Mohammed's Allah

In today's world, almost everybody has some version of "GOD" that they harbor in the recesses of their minds; almost everyone, from the most primitive person to the most civilized. It is that God that sometimes we love, and that we feel angry with, and even from time to time we judge and condemn for His wrong deeds and His injustice. To tell the truth, we often visualize Him as a sweet, plump grandfather, or as an enraged, wrathful sultan who sits on a star, or up in space far above us. On the other hand, some people with broader minds argue that there cannot be such a "GOD" as imagined and espoused by believers, and therefore they do not believe in a god at all. They are known as atheists Ð'-the nonbelieversÐ'-. However, neither the atheists, who do not recognize the existence of God, nor those who have a mental image of GOD that is in accordance with what they heard or have been preconditioned to believe, are aware of "Mohammed's ALLAH" at all. So, what does "MOHAMMED'S ALLAH" means? In the following pages, we will try to give you an understanding of "ALLAH" to the degree of our understanding.

"Allah ... is a proper name applied to the Being Who exists necessarily, by Himself, comprising all the attributes of perfection, a proper name denoting the true God." According to the explanations given by Mohammed aleyhessalaam as he tried to communicate and describe to us, to make us comprehend, using the Chapter of ONENESS (Sura Al-Ikhlas) in the KORAN as our starting point. It is this chapter that most of us are likely to know by the name "Kul hu wallahu AHAD," without being aware of its profound wisdom. In fact, this chapter has been described as being equal to "one-third of the whole Koran".

"He who does not know is ignorant;

He who does not know that he does not know is stupid;

And he who does not understand that he does not understand is an idiot"

When Mohammed aleyhessalaam announced in Mecca that he was the Rasul (messenger) of ALLAH, there were 360 idols present only at the Kaa'ba, each representing a deity. The people there tried to reassure themselves by worshipping those 360 idols symbolizing 360 gods, each with a specific duty. They were unable to comprehend such a concept as the nonexistence of a god either on earth or in the heavens at all, because they did not have any idea about the actual dimensions of the Universe, then. Such a "god" was one who abided on earth or on a star in the sky, conducted the world and its inhabitants; at times interfered with their affairs, at times left them alone to follow and to test their behavior from above in order to know and distinguish them truly. Therefore, he would award those who performed his heart's desire with admitting to his paradise and punish those who refused his orders with throwing into his hell-fire.

It was during this era of worshipping gods in such senseless, absurd, primitive thoughts and beliefs, Mohammed aleyhessalaam proclaimed that he was the Rasul of ALLAH and as a result of Divine Inspiration, he began to warn and preach to people not to worship gods. Mohammed's aleyhessalaam conquest began with suggesting to people the message in the Word of Oneness: "THERE IS NO GOD, THERE IS ONLY ALLAH". The meaning of the statement "La ilaha ill-Allah" constitutes the basis of Islam. This is the fact revealed from this statement first as a primary meaning: "There is no god to worship!". After definitely stating that there is no god far off somewhere that to be worshipped, "illa ALLAH" follows. The word "illa" can not only be understood as Ð''but', also as "ONLY". When using "illa" with the word "ALLAH," it must be definitely understood as "ONLY"; because there is no other existence apart from "ALLAH" that ALLAH could be compared with, or could be measured and defined in connection with. From this point of view, the translation of the Word of Oneness into English should not be as "there is no god but ALLAH," but "there is no god, ONLY ALLAH".

When Mohammed aleyhessalaam was asked the question, what ALLAHis? the answer was directly given by "ALLAH" in the Chapter of ONENESS in the Koran:

"Saying that: ALLAH is AHAD,

ALLAH is SAMED,

LAMYALID and LAMYULAD,

And LAMYAKUN LAHU QUFUWAN, AHAD."

He is Allah, the One and Only;

Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;

He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;

And there is none like Him.

Let us first understand the deep rich meaning of these phrases in that Chapter that inform what MOHAMMED's