as My Servant Thinks (expects) I am|publisher=hadithaday.org|access-date=2014-07-31|archive-date=2020-11-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108113433/http://hadithaday.org/hadith-qudsi/i-am-as-my-servant-thinks-expects-i-am/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/qudsi.php|title=Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement|work=usc.edu|access-date=2014-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170515112226/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/qudsi.php|archive-date=2017-05-15|url-status=dead}}</ref> When Sufis claim union with God, it is not that they become one in essence, rather the will of the Sufi is fully congruent to God.<ref>Maha Elkaisy-Friemuth ''God and Humans in Islamic Thought: Abd Al-Jabbar, Ibn Sina and Al-Ghazali'' Routledge 2006 {{ISBN|978-1-134-14676-5}} page 146</ref> The Sufis are in fact careful to say, no matter what degree of union is realized, "the slave remains the slave, and the Lord remains the Lord".<ref>{{cite book|author=Cyril Glassé|title=The New Encyclopedia of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=focLrox-frUC|date=2003|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=9780759101906|page=191}}</ref>
=== Oneness === {{main|Tawhid|Monotheism}} Islam's most fundamental concept is a strict monotheism, affirming (''tawhid'') that God is one (wahdat). The fundamental teaching of Islam, Shahada (recited in the oath taken for formal entry into Islam), is: {{lang|ar|لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ أَشْهَدُ أنَّ }}'' ({{transliteration|ar|DIN|āšhadu ānnā lā ʾilāha ʾilla llāh}})'', or "I testify there is no deity other than Allah (God).
In Islamist circles, Islam is often described as a struggle for monotheism against shirk and constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession.<ref name="EoI">D. Gimaret, ''Tawhid'', Encyclopaedia of Islam</ref><ref>Tariq Ramadan (2005), p.203</ref> In addition to their other religious and social uses, the terms tawhid and takbir are widely used in Islamic sloganeering. Although the term "shirk" is usually translated as "polytheism" into English, the sin is thought to be more complex.<ref>Mark, Durie. "Semantic decomposition of four Quranic words." Russian Journal of Linguistics 26.4 (2022): 937-969.</ref><ref name="Mulia, Siti Musdah 2015">Mulia, Siti Musdah. "Muslim Family Law Reform in Indonesia A Progressive Interpretation of The Qur’an." Al-Mawarid: Jurnal Hukum Islam (2015): 1-18.</ref> The translation 'associating [with God]' has been suggested instead.<ref>Sinai, Nicolai. "Key terms of the Qur'an: a critical dictionary." (2023): 1-840.</ref> The term includes denial of attributing any form of divinity to any other thing but God. This includes the self by elevating oneself above others<ref name="Mulia, Siti Musdah 2015"/> and associating attributes of God with a created being.<ref name="Faruki, Kemal 1965">Faruki, Kemal. "TAWḤĪD AND THE DOCTRINE OF'IṢMAH." Islamic Studies 4.1 (1965): 31-43.</ref>
According to Vincent J. Cornell,<ref>Vincent J. Cornell, Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol 5, pp.3561-3562</ref> the Quran also provides a monist image of God by describing the reality as a unified whole, with God being a single concept that would describe or ascribe all existing things: "He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent: and He has full knowledge of all things."<ref>{{Cite Quran|57|3|t=y|s=ns}}</ref> Though Muslims believe Jesus to be a prophet, the Trinity and divinity doctrine of normative Christianity concerning Jesus is rejected and often compared to polytheism.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192800947.001.0001/acref-9780192800947-e-354?rskey=7ss6vw&result=351|title=The concise Oxford dictionary of world religions|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Bowker, John, 1935-, Oxford University Press.|chapter=Allāh|isbn=9780191727221|location=Oxford|oclc=49508601|access-date=2018-08-17|archive-date=2018-08-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818020906/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192800947.001.0001/acref-9780192800947-e-354?rskey=7ss6vw&result=351|url-status=live}}</ref>
=== Uniqueness === {{Main|Anthropomorphism and corporealism in Islam|Tanzih}} Islamic theology emphasises the absolute uniqueness and singularity of God in his essence, attributes, qualities, and acts.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mohammad Rafi-ud-Din|title=The Manifesto of Islam: An Exposition of Islam as the Inevitable World Ideology of the Future|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DyuqdDIjaswC&pg=PA1014|date=1968|publisher=Din Muhammadi Press|page=145|isbn=9781597840002|quote=Islam emphasises the absolute oneness or uniqueness of the Creator in His person as well in His qualities and attributes...}}</ref> This emphasis was made despite a number of verses and hadiths that offer analogies for God, and it was gradually established over time.{{Sfn|Williams|2002}} Instead, the term "mutashabih" was used for these verses, and the approach of "believing in the essence, not searching for its meaning" (Bila Kayf) was adopted. Understandings and expressions contrary to these definitions (tanzih) were described as shirk, which is considered one of the greatest sins in Islam, and it was said that those who did so would leave the religion. (See also; (Ta'til). Approach was based on certain verses and Quranic words like Ahad and Samad, -which were given meanings that pushed boundaries-;
As stated in Surat al-Ikhlas: God is Ahad<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/112/1/|title=IslamAwakened [Qur'an 112:1]|website=IslamAwakened.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210604214131/https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/112/1/|archive-date=4 June 2021}}</ref> (the unique one of absolute oneness, who is indivisible in nature, and there can be no other like him); God is ''As-Samad''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/112/2/|title=IslamAwakened [Qur'an 112:2]|website=IslamAwakened.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210604205554/https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/112/2/|archive-date=4 June 2021}}</ref>(the ultimate source of all existence, the uncaused cause who created all things out of nothing, who is eternal, absolute, immutable, perfect, complete, essential, independent, and self-sufficient; who needs nothing while all of creation is in absolute need of him; the one eternally and constantly required and sought, depended upon by all existence and to whom all matters will ultimately return); he begets not, nor is he begotten (He is Unborn and Uncreated, has no parents, wife or offspring); and comparable/equal to him, there is none.<ref name="The Miraculous Quran">{{cite web |author=Ali Ünal |title=The Qur'an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English [Qur'an 112:4] |url=http://mquran.org/content/view/6225/4/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210604182054/http://mquran.org/content/view/6225/4/ |archive-date=4 June 2021 |website=mquran.org |publisher=Tughra Books}}</ref>
The Qur'anic verse ([https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/19/65/ 19:65]), "The Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them. So worship Him, and (endure) patiently, constantly in His worship. Do you know of any that is given His namesake" emphasizes that (Nurettin Uzunoğlu's interpretetion) as Allah is Unique, also with His name.<ref>{{cite web|author=Nureddin Uzunoğlu|url=http://w1.semazen.net/show_text_main.php?id=1403&menuId=264|title=The Holy Qur'an with Translation and Commentaries [Qur'an 19:65]|publisher=Islamic Publications for the Holy Qur'an Association|website=Semazen.NET|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210604170716/http://w1.semazen.net/show_text_main.php?id=1403&menuId=264|archive-date=4 June 2021}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=So, do not invent similitudes for God. Surely God knows and you do not know.|source={{Cite Quran|16|74|t=|s=ns}}}}
{{Blockquote|text=The Originator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you, from your selves, mates, and from the cattle mates: by this means He multiplies you. There is nothing whatever like Him. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.|source={{Cite Quran|42|11|t=|s=ns}}}}
For the disbelievers in the Hereafter, there is an evil description,({{qref|16|57-59}}) for their ascribing female gender to angels and claiming that the angels are the daughters of God while so preferring sons for themselves (this is also mentioned in the verses {{qref|37|149-155}}); whereas to God belong the highest attribute, namely, that there is no deity except him, immensely exalted beyond and above all comparison and likeness.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Jalal al-Din al-Mahalli|author2=Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti|translator=Feras Hamza|url=https://www.greattafsirs.com/Tafsir_Library.aspx?MadhabNo=1&TafsirNo=74&SoraNo=16&AyahNo=60&LanguageID=2|title=Tafsir al-Jalalayn|website=www.greattafsirs.com|publisher=Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210711110554/https://www.greattafsirs.com/Tafsir_Library.aspx?MadhabNo=1&TafsirNo=74&SoraNo=16&AyahNo=60&LanguageID=2|archive-date=11 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1=Gurdofarid Miskinzoda|editor2=Farhad Daftary|title=The Study of Shi'i Islam: History, Theology and Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MbeKDwAAQBAJ|date=2014|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9780857723383|page=218}}</ref> The sentiment in the Qur'anic verse ([https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/6/103/ 6:103]) states:<ref name="The Miraculous Quran"/> "Vision perceives / comprehends Him not, and He perceives / comprehends all vision." In some interpretations, this verse also asserts that the senses and intellects cannot fully comprehend God.<ref>{{cite web|author=Ibn Kathir|url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=1&tTafsirNo=7&tSoraNo=6&tAyahNo=103&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1|title=Tafsir Ibn Kathir [Qur'an 6:103]|publisher=Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought|website=Altafsir.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210608125526/https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=1&tTafsirNo=7&tSoraNo=6&tAyahNo=103&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1|archive-date=8 Jun 2021|quote=وقيل المراد بقوله { لاَّ تُدْرِكُهُ ٱلأَبْصَـٰرُ } أي العقول، ...}}</ref> Likewise, the Qur'an also says: {{Cite Quran|20|110|q=whereas they cannot comprehend Him with their knowledge.}}
The Hanafi jurist and theologian, al-Tahawi (d. 321/933), wrote in his treatise on theology, commonly known as ''al-'Aqida al-Tahawiyya'':<ref name="Mohammad Ibrahim Teymori">{{cite web|author=Mohammad Ibrahim Teymori|url=http://www.afghanicc.com/books/TheCreedofImamTahawi-4thSpecialEdition.pdf|title=The Creed of Imam Tahawi|website=Afghan Islamic Cultural Centre in London, UK|pages=20–24|access-date=2021-07-03|archive-date=2022-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603014440/http://afghanicc.com/books/TheCreedofImamTahawi-4thSpecialEdition.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Abu Amina Elias"/> Al-Tahawi refutes the anthropomorphist view that Allah has a humanoid physical body in a place (eg. arsh), direction or etc.<ref name="Mohammad Ibrahim Teymori"/>{{Blockquote|text="Whoever describes Allah even with a single human quality / attribute, has disbelieved / blasphemed. So whoever understands this, will take heed and refrain from such statements as those of disbelievers, and knows that Allah in His attributes is utterly unlike human beings." / "He is exalted / transcendent beyond having limits, ends, organs, limbs and parts (literally: tools). The six directions do not encompass/contain Him like the rest of created things."}}
=== Creator === {{See|Sufi metaphysics|Wahdat al-wujūd}} [[File:Scheme of things1475.gif|thumb|A wood carving from 1475, showing 7 celestial bodies. The 5 planets that can be seen with the naked eye, and the Sun and the Moon, each floating in a heavenly layer, the Arabic Felaq in ancient cosmology]] According to the teachings of Islam, God is the creator of the worlds and all the creatures therein. He has created everything in the worlds in accordance with a definite plan and for a particular purpose. There is no shortcoming or defect of any sort in any of his creations.<ref>{{cite book|author=Muhammad Shahabuddin Nadvi|title=Holy Qur'an and the Natural World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jN3jAAAAMAAJ|date=1997|publisher=Furqania Academy Trust|page=60}}</ref> The Qur'an confirms this in the following verses:
Quran 39:62; "God is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian over all things."
Quran 54:49; "We have created each and every thing by measure."
Quran 21:30; "Do those who disbelieve ever consider that the heavens and the earth were at first one piece, and then We parted them as separate entities; and that We have made every living thing from water? Will they still not come to believe?"
The Qur'an also says in verse ([https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/25/2/ 25:2]): "and He has created everything and designed it in a perfect measure." And in another verse ([https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/25/59/ 25:59]) it is emphasized: "It is He who created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them."
The Qur'an states that God is the ''Rabb al-'Alamin''. When referring to God, the Arabic term "Rabb" is usually translated as "Lord" and can include all of the following meanings:<ref>{{cite web|author=Saheeh International|url=https://quranenc.com/en/browse/english_saheeh/1#2|title=Saheeh International [Qur'an 1:2]|website=quranenc.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210607195817/https://quranenc.com/en/browse/english_saheeh/1%232|archive-date=7 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Ali Ünal|url=http://mquran.org/content/view/2/4/|title=The Qur'an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English [Qur'an 1:2]|publisher=Tughra Books|website=mquran.org|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210607195112/http://mquran.org/content/view/2/4/|archive-date=7 June 2021}}</ref> "owner, master, ruler, controller, creator, upbringer, trainer, sustainer, nourisher, cherisher, provider, protector, guardian and caretaker." The same term, ''Rabb'', is used in a limited sense for humans as in the "head" of the family, "master" of the house, or "owner" of the land or cattle. The Arabic word "al-'Alamin" can be translated as the "Worlds" or "Universes".<ref>{{cite book|author=Khwaja Kamaluddin|title=The Islamic Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G8vRAAAAMAAJ|date=1939|volume=27|publisher=Woking Muslim Mission and Literary Trust|page=169|quote=If the other Planets are inhabited the people there are as much the Creatures of Allah as those upon this Earth, and the Holy Qur-án speaks of "Alamien" (Worlds or Universes).}}</ref> There are many worlds, astronomical and physical worlds, worlds of thought, spiritual worlds, everything in existence including angels, jinn, devils, humans, animals, plants, and so on.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abdullah Yusuf Ali|title=The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an: Complete Translation with Selected Notes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0wxCgAAQBAJ|date=2015|publisher=Kube Publishing Ltd|page=19|isbn=9780860376118}}</ref> The "Worlds" may also be taken to refer to different domains or kingdoms within this earthly world, or other worlds beyond this earth. Thus, the Qur'anic expression ''Rabb al-'Alamin'' really means the "Creator of the Worlds",<ref>{{cite book|author=Syed Mahmud-un-Nasir|title=Islam, Its Concepts & History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HPvXAAAAMAAJ|date=1981|publisher=Kitab Bhavan|page=331|quote=The phrase "The Creator of the Worlds" is preceded by the word al-Hamd, which first means praise, eulogy and approbation; and, secondly, our submission to the ways of the Creator; for by saying "hamd" we express our willingness to submit to His laws and the literal interpretation of Islam is "submission".}}</ref> the "Ruler of the Universes",<ref>{{cite book|author=M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen|title=Islam & World Peace: Explanations of a Sufi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8grB4SKJrXsC|date=2004|publisher=The Fellowship Press|page=159|isbn=9780914390657|quote=Rabb (A) God; the Lord; the Creator and Protector. Rabb al-'alamin (A) The Ruler of the universes.}}</ref> the "Creator and Sustainer of all the peoples and Universes".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hayim Gordon|author2=Leonard Grob|title=Education for Peace: Testimonies from World Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VGAcAAAAMAAJ|date=1987|publisher=Orbis Books|page=97|isbn=9780883443590}}</ref>
===Mercy=== The most commonly used names in the primary sources are ''Al-Rahman'', meaning "Most Compassionate" and ''Al-Rahim'', meaning "Most Merciful".<ref name="Bentley2">{{Cite book|last=Bentley |first=David |title=The 99 Beautiful Names for God for All the People of the Book |publisher=William Carey Library |date=September 1999 |isbn=0-87808-299-9 }}</ref> The former compasses the whole creation, therefore applying to God's mercy in that it gives every necessary condition to make life possible. The latter applies to God's mercy in that it gives favor for good deeds. Thus ''Al-Rahman'' includes both the believers and the unbelievers, but ''Al-Rahim'' only the believers.<ref>Prince Sorie Conteh ''Traditionalists, Muslims, and Christians in Africa: Interreligious Encounters and Dialogue'' Cambria Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-1-604-97596-3}} page 80</ref><ref>Mahmoud Ayoub ''The Qur'an and Its Interpreters, Volume 1'' SUNY Press 1984 {{ISBN|978-0-873-95727-4}} page 43</ref> God is said to love forgiving, with a hadith stating God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.islamtoday.net/artshow-426-3787.htm|title=Allah would replace you with a people who sin|publisher=islamtoday.net|access-date=July 23, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014174102/http://en.islamtoday.net/artshow-426-3787.htm|archive-date=October 14, 2013}}</ref>
God's mercy, according to Islamic theology, is what gets a person into paradise. According to a hadith in Sahih Al Bukhari "No one's deeds will ever admit him to Paradise." They said, "Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "No, not even me unless Allah showers me with His Mercy. So try to be near to perfection. And no one should wish for death; he is either doing good so he will do more of that, or he is doing wrong so he may repent."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-18 |title=The Spiritual Season Part 3: Ramadan – Studio |url=https://www.almadina.org/studio/articles/the-spiritual-season-part-3-ramadan |access-date=2024-04-18 |archive-date=2024-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240418093040/https://www.almadina.org/studio/articles/the-spiritual-season-part-3-ramadan |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
=== Omniscience === God's omniscience is the knowledge of all things,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/beliefs.shtml|title=BBC - Religions - Islam: Basic articles of faith|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813005904/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/beliefs/beliefs.shtml|archive-date=13 August 2018|url-status=live|access-date=2018-08-13}}</ref> whether they are actual or possible or whether they are past, present, or future. It also includes his knowledge of people, places, events, circumstances, etc. God has full knowledge of everything, everywhere, always and from eternity past, and he is fully aware of whatever one thinks, intends, and does, and the reins of all things and events are in his power. He knows whatever happens in the universe, down to the fall of a leaf, and he knows all the deeds, thoughts, and intentions of humankind. His appointed angels record these, and people will be called to account for these acts in the other world.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ali Ünal|title=The Qur'an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsJK_tPzh7YC&pg=PA284|date=2008|publisher=Tughra Books|isbn=9781597841443|page=284}}</ref> His knowledge is eternal in the sense of being timeless, i.e., atemporal. So, since God's knowledge is eternal and unchanging, it is likewise self‐existent and infinite. It is self‐existent in that it is not dependent on anything, not even time. According to the Qur'an, God (Allah) is omniscient; he eternally knows whatever comes into being, be it universal or particular in character. He has known all things from before the creation of the world. His knowledge of things before their coming into existence and afterwards is exactly the same. Hence, there is no discovery or surprise with God. Muslim theologians therefore considered that "omniscience" is a necessary and "ignorance" is an impossible property for God. Various Qur'anic verses designate this basic intuition, such as: [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/3/5/ 3:5], [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/6/59/ 6:59], [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/65/12/ 65:12], and [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/24/35/ 24:35].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://acikders.ankara.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/35074/mod_resource/content/1/G%C3%BCrb%C3%BCz%20Deniz%20Al-Farabi%20On%20Divine%20Knowledge.pdf|title=Al-Farabi on Divine Knowledge|author=Gürbüz Deniz|date=December 2009|website=ankara.edu.tr|publisher=Islamic University of Europe|quote=According to the Qur’an, God (Allah) is omniscient; He eternally knows whatever can be known, be it universal or particular in character. Muslim theologians therefore considered that "omniscience" is a necessary and "ignorance" is an impossible property for God. Nothing can escape his knowledge. Various verses in the Qur’an such as "Allah truly knows everything" (4/179), "Nothing can be hidden from His knowledge" (34/3; 10/62), "He knows whatever in the Heavens and the Earth, even a leaf cannot fall without His awareness" (47/59) designate this basic intuition.|access-date=2021-08-27|archive-date=2021-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827131901/https://acikders.ankara.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/35074/mod_resource/content/1/G%C3%BCrb%C3%BCz%20Deniz%20Al-Farabi%20On%20Divine%20Knowledge.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
== Concepts in Islamic theology == According to mainstream Muslim theologians, God is described as ''{{ill|Qadim (theology)|lt=Qadim|ar|قديم (مصطلح إسلامي)}}''<ref name="Abu Amina Elias"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Mohammad Ibrahim Teymori|url=http://www.afghanicc.com/books/TheCreedofImamTahawi-4thSpecialEdition.pdf|title=The Creed of Imam Tahawi|website=Afghan Islamic Cultural Centre in London, UK|page=15|access-date=2021-07-03|archive-date=2022-06-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603014440/http://afghanicc.com/books/TheCreedofImamTahawi-4thSpecialEdition.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> ('ancient'), having no first, without beginning or end; absolute, not limited by time or place or circumstance, nor is subject to any decree so as to be determined by any precise limits or set times, but is the First and the Last. He is not a formed body, nor a substance circumscribed with limits or determined by measure; neither does he resemble bodies as they are capable of being measured or divided. Neither do substances exist in him; neither is he an accident, nor do accidents exist in him. Neither is he like to anything that exists, nor is anything like to him; nor is he determinate in quantity, nor comprehended by bounds, nor circumscribed by differences of situation, nor contained in the heavens, and transcends spatial and temporal bounds, and remains beyond the bounds of human comprehension and perceptions.<ref>{{cite book|first=Thomas Patrick |last=Hughes|title=Dictionary of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O84eYLVHvB0C|year=1995|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120606722|pages=144–146}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Aslan |first=Reza |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VRmSGOjiE2oC |title=No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam |date=30 August 2011 |publisher=Random House |isbn=9780679643777 |edition=Updated |page=153}}</ref><ref name="Cenap Çakmak">{{cite book|editor-first=Cenap |editor-last=Çakmak |title=Islam: A Worldwide Encyclopedia [4 volumes]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSHFDgAAQBAJ |year=2017 |publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610692175 |pages=115–116}}</ref>
=== Sunnis === {{see also|Sunnis}}
==== Atharis ==== {{See also|Traditionalist theology (Islam)|Ahl al-Hadith}} For Atharis the names and attributes of God are to be understood with the formula of bila kayfa (lit. "without how", i.e., "without modality",<ref>{{cite book|author=Philip K. Hitti|title=History of The Arabs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lQbcCwAAQBAJ|date=2002|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|isbn=9781137039828|page=431}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Sayed Mahmudul Hasan|title=Muslim Creed and Culture: An Interpretation of Fundamental Institutions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=36oEAQAAIAAJ|date=1962|publisher=Ideal Publications|page=276}}</ref> "without further enquiry"<ref>{{cite book|author=Farid Esack|title=The Qur'an: A User's Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U18QAQAAIAAJ|date=2005|publisher=Oneworld Publications|isbn=9781851683543|page=110}}</ref> or "without further specifying their manner or modality"),<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Groff|title=Islamic Philosophy A-Z|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rDAkDQAAQBAJ|date=2007|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=9780748629275|page=52}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1=J. van Lent|editor2=Hakeem-Uddeen Qureshi|editor3=Peri J. Bearman|title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition: Glossary and Index of Technical Terms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kqhVAAAAYAAJ|date=1995|publisher=E. J. Brill|isbn=9789004097780|page=44}}</ref> which is to unquestioningly accept the Divine attributes of God without ta'wil (allegorical interpretation), or ta'til (lit. "suspension", i.e., "divesting God of His attributes"), or tashbih (anthropomorphism, immanence or comparison, which is to believe that God resembles his creations, or attributing the attributes of human beings to God).<ref name="Zulfiqar Ali Shah">{{cite book|author=Zulfiqar Ali Shah|title=Anthropomorphic Depictions of God: The Concept of God in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Traditions: Representing the Unrepresentable|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ySUUssvLdEC|date=2012|publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)|isbn=9781565645752|page=573}}</ref> Any anthropomorphic expressions of these names and attributes is negated using the admission that their meanings can never be known. The meaning is left to the knowledge of God himself, and they simply say that the meaning is as befits his majesty and perfection. This method of tafwid is that of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (eponymous founder of Atharism), al-Ash'ari, Ibn Qudama, and Ibn Kathir.<ref name="Aaron Spevack">{{cite book|author=Aaron Spevack|title=The Archetypal Sunni Scholar: Law, Theology, and Mysticism in the Synthesis of al-Bajuri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Nx8BAAAQBAJ|date=2014|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9781438453729|pages=129–130}}</ref>
Usually Atharis are vehemently opposed to engaging in ta'wil (allegorical interpretations) and reject batin (inner meaning) or hidden/esoteric (Sufi) interpretations of the Qur'an and God's divine attributes.<ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph J. Kaminski|title=The Contemporary Islamic Governed State: A Reconceptualization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KDUyDwAAQBAJ|date=2017|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783319570129|page=41}}</ref> In maintaining that one is not permitted to interpret the meaning of the Qur'anic verses or the Prophetic traditions that mention various attributes of God, Ibn Qudama (d. 620/1223) in his work ''{{ill|Lum'at al-I'tiqad|ar|لمعة الاعتقاد}}'' ("The Luminance of Creed") is endorsing the principle of bila kayfa ('without [asking or knowing] how') in Islamic theology.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abdurrahman.org/category/book-study/lumatul-ittiqaad/|title=Sufficiency in Creed (Lum'at-ul-'Itiqaad) – Imaam Ibn Qudaamah|website=abdurrahman.org|date=October 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20211007042635/https://abdurrahman.org/category/book-study/lumatul-ittiqaad/|archive-date=7 October 2021}}</ref> According to this principle, one has to accept the sacred text as it is, indissolubly linked with tanzih (God's incomparability and transcendence), without trying to interpret its meaning. In other words, one must accept the sacred texts that refer to God without positively ascribing corporeal features to him.<ref>{{cite book|author=Imran Aijaz|title=Islam: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wx9WDwAAQBAJ|date=2018|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317436591|page=61}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Francis E. Peters|title=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: The Classical Texts and Their Interpretation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoV5f3U2PPoC|date=1990|volume=3|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691020556|pages=303–305}}</ref>
Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597/1201) took the question of people associating anthropomorphism with Hanbalism so seriously that he wrote a book, ''Daf' Shubah al-Tashbih bi-Akaff al-Tanzih'' ("Rebuttal of the Insinuations of Anthropomorphism at the Hands of Divine Transcendence"), with the aim of refuting anthropomorphic views and arguing that Ahmad ibn Hanbal was not an anthropomorphist.<ref group="Note">Ibn al-Jawzi's Daf' Shubah al-Tashbih is a refutation of the historical anthropomorphic leanings of some of the Hanbali scholars.</ref> According to him, such words whose meanings could give the impression that God resembles his creations should not be understood literally, such as God's face, hands, eyes, and the like.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ibn al-Jawzi|translator=Abdullah bin Hamid 'Ali|others=Khalid Yahya Blankinship (Introduction)|title=The Attributes of God: Ibn al-Jawzi's Daf' Shubah al-Tashbih bi-Akaff al-Tanzih|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSfYAAAAMAAJ|date=2006|publisher=Amal Press|isbn=9780955235900}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gibril Fouad Haddad|title=The Biographies of the Elite Lives of the Scholars, Imams and Hadith Masters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwPnCAAAQBAJ|date=2015|publisher=Zulfiqar Ayub|page=226}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aliftaa.jo/Question2En.aspx?QuestionId=3451|title=Understanding Texts Giving the Impression that Allah Resembles His Creation|publisher=The General Fatwa Department of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan|website=aliftaa.jo|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211007212310/https://www.aliftaa.jo/Question2En.aspx?QuestionId=3451|archive-date=7 October 2021}}</ref>
Another book was written by the Shafi'i scholar, {{ill|Taqi al-Din al-Hisni|ar|تقي الدين الحصني}} (d. 829/1426), titled ''{{ill|Daf' Shubah man Shabbaha wa Tamarrad wa Nasaba dhalik ila al-Sayyid al-Jalil al-Imam Ahmad|ar|دفع شبه من شبه وتمرد ونسب ذلك إلى السيد الجليل الإمام أحمد (كتاب)}}'' ("Rebuttal of the Insinuations of him who makes Anthropomorphisms and Rebels, and Ascribes that to the Noble Master Imam Ahmad"), defending Ahmad ibn Hanbal against the innovated beliefs later ascribed to him by Ibn Taymiyya and those who claimed to follow his school.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gibril Fouad Haddad|title=The Biographies of the Elite Lives of the Scholars, Imams and Hadith Masters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwPnCAAAQBAJ|date=2015|publisher=Zulfiqar Ayub|page=323}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://askimam.org/public/question_detail/29652|title=What is the beliefs of Imam Ahmed and ibn Taymiyya?|author=Zameelur Rahman|editor=Ebrahim Desai|publisher=Askimam|website=askimam.org|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211009194829/http://askimam.org/public/question_detail/29652|archive-date=9 October 2021}}</ref>
Ibn Kathir (d. 774/1373) appears to offer a definition similar to that of al-Ash'ari (d. 324/936) when he discusses tafwid in his exegesis of the Qur'anic verse ([https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/7/54/ 7:54]) pertaining to God's istiwa'. He states:<ref name="Aaron Spevack"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=1&tTafsirNo=7&tSoraNo=7&tAyahNo=54&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1|title=Tafsir Ibn Kathir on Qur'an 7:54|website=altafsir.com|publisher=Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought|language=ar|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211007043322/https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=1&tTafsirNo=7&tSoraNo=7&tAyahNo=54&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=1|archive-date=7 October 2021}}</ref> {{Blockquote|text=People have said a great deal on this topic, and this is not the place to expound on what they have said. On this matter, we follow the good ancestors (i.e., the way of the earliest Muslims, dubbed the pious ancestors, in Arabic, al-salaf al-salih<ref group="Note">In religious usage, it refers to the earliest Muslim generations, the righteous ancestors, in Arabic al-salaf al-salih.</ref>): Malik, al-Awza'i, al-Thawri, al-Layth ibn Sa'd, al-Shafi'i, Ahmad, Ishaq ibn Rahwayh, and others among the imams of the Muslims, both ancient and modern—that is: to let it (the verse in question) pass as it has come, without saying how it is meant (min ghayr takyif), without likening it to created things (wa la tashbih), and without nullifying it (wa la ta'til). The external, literal meaning (zahir)<ref group="Note">The Arabic word zahir, meaning obvious, apparent, external or literal.</ref> that occurs to the minds of anthropomorphists (al-mushabbihīn) is negated of Allah, for nothing from his creation resembles him: "There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing" [Qur'an 42:11].}}
Here Ibn Kathir is diverting the meaning of the text from its apparent meaning, and implicitly affirming that one valid definition of the term zahir is its literal linguistic meaning, which is anthropomorphic. Nevertheless, some modern followers of Ibn Taymiyya claim that ''bi lā takyīf'' would only mean tafwid of modality but not of meaning (ma'na), but Ash'aris/Maturidis assert that modality (kayfiyya) is a part of meaning, and without detailing which aspect of meaning remains after de-anthropomorphizing a term, one ends up with tafwid. In addition to that the imams of the salaf (the righteous early generations of Muslims) used to say bila kayf (without how or modality at all). On the other hand, both Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328) and his student Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751/1350) argued that the anthropomorphic references to God, such as God's hands or face, are to be understood literally and affirmatively according to their apparent meanings.<ref name="Aaron Spevack"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Khaled El-Rouayheb|title=Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDjjCQAAQBAJ|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107042964|page=277|quote=Ibn Taymiyya thus insisted that the apparent (zāhir) sense of passages that state that God has eyes, hands, and feet, and that He occasionally descends to the lowest heavens, should simply be accepted – in the same way that one should accept passages that state that God knows or wills or speaks.}}</ref><ref name="Carl Sharif">{{cite book|url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789004412866/BP000008.xml|title=Ibn Taymiyya on Reason and Revelation|author=Carl Sharif El-Tobgui|date=2020|series=Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies|publisher=Brill|isbn=9789004412866|pages=179–226|archive-url=https://archive.today/20211008235509/https://brill.com/view/book/9789004412866/BP000008.xml|archive-date=8 October 2021|quote=In diametric opposition to this tendency, Ibn Taymiyya insists that the true meanings of the revealed texts are, in one manner or another, entirely embedded in the language of those texts themselves. This obviates (or at least minimizes) the need to appeal, for a proper understanding of revelation, to any factors or considerations extrinsic to the texts, including—indeed, especially—the deliverances of abstract rational speculation as practiced by the philosophers and theologians.3 We have seen in previous chapters that Ibn Taymiyya's overriding concern in the Darʾ taʿāruḍ is to vindicate a plain-sense understanding and straightforward affirmation of the divine attributes predicated of God in revelation over against the rationalists’ negation (nafy) or nullification (taʿṭīl) of any of the said attributes. He insists that this way of affirmation was the consensus approach and understanding of the Salaf, and for that reason it remains uniquely authoritative throughout time. The kinds of rational objections (muʿāriḍ ʿaqlī) raised by various theological schools usually involve the claim that a given revealed attribute (such as the possession of a hand or face, or the act of descending or settling upon the throne), if affirmed of God in accordance with the obvious sense (ẓāhir) of the texts, would entail a "likening" (tamthīl) or "assimilation" (tashbīh) of God to created beings and thus infringe upon the radical uniqueness of God's divinity and His utter dissimilarity to anything tainted by creatureliness, contingency, or limitation of any kind.}}</ref> In their footsteps and following them come the Salafi groups of modern times such as the followers of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1201/1787) who closely follow Ibn Taymiyya's approach regarding the Divine names and attributes.<ref>{{cite book|author=Zulfiqar Ali Shah|title=Anthropomorphic Depictions of God: The Concept of God in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Traditions: Representing the Unrepresentable|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ySUUssvLdEC|date=2012|publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)|isbn=9781565645752|page=578}}</ref>
The doctrine of the Salaf{{#tag:ref|"Salaf" is a contested term, but generally and quite literally means ancestor, and is usually used as part of the expression al-salaf al-salih, i.e., "the virtuous forefathers."<ref>{{cite book|editor=Frederic Volpi|title=Political Islam: A Critical Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9UHhAQAAQBAJ|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134722075|page=58|access-date=2021-10-11|archive-date=2021-10-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010023245/https://books.google.com/books?id=9UHhAQAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> The Salaf included the companions of Muhammad and the early first three generations of Islam, conventionally ending with Ahmad ibn Hanbal in the ninth century, although a number of later Islamic scholars are included, such as al-Tahawi (d. 321/933), al-Ash'ari (d. 324/935) and al-Maturidi (d. 333/944). However, this is not to be confused with the Salafi movement.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mohammed Gamal Abdelnour|title=A Comparative History of Catholic and Ash'ari Theologies of Truth and Salvation: Inclusive Minorities, Exclusive Majorities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkwwEAAAQBAJ|date=2021|publisher=Brill Publishers|isbn=9789004461765|page=54|access-date=2021-10-11|archive-date=2021-10-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211010024011/https://books.google.com/books?id=OkwwEAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>|group=Note}} that Ibn Taymiyya derives from his traditionalist sources consists in describing God as he describes himself and as his messenger describes him, neither stripping the attributes away (ta'til) in the fashion of kalam (rational or speculative theology), nor likening (tamthil) them to the attributes of creatures because there is nothing like God [Q. 42:11]. For Ibn Taymiyya, this means that the Salaf knew the meanings of the Divine attributes, and they do not merely delegate them to God. However, certain formulaic statements attributed to them do not appear to support his position unequivocally. Ibn Taymiyya notes that al-Awza'i (d. 157/774), Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161/778), and others said concerning the attributes, "Let them pass by as they came", and "Let them pass by as they came, without how". He explains that letting the attributes pass by (imrār) means leaving them intact and not stripping away their meanings, while affirming the attributes "without how" or "without modality" (bi-lā kayf) means not assimilating them to the attributes of creatures. With this, Ibn Taymiyya holds affirmation of the meanings of God's attributes together with denial of their likeness to creatures in a double perspective by drawing a distinction between the known meanings of the attributes and their inscrutable modalities.<ref name="Ayman Shihadeh">{{cite book|author1=Ayman Shihadeh|author2=Jan Thiele|title=Philosophical Theology in Islam: Later Ash'arism East and West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3znDwAAQBAJ|date=2020|publisher=Brill Publishers|isbn=9789004426610|pages=200–201}}</ref><ref name="Carl Sharif"/>
Ibn Taymiyya does not clarify how modality (kayfiyya) and meaning (ma'na) relate to each other semantically. Rather, he deploys the two terms in tandem to maintain the seemingly paradoxical conviction that God is completely different and beyond human experience on the one hand while God's attributes do signify something real and meaningful in human language on the other. In denying knowledge of the modality and affirming knowledge of the meaning, Ibn Taymiyya does not resolve the paradox, nor even acknowledge it, but simply holds its two sides together in the conviction that this is the most faithful and rational set of beliefs.<ref name="Ayman Shihadeh"/>
It is often assumed that the question of God's nature has occupied the minds of early Muslims, and as such Muhammad forbade them from thinking about it, as he said: "Think about God's bounties, but do not think about God's essence (dhat). Otherwise, you will vanish/perish." Accordingly, Muslims should not think about what God is, but about his attributes and his blessings granted to humanity, because God's essence (dhat) cannot be understood by the limited human capacity.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hüseyin Hilmi Işık|title=Islam and Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hk5vAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT362|date=2014|publisher=Hakikat Kitabevi|isbn=9781530501601|page=362}}</ref> In this regard it has been mentioned in some narrations that are ascribed to Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241/855),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=61R7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT70|title=Tafsir al-Mawardi (al-Nukat wa al-'Uyun)|author=Al-Mawardi|editor=al-Sayyid 'Abd al-Maqsud ibn 'Abd al-Rahim|date=2012|publisher=Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya|location=Beirut - Lebanon|page=71|language=ar|quote=وما أحسن ما روي عن الإمام أحمد بن حنبل والإمام الزاهد ذي النون المصري رحمهما الله تعالى أنهما قالا «مهما تصورت ببالك فالله بخلاف ذلك» لأن التصور ينشأ عن الصور والخيالات والله سبحانه وتعالى منزه عن مشابهة كل المخلوقات}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=61R7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT469|title=Tafsir al-Mawardi (al-Nukat wa al-'Uyun)|author=Al-Mawardi|editor=al-Sayyid 'Abd al-Maqsud ibn 'Abd al-Rahim|date=2012|publisher=Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya|location=Beirut - Lebanon|page=470|language=ar|quote=فلقد ثبت لي بعض الروايات عن الإمام أحمد بن حنبل إمام أهل السنة والجماعة أنه قال: «مهما تصورت ببالك فالله بخلاف ذلك»، وهذه الرواية أيضاً رويت عن الزاهد الصالح الشهير ذي النون المصري}}</ref> it has been reported that he said:<ref group="Note">This statement also attributed to Dhu al-Nun al-Misri (d. 246/861).</ref> "Whatever comes to your mind (i.e., regarding God and His nature), God is different than that."<ref>{{cite book|editor=Oliver Leaman|title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UarUm4QXGWAC|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134339754|page=36}}</ref> Or in the words: "God is completely different from whatever comes to your mind concerning Him."
According to al-Shahrastani (d. 548/1154) in his al-Milal wa al-Nihal ("Religious Sects and Divisions"), Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Dawud al-Zahiri (d. 270/884) and a group of imams of the Salaf, they followed the way of the early traditionalists (ashab al-hadith), such as Malik ibn Anas (d. 179/795). They took a safe path, saying "We believe in whatever is reported from the Book and the Sunna, and we do not try to interpret it, knowing for certain that God does not resemble any created things, and that all the images we form of Him are created by Him and formed by Him". They avoided anthropomorphism (tashbih) to such an extent that they said that if a man moved his hand while reading the Qur'anic verse that speaks of God's creating Adam using his own "hands" [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/38/75/ 38:75 Q.]; or if he pointed with his two fingers while reporting the hadith: "The heart of the believer is between the two fingers of al-Rahman (the Most Compassionate)", his hand must be cut off and the two fingers torn out.<ref>{{cite book|author=Al-Shahrastani|translator1=A. K. Kazi|translator2=J. G. Glynn|title=Muslim Sects and Divisions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ldu3AAAAQBAJ|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136138829|page=88}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Namira Nahouza|title=Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafists: Theology, Power and Sunni Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myaODwAAQBAJ|date=2018|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781838609825|page=49}}</ref>
These early scholars were often called the People of Tradition (Ahl al-Hadith), or Salaf such as Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal. They left the verses of the Qur'an in question as well as the related hadiths simply as they were, accepting the poetical statements just as they occurred, without applying much reason either to criticize or expand upon them. Their position was that these ambiguous verses must be understood in light of the Qur'anic dictum that, "There is nothing whatever like Him" [Q. 42:11] hence negating all possibilities of anthropomorphism. At the same time, they used and maintained the same phrases or terminology implied by the Qur'an with regards to God such as God's face without looking further into their meaning or exegesis. And this is what is being referred to by use of their phrase ''bila kayfa wa la tashbih'', meaning without inquiring how and without anthropomorphism or comparison.<ref name="Zulfiqar Ali Shah"/>
However, according to some scholars, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, like the other early Muslims, also gave some figurative interpretations (ta'wil) to scriptural expressions that might otherwise have been misinterpreted anthropomorphically, which is what neo-Salafis condemn the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools for doing. For example, Ibn Kathir reports that al-Bayhaqi (d. 458/1066) related from al-Hakim (d. 405/1014), from Abu 'Amr ibn al-Sammak (d. 344/955), from Hanbal [ibn Ishaq al-Shaybani] (d. 273/886), the son of the brother of Ahmad ibn Hanbal's father, that "Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241/855) figuratively interpreted the word of Allah Most High, ‘And your Lord comes...’ [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/89/22/ 89:22 Q.], as meaning ‘His recompense (thawab) shall come’." Al-Bayhaqi then said, "This chain of narrators has absolutely nothing wrong in it".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qJ9uDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT349|title=آيات الصفات ومنهج ابن جرير الطبري في تفسير معانيها|author=Husam b. Hasan Sarsour|date=2004|publisher=Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya|location=Beirut - Lebanon|isbn=9782745142092|page=350|language=ar|quote=قال ابن كثير: «روى البيهقي عن الحاكم عن أبي عمر بن السماك عن حنبل أن أحمد ابن حنبل تأول قول الله تعالى: (وجاء ربك) أنه جاء ثوابه. ثم قال البيهقي: وهذا إسناد لا غبار عليه».}}</ref> Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064) in his book ''{{ill|al-Fasl fi al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Nihal|ar|الفصل في الملل والأهواء والنحل}}'' ("The Distinction Concerning Religions, Heresies, and Sects") said also that Ahmad ibn Hanbal figuratively interpreted ‘And your Lord comes...’ [Q. 89:22], but as meaning "And your Lord's command/decree has come."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FeZhDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT227|title=Al-'Aqidah wa 'Ilm al-Kalam|author=Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari|date=2017|publisher=Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya|location=Beirut - Lebanon|isbn=9782745143648|page=233|language=ar|quote=وقال ابن حزم الظاهري فى فصله: وقد روينا عن أحمد بن حنبل رحمه الله أنه قال: (وجاء ربك) إنما معناه: جاء أمر ربك اهـ.}}</ref>
Among the most significant Athari theological works are: * ''Naqd ‘Uthman ibn Sa’id Ad-Darimi 'ala Al-Marisi al Jahmi al 'aneed fi ma iftara 'ala Allah fit tawheed'' by Uthman ibn Sa'id al-Darimi (d. 280/815). * ''Kitaab at-Tawheed'' by Ibn Khuzayma (d. 311/924). * ''Kitaab al-'Uluww al-'Aliyy al-Ghafaar'' and ''Kitaab al-'Arsh'' by Al-Dhahabi (d. 748/1348). * ''Lawami' al-Anwar al-Bahiyya wa Sawati' al-Asrar al-Athariyya'' by Al-Saffarini (d. 1188/1774). * ''Bahjat al-Nazirin wa Ayat al-Mustadillin'' (The Delight of Onlookers and the Signs for Investigators) by Mar'i al-Karmi (d. 1033/1624), on cosmology and the affairs of the Last Judgment and the Afterlife.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hebrew University of Jerusalem|title=Scripta Hierosolymitana: Publications of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DToTAQAAMAAJ|date=1954|volume=35|publisher=Magnes Press|page=283}}</ref>
==== Ash'aris and Maturidis ==== {{See also||Ahl al-Ra'y|Kalam}} [[File:The Guiding Creed by Ibn Tumart.jpg|thumbnail|right|250px|A rock carved with the text of "''al-'Aqida al-Murshida''" ([http://www.a7bash.com/kutub/GuidingCreedArabEng.pdf the Guiding Creed]) by Ibn Tumart (d. 524/1130) — the student of al-Ghazali (d. 505/ 1111) and the founder of the Almohad dynasty — praised and approved by Fakhr al-Din Ibn 'Asakir (d. 620/1223), located at al-Salah Islamic secondary school in Baalbek, Lebanon.]] Ash'aris and Maturidis are in agreement that God's attributes are eternal and are to be held to be metaphorically.<ref>Abdullah Saeed ''Islamic Thought: An Introduction''Routledge 2006 {{ISBN|978-1-134-22564-4}} chapter ''legal thought''</ref> References to anthropomorphic attributes can probably not be understood correctly by humans.<ref name="reference">Andrew Rippin ''Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices'' Psychology Press 2005 {{ISBN|978-0-415-34888-1}} page 86</ref> Although God's existence is considered to be possibly known by reason, human mind can not fully understand God's attributes. Ash'ari and Maturidi scholars have two positions regarding the Mutashabihat texts (ambiguous passages in the Qur'an and Hadith) related to God's attributes:<ref>{{cite book|author=Khaled El-Rouayheb|title=Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bDjjCQAAQBAJ|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781107042964|page=276}}</ref> Tafwid (affirming the attributes of God, but consigning/entrusting both their meaning and modality to God, or in other words, leaving the interpretation of anthropomorphic expressions to God) and Ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation). The two positions disregard the literal meaning of the texts due to the definitive evidences denoting the transcendence of God above the attributes of his created beings as per his words: {{Cite Quran|42|11|q=There is nothing whatever like Him.}} and {{Cite Quran|112|4|q=And comparable to Him there is none.}} For example, when believers in paradise see God, they do not see God in the way humans are able to see on Earth.<ref name="reference" /> Ash'aris and Maturidis asserts, since God is the creator of everything that exists and creation neither affects nor alters God, the Throne of God is not a dwelling place for God.<ref>Imam Al-Bayhaqi ''Allah's Names and Attributes'' ISCA 1999 {{ISBN|978-1-930-40903-3}} page 19</ref>
Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi (d. 429/1037) in his ''al-Farq bayn al-Firaq'' (The Difference between the Sects) reports that 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph, said: "Allah created the Throne as an indication of His power, not for taking it as a place for Himself."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sunnah.org/2012/05/05/allahs-establishment-over-the-throne/|title=Allah's Establishment Over the Throne|publisher=As-Sunnah Foundation of America|website=sunnah.org|date=5 May 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210531025556/http://sunnah.org/2012/05/05/allahs-establishment-over-the-throne/|archive-date=31 May 2021}}</ref> Accordingly, expressions such as ''God's istiwa' on the Throne'' means by ta'wil or figurative interpretation, exercise of his power upon the universe, this denotes his assumption of authority of his created world, the throne being a symbol of authority and dominion, while in tafwid, they just say: ''Allahu A'lam'' (God knows best), together with their understanding of Tanzih (God's incomparability and transcendence), which means that his istiwa' upon the throne, in the manner which he himself has described, and in that same sense which he himself means, which is far removed from any notion of contact, or resting upon, or local situation. It is impermissible to say that he established himself with a contact or a meeting with it. Because God is not subject to change, substitution, nor limits, whether before or after the creation of the throne.<ref>{{cite book|author=Al-Bayhaqi|translator=Gibril Fouad Haddad|title=Allah's Names and Attributes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PM7wz92Tq6oC|date=1999|volume=4|publisher=As-Sunna Foundation of America|isbn=9781930409033|page=88}}</ref>
Ash'aris and Maturidis are in general agreement that God is free from all imperfections and flaws. He has Divine attributes. Divine attributes are characteristics or qualities that God alone possesses. The Divine attributes are classified into: negative and positive. By the "Negative Attribute" they mean the negation of the negative, i.e. negation of imperfection. Among the most important are the following:<ref>{{cite book|author=Burhan Ahmad Faruqi|title=The Mujaddid's Conception of Tawhid|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j7UeAgAAQBAJ|date=2010|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=9781446164020|page=66}}</ref> * The negative divine attributes are of two kinds; firstly those which are meant to deny all imperfections in God's Being, e.g., that he has no equal and no rival, no parents and no children; secondly those which indicate his beyondness, e.g., that he is not body or physical, is neither substance nor attribute, is not space or spatial, is not limited or finite, has neither dimensions nor relations, i.e., he is above the application of our categories of thought. * The positive divine attributes are such as life, knowledge, power, will, hearing, seeing, and speaking.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Hiroyuki Mashita|title=Theology, Ethics and Metaphysics: Royal Asiatic Society Classics of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQcSBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT73|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136872051|page=73}}</ref>
The Ash'ari and Maturidi scholars emphasise that the Qur'an expresses that God does not need any of his creation as he is perfect.<ref>{{cite book|author=Namira Nahouza|title=Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafists: Theology, Power and Sunni Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nyaODwAAQBAJ|date=2018|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=9781838609832|page=16}}</ref> He is immutable (does not change), self-subsisting and self-sufficient, without figure, form, colour or parts. His existence has neither beginning nor end. He is not a body composed of substances or elements. He is not an accident inherent in a body or dwelling in a place.<ref>{{cite book|author=Muhammad Ibrahim H. I. Surty|title=The Qur'an And Al-Shirk (Polytheism)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XEwAAAAYAAJ|date=1990|publisher=Ta-Ha Publishers|isbn=9780907461678|page=103}}</ref> He is unique, unlike anything in his creation. He is ineffable, beyond human understanding, comprehension and therefore human description,<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Coeli Fitzpatrick|editor2=Adam Hani Walker|title=Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2AtvBAAAQBAJ|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781610691789|page=476}}</ref> as per his words: {{Cite Quran|42|11|q=There is nothing whatever like Him.}}
He is omnitemporal in the way that he is omnipresent, as per his words: {{Cite Quran|57|4|q=And He is with you, wherever you may be.}} He is everywhere by his knowledge and power, and nowhere, without being in a place, direction or location, because He existed eternally before all the creations (including time and space) and is clear from change. He is always in the present, yet transcends time. God is not within time; time is one of his creations and does not affect him, so for him there is no past, present and future.
The Hanafi-Maturidi scholar, 'Ali al-Qari (d. 1014/1606) in his ''Sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar'' states: "Allah the Exalted is not in any place or space, nor is He subject to time, because both time and space are amongst His creations. He the Exalted was present in pre-existence and there was nothing of the creation with Him".<ref name="Mohammad Ibrahim Teymori"/>
Thus, according to Maturidis and Ash'aris, God is beyond time and space, and is transcendent, infinite (not limited) and eternal, without beginning or end, as per his words: {{Cite Quran|57|3|q=He is the First, the Last, the All-Outward, and the All-Inward.}} A hadith mentioned in Sahih Muslim explains this part of the verse as follows:<ref>{{cite book|author=Ali Ünal|title=The Qur'an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DyuqdDIjaswC|date=2006|publisher=Tughra Books|isbn=9781597840002|page=1105}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arabnews.com/islam-perspective/news/896816|title=Allah — the Manifest and the Hidden|website=Arab News|date=18 March 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20210522130304/https://www.arabnews.com/islam-perspective/news/896816|archive-date=22 May 2021}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|Abu Hurayra|text=O Allah, You are the First, there is none that precedes You. You are the Last, there is none that will outlive You. You are al-Zahir (the Manifest or the Most High), and there is nothing above You. You are al-Batin (the Hidden or the Most Near), and there is nothing below You (or nearer than You).}}
At the same time, he is near to everything that has being; nay, he is nearer to men than their jugular veins (this is alluded to in the verse [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/50/16/ 50:16]), and is witness to everything —though his nearness is not like the nearness of bodies, as neither is his essence like the essence of bodies. Neither does he exist in anything or does anything exist in him; but he is beyond space and time; for he is the creator of space and time, and was before space and time were created, and is now after the same manner as He always was (i.e., without place nor time).
He is also distinct from the creatures in his attributes, neither is there anything besides himself in his essence, nor is his essence in any other besides him. He is too holy to be subject to change or any local motion; neither do any accidents dwell in him, nor any contingencies before him; but he abides with his glorious attributes, free from all danger of dissolution. As to the attribute of perfection, he wants no addition. As to being, he is known to exist by the apprehension of the understanding; and he is seen as he is by immediate intuition, which will be vouchsafed out of his mercy and grace to the believers in the paradise, completing their joy by the vision of his glorious presence.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jami|translator1=E. H. Whinfield|translator2=Muhammad Kazvini|title=Flashes of Light: A Treatise on Sufism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a17g5volWkEC|date=2010|publisher=Golden Elixir Press|isbn=9780984308224|pages=65–67}}</ref>
The possibility of seeing God in the afterlife became a pillar of the Ash'ari and the Maturidi schools. Al-Ash'ari holds that God will be seen in the next world by sight. Al-Maturidi also accepts the visibility of God, however his explanation is qualified: people will see God in way that it is incomprehensible to humans in this life and is not like the normal sight that we use to sense light and distance. Al-Ghazali promised that people would enjoy the pleasure of looking on God's noble face.<ref>{{cite book|author=Gokhan Bacik|title=Islam and Muslim Resistance to Modernity in Turkey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kiirDwAAQBAJ|date=2019|publisher=Springer Nature|isbn=9783030259013|pages=80–81}}</ref>
Ash'aris and Maturidis insisted on the reality of that vision even if they admitted their inability to fully explain how it will happen. According to them, God can be seen even if he cannot be perceived through vision. Al-Ghazali in his ''al-Iqtisad fi al-I'tiqad'' (Moderation in Belief) explains the Ash'ari position that God will be seen in the afterlife despite the fact that he has no physical body, nor any location or direction.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frank Griffel|title=The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kc0vEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT420|date=2021|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780190886349|page=420}}</ref>
Mu'tazilis and Shi'is deny that God can be seen for the simple reason that visibility, as man understands it requires the object of vision to be in place and this is inconceivable in reference to God. Ash'aris and Maturidis agree with this proposition, but only if they are talking of vision here on Earth and within the physical laws applicable here. However, if it is going to happen somewhere else and under a different set of laws, visibility is possible, for whatever exists can be seen under proper conditions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kamil Y. Avdich|title=Survey of Islamic Doctrine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=78SIAAAAMAAJ|date=1979|edition=2|publisher=Unity Publishing Company|asin=B00DDVCR90|page=153}}</ref>
Ash'aris and Maturidis unanimously agree that it is only in the Hereafter that God will be seen. Among the evidences that have been used by them in establishing the permissibility of seeing God are the following:
{{Blockquote|text='''22.''' Some faces on that Day will be radiant (with contentment), '''23.''' Looking up toward their Lord.|author=translated by Ali Ünal|title=Quran|source=Al-Qiyama 75:22-23<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Miraculous Quran - Translation by Chapter |url=https://mquran.org/content/category/2/75/4/ |access-date=2022-07-01 |website=mquran.org |archive-date=2022-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123193410/http://mquran.org/content/category/2/75/4/ |url-status=live }}</ref>}}{{Blockquote|text=For those who do good is the greatest good, and even more.|author=translated by Nureddin Uzunoğlu|title=Quran|source=Yunus 10:26}}
Goodness (or ihsan, husna) is to act in accordance with the wise commandments of God. Muhammad defined it as being a servant to God as though one saw him. The greatest good shall be for them (i.e., Paradise), and also "even more"; the delight of gazing upon the ineffable and blessed Countenance of God.<ref>{{cite web|author=Nureddin Uzunoğlu|url=http://w1.semazen.net/show_text_main.php?id=1394&menuId=264|title=The Holy Qur'an with Translation and Commentaries [Qur'an 10:26]|publisher=Islamic Publications for the Holy Qur'an Association|website=Semazen.NET|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210615202304/http://w1.semazen.net/show_text_main.php?id=1394&menuId=264|archive-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>
It was narrated that Suhayb said:<ref>{{cite book|author=G. Hussein Rassool|title=Islamic Psychology: Human Behaviour and Experience from an Islamic Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oobEAAAQBAJ|date=2021|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781000362923|pages=246–247}}</ref> {{Blockquote |text="The Messenger of Allah recited this verse: 'For those who have done good is the best (reward) and even more.' Then he said: 'When the people of Paradise enter Paradise, and the people of the Fire enter the Fire, a caller will cry out: "O people of Paradise! You have a covenant with Allah and He wants to fulfill it." They will say: "What is it?" Has Allah not made the Balance (of our good deeds) heavy, and made our faces bright, and admitted us to Paradise and saved us from Hell?" Then the Veil will be lifted and they will look upon Him, and by Allah, Allah will not give them anything that is more beloved to them or delightful, than looking upon Him.'" |source= Narrated by Ibn Majah, al-Tirmidhi, and Muslim. }}
During the lifetime of Muhammad some people asked:<ref>{{cite book|author=Gene Netto|title=Searching For God And Finding Allah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k7O-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT188|date=2019|publisher=Yayasan Bambu Biru (Blue Bamboo Foundation)|isbn=|page=188}}</ref> {{Blockquote |text="O Allah's Messenger! Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?" The Prophet said: "Do you have any difficulty in seeing the moon on a full moon night?" They said: "No, O Allah's Messenger." He said: "Do you have any difficulty in seeing the sun when there are no clouds?" They said: "No, O Allah's Messenger." He said: "So verily, you would see Him like this (i.e., as easy as you see the sun and the moon in the world when it is clear)." |source= Narrated by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Ibn Majah. }}
Muhammad said also in an authentic hadith mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Sunan Abi Dawud, and Sunan ibn Majah: "Certainly, you will see your Rubb (on the Day of Resurrection) as you see this (full) moon, and you will have no difficulty (or trouble) in seeing Him."<ref>{{cite web|author=Al-Nawawi|url=https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:1895|title=Riyad al-Salihin (The Gardens of the Righteous)|website=Sunnah.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210615210324/https://sunnah.com/riyadussalihin:1895|archive-date=15 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Al-Bukhari|url=https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7436|title=Sahih al-Bukhari|website=Sunnah.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210615210613/https://sunnah.com/bukhari:7436|archive-date=15 June 2021}}</ref>
In addition, the Qur'an also confirms in [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/83/15/default.htm 83:15] that: {{Cite Quran|83|15|q=No! Indeed, from (the sight and mercy of) their Lord, that Day, they will be veiled/blocked (i.e., on the Day of Judgment, the disbelievers will not be able to see Him).}}
Among the most significant Ash'ari-Maturidi theological works are: * ''Kitab al-Tawhid'' by Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 333/944). * ''Al-Insaf fima Yajib I'tiqaduh'' by Abu Bakr al-Baqillani (d. 403/1013). * ''A Guide to Conclusive Proofs for the Principles of Belief'' by Abu al-Ma'ali al-Juwayni (d. 478/1085). * ''The Moderation in Belief'' by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111). * ''Tabsirat al-Adilla'' by Abu al-Mu'in al-Nasafi (d. 508/1114). * ''Asas al-Taqdis'' by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1209). * The Commentaries on ''Al-'Aqida al-Tahawiyya''.
=== Mu'tazilis === The Mu'tazilis reject the anthropomorphic attributes of God because an eternal being "must be unique" and attributes would make God comparable. The descriptions of God in the Quran are considered to be allegories.<ref>John Renard ''Islamic Theological Themes: A Primary Source Reader'' Univ of California Press 2014 {{ISBN|978-0-520-95771-8}} page 138</ref> Nevertheless, the Muʿtazilites thought God contains oneness (tawhid) and justice. Other characteristics like knowledge are not attributed to God; rather they describe his essence. Otherwise eternal attributes of God would give rise to a multiplicity entities existing eternal besides God.<ref>Patrick Hughes, Thomas Patrick Hughes ''Dictionary of Islam'' Asian Educational Services, 1995 {{ISBN|978-8-120-60672-2}} page 425</ref>
Among the most significant Mu'tazili theological works are: * ''Sharh al-Usul al-Khamsa'' (Explaining the Five Principles) by al-Qadi 'Abd al-Jabbar (d. 415/1025). * ''Al-Minhaj fi Usul al-Din'' (The Curriculum/Method in the Fundamentals of Religion) by al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144).
=== Jahmism === The Jahmites were an early Islamic denomination who insisted on the absolute incomparability of God and favored Natural theology. The founder Jahm bin Safwan was a major opponent of the Murjite and anthropomoprhist theologian Muqatil ibn Sulayman.
For the Jahmites, God is wholly other and imcomparable, removed from every conceptualization or description by humans. Jahmi derives his doctrine from his epistemology: since all conceptualization are derived from the created world, there is no way to envision God. The lack of attributes to God brought him the accusation of denial of God. However, because everything what happens in this world – including what is done by living beings – are God's actions, Jahmite's concept of God is pervading everything. Still, God is not mixed with creation and the object of worship remains transcendent. Jahms did not deny that the attributes of God are real or a thing, but argues that God is not a thing.{{Sfn|Schock|2016|p=56}} Furthermore, Jahm's epistemology is empiricistic not rationalistic. The created world is, for the Jahmites, ultimately unreal, as only God can be considered real.{{Sfn|Suleiman|2024|p=40–41}} This also sets them apart from the Mu'tazilites.
Due to God's absoluteness, Jahmites adhere to predestination and reject the view that a person has free will and insist that actions are determined by God. The Jahmiyya believed this because they thought that human free will would entail a limitation on God's power, and so must be rejected.{{Sfn|Salem|2016|p=29–30}} Since there is no essence and no self-existence in Jahmite's thought, except for God, the Jahmites also denied the eternity of paradise and hell.<ref name=":2">Lange, Christian (2016). ''Paradise and Hell in Islamic Traditions''. Cambridge United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-50637-3}}. p. 169</ref>
=== Shi'is === The Shi'is agreed with the Mu'tazilis and deny that God will be seen with the physical eyes either in this world or in the next.<ref>{{cite book|author=M. Geijbels|title=An Introduction to Islam: Muslim Beliefs and Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTAKAQAAMAAJ|date=1977|publisher=Christian Study Centre|volume=4|page=367}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Yasin T. al-Jibouri|title=Allah: The Concept of God in Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W04-TCFNYQsC|date=2012|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=9781468532722|volume=1|page=37}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Yasin Jibouri|title=Allah: the Concept of God in Islam (a Selection)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8NbCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT18|date=2014|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=9781312490574|page=18|quote=Sunnis, however, believe, as the reader will find out in a later part of this book, that the believers will be able on the Day of Judgment to see Allah. Shias disagree with them as you will read later in this book, Insha-Allah.}}</ref>
==== Isma'ilis ==== According to Isma'ilism, God is absolutely transcendent and unknowable;<ref>Farhad Daftary ''Ismaili History and Intellectual Traditions'' Routledge 2017 {{ISBN|978-1-351-97503-2}}</ref> beyond matter, energy, space, time, change, imaginings, intellect, positive as well as negative qualities. All attributes of God named in rituals, scriptures or prayers refers not to qualities God possesses, but to qualities emanated from God, thus these are the attributes God gave as the source of all qualities, but God does not consist on one of these qualities.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gnostic |first=Ismaili |url=https://ismailignosis.com/2016/01/22/ismaili-teachings-on-the-oneness-of-god-tawhid-beyond-personalist-theism-and-modern-atheism/ |title=Ismaili Teachings on the Oneness of God (Tawhid): Beyond Personalist Theism and Modern Atheism – Ismaili Gnosis |work=Ismaili Gnosis |publisher=Ismailignosis.com |date=2016-01-22 |access-date=2019-01-29 |archive-date=2016-04-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406225103/http://ismailignosis.com/2016/01/22/ismaili-teachings-on-the-oneness-of-god-tawhid-beyond-personalist-theism-and-modern-atheism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> One philosophical definition of the world Allah is " The Being Who concentrates in Himself all the attributes of perfection "<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Tabatabai|first=Muhammad Husayn|url=https://almizan.org/|title=Tafsir al-Mizan|year=2010|isbn=9783939416401|volume=1,2|pages=45,140|publisher=Verlag Eslamica|access-date=2020-04-18|archive-date=2019-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211183448/https://almizan.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> or "the Person Who is the Essential Being, and Who encompasses all the attributes of perfection".<ref name=":0" /> Since God is beyond all wordings, Isma'ilism also denies the concept of God as the first cause.<ref>Arzina R. Lalani ''Degrees of Excellence: A Fatimid Treatise on Leadership in Islam'' I.B.Tauris 2009 {{ISBN|978-0-857-71202-8}} page 3</ref>
In Ismailism, assigning attributes to God as well as negating any attributes from God (''via negativa'') both qualify as anthropomorphism and are rejected, as God cannot be understood by either assigning attributes to him or taking attributes away from him. The 10th-century Ismaili philosopher Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani suggested the method of double negation; for example: "God is not existent" followed by "God is not non-existent". This glorifies God from any understanding or human comprehension.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Virani|first=Shafique N.|date=2010|title=The Right Path: A Post-Mongol Persian Ismaili Treatise|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00210860903541988|journal=Iranian Studies|volume=43|issue=2|pages=197–221|doi=10.1080/00210860903541988|s2cid=170748666|issn=0021-0862|access-date=2020-11-15|archive-date=2021-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813203006/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00210860903541988|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==== Twelvers ==== {{main|Theology of Twelvers}} The Twelver Shi'is believe that God has no shape, no physical hand, no physical leg, no physical body, no physical face. They believe God has no visible appearance. God does not change in time, nor does he occupy a physical place. Under no circumstances, the Shi'is argues, does God change. There is also no time frame regarding God. As support for their view, Shi'i scholars often point to the Qur'anic verse [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/6/103/default.htm 6:103] which states: "Eyes comprehend Him not, but He comprehends all eyes. He is the All-Subtle (penetrating everything no matter how small), the All-Aware." Thus one fundamental difference between Sunnis and Shi'is that the former believes that followers will "see" their Lord on the Day of Resurrection, while the latter holds that God cannot be seen because he is beyond space and time.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephen J. Vicchio|title=Biblical Figures in the Islamic Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GULkDAAAQBAJ|date=2008|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=9781498275583|page=41}}</ref>
{{Blockquote |text=Ibn 'Abbas says that a bedouin once came to the Messenger of Allah and said, "O Messenger of Allah! Teach me of the most unusual of knowledge!" He asked him, "What have you done with the peak of knowledge so that you now ask about its most unusual things?!" The man asked him, "O Messenger of Allah! What is this peak of knowledge?!" He said, "It is knowing Allah as He deserves to be known." The bedouin then said, "And how can He be known as He ought to be?" The Messenger of Allah answered, "It is that you know Him as having no model, no peer, no antithesis, and that He is Wahid (One, Single) and Ahad (Unique, Absolutely One): Apparent yet Hidden, the First and the Last, having no peer nor a similitude; this is the true knowledge about Him."<ref>{{cite book|author=Yasin T. al-Jibouri|title=Allah: The Concept of God in Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W04-TCFNYQsC|date=2012|publisher=AuthorHouse|isbn=9781468532722|volume=1|pages=28–29}}</ref> |author=Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi |title="Knowing Allah" |source=''Bihar al-Anwar''<ref>{{cite web|author=Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi|url=https://www.islam4u.com/ar/khair-alkalam/-0رأس-العلم|title=Bihar al-Anwar|website=www.islam4u.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210604232042/https://www.islam4u.com/ar/khair-alkalam/%D8%B1%D8%A3%D8%B3-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%85-0|archive-date=4 June 2021}}</ref> }}
Among the most significant Shi'i theological works are: * ''Kitab al-Tawhid'' (Book of Monotheism) by Ibn Babawayh – also known as al-Shaykh al-Saduq – (d. 381 H/991). * ''Tajrid al-I'tiqad'' (Sublimation of Belief) by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (d. 672/1274).
=== Sufism === {{Main|Sufi metaphysics|Incarnation}} The majority of Sufis adhere to the same beliefs and practices of orthodox theology of Sunni Islam,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/world/middleeast/sufi-muslim-explainer.html|title=Who Are Sufi Muslims and Why Do Some Extremists Hate Them?|work=The New York Times |date=24 November 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200726202457/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/world/middleeast/sufi-muslim-explainer.html|archive-date=26 July 2020|quote=The vast majority of Sufis are Sunni, though some are Shiite. |last1=Specia |first1=Megan }}</ref> both the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools, the essential difference in theology being that Sufis believe ''Ma'iyyat Allah'' (God's presence, togetherness, companionship) – derived from the Qur'anic verse 4 in Surat al-Hadid which states: {{Cite Quran|57|4|translator=Nureddin Uzunoğlu|q=and He is with you wheresoever you may be.}} – is not only by knowledge, comprehension and power, but also by nature and essence, which is God himself, being everywhere by presence.
==== Hulul and Ittihad ==== According to Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba (d. 1224/1809) in his ''al-Bahr al-Madid'':<ref name="Al-Bahr al-Madid [Qur'an 57:4]">{{cite web|author=Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba|url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=3&tTafsirNo=37&tSoraNo=57&tAyahNo=4&tDisplay=yes&Page=2&Size=1&LanguageId=1|title=Al-Bahr al-Madid fi Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Majid [Qur'an 57:4]|publisher=Altafsir.com|website=www.altafsir.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210530221518/https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=3&tTafsirNo=37&tSoraNo=57&tAyahNo=4&tDisplay=yes&Page=2&Size=1&LanguageId=1|archive-date=30 May 2021|language=ar|quote={ وهو معكم أينما كنتم } بالعلم والقدرة والإحاطة الذاتية، وما ادعاه ابنُ عطية من الإجماع أنه بالعلم، فإن كان مراده من أهل الظاهر فمسلّم، وأمّا أهل الباطن فمجمِعون على خلافه، انظر الإشارة.... وهو معكم أينما كنتم بذاته وصفاته، على ما يليق بجلال قدسه وكمال كبريائه إذ الصفة لا تُفارق الموصوف فإذا كانت المعية بالعلم لَزِمَ أن تكون بالذات، فافهم، وسلِّم إن لم تذق. حدثني شيخي، الفقيه المحرر " الجنوي ": أنَّ علماء مصر اجتمعوا للمناظرة في صفة المعية، فانفصل مجلسهم على أنها بالذات، على ما يليق به. وسمعتُه أيضاً يقول: إنَّ الفقيه العلامة " سيدي أحمد بن مبارك " لقي الرجل الصالح سيدي " أحمد الصقلي " ، فقال له: كيف تعتقد: { وهو معكم أين ما كنتم }؟ فقال: بالذات، فقال له: أشهد أنك من العارفين. هـ. قلت: فبحر الذات متصل، لا يتصور فيه انفصال، ولا يخلو منه مكان ولا زمان، كان ولا زمان ولا مكان، وهو الآن على ما عليه كان.}}</ref> ''Ahl al-Batin'' (people of the inner knowledge who follow the esoteric interpretation, i.e., the Sufis) have a consensus on that God is everywhere by presence and essence (in all places at once with his entire being despite his spacelessness), but without ''Hulul'' (God's indwelling, fusion/infusion, incarnation in creation) and without ''Ittihad'' (God's identification, unification, union with creation),<ref name="Al-Bahr al-Madid [Qur'an 67:16]">{{cite web|author=Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba|url=https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=3&tTafsirNo=37&tSoraNo=57&tAyahNo=4&tDisplay=yes&Page=2&Size=1&LanguageId=1|title=Al-Bahr al-Madid fi Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Majid [Qur'an 67:16]|publisher=Altafsir.com|website=www.altafsir.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210530225659/https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=3&tTafsirNo=37&tSoraNo=67&tAyahNo=16&tDisplay=yes&Page=2&Size=1&LanguageId=1|archive-date=30 May 2021|language=ar|quote=واعلم أن ذات الحق ـ جلّ جلاله ـ عمّت الوجود، فليست محصورة في مكان ولا زمان، { فأينما تُولوا فَثَمّ وجه الله } ، فأسرار ذاته ـ تعالى ـ سارية في كل شيء، قائمة بكل شيء، كما تقدّم، فهو موجود في كل شيء، لا يخلو منه شيء، أسرار المعاني قائمة بالأواني، وإنما خصّ الحق ـ تعالى ـ السماء بالذكر لأنها مرتفعة معظّمة، فناسب ذكر العظيم فيها، وعلى هذا تُحمل الأحاديث والآيات الواردة على هذا المنوال. وليس هنا حلول ولا اتحاد إذ ليس في الوجود إلاّ تجليات الحق ومظاهر ذاته وصفاته، كان الله ولا شيء معه، وهو الآن على ما كان عليه}}</ref> unlike ''Ahl al-Zahir'' (people of the outward observance; the uninitiated), who are unanimously agreed that God is omnipresent only by knowledge and power.<ref name="Al-Bahr al-Madid [Qur'an 57:4]" />
Among the verses that Sufis rely on to prove God's omnipresence are:<ref name="Al-Bahr al-Madid [Qur'an 67:16]"/> [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/2/215/default.htm 2:115]; [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/2/255/default.htm 2:255] (Ayat al-Kursi); [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/6/3/default.htm 6:3]; [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/43/84/default.htm 43:84]; [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/57/4/default.htm 57:4]; and [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/58/7/default.htm 58:7]. Based on these Qur'anic verses, God's omnipresence is not limited to certain areas, but is present everywhere, all-pervasive, and all-knowing.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Stefan Kalms|author2=Dorothée Zerwas|author3=Harald F. O. von Kortzfleisch|title=Ubiquitous Entrepreneurship|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wWSsAQAAQBAJ|date=2013|publisher=BoD – Books on Demand|isbn=9783844102864|page=14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Nureddin Uzunoğlu|url=http://w1.semazen.net/show_text_main.php?id=1386&menuId=264|title=The Holy Qur'an with Translation and Commentaries [Qur'an 2:115]|publisher=Islamic Publications for the Holy Qur'an Association|website=Semazen.NET|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210530233832/http://w1.semazen.net/show_text_main.php?id=1386&menuId=264|archive-date=30 May 2021}}</ref>
According to Muhammad Metwalli al-Sha'rawi (d. 1419/1998) in his interpretation (better known as {{ill|Tafsir al-Sha'rawi|ar|تفسير الشعراوي}}) of the Qur'anic verses {{qref|56|83-85}}, which are mentioned in Surat al-Waqi'ah: "'''83.''' Why then (are you helpless) when it (i.e., the soul of a dying person at the moment of death) reaches the throat, '''84.''' While you are looking on, '''85.''' And We (i.e., God and/or His angels) are nearer/closer to him (the dying human) than you are, but you do not see."
Al-Sha'rawi stated that God's statement in verse [https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/56/85/ 56:85] "but you do not see" proves clearly and unequivocally that ''Ma'iyyatullah'' (meaning 'companionship of God', literally: 'togetherness with God') is true/real with his essence (dhat), which is not like the essence of created beings, and his companionship is not only with knowledge, if so, then God wouldn't say "but you do not see".<ref>{{cite web|author=Muhammad Metwalli al-Sha'rawi|url=https://www.noor-book.com/كتاب-خواطري-حول-القرآن-الكريم-تفسير-الشعراوي-pdf|title=Tafsir al-Sha'rawi [Qur'an 56:85]|website=www.noor-book.com|publisher=Akhbar el-Yom|pages=14885–14886|language=ar|quote=هذه الكلمة {ولكن ﻻ تبصرون} [الواقعة: 85] حلت لنا إشكاﻻت متعددة، ﻷن البعض يفهم مسألة معية الله في مثل: {إن الله معنا ..} [التوبة: 40] و {إن الله مع الذين اتقوا ..} [النحل: 128] أنها معية علم، ولو كانت كذلك ما قال سبحانه {ولكن ﻻ تبصرون} [الواقعة: 85] إذن: هي معية حقيقية ولو كان عندكم بصر حديد يُمكّنكم من الرؤية لرأيتم، فلم ﻻ يتسع التصور في المعية بدون تحيّز، ولك في نفسك مثال: فالروح التي تدير حركة حياتك كلها، هل تعلم أين هي من جسمك؟ إذن: أنت ﻻ تدركها وهي فيك، فما بالك بالحق سبحانه وتعالى الذي يدير هذا الكون كله، فمعية الله بذاته التي ليست كالذوات، فإذا كنت ﻻ تدرك مخلوقاً لله فهل تطمع في أن تدرك معية الله لك؛ إذن فمخلوق لله ﻻ يُدرَك، فكيف تريد أن تدرك من خلق ما ﻻ يُدْرَك !!}}</ref>
Since God in Islam is transcendental and sovereign but also immanent and omnipresent, the Sufi view holds that in reality, only God exists. Thus everything in creation is reflecting an attribute of God's names. Yet these forms are not God themselves.<ref>Karin Jironet ''The Image of Spiritual Liberty in the Western Sufi Movement Following Hazrat Inayat Khan'' Peeters Publishers 2002 {{ISBN|978-9-042-91205-2}} page 32</ref> The Sufi Saint Ibn Arabi stated: ''There is nothing but God''. This statement was mistakenly equalized to Pantheism by critics; however, Ibn Arabi always made a clear distinction between the creation and the creator.<ref>J. I. Laliwala ''Islamic Philosophy of Religion: Synthesis of Science Religion and Philosophy'' Sarup & Sons 2005 {{ISBN|978-8-176-25476-2}} page 39</ref> Since God is the ''Absolute Reality'',<ref>Jean-Louis Michon, Roger Gaetani ''Sufism: Love & Wisdom'' World Wisdom, Inc, 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-941-53275-4}} page 207</ref> the created worlds and their inhabitants are merely illusions. They just exist because of God's command ''Kun'', but everything that would be, was already known by God.<ref>William C. Chittick ''Ibn 'Arabi: Heir to the Prophets'' Oneworld Publications 2012 {{ISBN|978-1-780-74193-2}}</ref>
Both beliefs Hulul (incarnation) and Ittihad (unification) had been severely denounced by moderate Sunni Sufis, such as 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi (d. 1143/1731), which he described as heresies.<ref>{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Sirriyeh|title=Sufi Visionary of Ottoman Damascus: 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, 1641-1731|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-r1uH9O-p0UC|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134294664|page=51}}</ref>
Among the most significant Sufi theological works are: * ''Al-Ta'aruf li-Madhhab Ahl al-Tasawwuf'' (Inquiry into the Tenets of the Sufis) by Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi (d. 385/995), recognised as an authoritative treatise on the mystical doctrines.<ref>{{cite book|author=N. Hanif|title=Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis: Central Asia and Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7JInpQL0x8C|date=2002|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=9788176252669|page=229}}</ref> * ''Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya'' by al-Qushayri (d. 465/1072). * ''Futuh al-Ghayb'' (Revelations of the Unseen) by 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. 561/1166). * ''Al-Burhan al-Mu'ayyad'' (The Advocated Proof) by Ahmad al-Rifa'i (d. 578/1182).
== See also == {{Portal|Islam|Religion}} * Al-Ghafūr * Attributes of God in Islam * Conceptions of God * Ethical monotheism * Existence of God * God in Abrahamic religions ** God in the Baháʼí Faith ** God in Christianity ** God in Judaism ** God in Mormonism ** Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs § God * Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia
== Notes == {{reflist|group=Note}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Bibliography == * Al-Bayhaqi (1999), ''Allah's Names and Attributes'', ISCA, {{ISBN|1-930409-03-6}} * {{Cite book |last=Cook |first=Michael |title=A History of the Muslim World |date=2024 |publisher=Princeton University Press}} * Hulusi, Ahmed (1999), ''"Allah" as introduced by Mohammed'', Kitsan, 10th ed., {{ISBN|975-7557-41-2}} * Muhaiyaddeen, M. R. Bawa (1976), ''Asmāʼul-Husnā: the 99 beautiful names of Allah'', The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, {{ISBN|0-914390-13-9}} * Netton, Ian Richard (1994), ''Allah Transcendent: Studies in the Structure and Semiotics of Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Cosmology'', Routledge, {{ISBN|0-7007-0287-3}} * {{Cite book |last=Salem |first=Feryal |url=https://brill.com/display/title/32718 |title=The Emergence of Early Sufi Piety and Sunnī Scholasticism |date=2016 |publisher=Brill}} * {{Cite book |last=Schock |first=Cornelia |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Schmidtke |editor-first=Sabine |pages=55–80 |chapter=Jahm b. Ṣafwān (d. 128/745–6) and the 'Jahmiyya' and Ḍirār b. ʿAmr (d. 200/815) |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34345/chapter-abstract/291394597}} * {{Cite book |last=Suleiman |first=Farid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kO_7EAAAQBAJ |title=Ibn Taymiyya and the Attributes of God |date=2024 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-49990-4 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Wesley |date=2002 |title=Aspects of the Creed of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Study of Anthropomorphism in Early Islamic Discourse |url=https://www.academia.edu/5259388 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=441–463|doi=10.1017/S0020743802003021 }}
== External links == * [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Allah Allah] — by ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' * [https://www.azhar.eg/en/Islam/Creed/Pillars-of-Faith/ArtMID/10409/ArticleID/48714/Belief-in-God-Allah Belief in God, Allah] — by ''Al-Azhar'' * {{YouTube|id=05b1BwNvqCk|title=Islamic belief in God}} — by ''Musharraf Hussain''
{{Islam topics |collapsed}} {{Theology}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:God In Islam}} Category:God in Islam Category:Islamic theology