Discovering God

What does Allah mean?

In Islam, God is referred to by the Arabic name “Allah.” That doesn’t mean a moon deity, nor is it the name of an idol. In fact, Allah is actually the one God who is also worshiped by Christians and Jews. Allah is free of the human relationships that were created by Him, so He has no father, mother, son, or daughter. He has absolutely no partners associated with Him at all.

No God except One
The central principle in Islam is the oneness of God, the concept that God alone is the one who provides everything in the universe, whether it be rain, shelter, food, or drink.

In an Islamic tradition, it’s believed that Moses once asked God to give him a supplication that He had given to no other man, and God told him to say “La ilaha illallah,” which means that there is no deity except God. Moses replied, “But this is something with which everyone supplicates.” God then said, “If you were to put everything in the heavens and the earth and place it on one side of a scale and place that statement on the other side, the statement would be heavier.”

God’s independence of everything is reflected in the Islamic belief that the purpose of life is to worship God solely. Muslims pray to God alone and seek His assistance in all matters. When happy, they show gratitude towards Him and when faced with adversity, they pray for support through their hard times. Everything from the rotation of the sun and the Earth to the birth of a newborn baby is solely because God has willed it. .

His description

Throughout history, several personal and physical characteristics have been attributed to God by man or extracted from Scripture, such as Him being joyful, angry, merciful, wise, and the list goes on. In Islam, the Quran and the Prophet Mohammed provide descriptions of Him not in terms of five fingers, long hair, and green eyes, but in terms of what could be called His “personality.”

Islam teaches that God is the All-Aware, the Just, the Taker of Life, the Creator of the Harmful, and the Omnipotent. He is also the Most Compassionate who continuously forgives humanity’s misdeeds, and that He is the Source of Peace, with whom people can find comfort. He is the Sustainer, the Fashioner of all living things, the Forgiver, and the Hider of All Faults. The above attributes are just a few of the over ninety-nine attributes which describe God so that mankind may attempt to understand who He is and what He can do for them. This knowledge gives people an opportunity to know God so they can build a strong relationship with Him instead of just fearing or loving Him blindly.

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