Ways of Knowing Allah

(part 2)

How Prophet Muhammed Praised His Lord

Our master Muhammed has said:

All Praise is due to Allah, the One and only God. His being Eternal is compounded by His being Divine. He is Proud in His own right and in His Greatness. He creates whatever He wills and initiates the creation without having to have a model for any of what He creates! Our Lord is the One Who has always been beyond time as such; through His knowledge has He split the seed; through His Might has He created all creation; through the light of the morning has He started the dawn; there is none that can alter what He has created, nor is there any that can change what He has made, nor is there any that can revoke His decree or repeal His command or be exempted from His call! There is no extinction to His domain, nor is there a term for His Divinity.

 Yet He is close to everything, so He manifests Himself to His creatures even without being seen, while He is the most Sublime! By His Light He veiled Himself and ascended the height, obscuring Himself from His creation. He sent them messengers so that He would have the clear argument against them, and so that His messengers would testify against His creation. He sent prophets to them to bring them glad tidings and to warn them, so that He would guide whomsoever He pleases after providing them with His clear signs and bringing to life whomsoever He pleases with the same, hence the creation will know about their Lord that which they did not know, and they will know Him as their God after having rejected Him. They will believe in His Unity after having persisted in denying it. 

Commonly Asked Questions About "Allah" 

Let us now try to answer a number of basic questions about the Almighty: 

1. How can you describe Him?

Numerous verses of the Holy Qura'n point out to His existence. Consider the argument of His Friend Ibrahim (Abraham, as) who said: "My Lord is the One Who brings life and Who causes death" (Qura'n, 2:258), and the argument of Moses who said, "[He is] your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of old" (Qura'n, 26:26). Also consider these verses: 

Our Lord is the One Who gave everything its creation, then He guided it (to its destination). (20:50)The Lord of the East and the West: there is no god but He; therefore, take Him for a protector. (73:9) 

2. Can you define Him?

The Exalted One says that He defies definition: "... nothing at all is like Him" (Qura'n, 42:11). 

3. Can one ask: "What is He?"

Pharaoh asked Moses, "And what is the Lord of the worlds?" (Qura'n, 26:23). Moses answered by saying that He is "Your Lord and the Lord of your fathers of old" (Qura'n, 26:26). There is no way to know Him by defining "what" He is; rather, one can get to know the proofs of His Existence, Might, Knowledge, Wisdom, Mercy and His being the Creator of everything. "Do not think about Allah," said Imam `Ali, "rather, think about what Allah has created, for thinking about Allah only increases one's bewilderment." 

4. Is He one or more?

The Glorified One has required the Muslims to Say: He, Allah, is One. (112:1)  And your God is One God! (2:163) 

Had there been in them any gods besides Allah, they would both have certainly been in a state of disorder. (21:22) 

5. Is He confined to any place?

The Holy Qura'n tells us that: He is the Supreme (watching) over His worshippers. (6:61) They revere their Lord High above them. (16:50) The Beneficent God is firmly established on the throne (of authority). (20:5) 

"Above them" in 16:50 refers to the Almighty being above His servants in His Might, Power, Loftiness, not to being above them in place, space, area, elevation, or physical location; these do not apply to Him. The Messenger of Allah called upon His Lord during his ascension to heavens pleading to Him thus, "You are as You have praised Your own Self," and Prophet Younus (Jonah) son of Matti, while being in the bottom of the sea, called upon his Lord saying, "There is no god but You! Glory to You! Surely I have become one of those who commit injustice against their own souls!" (Qura'n, 21:87). The Messenger of Allah has said, "Do not exalt me over him [over Younus] in nearness to Allah just because I reached the High Throne while he was in the bottom of the sea, for the Adored One is above being confined to a space or a direction." He has also addressed Him saying, "You and he in the strata of the heavens;" the believers call upon Him saying, "You and them on earth." Had He been in a particular area or place, all these persons could not have differed from one another in His regard at any given time. He is above being confined to place or direction: "All those in the heavens and the earth glorify Allah" (Qura'n, 57:1). 

Source: imamalmahdi.com

Other Links:

What Is The Religion of Allah?

Three Parts of the Religion of Allah