(part 1 of 2): A unique concept
It is a known fact that every language has one or more terms that are used for God and sometimes for lower deities. This is not the case with God. God is the personal name of the One True God. Nothing else but the One God with all of his personal and unique names and qualities can be called “God”. This term is neither plural nor gender. This shows its uniqueness compared to the word „god“, from which one can form the plural like „gods“ or the feminine form like „goddess“. It is interesting to note that Allah is the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and a sister language of Arabic.
The One True God is a reflection of the unique concept that connects Islam with God. For a Muslim, God is the Almighty creator and sustainer of the universe, to whom nothing is like and to whom nothing is comparable. The Prophet Muhammad was asked about God by his contemporaries; he received the answer directly from God Himself in the form of a short chapter of the Quran, which is considered the essence of unity or the motto of monotheism. It is chapter 112, which reads:
„In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful.“
“Say (O Muhammad): He is God, one, God, the superior. He has not begotten and has not been begotten, and no one is ever equal to him. ”
Some non-Muslims claim that God is a strict and cruel God in Islam, who commands that He should be obeyed and that He is not loving and kind. Nothing could be further from the truth than this claim. Suffice it to know that, with one exception, each of the 114 chapters in the Quran begins with the verse: „In the Name of God, Most Merciful, Most Merciful.“
In a statement by Prophet Muhammad, may God praise him, we are told:
„God is more loving and kind than a mother to her beloved child.“
On the other hand, God is just too. For this reason, evildoers and sinners must receive their appropriate punishment, and the righteous must receive God’s generosity and benevolence. In fact, grace manifests itself as God’s quality in His quality of justice. The people who suffer their whole life for His sake should not receive the same treatment from their Lord as people who oppress and exploit others throughout their lives. If they were to be treated similarly, it would amount to denying the true belief in the accountability of the hereafter and thus losing the drive for a moral and righteous life in this life. The following Quran verses say this very clearly:
“Certainly, for those who fear God, there will be Gardens of Delight with their Lord. Should we equate the devotees with the evildoers? What about you How do you judge? ” (Quran 68: 34-36)
Islam refuses to ascribe or depict any human qualities to God as certain individuals or peoples do on the basis of wealth, strength, or race. He created human beings all the same. You can only excel through righteousness and piety and reach His favor.
The notions that God should have rested on the seventh day, that God should have fought with one of His soldiers, that God is a malevolent curse against humanity, or that God is born again in some person, are all from the perspective of Islam Blasphemy (blasphemy against God).
The unique use of “God” as a personal name for the One God with all His personal names and attributes reflects the emphasis on pure belief in God in Islam, which is the essence of the message of all God’s messengers. It is for this reason that Islam considers the association of any deity or person with God as a mortal sin that God will never forgive if it is not repented, although He can forgive all other sins, even if no tawba (repentance) was done for them before death becomes.
The Creator must be of a different nature than His creatures, because if He had the same nature as them, He would be impermanent and would require an author. It follows that nothing can be like Him. Furthermore: If the author is not perishable, then he must be eternal. But if He is Eternal, then He cannot be created and if nothing has caused His existence, then nothing causes Himself to exist except Himself, which means He is Independent. And if He is dependent on nothing and no one for the continued existence of His existence, then His existence can have no end, so the Creator is Eternal and Constant. Therefore, we know that He is Independent or Self-Persistent and Always-present, or to use a term from the Quran:
The Creator does not only create to produce things; It also preserves them and ends their existence and is the ultimate reason for everything that happens to them.
“God is the creator of everything and He is the steward of everything. He owns the keys of heaven and earth. ” (Quran 39: 62-63)
And God also says:
“And there is no animal on earth without God being responsible for its maintenance. And He knows where he is and where he is kept. Everything is recorded in a clear book. ” (Quran 11: 6)
(part 2 of 2): His Qualities and Uniqueness
God’s Qualities
If the Creator is Eternal and Always, His properties must also be Eternal and Always. If so, then His qualities are absolute. Can there be more than one creator with such absolute properties? Could it be that there are two absolutely powerful creators, for example? A brief thought shows that this is not feasible.
The Quran summarizes this argument in the following verses:
“Allah has not taken children, and there is no God besides Him, otherwise every God would truly take away what he created, and some of them would become the other show really arrogant towards. ” (Quran 23:91)
And also,
„If there were gods other than Allah in both of them (heaven and earth), they (both) would truly perish.“ (Quran 21:22)
The Uniqueness of God
The Quran reminds us of the falseness of all alleged deities. He asks those who serve man-made objects:
„How can you serve what you cut out yourself?“ (Quran 37:95)
And also:
“ Are you taking patrons apart from Him, who are unable to bring themselves any harm or benefit?” (Quran 13:16)
For the worshipers of the heavenly bodies, he quotes the story of Abraham:
“When night fell on him, he saw a heavenly body. He said, ‚This is my master.‘ But when he went under, he said, ‚I don’t love those who go under.‘
When he saw the moon rise, he said: ‚This is my lord.‘ But when he went under, he said: ‚If my Lord does not guide me, I will most certainly be among the misguided people.‘
When he saw the sun rise, he said: ‚This is my master. It’s bigger. ‚ But when it went down, he said: ‚O my people, I am renouncing what you (him) have.
I turn my face to the One who created the heavens and the earth as followers of right faith, and I am not an idolater. ”(Quran 6: 76-79)
The behavior of the believer
To be Muslim, that is, to surrender to God, it is necessary to believe in the uniqueness of God in the sense that He is the only creator, sustainer, provider, etc. But this belief is not enough. Many of the idolaters knew and believed that only the Most High God could do all of this. But this was not enough to make them Muslim. In addition to this belief, one has to acknowledge the fact that God deserves worship alone and to stay away from speaking and worshiping other things or beings.
When one has gained knowledge of the true God, one must constantly keep faith in Him and must not allow anything to cover up this truth.
What this means is this: if someone unconditionally surrenders to God and admits that He is the only one worthy of being worshiped by us, then one must also consistently worship Him. That is, if we know that we owe him, it means that we are putting into practice what we have recognized in our hearts. God asks rhetorically:
„Do you think that we created you for a senseless game and that you would not be brought back to us?“ (Quran 23: 115)
He also categorically states:
„I only created the Jinn and the people so that they serve Me.“ (Quran 51:56)
So when faith enters a person’s heart, it causes certain spiritual changes, the result of which must be certain actions. All in all, these mental changes and actions prove true belief. The Prophet, may God praise him, said:
„Faith is what lives in the heart and is proven by the deeds.“
The feeling of gratitude towards God – as one of these spiritual changes – could be said to be the essence, the essence of worship.
The feeling of gratitude is so important that a non-believer is called „Kafir“, which means ’someone who rejects the truth‘ and also ’someone who is ungrateful‘.
A believer loves God and is thankful to Him for the graces that He has given him. But he is aware of the fact that his good deeds, whether mental or physical, are far from being divine. He is always concerned that God could punish him in this world or the hereafter. He therefore fears Him, submits to Him and serves Him with great humility. One can only be in such a spiritual state if one is conscious of God almost all the time. The memory of God is therefore the living power of faith, without which it subsides and disappears.
The Quran tries to support this feeling of gratitude by repeating God’s attributes regularly. Most of these properties are mentioned together in the following Quran verses:
“He is God, except for whom there is no God, the connoisseur of the hidden and the apparent. He is the merciful, the merciful. Except for whom there is no deity, he is the king, the saint, peace, the guarantor of security, the guardians, the almighty, the rulers, the proud. Praise God! (And sublime is He) over what they associate with (Him). And He is God, the Creator, the Creator, the Creator. His are the most beautiful names. He praises (everything) what is in heaven and on earth. And He is Almighty and All-Wise. ” (Quran 59: 22-24)
And also,
“There is no deity except Him, the living and enduring. Neither sleep nor sleep overcomes him. He owns (everything) what is in the heavens and what is on earth. Who is it that could intercede with Him – except with His permission? He knows what is in front of them and what is behind them, but they do not include anything of His knowledge – except what He wants. His stool covers the heavens and the earth, and their protection does not weigh him down. He is the sublime, the all-powerful. ” (Quran 2: 255)
And also,
“O people of the Scriptures, do not exaggerate your religion and only speak the truth against God! The Messiah Jesus, the Son of Mary, is only God’s Messenger and His Word, which He offered to Mary, and spirit of Him. Therefore believe in God and His messengers and do not say ‚three‘. Stop it, that’s better for you! is just one god. Praise to Him (and He is sublime) that He should have a child. ” (Quran 4: 171)
So we have three parts to confirm God as the Only True God. We have to believe that He is the greatest Creator, Guardian and Judge of the universe and everything in it; we have to stay away from saying and worshiping anything other than Him and focusing our worship on Him; and we must know that He alone has divine qualities and names and we cannot relate them to any other being, no matter what kind. If someone merely confirms these necessities with their lips, and even if we keep ourselves from referring to other gods, that is not enough. You need to be seriously focused on the one you confirm.
Source: https://www.islamland.com/deu/articles/der-gottbegriff-im-islam