Allah (God) of the Quran
According
to some lexicons, the word Allah is taken from aalaha, which means to subjugate someone. It also means to seek protection from a
higher being whose loftiness and invisibility surprises one. For others, this word is the combination of al and aalah; with frequent use, the first
hamza is dropped, and the two lams became one.
The name Allah is used for one lofty sovereign person who has created
the entire universe; He is the only one who is capable of giving protection in
troubled times to solve the difficulties.
His greatness and powers fill us with awe and give overwhelming
surprise to human intelligence. In other words, Allah is the sovereign being
whose laws and orders must be obeyed.
The
Eeman, or belief in a superior high being that created the universe, is the
fundamental principle of the Quran. This
concept provokes many questions about Allah.
Who is Allah? What is His relationship with His creation? Why it is necessary to believe in Him? What
are the advantages of believing in Him? What happens when one believes in Allah?
These are very delicate and difficult questions, and humanity has been trying
to answer these questions from the very beginning of civilization.
We
human beings live and think about time and space. In order to think, we must start
from somewhere and end somewhere. But
Allah is the creator of time and space; our finite mind cannot comprehend the
endless and beginningless Allah.
Science and philosophy say that time has no beginning, and space has no
end. It is wrong to say that time starts
at a certain point and space has a certain place where it ends. The Quran knows
the limitations of the human mind and therefore never talks about what
constitutes Allah; only the attributes of Allah are given in the Quran.
With
the help of these attributes, a pure, complete, and matchless image of God
emerges, which leads us to the purpose and aim of human existence. The methods
to attain the aim given by the Quran are also unique and matchless. These attributes and programs are not manmade;
they are given by revelation (wahi); therefore, they provide the best guidance
for humanity. This concept slowly sweeps into our individual and social lives and
reflects what we think about God.
According
to materialism, human life is not different from animal life. An individual is given a limited time to live;
in which one can enjoy life, preserve one’s existence, procreate, and
ultimately die. Death is the end of his
existence. The Quran says that human
life is different from animal life. In a
human being one extra thing exists which is not given to the animals; it is
personality, self, or ego. The Quran
describes it as Nafas or Divine
Energy (32:9), which Allah has given only to human beings.
The
human body changes unceasingly, but the self ( nafas) remains the same. If the self is developed and trained, it
can live after the death of the body and attain immortality. The human self is given in the most
undeveloped form. It is a realizable possibility
or latent potency in a dormant condition. The ultimate goal of human existence is to
actualize the self’s possibilities. With
the exception of a few attributes which are only for Allah, a human self can develop
all the attributes which exist in God. According to the Quran, the self is given by
Allah; it is not a part of His personality. In Hinduism and Sophism self is a part of God,
which will ultimately return to its source as a drop of water goes back to the
ocean.
Allah is the most perfect, complete
personality; it is an indivisible unit with perfect attributes. In the Quran, they are known as asma-ul-husna. In other words, these attributes exist in
perfect harmony with each other and manifest themselves according to the
situation.
The
ultimate aim of human life is to actualize and developed these dormant
possibilities. In order to develop, a
lower self must keep a higher standard in front of it, so that it can be sure
of its development; therefore, it is essential for the human self to keep, as a
standard, the attributes of Allah in front of it. This change in personality is not an
invisible thing; it shows itself in the character.
