All
Muslims across the world believe that there is only one God, who has
created ‘the heavens, the earth and what is between’. The expression of
this faith takes place in the first part of the shahada, or the statement
of faith: ‘there is no deity but God and Muhammad is His Messenger’.
The statement is repeated by Muslims in their five daily prayers, in the
call for prayer and in their daily lives. To believe in one God
constitutes the central issue in Islam. The Qur’an presents the Arabic
name of God as Allah. Unlike the ancient Greek god Zeus, or the Hindu
god Vishnu, Allah, who has ninety-nine beautiful names, is the same God
of Christianity and Judaism.
Etymology
According
to Muslim theologians, the name Allah can be defined as ‘The proper name
of the One who is necessarily existent in himself and deserves all
praises’. Indicating the oneness of God, the word has no plural form and
no one can be named with it except God. Creatures can be related to it
as ‘abd or servant, such as (Abd-Allah or the servant of God. The root
of the name is al-ilah, meaning ‘the God’. The word ilah (pl. (aliha) in
Arabic is used as a generic term for deities. In order to ease the
usage, Arabs frequently contract the words based on certain grammatical
rules. Therefore, the two words, al and ilah, were contracted into one
and became Allah. The name (Allah’ is referred to in the Qur’an 2,697
times. Despite their polytheistic traditions, Arabs before Islam were
also familiar with the name Allah as the name of the Supreme Being in
heaven, which is evident in the Prophet’s father’s name, (Abdullah, the
servant of Allah. The Qur’an refers to their familiarity with Allah in
the following verse: ‘If you ask them who has created the heavens and
the earth, they will say Allah’. Accordingly, the Holy Book speaks of
false gods of Meccans, who were considered mediators between human
beings and Allah. The Holy Book ridicules them for worshipping powerless
stones and wood. Although scholars link the name Allah with El or
Elohim, terms for God in Hebrew, most Muslim theologians and linguists
believe that the origin of the name is Arabic. Regardless of the origin
of the name, Muslims believe that Allah is the same God as that of
Christianity and Judaism. It is he who sent the Torah to Moses and the
Gospel to Jesus. He is the true God of all creation.
Existence of God
Scholastic
Muslim theologians have developed many arguments to prove the existence
of God. Two of them are well known in Islamic theology: huduth
(creation) and imkan (contingency) arguments. The first argument proves
that the universe existed and cannot come into being without the One who
originates it. Therefore it cannot be created by itself. Unlike the
Aristotelian argument, which operates on the principle of causality, in
this argument the world is not eternal. The Qur’an uses the huduth
argument in various verses without referring to the term itself.
Therefore, the world is originated and needs an originator. In other
words, whatever exists must have a sufficient cause for its existence. The latter argument is based on the view that what exists is divided into two categories. The first
category is one whose existence is necessary in itself. The other
category is one whose existence depends on others. The goal of this
argument is to prove that there is only one thing that necessarily
exists. It argues that the world’s creation is contingent (mumkin), and a
contingent thing cannot be created by another contingent thing.
Otherwise it would lead to an infinite series of contingent causes.
Consequently, it needs the One who is necessarily existent in himself.
All other causes found in the universe are contingent, thus there must
be an uncaused cause or the Cause of Causes (musabbibal-asbab) to create
them. Through a sustained examination of the Qur’anic verses, one finds a
variety of arguments to prove the existence of God. Besides the
above-mentioned two arguments, the argument from universal consent and
teleological argument are among those arguments found in the Qur’an
under various names. The wonderful design of the universe, which is the
basis of the teleological argument, is frequently referred to as a point
of contemplation in the Qur’an. This marvellous and interrelated system
of order cannot have been brought about by chance. As thinkers such as
Nursi point out, whoever created the eye of the mosquito is the same
person who created the solar system. That is because they are
interrelated; the eyes of a mosquito are designed in accordance with the
level of the sunlight. ‘It is He who has created seven heavens in
harmony. You cannot see any fault in the Beneficent One’s creation; then
look again: Can you see any flaw?’ (67.3) The Holy Book invites human
beings to contemplate the ways of God. The Qur’an calls it ‘signs’ or
ayat. Various verses condemn those who do not use their minds and reason
to understand the signs of God in the universe and in their own
creation.
The Qur’an encourages people to appreciate God’s signs, since they are intelligent creatures. The verse says: ‘We have sent down upon you signs, clear indications, and none denies their truth save the transgressors’
(Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:99). The word ‘sign’ is repeated many times in the
Qur’an. Everything in the heavens and the earth gives news of God, and
they are signs of God. Everything that happens tells us something about
God. Therefore, in the heavens, in the natural world, in historical
events, and inside us, are signs of God. ‘We [God] have appointed the night and the day as two signs’ (Surah Al-Isra’, 17:12). ‘A sign for them is the dead earth which we brought to life, and from which we brought forth grain that they eat’ (Surah Ya-Sin, 36:33). ‘And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth, and the variety of your tongues and colours’ (Surah Ar-Rum, 30:22). ‘Of His signs are the ships that run on the sea like landmarks’ (Surah Ash-Shurah, 42:32). ‘In the earth are signs for those having certainty, and in yourselves’ (Surah Adh-Dhariyat, 51:20–21).
In short, everything is a sign because all things are God’s creatures. Referring to the verse ‘For
people who think intelligently there are signs in the creation of the
heavens and earth and in the alteration of night and day’ (Surah Al-‘Imran, 3:190), the Prophet of Islam says, ‘Woe to those who read this and do not contemplate’.
The Qur’anic text provides another significant reference to the signs of God: “Your
God is one God: There is no God but He. He is the most Merciful, the
Most Compassionate. For a people who think intelligently, there are
signs in the creation of the heavens and earth, in the alteration of
night and day, in ships which voyage on the seas to benefit people, in
the waters God sends down from heaven giving life to the earth after it
was dead, in the populating of the earth with every kind of living
creature, in the hither and thither of winds and clouds harnessed to His
purposes between sky and land.” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:163–4).
Muslim
theologians such as Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 944 CE), Sayf al-Din al-
‘Amidi (d. 1233 CE), Nasr al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1274 CE), Adud al-Din
al-‘Iji (d. 1355 CE) refer to the Qur’anic verses relating to the
creation of heavens and earth as well as the creation of human beings in
their arguments designed to prove the existence of God. The Qur’an
contains many verses that refer to the amazing design and order in all
creation. Abu Hanifa (d. 767 CE), founder of the Hanafi school of Islamic
law, offers the parable of a ship in the ocean. Such a ship needs to have a captain who will guide it in the right direction.
The
Qur’an also refers to aesthetic arguments on various occasions. On the
creation of heavens and earth the Book says that God has ornamented
(zayanna) the sky for you with stars (Surah Al-Mulk, 67:5), and that He
has made your water pure (ma’in) (Surah Al-Mulk, 67:30).
Furthermore it eloquently refers to the beautiful creation of the human being and rebukes the heedless: ‘man!
What has seduced you from your gracious Lord? He who created you, and
fashioned you, who proportioned you suitably, and in the form He wished
He contrived you’ (82:6–8). ‘Surely We have created human beings in the best fashion’ (Surah At-Tin, 95:4). The Qur’an emphatically refers to God’s attribute of creation (al-khaliq): ‘Have
they not beheld the heaven above them, how We established and adorned
it in its unbroken reach? The earth We stretched out, setting there on
the mighty hills, where We made every kind of joyous thing to grow; a
vision and a reminder for every penitent servant’ (Surah Qaf, 50:6–8). With reference to the creation of the human being, the Qur’an repeats again the beauty of its form. ‘He created the heavens and the earth with the real, formed you and made your form beautiful, and to Him is your return’. (Surah At-Taghabun, 64:3)
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