THE ISLAMIC FAITH
In the Name of God, the Lord of Grace, the Ever Merciful
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 Islam is the religion of all prophets and the true and everlasting religion.
Chapter 2 Interpretation of Islam: What is in God’s book may be interpreted only through the Sunnah, the understanding of the Prophet’s companions and analogy with these.
Chapter 3 The right owed to God by His servants: Unbelievers incur punishment in hell but this does not negate granting them benefits in this life.
Chapter 4 Faith, disbelief and hypocrisy: Which property enjoys sanctity? – Who is considered unbeliever? – The status of ignorant people whether deliberately or by inability.
Chapter 5 The nature of faith: What is faith? – Faith may increase or decrease. – What proves it and who has excuses.
Chapter 6 God’s names and attributes: Their confirmation or negation. – God’s will. – Are His attributes comparable with those of others?
Chapter 7 God’s words and the Qur’an: The Qur’an is His word, whether spoken or written. – The ruling regarding anyone who claims that it is a creature.
Chapter 8 The nature of religious truth: The relation between religious text and reason.
Chapter 9 God’s legislation for religion and life: Both are the same. – God’s law is suited for all generations. – Deduction of rulings is only in cases where no religious text applies.
Chapter 10 God’s determination of destiny: His will and cause and effect.
Chapter 11 The inevitability of death: Resurrection, reckoning, reward and punishment, and other matters related to the life to come.
Chapter 12 The Muslim community: Its leader and the obedience due to him. – Conditions of his authority and the ruling regarding rebellion. – What is due to him from his people and the place of scholars.
Chapter 13 Jihad: Its types and conditions. – Intention and obedience of the leader of the Muslim community.
Chapter 14 The status of the Prophet’s companions and their distinction: The best of them and the consequences of speaking ill of them. – How to regard their disagreements.
Chapter 15 Who may be ruled as unbeliever and on what basis: The claim that a particular person will be in heaven or hell.
Chapter 16 Servitude and the nature and extent of freedom.
PREFACE
All praise is due to God who has bestowed this book from on high on His servant, and has ensured that it remains free of distortion, unerringly straight, meant to warn people of a severe punishment from Himself, and to give the believers who do good works the happy news that they shall have a goodly reward which continues to be theirs forever. Furthermore, it warns those who assert, ‘God has taken to Himself a son.’ No knowledge whatever have they of Him, and neither had their forefathers. Dreadful indeed is this saying that issues from their mouths. Nothing but falsehood do they utter. (The Qur’an: 18: 1-5) Our Lord, bestow peace and blessings on Prophet Muhammad and his wives the Mothers of Believers, his offspring and members of his household as you had bestowed peace and blessings on Abraham and his household. You are indeed worthy of all praise, infinite in Your glory.
This book is a short outline of the Islamic faith as held by the Sunni Muslim community. The author dedicates this work to the people of Syria – may God put an end to their distress – and to Muslims in general. He gives this outline guided by the Qur’an and the Prophet’s sunnah, as well as the faith expounded by the early Muslims, i.e. the Prophet’s companions and the generation of tabi‘in who succeeded them. As the author has an excellent command of Arabic, the book benefits by clarity of expression enabling the reader to easily comprehend the true Islamic faith.
The true faith is the foundation of good action that benefits the one who does it in this present life and in the life to come. It is also the starting point from which the world Muslim community may reclaim its leading position in the world which it deserves. It is only natural, therefore, that scholars should dedicate themselves to explaining and clarifying the true faith. In doing so, they also point out what is in conflict with it, or mars its beauty, of word and deed.
We pray to God to benefit our Muslim brethren by this book and to reward its author, translators, publishers and those who have helped to produce it. May they benefit by this reward when they meet their Lord on the Day of Judgement.
All praise is due to God, the Lord of all the worlds
Osoul Center
INTRODUCTION
Praise be to God who deserves all praise. Every good thing comes from Him and to Him all thanks are due. I bear witness that there is no deity other than Him: Nothing is equal or comparable to Him and He has no partners. I also bear witness that Muhammad is God’s servant and messenger. Peace and God’s blessings be upon him, members of his household and his companions.
This is a brief presentation of the Islamic faith. I would like to address in particular the people of Syria as they strive to regain their country and homeland after it has been colonised for nearly a century, first by Christians then by sects that adopt esoteric beliefs. As a result, deviation and alteration has occurred in many fundamental and secondary aspects of Islam.
A number of people from Syria and elsewhere have asked me to write for them the answers to the questions that everyone will be asked on the Day of Judgement in relation to what is due to God from His servants. This is the essence of what God commanded Noah and all of the prophets that succeeded him, and took its final form with the message of Islam delivered to the unlettered Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). ‘In matters of faith, He has ordained for you the same as He had enjoined on Noah – that which We have revealed to you [Muhammad] – and as We enjoined on Abraham, Moses and Jesus: “Steadfastly uphold the faith and do not divide into factions”’. (42: 13)
With the increase of desires and gains to be coveted, leanings diverged and this led to a variety of views being put forward, which in turn led to the emergence of various groups and sects. In addition, knowledge of Arabic weakened among Arabs and other communities and it became easier to convince people of some outlandish interpretations and to raise doubts about certain beliefs. As a result it became easier to justify these beliefs on the basis of wrong interpretations of Qur’anic verses and statements by the Prophet. If this was easy to achieve by various groups in the first century of Islam and in subsequent centuries, it is all the easier for those who came later, provided that desire and doubt exist. In fact, a doubt begins as a desire leading to the expression of doubt before it becomes a trend to be followed. People then accept it blindly without knowing its origin. God says: ‘Why is it that every time a messenger comes to you with a message that does not suit your fancies, you glory in your arrogance, charging some
12 The Islamic Faith
(messengers) with lying and slaying others?’ (2: 87) He talks in the beginning of
people’s fancies, leading to an arrogance that later becomes disbelief and enmity.
This is how deviant trends and ideas start in any community.
God revealed the truth and right guidance to His messenger, Muhammad
(peace be upon him). Whoever wants guidance in its pure form must take it
from its origins, without any addition of the ideas of people that may detract
from this purity. Revelation may be likened to water and people’s minds like
containers. God sent down His revelation and put it in the Prophet’s heart. The
Prophet passed it on to his companions and they gave it to their successors,
the tabi[in. But as revelation is passed from one stage to the next it becomes
less pure. The best and purest containers were the first ones: the Prophet, then
his companions. Muslim relates in his Sahih anthology of hadiths: ‘Abu Musa
reports that the Prophet said: “I am a safeguard for my companions: when I am
gone, my companions will face what is in store for them. My companions are
safeguards for my community: when they are gone, my community will face
what is in store for it”’.
Faith may only be taken from God’s revelations in His book, the Qur’an, and
the Prophet’s Sunnah: ‘It is He who has sent to the unlettered people a messenger
from among themselves to declare to them His revelations, to purify
them and to instruct them in the Book and in wisdom’. (62: 2) Any religious
knowledge that does not come from these two sources is ignorance.
The most accurate understanding of God’s revelations is that of the Prophet’s
companions. We shall mention what His revelations impart and what was understood
by the Prophet’s companions and agreed by their generation, the best
of all generations.
CHAPTER ONE
Islam1 is the only divine faith. God does not accept anything else from any one of His servants, be they human or jinn. He says: ‘He who seeks a religion other than self-surrender to God, it will not be accepted from him’. (3: 85) ‘The only true faith acceptable to God is [man’s] self-surrender to Him’. (3: 19)
Islam is the faith preached by all prophets. God says: ‘Before your time We never sent a messenger without having revealed to him that there is no deity other than Me. Therefore, you shall worship Me alone’. (21: 25) ‘We have sent revelations to you just as We sent revelations to Noah and the prophets after him; as We sent revelations to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron and Solomon, and as We vouchsafed to David a Book of divine wisdom, and as [We inspired other] messengers whom We have mentioned to you previously, as well as other messengers whom We have not mentioned to you. And God has spoken His word directly to Moses. [These] were messengers sent to bring good news and to give warning, so that people may have no argument against God once these messengers [had come]. God is almighty, wise’. (4: 163–5) In another surah God mentions by name the following prophets: Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Zachariah, John, Jesus, Elijah, Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah and Lot. He then says: ‘Those are the ones whom God has guided. Follow, then, their guidance’. (6: 90)
The religions of all prophets are the same in their fundamental concepts and principles, but they vary in some details, but not all. So, details may be different but the fundamentals are the same. Both Moses and Jesus were sent with divine messages to the Children of Israel. As God gave the Gospel to Jesus as His message, He abrogated some of the rules that were in the Torah revealed to Moses. Defining his message, Jesus said to his people: ‘And [I have come] to confirm that which has already been sent down of the Torah and to make lawful to you some of the things which were forbidden you. I have come to you with a sign from your Lord; so remain conscious of God and obey me’. (3: 50) Both prophets, Moses and Jesus, were sent to the same community yet some of the details of their messages differed. All the more reason that other messages may have differences in detail as well.
1 The linguistic meaning of Islam is ‘self-surrender, submission, etc.’
14 The Islamic Faith
Every divine law suffered distortion and alteration. God says: ‘There are some
among them who twist their tongues when quoting the Scriptures, so that you
may think that [what they say] is from the Scriptures when it is not from the
Scriptures. They say: “It is from God”, when it is not from God. Thus, they deliberately
say of God what they know to be a lie’. (3: 78) ‘They take (revealed)
words out of their context’. (4: 46)
Thus people could not know the truth as God revealed it. The proper way to
correct the situation was to send a new prophet. Hence, God re-established
His true faith with the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him). This
meant that there is no true self-surrender to God and no true faith except that
of Prophet Muhammad: ‘He who seeks a religion other than self-surrender to
God, it will not be accepted from him, and in the life to come he will be among
the lost’. (3: 85)
God gave His message to all communities: Arabs and non-Arabs; human and
jinn: ‘We have sent you to all mankind so that you bring them good news and
give them warning’. (34: 28) In an authentic hadith, Abu Hurayrah reports
that the Prophet said: ‘By Him who holds Muhammad’s soul in His hand, any
human being, Jew or Christian, who hears of me but dies without believing in
that with which I have been sent shall be among the people of the Fire’.2 God
has guaranteed to keep the Qur’an safe from distortion and alteration. He says:
‘It is We Ourselves who have bestowed this reminder from on high, and it is
We who shall preserve it intact’. (15: 9)
2 Related by Muslim, 153.
CHAPTER TWO
No one may interpret Islam and how God wants it to be except God Himself, in his book, the Qur’an, and in the Sunnah of the Prophet. No human being has a higher status than God’s Prophet, yet he only delivers what God reveals to him. God says: ‘Messenger, proclaim what has been revealed to you by your Lord’. (5: 67) As he delivers his message, the Prophet also has to explain it and make it clear, as God says: ‘The Messenger is not bound to do more than clearly deliver his message’. (24: 54) The explanation and clarification also comes from God as He says in reference to the Qur’an: ‘When We recite it, follow its recitation. Then it will be for Us to make its meaning clear’. (75: 18–19)
The Sunnah is revelation from God to His messenger: ‘He does not speak out of his own fancy. That [which he delivers to you] is nothing less than a revelation sent down to him’. (53: 3–4) When a question was put to the Prophet he would respond if the answer had been revealed to him. Otherwise, he would wait for the answer in new revelation.
The people who were closest to understanding what the Prophet said were his companions and their understanding of the Qur’an is clear evidence. Other than God, whoever says that anyone has the authority to state what is permissible or forbidden in religion claims a partnership with God in His rulings. This is blatant disbelief in God and an act of associating partners with Him. There is no disagreement among scholars on this.
When God revealed His book, His words carry meanings that He wanted to convey. The meanings He intended are explained only by Him and whoever of His creation is permitted to do so. A scholar who studies the Qur’an may deduce its meanings, provided he observes two conditions:
1.
He sticks to the Arabic language and its grammar.
2.
He does not contradict a clear meaning that is already established in the Qur’an.
Not everything that is attributed to God actually comes from Him. Followers of earlier divine messages went astray when they made arbitrary deductions, twisting what is definitive in order to contradict what is equivocal. God says of
16 The Islamic Faith
them: ‘There are some among them who twist their tongues when quoting the
Scriptures, so that you may think that [what they say] is from the Scriptures,
when it is not from the Scriptures. They say: “It is from God”, when it is not
from God. Thus, they deliberately say of God what they know to be a lie’. (3:
78) Thus, they twisted the words when quoting ‘the Scriptures’ and their aim
was to make you ‘think that [what they say] is from the Scriptures’ because it
is very close to it. They did this with a definite aim to lead people astray.
CHAPTER THREE
It is God’s right to be the only one offered all types of worship. He says: ‘Your God is the One God: there is no deity but He, the Lord of Grace, the Ever Merciful’. (2: 163) It is His right that no one else should be associated with Him in any act of worship, whether mental, verbal or physical. He says: ‘Worship God alone and do not associate any partners with Him’. (4: 36)
Associating partners with God obliterates every good action a human being does. God says to the Prophet: ‘It has been revealed to you, and to those before you, that if you ever associate partners with God all your works shall certainly come to nothing and you shall certainly be among the lost’. (39: 65) These are God’s words to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and they certainly apply to everyone else.
God does not forgive the association of partners with Him unless one genuinely repents: ‘For a certainty God does not forgive that partners are associated with Him. He forgives any lesser sin to whomever He wills’. (4: 48) ‘Those who disbelieve and bar others from the path of God, and in the end die unbelievers, shall not be granted forgiveness by God’. (47: 34)
Whoever dies an unbeliever will be in the Fire. God says: ‘Whoever of you renounces his faith and dies an unbeliever, his works shall come to nothing in this world and in the world to come. Such people are destined for hell, wherein they shall abide’. (2: 217) ‘Those who reject the faith and die unbelievers shall incur the curse of God, the angels and all mankind’. (2: 161)
An unbeliever may bring benefit to people during his life, which is something God enables him to do as He brings about all types of benefit to His creation. He makes the sun, the moon, winds, clouds, etc. yield their benefit, which is greater, to mankind. To disbelieve is to reject God, not nature; and God’s punishment of an unbeliever is for denying God His rights, not denying the rights of nature.
CHAPTER FOUR
Belief and disbelief are cases that are determined by God alone. No one may be called an unbeliever without clear evidence from God. In their life on earth people are divided into two categories: believers and unbelievers. God says: ‘It is He who has created you, yet some of you are unbelievers and some do believe’. (64: 2) Rulings that apply to them are those which God has revealed in His book, the Qur’an, and in the Prophet’s Sunnah.
A hypocrite is treated according to what he does and says in public, which means that he is treated like the rest of Muslims and what they do and say. Hypocrites are of two types:
1.
Unbelievers who harbour disbelief but pretend to believe. Thus, a hypocrite may pretend to believe in God, His messenger and book while in reality he denies them all. This is the worst type of hypocrisy.
2.
Muslims who pretend to obey God but secretly intend to disobey Him. An example is a person who pretends to be true to his pledges but secretly resolves to break them. He may pretend to speak the truth but entertains the opposite thoughts and opinions, which is the lesser type of hypocrisy.
The basic rule is that the life and property of a believer are protected and unlawful to anyone. With regard to an unbeliever, they have no such protection. However, this does not apply universally and to all. An unbeliever may have protection because of his pledges or his promise of security and loyalty. On the other hand, a believer may be killed for an offence he commits, such as murdering someone or adultery when he is married.
No one is to be considered an unbeliever except those whom God and His messenger pronounced as such. For example:
-
A person who denies God or His messenger (peace be upon him).
-
A person who ridicules either God or His messenger. God says: ‘Should you question them, they will say: “We have only been indulging in idle talk and jesting.” Say: “Was it, then, at God, His revelations and His Messenger that you have been mocking? Make no excuses. You have disbelieved after you have professed to be believers.” Though We may pardon some of you, We shall punish others, on account of their being guilty’. (9: 65–6)
-
A person who in all arrogance refuses to submit to God and His messenger.
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- A person who denies a definitive Islamic ruling.
- One who invents a falsehood and attributes it to God. God says: ‘It is only
those who do not believe in God’s revelations that invent falsehood. It is they
indeed who are liars’. (16: 105) ‘Who commits a greater injustice than one
who invents lies against God or denies the truth when it reaches him? Is not
hell the proper abode for the unbelievers?’ (29: 68) As used in this verse, and
similar ones, injustice is synonymous with disbelief.
- One who offers worship to anyone other than God. He says: ‘He that invokes
besides God any other deity – a deity for whose existence he has no evidence
– shall be brought to account before his Lord. Most certainly, the unbelievers
shall never be successful’. (23: 117) This is applicable whether his worship
is completely addressed to any being other than God or he considers those
to whom he addresses his worship intermediaries between him and God.
God says: ‘They worship side by side with God what can neither harm nor
benefit them, and say: “These will intercede for us with God.” Say: “Do you
presume to inform God of something in the heavens or on earth that He does
not know? Limitless is He in His glory and exalted above whatever they
may associate with Him”’. (10: 18)
- One who ascribes to others than God what belongs to God alone, such as
God’s right to legislate and rule. Such a person may describe without authority
things as permissible or forbidden. The issuance of legislation and giving
rulings are called by God as acts of worship. God says: ‘All judgement rests
with God alone. He has ordained that you should worship none but Him’.
(12: 40)
- One who claims that anyone other than God has knowledge of what belongs
to ghayb, i.e. what lies beyond the reach of creatures’ perception, such as
those who practise magic or astrology. God says: ‘None in the heavens or
earth knows what is hidden except God’. (27: 65)
- One who claims that anyone other than God has the power to create or control
the universe, or cause life or death. God says: ‘Do they assign to God
partners that have created the like of His creation, so that both creations
appear to them to be similar? Say: “God is the Creator of all things. He is the
One who has power over all things”’. (13: 16)
- The same applies to anyone who takes unbelievers as allies instead of believers,
and addresses his love and support to them. God says: ‘Whoever of you
allies himself with them is indeed one of them’. (5: 51)
Whoever is able to know and understand Islam but chooses to disregard it and
turn away from it is an unbeliever, even though he is really unaware of it. The
The Islamic Faith 21
fact is that his ignorance of Islam is easy for him to remove. Therefore, God
says in description of unbelievers: ‘But nay, most of them do not know the
truth, and so they stubbornly turn away’. (21: 24) The verse clearly mentions
that they are ignorant, even though by choice. He also says: ‘Yet the unbelievers
ignore the warnings they have been given’. (46: 3) If a person remains
ignorant of the details of the truth because he turned away when it was presented,
this cannot be an excuse. In fact it is the reason that most people go astray.
They learn some of it then turn away, unwilling to learn its details.
Most unbelievers pay little heed to proofs that are in the universe around them
and in religious sources. God says: ‘Yet many are the signs in the heavens and
the earth which they pass by, paying no heed to them’. (12: 105) ‘Nay, We
have given them all that brings them glory. Yet from this their glory they turn
away’. (23: 71) Turning away from learning the whole when one knows a part
does not remove people’s rights in their dealings with one another. How can it
remove God’s rights?
If we do not contemplate God’s signs when we see them we are bound to miss
their purpose. The quicker we turn away the more we miss. Thus we do not
benefit by them even though the proof they provide is clear and powerful, and
observed every day: ‘We have set up the sky as a well-secured canopy. Yet they
stubbornly turn away from all its signs’. (21: 32)
When man thinks that his turning away from the details of the truth and putting
them behind him exempts him from what they entail, he is grossly mistaken.
Turning away from the truth is motivated either by arrogance or by one’s
preference for play and pleasure. Hence, when he faces catastrophes and his
pleasure is lost, he may realise the truth and revert to it.
CHAPTER FIVE
Taken together, words, action and belief constitute faith. Maghrib prayer consists of three rak[ahs and if one is not included, the prayer is not Maghrib. By the same token if any of the three elements: words, action and belief is lacking, the condition is not called faith.
The truth of these three constituents; words, action and belief, which when one is missing faith is missing, is a unique aspect of the religion advocated by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). What is meant by ‘belief’ is not merely to love what is good for all people and to be free of hatred. This is something that most people would prefer, even though they may not believe in the Creator. What is meant by ‘belief’ in this context is what the mind says and does. What the mind should say is that it believes there is no deity other than God and that Muhammad is God’s messenger, and that what Prophet Muhammad told us from his Lord is the truth. The mind’s action is the love of God, His messenger and Islam. It also includes loving what God and His messenger love and to be sincere in one’s worship of God.
The ‘words’ constituent of faith is not limited to what is generally accepted as ‘good words’, such as telling the truth, speaking kindly to one’s parents, greeting people, showing the way to anyone who is lost, etc. These are matters that everyone loves, including unbelievers who deny God’s existence. What is meant by ‘words’ are those words that are special to Muhammad’s message. The most important of these are the declaration of God’s oneness and that Muhammad is His messenger, and glorification of God.
Nor is the ‘action’ constituent limited to general ‘good actions’, such as dutifulness to one’s parents, removing harmful objects from people’s way, feeding the poor and needy, supporting those suffering injustice, being hospitable to one’s guests, and so on. Again, people love such actions regardless of whether they are believers or not. What is meant here is the sort of action that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) particularly outlined, such as prayer, zakat, fasting, the pilgrimage, etc.
Good actions, that all divine messages and human nature have outlined, such as to love what is good for all people, speaking the truth, dutifulness to parents,
The Islamic Faith 24
feeding the poor, removing harmful objects from people’s way, etc. increase
faith when they are offered for God’s sake. However, their absence does not
negate faith in the same way as practising them does not mean that the person
doing them is a believer. All they prove is that the one who does them enjoys
an upright nature. The nature that God equipped people with remains the same,
close to accepting the truth: ‘Set your face steadily towards the true faith, turning
away from all that is false, in accordance with the natural disposition which
God has installed into man. Nothing can change God’s creation’. (30: 30)
Faith may increase or decrease and may be removed altogether. It is increased
by practising what the religion prescribes and recommends and it is decreased
by committing sin. It is not removed except by disbelief and associating partners
with God. He says: ‘True believers are only those whose hearts are filled
with awe whenever God is mentioned, and whose faith is strengthened whenever
His revelations are recited to them’. (8: 2) ‘The believers may grow yet
more firm in their faith’. (74: 31) ‘It is He who sent down tranquillity into the
hearts of the believers, so that they may grow more firm in their faith’. (48: 4)
No one’s belief is confirmed after one has been unbeliever except by:
- Belief, which combines the mind’s word and acceptance of the divine message
with the mind’s action, which is to love God and His messenger and to
love what God and His messenger love;
- Declaration by word of mouth; and
- Physical action.
Whoever mentally accepts the faith and is able to make the verbal declaration
but does not do so is not a believer. Similarly, a person who mentally accepts
the faith and utters the verbal declaration and is able to do the actions that are
peculiar to the Islamic faith but does not do them is also not a believer.
On the other hand, whoever wants to utter the declaration, or to do the action,
but is unable to accomplish his purpose falls under what God says: ‘God does
not charge a soul with more than it can bear’. (2: 286) ‘God does not burden
anyone with more than He has given them’. (65: 7)
If a Muslim does something that annuls his faith, whether verbal, physical or
mental, his faith is totally annulled. As we have said, words, action and belief
together constitute faith and are compared to the three rak[ahs of Maghrib. If a
worshipper does something that invalidates his prayer in one rak[ah the whole
prayer is invalidated, even though he might have prayed the other rak[ahs well,
without anything to invalidate them. This does not contradict what we have
The Islamic Faith 25
said that faith increases with offering more of what Islam requires and decreases
with committing sinful actions, be they less or more serious. Likewise, the
fact that all of a prayer is rendered invalid by doing one thing that is contrary to
it does not contradict that it is greater and better when more of its good action
is done, such as longer recitation of the Qur’an, stillness and glorification of
God. It is a lesser prayer, but not invalid, if one does what is discouraged, such
as looking to the sky during prayer or stretching one’s arms on the floor when
entering the prostration position, like dogs do. Nothing invalidates faith except
what God has stated, in the same way that nothing invalidates prayer except
what God has defined.
CHAPTER SIX
God has beautiful names and fine attributes. No one knows Him better than He knows Himself. Therefore, we deny what He has denied of Himself and confirm what He has confirmed in His book and His messenger’s Sunnah. We say, in general, that every negative thing is inapplicable to Him and we confirm to Him in detail every attribute of perfection. We do not try to assign any form or likeness to Him and we do not compare Him to anyone or anything.
If anyone attributes to Him any negative thing in detail, we deny it in detail, just like He has denied that He ever had a wife or a son. He said: ‘How can He have a child when He has never had a consort?’ (6: 101) ‘He begets none, nor is He begotten’. (112: 3) He also denied what the Jews said when they accused him of miserliness: ‘The Jews say: “God’s hand is shackled!” It is their own hands that are shackled. Rejected [by God] are they for what they say. Indeed, both His hands are outstretched. He bestows [His bounty] as He wills’. (5: 64)
We accept what is stated in God’s revelations, such as God’s names and attributes. We confirm the truth of these and understand some of their effects but do not go beyond that because nothing is comparable to God. He says of Himself: ‘Nothing bears even the slightest comparability to Him. He alone hears all and sees all’. (42: 11)
In regard to His attributes, it is wrong to draw an analogy between God and anything whatsoever. Any analogy requires two parties: main and secondary. God is one without comparison, hence there is neither a secondary to draw close to Him nor a main to compete with Him. He is the One and only God, the Eternal, the Absolute. He begets none, nor is He begotten, and there is nothing that could be compared to Him.
The human mind is like a machine created by God: it compares what it hears to what it sees. It listens to what God tells us of Himself and because He is unseen the mind compares Him to the closest object it has seen. Every mind imagines His attributes according to what it has seen before and develops its understanding on this basis. However, God is without compare in all minds, therefore we must not negate any of His names or attributes because of any bad comparison people might have expressed. This is a case of negating the comparison by ne28
The Islamic Faith
gating the attribute or His name. If we do so we commit the error of negating
an invalid comparison and denying a true statement. What we should negate is
the bad meaning that people might have expressed while confirming what God
has stated of His names and attributes, without adding anything. God says: ‘He
knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them, whereas
they cannot have thorough knowledge of Him’. (20: 110) ‘No power of vision
can encompass Him, whereas He encompasses all vision; He is above all comprehension,
yet is All-Aware’. (6: 103)
God is established on the Throne of His Almightiness in heaven. He says: ‘He
is the First and the Last, the Outer and the Inner. He has full knowledge of all
things. It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days and established
Himself on the throne. He knows all that goes into the earth and all that
comes out of it; all that descends from the skies and all that ascends to them.
He is with you wherever you may be; and God sees all that you do’. (57: 3–4)
God thus confirms His establishment and His knowledge of all things. He tells
us that He is always with His servants with His knowledge, hearing and sight.
As He says: ‘He is with you wherever you may be’. (57: 4) In the case of the
believers, He is with them in all these respects as well as with His support and
care. Just like He said to Moses and Aaron: ‘Have no fear. I shall be with you.
I hear all and see all’. (20: 46)
God’s will is complete and embraces everything: whatever He wills is realized
and whatever He does not will shall never take place. We confirm this as He
has stated it without engaging in any further discussion. Unlike rationalists,
who try to speak about impossibilities and combining what are mutually contradictory,
etc. God says: ‘He answered: “Thus it is. God does what He wills”’.
(3: 40) ‘But God does whatever He wills’. (2: 253) ‘Lord of the Throne, the
Glorious, He does whatever He wills’. (85: 15–16)
We confirm all His names and attributes that are stated in His revelation and
stop at that. We also negate the negative qualities that reason indicates to be
inapplicable to Him even though they are not stated, such as grief, weeping,
hunger, etc.
