Belief in one God (monotheism) is the single most important belief in Islam. It is the first half of the first Pillar of Islam, the confession of faith known as the Shahada: "There is no god but God."
The Name of God in Islam
The Muslim name for God is Allah (al-Ilāh), which is simply Arabic for "the God." This word is therefore used by Arabic-speaking Jews, Christians, and other faiths to refer to their own conception of God.
In fact, the Arabic word al-Ilāh is directly related to the Semitic words for god or God: il, el, or eloah. The latter two are used in the Hebrew Bible and are the basis for "Elohim" and "Yahweh."1
But in non-Arabic languages, the word "Allah" usually refers to the Muslim God. Because Arabic is the language of the Qur'an, which Muslims believe is the literal word of God, "Allah" has special significance: it was the word for God spoken by God himself.1
The Qur'an and Hadith refer to Allah with many titles and adjectives, which Muslim scholars have collected into the 99 Beautiful Names of God (al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā), which are recited and meditated upon by devout Muslims. These include: the Creator, the Fashioner, the Life-Giver, the Provider, the Opener, the Wise, the Sublime, the Merciful, the Bestower, the Prevailer, the Reckoner, and the Recorder.
Allah and the Judeo-Christian God
Muslims believe that Allah is the very same God who revealed himself to the Jewish and Christian prophets.1
Allah is Unknowable
Although the God of Islam has revealed his will through the prophets, his actual nature remains ultimately unknowable. According to one Islamic scholar:
[Allah's will] is all we have, and we have it in perfection in the Quran. But Islam does not equate the Quran with the nature or essence of God. It is the Word of God, the Commandment of God, the Will of God. But God does not reveal Himself to anyone.2
In the words of another writer, "only adjectival descriptions are attributed to the divine being, and these merely as they bear on the revelation of God's will for man. The rest remains mysterious."3
Allah is Always Near
Despite Allah's transcendence and ultimate unknowability, however, the Quran does not teach that Allah remains aloof in some distant heaven, as in Deism. Quite the contrary: He is present everywhere and always close to each person.
To Allah belong the east and the West: Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah. For Allah is all-Pervading, all-Knowing. (Qur'an 2:115)
It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (Qur'an 50:16; see also 2:186; 34:50; 56:85; 57:4)
Allah is One
The one thing that is made abundantly clear is that Allah is One. He is unique and indivisible. The Quran repeatedly emphasizes strict monotheism, explicitly rejecting both polytheism and the Christian concept of the Trinity.
Believe in God and the Apostles and say not 'Three.' (Qur'an 4:169)
Allah is Creator
Muslims believe that Allah is the all-powerful Creator of a perfect, ordered universe. He is transcendent and not a part of his creation, and is most often referred to in terms and with names that emphasize his majesty and superiority.
A God of Justice
Along with Judaism and Christianity, Islam belongs to the religious category of "ethical monotheism." This means that Allah is a God of justice, who expects righteous behavior and submission to the divine will and punishes unrighteousness. (The word Islam means "submission," and a Muslim is literally "one who submits.")
- "Allah loves not transgressors" (2:190)
- "He loves not creatures ungrateful or wicked" (2:276)
- "Allah loves not those who do wrong" (3:57, 140)
- "Allah loves not the arrogant, the vainglorious" (4:36)
A Merciful God
Yet divine mercy is also taught in the Qur'an. Allah will respond to anyone who cries out to him in distress and that he mercifully provides guidance to humanity so they can follow "the straight path." (Qur'an 27:62). The primary way God has done this is through his prophets or messengers, the last and most important of which is the Prophet Muhammad.
"If ye love Allah, follow me; Allah will love and forgive you your sins." (Qur'an 3:31)
Allah in Historical Context
In the article on Islam for a previous version of the Encyclopædia Britannica, Fazlur Rahman notes how the Muslim concept of God relates to the religious context in which the faith arose:
This picture of God-wherein the attributes of power, justice, and mercy interpenetrate-is related to the Judeo-Christian tradition, whence it is derived with certain modifications, and also to the concepts of pagan Arabia, to which it provided an effective answer. The pagan Arabs believed in a blind and inexorable fate over which man had no control. For this powerful but insensible fate the Qur'an substituted a powerful but provident and merciful God.1