God in Islam

Islam's most fundamental concept is a strict monotheism called tawhid, affirming that God is one and Tanzih (wāḥid). The basic creed of Islam, the Shahada[32] (recited under oath to enter the religion), involves لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ (lā ʾilāha ʾilla llāh), or "I testify there is no deity other than God."

Muslims reject the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism.[33] Jesus is instead believed to be a prophet.

Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession.[34] The deification or worship of anyone or anything other than God (shirk) is the greatest sin in Islam. The entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid.[35]

According to Vincent J. Cornell,[36] 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."[37]

God is the creator of the universe and all the creatures in it.[38]

Praise be to Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, Who appointeth the angels messengers having wings two, three and four. He multiplieth in creation what He will. Lo! Allah is Able to do all things.

— Quran 35:1 ^{(Translated by Pickthall)}

We have built the heaven with might, and We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof).

— Quran 51:47 ^{(Translated by Pickthall)}

Verily We created man from a product of wet earth; Then placed him as a drop (of seed) in a safe lodging; Then fashioned We the drop a clot, then fashioned We the clot a little lump, then fashioned We the little lump bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, and then produced it as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators!

— Quran 23:12-14 ^{(Translated by Pickthall)}

The most commonly used names in the primary sources are Al-Rahman, meaning "Most Compassionate" and Al-Rahim, meaning "Most Merciful".[39] 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.[40][41] God is said to love forgiving, with a hadith stating God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance.[42]

His mercy takes many forms as he says in the Quran "and My Mercy embraces all things." [7:156] This is shown in Sahih Muslim narrated from Abu Hurairah, who said the Prophet said:

Allah has one hundred parts of mercy, of which He sent down one between the jinn, mankind, the animals and the insects, by means of which they are compassionate and merciful to one another, and by means of which wild animals are kind to their offspring. And Allah has kept back ninety-nine parts of mercy with which to be merciful to His slaves of the Day of Resurrection.[43][44]

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."[44][45]

God is fully aware of everything that can be known.[46] This includes private thoughts and feelings. The Quran asserts that one can not hide anything from God:

And, [O Muhammad], you are not [engaged] in any matter or recite any of the Qur'an and you [people] do not do any deed except that We are witness over you when you are involved in it. And not absent from your Lord is any [part] of an atom's weight within the earth or within the heaven or [anything] smaller than that or greater but that it is in a clear register.

— Quran, Surah Yunus (10), Ayah 61[47]

And indeed We have created man, and We know what his ownself whispers to him. And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.

— Quran, Surah Qaf (50), Ayah 16

According to Isma'ilism, God is absolutely transcendent and unknowable;[62] 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.[63] One philosophical definition of the world Allah is " The Being Who concentrates in Himself all the attributes of perfection " [64] or " the Person Who is the Essential Being, and Who encompasses all the attributes of perfection".[64] Since God is beyond all wordings, Isma'ilism also denies the concept of God as the first cause.[65]

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. Therefore, Abu Yaqub Al-Sijistani, a renowned Ismaili thinker, 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.[66]

The Muʿtazilites 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.[67] 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.[68]

Ash'ari and Maturidi are in agreement that God's attributes are eternal but neither hold to be metaphorically (unlike Mu'tazilla) nor literally.[69] References to anthropomorphic attributes can probably not be understood correctly by humans.[70] Although God's existence is considered to be possibly known by reason, human mind can not fully understand God's attributes. For example, when humans in paradise see God, they do not see God in the way humans are able to see on Earth.[70] Ashʿari asserts, since God is the creator of everything that exists and creation does not affect nor alter God, the Throne of God is not a dwelling place for God.[71] Accordingly, expressions such as God is above his Throne means God exists unattached of any place.

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.[72] 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.[73] Since God is the Absolute Reality,[74] 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.[75]

Salafism and Wahhabism refuse interpretations on Quran to avoid altering of its message, thus taking the descriptions of God literally and oppose widespread theological concepts including the Ash'ari view.[76] Therefore, descriptions such as "God's hands" or "sitting on (above) a throne, should be taken at their linguistic meaning, without asking how, as it is regarded as the only possibility to understand God's attributes.[77]