Who is Allah?
Who is Allah?
The name “Allah” (الله) means, “The One worthy of worship; the One worshipped in Truth.” A simple way to summarize why Allah is the only one worthy of worship is because He alone is perfect in every way and He alone is free from every deficiency. This not only emphasizes why Allah is worthy of worship (i.e. He is perfect), but also expresses why anything else is not (i.e. they are deficient). We can more closely analyze this by focusing on three aspects:
Allah alone is perfect in every way.
Allah alone is free from any deficiency.
There is nothing else like Allah.
1. Allah is Perfect in Every Way
Allah has communicated with us through His book (the Qur’an) and the teachings of His Messenger, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (the Sunnah). These two sources include all the information we need to know in this life. Of the best ways to get to know Allah is to learn about His names and attributes which are mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ encouraged us to learn about Allah’s names, saying:
لِلهِ تِسْعَةٌ وَتِسْعُونَ اسْمًا مَنْ حَفِظَهَا دَخَلَ الْجَنَّةَ
“Allah has ninety-nine names. Whoever preserves them (i.e. knows them and lives accordingly) will enter Paradise.” [Muslim 2677]
It’s important to note that this hadith does not mean Allah is limited to only 99 names, but rather it informs us of the reward for those who preserve the 99 this hadith is referring to. Allah has more names that He did not inform us of, as the Prophet ﷺ mentions in a hadith where he’s supplicating to Allah saying, “…I ask You by every name belonging to You which You have named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the Unseen with You…” and therefore we cannot limit His names to a particular number. The following are some of Allah’s names with their meanings:
Al-Hayy (الحي): The Ever-Living
Al-’Aleem (العليم): The All-Knowing
Al-Qadeer (القدير): The All-Capable
Al-Khaaliq (الخالق): The Creator
Al-Hakeem (الحكيم): The All-Wise
Ar-Razzaaq (الرزاق): The Provider
Ar-Rahmaan (الرحمن): The Most Merciful
2. Allah is Free from Every Deficiency
Just as Allah affirms that He is absolutely perfect in every way, He also negates having any deficiencies. This emphasizes His perfection and further singles Him out as the only One that is perfect, since the rest of creation do have deficiencies. For example, Allah has declared Himself free from things like death, fatigue, sleep, ignorance, forgetfulness, and incapability, which are all attributes of creatures like human beings.
3. There’s Nothing Else Like Allah
Lastly, the type of perfection Allah has includes the fact that there is nothing else like Him. He alone is perfect in every way, while nothing else is. He alone is free from every deficiency, while nothing else is. Hence, One of His perfect names is “Al-Ahad” (الأحد) meaning, “The One”. He cannot be compared to His creation or anything else because there is nothing else like Him and He is far exalted above them in every way. Allah says,
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِۦ شَىْءٌۭ
”There is nothing like Him” [42:11]وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ
"And there is nothing comparable to Him." [112:4]
Thus we can conclude that Allah’s perfection and the fact that He alone is perfect in every way and free from every deficiency means that He has supreme power over everything that exists and nothing else has power over Him. All of this attests to the fact that He alone is worthy of worship and worshipping Him alone is the most important obligation He commanded us with.
For more on Allah’s Names & Attributes, take the following course: https://courses.ilmstitute.com/courses/allahs-names
