God and authority in Islam

Islam means “submission to God”. Muslims believe in one God, Allah, and follow the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, Allah’s messenger. Muhammad received the Qur’an, the Islamic holy book, from Allah.

     

Islam

The nature of God

Characteristics of Allah

Allah comes from the Arabic word ‘al-ilah’, which means ‘the god’. Allah has many different characteristics including:

• 1.Tawhid.
• 2.Transcendence.
• Fairness.
• 3.Immanence.
• 4.Omnipotence.
• 5.Adalat (Adalat only applies in Shi’a Islam)

• All these characteristics are stated in the Qur’an (Surah 16:35-36), the Islamic holy book.

  Tawhid

  Tawhid is a fundamental belief in Islam. It forms the basis of faith and worship. Tawhid means ‘the oneness of Allah’.

  Tawhid forms the basis of Shahadah, the first of the Five Pillars of Islam. This is the belief that there is only one God, Allah. During worship, saying these words allows Muslims to ensure that their full focus is on God.

• Transcendence

  Transcendence is the belief that Allah is the greatest being and cannot be rivalled by any human. This is shown through his 99 names, which are his key qualities, found in the Qur’an. There is no other being or object that can have these qualities as nothing can compare to Allah.

  Some examples of Allah’s 99 names are:

• Al Hakim - The Wise
• Ar-Rahmaan - The Beneficent
• Ar-Raheem - The Merciful
• Al-Quddus - The Most Sacred

• Life and prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ

  Muhammad is seen as the Seal of the Prophets because he was the last prophet and because Muslims believe he was given Allah’s final guidance for Muslims. The guidance was written in the holy book the Qur’an and is suitable for all Muslims as it teaches them how to be good and please Allah.

• God and His angels bless the Prophet so, you who believe, bless him too and give him greetings of peace.Qur’an, 33:56

• Muhammad’ﷺparents died when he was young and his uncle raised him. Muhammad worked hard as a teenager and was married at the age of 25. He was concerned about the various idols that people were worshipping rather than just worshipping Allah.

  One day in AD610, Muhammad ﷺ was in a cave and an angel appeared to him. This was the angel Jibril who revealed to him that he had been chosen to be the next prophet of Allah.Muhammadﷺwas pleased that he had been chosen and went to tell his wife straight away. He removed all the idols that people were worshipping in order to allow people to focus their worship on Allah.

• Short Powerful Dua Pdf 

• From this point onwards, the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammadﷺthrough Jibril. Some Muslims believe that the revelation took up to 23 years.

•  Muhammad is seen to be an excellent role model for Muslims and seen as a teacher of wisdom

  Qur’an 62:2

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