Allah: Understanding God in Islam

By Shaik Kadir

This book, Allah: Understanding God in Islam, apart from describing what Islam is, explains that all prophets sent by God, including Prophet Abraham, Prophet Moses, and Prophet Jesus (Jesus Christ), were Islams prophets too and that Muslims must believe in them. The book specifically informs readers that Allah is the same God of every human being of any race, culture, or religion.

The book delves into the messages of the Quran, Islams Holy Book, to highlight the importance of knowing the true nature of God, called Allah in Islam. It points out that the proper knowledge of God would compel people to adhere to His commandments in having faith in Him and His practical guidance to acquire a close and rewarding relationship with Allah and His creations as well as with all human beings, who, though diversified in various nationalities and faiths, can be united in spirit and togetherness.

The book also emphasises that following Allahs guidance with understanding would facilitate people to appreciate the natural gifts Allah has given to every person and so, instead of getting overwhelmed by ignorance and falling into the trap of hatred and hostility, enable them to live a happy, peaceful, and harmonious life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: May 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482865196

Shaik Kadir

Shaik Kadir holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Sheffield, UK, and has years of experience as an educator and journalist. Kadir is the author of several books, including “Read! The Islamic Inspiration”, “The Straight Way”, “The Haj”, “Inside Islam: 101 Questions and Answers”, and “Islam Explained.”

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Shaik Kadir.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4828-6518-9

                eBook           978-1-4828-6519-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Contents

Preface

Initial notes

Introduction

Part 1: The Spirit of Islam

1 Prophets: Allah's Bearers of Revelations

Mission of Allah's Prophets and Messengers

Nature of human beings

Adam, the first man

Abraham, patriarch of Revealed Religions

2 Muhammad, Allah's Final Prophet

Mission and accomplishments

Persecution and perseverance

Character and personality

3 Islam: Allah's Religion for Mankind

Establishment of Islam

The Straight Way

Faith and practices

Part 2: The Qur'an, Allah's Final Testament

4 Allah's Revelations to His Prophets

Revelations received by various prophets

Revelations received by Prophet Muhammad

5 The Qur'an's appeal to its readers

Universal role

Other exclusive names

Unique presentation technique

Eloquent and living language

Amazing cadence and rhythm

Easy Memorisation

6 Authorship of the Qur'an

Messengership

Uniqueness

Basmallah

Expression

Science

Reasoning

Consistency

Challenge

Truth

Protection

Part 3: Worship of Allah

7 Concept of Islamic Worship

Islamic living

Islamic works

8 Direct communication with Allah

The Muslim prayers

The prayer call

The ablution

The supplication

Prostration

9 The Ka'aba, the first House of worship

Towards devotional unity

Purification of the Ka'aba

The Ka'aba, a point of unity

Part 4: Allah, Creator of the Universe

10 Allah: He is Great

Allah's introduction of Himself

Allah, the Creator

11 Allah: Everything submits to Him

God, a general term

Concept of Oneness of Allah

Allah before Islam

12 Allah: Call on Him by His Most Beautiful Names

Allah's 99 Names

Allah's attributes

13 Allah, the All-Knowing

Allah's Knowledge

Allah's Guidance

14 Allah: the All-Loving

Allah loves His creations

Allah loves those who do good

Allah loves those who are righteous

What Allah does not love

Allah's reward for doing good

Allah's forgiveness for wrong-doings

15 Allah: the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

In the name of Allah

Allah's Nearness

Allah's Invitation to accept Him

Declaration of the Islamic Faith

Part 5: Peace and Harmony

16 Reflections

Completion of Allah's Guidance

Islamic religiosity

Freedom of religion

The Muslim

Islamic righteousness

Conclusion

Appendices

A) Prophets of Allah

B) The Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad

C) Prophethood experiences of Prophet Muhammad

D) Articles of Faith (or Basic beliefs of Islam)

E) Pillars of Islam (or Fundamentals of Islam)

F) Hadith: Sayings and conduct of Prophet Muhammad

G) Translations of the Qur'an

H) Everyday usage of Allah

I) Vowel markings in the Qur'an

J) Names and timing of the solat

K) Difference between solat and do'a

L) The Most Beautiful Names of Allah (Asma ul-Husna)

Bibliography

Preface

It is essential to understand God in Islam because of the well-known word Allah who is actually, the God of everyone, Muslim or non-Muslim.

There is also a familiar and famous phrase used by Muslims. It is: There is no god but Allah. (Notice that in this instance, God in the English rendering is spelt in the lower case. In the Arabic, there is no problem of ambiguity.) This phrase is mentioned in the Qur'an (Islam's Holy Book) many times and is the theme of the whole Qur'an -- unity of God. The unity of God is the most essential and fundamental belief of Muslims. It makes up the first part of the Shahadah (Declaration of the Islamic Faith), and is called out in the mosques at five specific periods of the day every day in the azan (Muslim prayer call).

Allah is the proper name of God in Islam, and is the most used name in the world, both orally and written, and in Arabic calligraphic displays adorned in mosques and Muslim homes. The knowledge of Allah and the belief in Him is the foundation of the Islamic faith.

Then, there is the Basmallah whose phrase is also most used in Islam and in the Muslim world. It goes: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. This phrase is the first verse of the first chapter of the Qur'an.

After this short and impactful 7-verse first chapter, every subsequent chapter of the 114-chapter Qur'an, except Chapter 9, the Basmallah appears above the chapter, no longer as the first verse but somewhat like an introductory formula to the chapter.

The Basmallah is famous because this invocation or introductory formula, In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, is a significant part of the everyday life of the Muslim. Muslims are encouraged to start every righteous act by reciting this phrase softly as by doing so, that act becomes an ibadah (worship) of Allah provided that the act is being done according to Islamic teachings. The Basmallah is used, for example, in Islam's daily prayers; when a Muslim starts his meal and even when he begins a speech in an Islamic talk or an educational course. The Basmallah is also the most prevalent motif in Arabic calligraphy which is displayed as an adornment in Muslim homes, mosques, in Muslim restaurants and in Islamic constitutions and preambles.

In the last 25 years or so, Islam is gaining attention all over the world. People of other faiths are eager to know about Islam, and ask questions for information and clarification.

They want to know about Islam to get closer to Muslims who may be their friends or neighbours, or even be of their own race, their own countrymen, or their own distant relatives. Muslims are not just Arabs and Malays; they make up all races in the world. In fact, there are more non-Arab Muslims in the world than all Arabs put together.

Among the questions people ask are on God in Islam: Who is Allah? Is Allah the same God the followers of the Abrahamic faiths worship? How can we know Him? How can we understand Him? Is He described in the Qur'an?

Muslims believe that the word Allah has been used by the first pair of human beings, Adam and Eve, in Paradise before they began their earthly sojourns. Hence, this book will touch on certain parts of Islamic history and provide some details about Prophet Muhammad and the Qur'an because it is from the Prophet and the Qur'an that people come to know Allah comprehensively.

Regarding the term Allah, although Muslim writers, as well as I in my other books, use the term God in the common English vernacular, in this book, to go with the theme of the book, Allah is used throughout unless for certain obvious reasons.

At this juncture, I would like to place on record my deep appreciation for the assistance given by two people who went through the manuscript of this book and offered suggestions towards its improvement. They are Prof Hussin Mutalib from the National University of Singapore, and Muslim convert, Mr Imran Andrew Price, former Chairman, Centre for Islamic Management Studies, Singapore, who now resides with his family in Australia. My thanks are due to them.

I would also like to mention that what is given and explained in this book on the subject of Allah (God of all human beings) is from the Islamic point of view, and is not meant to sneer or disparage any religion. The subject is presented through Islam's message and its inherent logic with quotations from the Qur'an itself. Islam and Muslims respect all religions as each has its own forte to contribute to society and humanity.

Finally, this book is dedicated to anyone and everyone, irrespective of race, religion or culture, who reads it to gain an understanding of God in Islam. Hopefully, the understanding would bring Muslims and non-Muslims closer, live harmoniously and work towards making the world a better and peaceful place to live in.

SHAIK KADIR

Initial notes

Readers, especially non-Muslim readers, of a book on Islam need to have some knowledge on Islamic terminologies to understand the presentations on Islam better. Hence, some explanation is required for the way certain words, spelling and phrases are used in this book. The explanation of some of the common terms is given here.

Special terms

As Allah (God) is the theme of this book, the proper name of God in Arabic, Allah, is used throughout this book except in certain instances.

The Holy book of Islam is the Qur'an -- spelt with a Q, not K as Koran, and has an apostrophe in order to pronounce it as Qur-an, not Qu-ran.

All other special Islamic terms in Arabic, except the common ones like Islam, Qur'an and Hadith, are written in italics and their interpretation is given immediately in brackets, like "khutbah (sermon), instead of placing these words and their interpretation in a separate section under glossary" at the end of the book.

The term "solat (Muslim obligatory prayers) is used instead of the term prayers because solat is a very special and formalised activity, different from normal prayers which can be done anytime but solat" is time-based.

Term and salutation for prophets

In Islamic teaching, all prophets are highly respected; hence Muslim would say, for example, Prophet Abraham, Prophet Jesus or simply Jesus Christ as Christ is a term of respect and Prophet Muhammad, never merely by name as Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad. In fact, Prophet is not a comprehensive term but the nearest in meaning. In Islam, Prophet Muhammad, for instance, is referred to as Nabi (Bearer of Allah's Message) or Rasulullah (Messenger of Allah). But in the English rendering, also as given in this book, the term prophet is used, namely, Prophet Muhammad.

When the name of Prophet Muhammad is mentioned, Muslims say Sallallahu alaihi wasallam which means Peace be upon him, often abbreviated to PBUH in Islamic literature. This is a salutation made as a mark of respect and love for Prophet Muhammad. The same salutation is accorded to all the other prophets of Islam. In this book, the salutation is omitted. Muslim readers of this book are free to voice the salutation as and when they come across the name of Prophet Muhammad and the names of the other prophets.

Voice of Allah

The voice in the Qur'an (which is in Arabic) is always Allah's (God's). In the Qur'an, Allah speaks directly to Prophet Muhammad, to Muslims, to all believers or to mankind in general. At times, Allah refers to Himself as Allah and He; sometimes as I, and at other times, as We, depending on the aura, tone and situation of the speech He makes. In the Arabic language, We is used in the singular sense by authorities as a mark of politeness, humility and togetherness, hence the term will not look strange to the Arabs; but others, unfamiliar with Arabic, need to know that We is not indicative of a plural pronoun: Allah is One and Only in Islam.

Direct speech

The expression Allah says... is used when quoting from the Qur'an. This approach is used because the entire Qur'an contains Allah's Words. However, only words and verses in the original language, Arabic, are Allah's Words. Those in any language are merely interpretations, as a translation from the original Arabic to any other language is impossible to be rendered with exact meaning.

Sometimes instead of the phrase Allah says..., The Qur'an says... is used. As the whole of the Qur'an contains Allah's Words, both phrases mean the same.

Quotation marks

Some writers of Islamic books nowadays do not insert quotation marks for verses quoted from translation of the Qur'an because of the fact that these words in English are not really the words of the Qur'an. The Qur'an is in Arabic and its verses cannot be fully translated into English or in any other language as it is really impossible to reproduce the full meaning, nuances and beauty of the original verses. However, in this book, the old method is still used and the reader has to be aware of this fact -- that the words quoted in English are not exactly Allah's Words but merely the translations and interpretations.

References

Every chapter of the Qur'an has a name. For example, Chapter 7 of the Qur'an is called A'raf (The Height) but in this book, the name of the chapter is omitted to save space; instead, the chapter number and the verse number are given in the bracket. The chapter number is mentioned first. An example is the verse, (verse 38), taken from Chapter 30 which is called Rum (The Roman Empire). The verse is quoted thus: Allah says: 'Give what is due to kindred, the needy and the wayfarer. That is best for those who seek Allah, and it is they who will prosper. (30:38)

Sometimes readers may find the same Qur'anic references given at different places of the book but the wordings of the verses quoted are not the same. This is not a typing error but because the actual verse in the Qur'an is long and so a part of it is quoted in one section to support certain information and another part of the verse is quoted elsewhere to support another subject matter.

Hadith

The Words of Allah make up the Qur'an, while the words and deeds of Prophet Muhammad are recorded in the Hadith. Like for the quotations from the Qur'an, those from the Hadith have their references. The references for the Hadith are omitted in this book as they are usually lengthy. Instead, the expression The Prophet said: '.....' is used when quoting from the Hadith, a common practice of many Muslim writers.

Malay spelling

Certain words, like Insha-Allah (Allah willing), Isha (the fifth or last prayer of