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What do you believe about God?

SHAFAQNA-

A) What do you believe about God (if we understand correctly, the Moslem name of the Supreme Being is Allah)?

B) What is he like?  Does God, or Allah, have any form or image?  Has he ever been seen?

C) Do you ever use the expression, “Father in Heaven?”  Do you refer to Allah in the male gender – he?

A. What do you believe about God (if we understand correctly, the Moslem name of the Supreme Being is Allah)?

Read Who is Allah?

Allah is one of the Creator’s names; He has many other names, like Ar-Rahman, Al-Malik, Al-Quddos, As-Salam, Al-Mo’amen, etc., as He said:

(Quran 17:110) Say “Invoke Allah or invoke Ar-Rahman (the Most Beneficent), by whatever name invoke, for to Him belong the Best Names”…

(Quran 59:22-24)

22. He is Allah Whom none has the right to be worshiped but He, the All-Knower of the unseen and the seen. He is the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

23. He is Allah Whom none has the right to be worshiped but He the King, the Holy, the One Free from all defects, the Giver of security, the Watcher over His creatures, the All-Mighty, the Compeller, the Supreme. Glory be to Allah! (High is He) above all that they associate as partners with Him.

24. He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor of all things, the Bestower of forms. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorify Him. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.

B. What is he like?  Does God, or Allah, have any form or image?  Has he ever been seen?

Allah said:

(Quran 42:11) ” … There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.”

(Quran 112:4) “And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him”

Nothing is like Allah, He was never seen and it is impossible for the human mind to imagine Him, as He said (Quran 20:110) “… And they (Allah’s creatures) do not compass Him (Allah) with knowledge”. The believers will see Allah after they enter paradise and that will be their greatest reward as Allah said (Quran 75:22-23) “Some faces that Day shall be shining, looking at their Lord (Allah)”. C. Do you ever use the expression, “Father in Heaven?”  Do you refer to Allah in the male gender – he?

No we don’t call Allah “Father”, we only call Him with the names that He called Himself with, as Allah said (Quran 7:180) ” And for Allah belong (all) the Most Beautiful Names, so call on Him by them, and leave the company of those who belie (or deny or utter) His Names. They will be requited for what they used to do”.

We use the pronoun He not to refer to a gender, since Allah is High above having a gender or any other attribute similar to His creatures; but in Arabic there is just two singular pronouns “Howa (he) and Heya (she)” there is no “it”, Allah used the pronoun “Howa (he)” for Himself, that’s why we use it, we do not mean that Allah has a gender. We use “Howa (he)” for the moon and “Heya (she)” for the sun, we use “Howa (he)” for the angles too, and all these have no gender. You will also see that Allah used the pronoun “Nahno (We)”, for Himself because one of the usages of the pronoun “Nahno (we)” in Arabic is to indicate the greatness of the person, while in English it only refers to a group.

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