Who is God in Islam?

[Hadi]

1. God in Islam is the God of Abraham ,Issac and Jacob.
2. everything describes God in the Torah also describes God in the Quran.
3. There is no “My name is Allah” in the Quran , therefore Allah is not the proper name…

It’s very clear on who God is in Judaism and Islam …but all sorts of confusions comes from Christianity :

Is He 3 Persons or 1 Person…?
Is God simultaneously the three persons or are they distinct from one another ?
Is Jesus God or not …?
When did Jesus become Divine (from eternity, at birth or at baptism) ?
Is it “Mother of God” or “Mother of Christ” ?
Is the Father greater than the Son ?
Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father and the Son or only the father ?

 

[Jay53]

1. There is no “My name is Allah” in the Quran , therefore Allah is not the proper name…

This was what I was referring to with regard to “Allah” being God’s name as opposed to “I AM” which is given as God’s name in the Bible:

Sister Amy: I tend to use Allah as a proper name myself because I read in the Qur’an where Allah names himself as “Allah.” So since “God” revealed a book calling Himself “Allah” but never revealed a book calling Himself “God” I choose to use, for myself at least, what He said. forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=5148805#post5148805

and

Sister Amy: Sometimes it is. But there are some opinions in Islam that Allah is in fact a proper name, unique that cannot be made feminine or plural, whereas the word “god” can be, and isn’t necessarily proper. Besides, proper names aren’t typically translated, are they? Only sometimes. Is “God” a proper name? forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=5148825#post5148825

 

[Reuben_J]

Sister Amy suggested that Exodus might be corrupted, but she’s not sure and has no proof, so I’m just confused as to why God’s name as given to Moses does not appear in the Quran, at least in some form, so as to confirm that it is from God. (Unless it obviously is not )

Exodus 3
13Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”

14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.’”

15God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you ’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.

Thanks for the scriptural verses.

Yes, it cannot be any clearer. God called himself “I AM” and that is what he wanted to be known.

As I said, either way, the Quran totally missed this. We can only assume but perhaps it was because it thought that “I AM” was merely the beginning of a sentence. Mohammad was a joker. He could not have read Exodus because if he did he would have found out that God wanted to be known as “I AM”. The Quran is utterly deficient on this.

 

[GraceDK]

So let me get this straight…In Islam, God is the One, Eternal, Absolute Creator and Sustainer of all things? That is who God is?

So God is His attributes? He is, in His Essense, the Creator and the Sustainer, both of which are His attributes?

But according to Islam, that’s not true, because the attributes (names) of God are different from the Essence of God. So the attributes of God cannot be the Essence of God.

Once again, I ask, who is God is Islam?

Scripture tells us: “God is Spirit”.

The god of Islam is the spirit who authored the Koran and who sent the prophet Muhammad. Who did Muhammad speak to? That god makes himself known through his revelation, just as the Judeo-Christian God makes Himself known through His Revelation in Old and New Testament, the two Covenants, and as fulfilment, Christ Jesus who is God incarnated.

Islams god is the spirit who spoke to Muhammad. That spirit said that Jesus is not the Son of God, that Israel is not chosen people, and that Christians are cursed and will go to hell, that there was no crucifixion and no atonement, and it even makes OT-justice-law look lenient.

I am not sure of the identity of that spirit. But I know I cannot say that we worship the same god and at the same time be a logical and serious Christian.

If we do not identify a spirit/god through his revelation, then we have no means of identification and we end up in universalism and relativism.

 

[GraceDK]

allah is derived from **al_ilah **which means The_God

when arabs says allah , they actually refere to significant God , the unseen one who created the universe and who created them , not those other Gods whom they worshipped as idoles to bring them near to unseen one who have no image and no statue , this one who was known by the name al_ilah or allah

allah isn’t a name , if you asked about the meaning of allah , you will find out that it means “the_ God”
so that we say
“there is no god but " the God " .

Hey Elwill

I understand this and do not disagree with the concept. However, God is defined by severel traits, not only that he is one, but also
“unchangeability” that is, he does not first inspire a sura and then deletes it later according. This would be contrary to his nature, which is one reason why I believe the True God never wrote any sura at all and is not the author of the Koran.
“love” and a radical love that is… one that demands self-giving and faithfulness… eg. in marriage where there is ONE man and ONE woman who give themselves as a gift to the other freely, fully and without reservation till death do them part. No polygami, no concubines, and no sex with children because this is contrary to the love and holiness of God. The Bible says : GOD IS LOVE. We are called to imitate Him.
Other traits:
“absolute truth”
“perfect justice”
“holiness” I also find the Koran contradicts this, when allah commands his followers to cut off hands and feet of human beings whom he created in his image and likeness according to Judeo-Christian revelation.
“creator”
“unconditional love”… that is, he loves the sinners and the just alike. This is also difference from islam where allah only loves those who follow the rules of islam.
The Bible says: “God showed His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, He died for us.”

Anyone can say: “I am the ONE, follow me”. But you need to test if he has the divine truth, love, compassion… indeed let everything be tested by the measure of LOVE. That is why I choose Christ.

Peace be on you and your family.

 

[a_slave_of_God]

We know that as Christians, God is Love (1 John 4:8). God remains wholly beyond human comprehension and knowledge. Love is the closest human word we can use to describe God’s nature.

Yes, Allah is Above what we think and imagine

As the Moslem posters have pointed out, they associate Allah with his names. The names they give are the “99 names of Allah.” However, the term “names” is misleading because these are not actual names, but they are adjective which describe Allah. Indeed the word used for names in the Arabic is “Sifat,” which literally means “adjectives.”

The Names of Allah are meaningful, each Name indicates a Quality and there are some Names that are mentioned together, so they should always be together as He mentioned them so.

If we look at the 99 “names” of Allah, it becomes very apparent that some of these names are potentially and indeed, ARE contradictory. For instance, #24 is “the honorer” (al-Mu’izz) and #25 is “the disgracer” (al-mudhill). There are more examples of such. In addition, you will also notice that these names are merely descriptions of Allah- they talk ABOUT his nature, but they do not say what his nature IS.

I briefly touched on it above- How can contradictory descriptions about the same being exist in his names? The answer is simple, and can be found in the Koran at 14:27 (I believe this is the passage): Verily Allah does what he wills.

This is the essence and problem of Allah- that Allah does what he wills, when he wills it, for the mere fact that it’s his will. The Koran is clear about this- Allah can do whatever he wants for anything because it’s his choice.

Thus in Islam, while something is known about Allah through the “names,” Allah’s true nature is what he wills, thus making Allah a god of will.

Allah is The Light who Honer His slaves, and Fire His enemies.

So, Indeed, the Names of Allah are Very Consistent.

1. inna batcha Rabbica lashadeed
2. innahu whoua yubdi’u wa yu’eed
3. wahuwa algafouru alwadood
4. thu alarshi almajeed
5. fa’aalun limaa yureed
6. hal ataka hadeethul junood
7. fir’aun wa thamud
8. balil latheena kafaru fe taktheeb
9. wallahu min wara’ehim muheet
10. bal huwa quranun majeed
11. fe lawhin mahfooz.

means:

1. Verily, the Grip (Punishment) of your Lord is severe.
2. Verily, He it is Who begins and repeats (originates the creation of everything, and then repeats it on the Day of Resurrection).
3. And He is The Oft-Forgiving, The Loving
4. Owner of the Throne, the Glorious
5. Doing what He wills Perfectly.
6. Has the story reached you of the hosts,
7. Of Fir’aun (Pharaoh) and Thamûd?
8. Nay! The disbelievers (persisted) in denying (Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and his Message of Islâmic Monotheism).
9. And Allâh encompasses them from behind! (i.e. all their deeds are within His Knowledge, and He will requite them for their deeds).
10. Nay! This is a Glorious Qur’ân,
11. (Inscribed) in Al-Lauh Al-Mahfûz (The Preserved Tablet)!

 

[a_slave_of_God]

No this is not one of the Divine Names according to Islam.

To understand it as a positive name, in the manner you are suggesting here, is on an Islamic reading, inaccurate. Reading the story, God’s answer to Moses (pbuh) seems to be, I am what I am…who are you to ask me for a name…You think I can be named? It is a way of telling the reader that they misunderstand the purpose of the “name” if they think it somehow names God.

What Judaism does with this is brilliant. How do you speak of what is beyond our knowledge and thus beyond every name. You (anti-)name it and never speak it. You make a mark that deflects speech and knowledge at the very instant where you crave it above all else.

I am not claiming exhaustive knowledge of Judaism here. But I do know for instance that Maimonides treats the import of the tetragrammaton as entirely negative: it is a way of resisting naming God, because God cannot be named. The tetragrammaton is largely absent in a major twentieth century Jewish thinker like Rosenzweig (I can’t remember an instance of it in The Star, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there, but if it is, the idea doesn’t play much of a role one way or the other) … and Levinas again, not surprisingly, uses it as a negative non-naming: a way of gesturing at the transcendence and unknowability of the divine essence.

(You can see a different tradition in Buber who uses the Tetragrammaton to emphasize that God is always near; but in order to do this Buber has to attack the Jewish tradition of not pronouncing the “name”. I am sure there probably are precedents for Buber’s interpretation. But I have no idea what they are. I take his read to be a departure from the mainstream of the Jewish intellectual tradition on this point…Rosenzweig snarkily refers to Buber’s early work as “Atheistic Theology”).

Hi dear Hypatia,

I disagree with you my brother/sister on something here

Actually, When God name Himself, He doesn’t limit Himself, because it is He who named Himself, not us.

His names are known through His revelations, not through our assumption, thus it is beyond our comperhension.

Our mind is as the glass, the knowledge about God is as the sea

You can never hold in a glass,
the whole sea. How can that fit in?

and because of the Greatness of God
He is Above what you think and imagine.

the glass hold some water, but not the whole sea of course, so we understand very little about the The Peace, but we don’t comperhend the Peace.

we understand very little about the The Truth, but we don’t comperhend the Truth.

You can read also: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?p=4992367#post4992367

To be continued…

 

[Muslim_Woman]

In the name of Allah , Most Gracious, Most Merciful

…

Is God’s name as given to Moses (“I AM”) in the Quran?

related link : Allah… God of Monotheism

Emanual - United States

08/May/2003

Does Islam teach that Allah is Jehovah, God of the Old Testament in the Bible?

Shahul Hameed : …Jews believe that the whole universe is the creation of One God called Jehovah. Christians - unless they are misguided - also believe that there is only One God, Who is the Creator of the universe. As for Muslims, they too believe that there is only one God. From this, we may conclude that all these three religions should be believing in the same One God, Who is the Creator of existence.

… The Jewish idea of the One Creator-God is greatly undermined by the Christian teaching of three persons in one God – Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. This is despite the fact that Jesus did not teach this.

In fact, basically Christians ought to accept the Shema of the Children of Israel:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.” (Deuteronomy 6: 4)

This is reiterated by Jesus Christ:

“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord.” (Mark 12: 29)

One important point to understand about Islam is that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) never claimed that he was teaching a new religion. He said that his mission was to restore the original and true religion of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and all other prophets (peace be upon them all).

The Holy Qur’an, which is the guidance of God revealed to Muhammad (pbuh) emphatically says, God is One and One Only. And what is more, it emphasizes that the Muslim is a person who believes in all the Books of God and in all His prophets. This is clearly stated in Surah 2, verse 136:

*{Say: “We believe in God, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in [the Books] given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord: We make no distinction between one and another among them, and to God do we bow our will [in Islam].”}*

From the foregoing, the following points become clear:

The God of the Qur’an is the same as the God of the Torah and the Gospel. Muhammad (pbuh) taught the same religion taught by all the prophets of God, including Abraham, Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all).

It is important to realize that Islam does not mean “Mohammedanism” as some Orientalists want us to believe. It is - to put in simple terms: Submission to the will of the Almighty. We remember what Jesus is reported to have said, when he was about to be arrested by the Roman soldiers:

“And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26: 39)

What Jesus does here is declaring his submission to God’s will, which exactly is Islam. Also, it is clearly said that when he prayed, he fell on his face. This means he did sujood (prostration), as the Muslims do in prayer. This is the humblest form of physical submission, praying with the forehead placed on the ground.

Thus we may say that Jesus was a Muslim, that is one who submitted to Jehovah, to God Almighty or as the present day Muslims knom Him, as Allah - May He be Glorified and Exalted!

And Allah knows best.

Useful Links:

Allah in Pre-Islamic History

He… a Pronoun of Divine Entity?

God… or Allah??

readingislam.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-AAbout_Islam/AskAboutIslamE/AskAboutIslamE&cid=1123996016008