Islam
The Doctrine of God
Oneness of God
• Islam emphasizes the oneness (tawhid) of God.
“There is no god but God” (la ilaha illa-llah)
(Shahada) – essential part of the “creed” that is
one of the five pillars of Islam.
Two Aspects to the Tawhid of God
God is one (wahid)
God is unique (ahad)
“God said, “ ‘Do not take two gods’ − for He is
the One God − ‘I alone am the One that you
should hold in awe.’ ” Sura 16:53
“He is God: there is no god other than Him. .
.He is God: there is no god other than Him.”
Sura 59:22
Attributes of God
• The attributes or qualities of God are
designated by different names (asma) given to
God in the Qur’an. Traditionally 99 names are
ascribed to God.
• The attributes of God in the Qur’an indicate
that God is a personal being in Islam, but they
are also utilized in a way that indicates that
God is absolutely transcendent and therefore
beyond personhood.
Names of Majesty (Jalal)
• One class of names signifies attributes of
majesty
(jalal):
e.g.,
all
powerful
(omnipotence), all knowing (omniscience), the
Just, the giver of death, the victorious.
• These attributes, which indicate the great
difference between God and created beings,
induce awe and reverence for God.
• These terms are often masculine in gender and
link one aspect of human nature to the personal
nature of God.
“God is not to be frustrated by anything in the
heavens or on the earth: He is all knowing and
all powerful.” Sura 35:44
“Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies
God − He is the almighty, the Wise, Control of
the heavens and earth belongs to Him; He
gives life and death; Has has power over all
things. He is the first and the last.” Sura 57:1-3
“God creates whatever He will; God has power
over everything.” Sura 24:45
Names of Beauty (Jamal)
• A second class of names signifies attributes of
beauty (jamal): the merciful, the forgiver, the
lover, the gentle, the generous, the beautiful.
• These attributes, which indicate a similarity
between God and created beings, induce a
sense of closeness or intimacy between God
and humans.
• The names of beauty are often in the feminine
gender and link the other dimension to human
nature to God’s personal nature.
Forgiver and Lover: “He is the most forgiving,
the most loving.” Sura 85:14. “My Lord is
merciful and most loving.” Sura 11:90
Provider: “It is God who has given you the earth
for a dwelling place and the heavens a canopy.
He shaped you, formed you well, and provided
you with good things.” Sura 40:64 (cf. 51:58)
Protector: “He is the Protector, worthy of all
praise.” Sura 42:28
Benefactor: “Do they not see that God gives
abundantly to whoever He will. . .” Sura 30:37
• Sura 1:1: “In the Name of God, the Lord of Mercy,
the Giver of Mercy (Bismillah al-Rahman, alRahim)
• rahman, unconditional loving compassion or free
mercy (derives from rahem, a womb, and is used to
designate familial compassion).
• rahim, divine loving response to human actions,
and hence specifically relevant to believers.
• “Lord” is a “majestic” term. Its use here suggests a
union of majesty and beauty, or something majestic
about the beauty itself.
• This statement is the beginning of every sura,
except sura 9.
Allah and Krishna: Comparison
I. The jalal (majestic) and jamal (beautiful) classification
of terms designating Allah are structurally identical to
the aishvarya (opulence) and madhurya (sweetness)
classification of qualities designating Krishna in
Vaishnaivism.
II. Vaishnavism communicates this consciousness of God
with two-fold qualities through an avatar narrative
designed to reveal God to us in a way that will intensify
devotion.
III. Islam communicates this consciousness of God with
two-fold qualities through the use of words designed to
reveal God to us in a way that will intensify devotion.
“The most excellent Names belong to
God: use them to call on Him.”
Sura 7:180
The names of God are designed to mediate our
relationship with God, who is in Himself (Itself)
wholly transcendent.
Names of Perfection
• A third and final class of names are names of
perfection (kamal).
• These names include those that signify God’s
oneness (Sura 2:163), self-sufficiency (Sura
22:64), all-pervading and limitless nature (Sura
2:115, 268), eternality (Sura 112:2), and all
superlative designations, e.g., all knowing, all
powerful, etc.
• “He is God: the creator, the originator, the shaper.
The best names belong to Him.” Sura 59:24, cf.
17:110.
• God’s hidden essence is called al-dhat.
Allah as the Personal Absolute
Islam exhibits a consciousness of God as that
which is revealed in the masculine and
feminine, while simultaneously being that
which is wholly beyond the duality of
masculine and feminine.
We can relate to God because aspects of the
transcendent are present in the masculine and
feminine, though in a finite mode.
Majesty, Beauty, and Perfection
“He is God: there is no god other than Him. . .He
is the Lord or mercy, the giver of mercy. He is
God: there is no god other than Him, the
controller, the Holy One, source of peace,
granter of security, guardian over all, the
almighty, the compeller, the truly great; God is
far above anything else they consider to be his
partner. He is God: the creator, originator, the
shaper. The best names belong to Him.
Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies
him: he is almighty, the wise.” Sura 59:22-24
Grounds of Islamic Monotheism
• Qur’an presents its monotheistic teachings not as
something new but as rooted in the Abrahamic
tradition.
• Sura 21 provides an account of the revelations
God gave to the prophets of the Jewish Scriptures.
The account includes Abraham’s opposition to the
idolatry of his day.
“We wrote in the Psalms, as we did in [earlier]
Scriptures: ‘My righteous servants will inherit the
earth.’” Sura 21:105
Monotheism of Islam
• Qur’an presents its monotheistic teachings as evident
from “signs” in the natural world.
• These signs typically concern God’s providential
control of the world, which is linked with God’s
mercy and goodness to the world.
“It is God who sends water down from the sky and
with it revives the earth when it is dead. There truly is
a sign in this for those people listen.” Sura 16:65
“Your God is the one God: there is no god except
Him, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of mercy. In
the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the
alternation of night and day; in the ships that
sail the seas with goods for people; in the
water which God sends down from the sky to
give life to the earth when it is barren,
scattering all kinds of creatures over it; in the
changing of the winds and clouds that run their
appointed courses between the sky and earth:
there are signs in all these for those who use
their minds.” Sura 2:163-164
Islam
Doctrine of Creation
Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam teaches that God
is the creator of the universe. Like their western
counterparts, Islamic theologians have disagreed about
the relationship between God and creation:
I.
God freely created the universe and the universe
has a beginning.
I.
The universe has eternally emanated from the very
being of God.
Why Must There be a Beginning to the Universe?
It provides a way of distinguishing God from the
universe. God is eternal. The universe is not
eternal. Also underscores God’s power.
Why Must the Universe Be Eternal?
God is essentially a creative being, and so God
cannot exist without the universe existing.
Avicenna’s Neoplatonist
Metaphysics
Avicenna (980-1037) made the following argument:
(1) God is essentially goodness.
(2) Goodness is essentially
diffusive of itself.
(Neoplatonist Principle)
So
(3) God is necessarily creator.
So
(4) The universe is eternal.
How did Avicenna distinguish God from
the universe?
Created things = composition of wujud (existence) and
mahiat (essence). What they are is distinct from their
existence. Their whatness does not guarantee thatness.
Created things => Necessary Being
A necessary being = a being in whom wujud
(existence) and mahiat (essence) are one and the same.
God is distinguished from the universe by virtue of
being a wholly simple (wahid ahad), intrinsically
necessary being.