The first part of a beliver confession of faith should be to admit
the existance of the creator. The Muslim bears witness that: "There
is no god but God", or "no divinity but the (one) 'Divinity".
The revealed Scripture of Islam; the- Qur'an, is like a vast commentary
on this simple statement drawing from it allits implications for human
life and thought.
This
conception of the Deity is strictly monotheistic and unitarian. God
alone has absolute being, totally independept and totally self-sufficient.
Whatever exists or ever could exist does so by His will. He has no "partner"
either in creating the universe or in maintaining it in existence. He
is not only the "First Cause" but also ultimately, the only
cause, and He is Himself uncaused. The Qur'an tells us: "Say: He
is Allah, One, the utterly Self-sufficient; He begets not neither is
He begotten, and there is nothing that is like unto Him". It tells
us also that: 'When He wills a thing to be, He but says unto it - Be!;
and it is".
A
further implication of the first part of the shahada is that there can
be no power, force or agency in the heavens or on earth which is independent
of God. Everything that exists - and everything that happens - is subject
to His control; there is nothing that can compete with Him or that escapes
His grasp, nothing that does not bear witness to His creative power
and majesty. "The seven heavens and the earth and all that is therein
praise Him", says the Qur'an, "and there is not a thing that
does not hymn His praise, though ye understand not their praise".
In
the Islamic view, it is impossible for the human mind to form an adequate
conception of God as He is in His eternal and absolute being. The creature
cannot comprehend the Creator. According to the Qur'an, "No (human)
vision encompasseth Him, yet He encompasseth (all) vision". But
Islam does not demand blind belief. The Qur'an tells us a great deal
about the nature of the Divine, and it describes God by a number of
terms - called Hthe most beautiful NamesH - which help us to understand
Him. The Qur'an tells us: Allah, there is no god but He, the Living,
the eter- nally Self-subsistent. Slumber overtakes Him not nor sleep.
To Him belong all that is in the heavens and all that is upon earth.
Who is there than (can) intercede with Him except by His leave? He knows
what is before them and what is behind them, and they comprehend naught
of His knowledge save what He pleases. His Throne extends over the heavens
and the earth, and He is not wearied by preserving them; and He is the
Most High, the Immense".
He
is The One,(AL-AHAD) absolute unity. This is in sharp contrast to the
Christian conception of the Trinity. The One cannot be divided, nor
can it be diminished or "humanised" by incarnation in any
created form. God does not become His own creature, in fact He does
not "become" anything; He is. The Qur'an describes trim also
as AI_cAli, the Most High, totally transcendent in relation to His own
creations and therefore infinitely beyond all that we might attempt
to associate with him. He is AI_cAziz, the Almighty, and AI-Jabbar,
the Irresistible, for there is no one and nothing that could possibly
resist His power, which governs and regulates all existence in accordance
with a predetermined measure. It follows that there is no earthly power
that is not derived from Him, no strength nor any virtue that is not
loaned to us by Him; and no one can help us except by His will, nor
can anyone harm us unless He permits them to do so (in which case this
harm is a trial to be borne with patience)