GOD

The name of the Creator of the Universe in the Qurʾān is Allāh , which is the title given to the Supreme Being by Muḥammadans of every race and language. Allāh is supposed to be derived from ilāh , a deity or god, with the addition of the definite article al — Al-ilāh , “the God”—or, according to some authorities, it is from lāh , i.e . Al-lāh , “the secret one.” But Abū Ḥanīfah says that just as the e ence of God is unchangeable, so is His name, and that Allāh has ever been the name of the Eternal Being. (See G͟hiyās̤u ʾl-Lug͟hah .) Allāh may be an Arabic rendering of the Hebrew ‏אֵל‎ el , and the unused root ‏אוּל‎ ūl , “to be strong,” or from ‏אֱלוֹהַּ‎ , the singular form of ‏אֱלֹהִים‎ . It is expre ed in Persian and Hindu stan i by the word K͟hudā , derived from the Persian k͟hud , self; the self-existing one. Another word very frequently used for the Almighty in the Qurʾān is Rabb , which is generally translated in English versions of the Qurʾān, “Lord.” It seems to stand in the relative position of the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Κύριος of the New Testament. The word is understood by Muslims to mean “the sustainer,” but it is probably derived from the Hebrew ‏רַבָּה‎ rabbah , “a stronghold,” or from its root rab , which, according to Gesenius, means “a multitude,” or anything of size or importance. The title Allāh is called the Ismu ʾẕ-Ẕāt , or, the e ential name of God, all other titles, including Rabb , being considered Asmāʾu ʾṣ-Ṣifāt , or “attributes” of the Divine Being. These attributes are called al-Asmāʾu ʾl-ḥusnā , or the “excellent names.” The expre ion occurs in the Qurʾān ( Sūrah vii. 179 ), “But God’s are excellent names , call on Him thereby.” This verse is commented upon in the Traditions, and Abū Hurairah says that Muḥammad said, “Verily, there are ninety-nine names of God, and whoever recites them shall enter into Paradise.” In the same tradition these names (or attributes) are given as follows:— | 1. | Ar-Raḥmān | The Merciful. | | 2. | Ar-Raḥīm | The Compa ionate. | | 3. | Al-Malik | The King. | | 4. | Al-Quddūs | The Holy. | | 5. | As-Salām | The Peace. | | 6. | Al-Muʾmin | The Faithful. | | 7. | Al-Muhaimin | The Protector. | | 8. | Al-ʿAzīz | The Mighty. | | 9. | Al-Jabbār | The Repairer. | | 10. | Al-Mutakabbir | The Great. | | 11. | Al-K͟hāliq | The Creator. | | 12. | Al-Bārīʾ | The Maker. | | 13. | Al-Muṣawwir | The Fashioner. | | 14. | Al-G͟haffār | The Forgiver. | | 15. | Al-Qahhār | The Dominant. | | 16. | Al-Wahhāb | The Bestower. | | 17. | Ar-Razzāq | The Provider. | | 18. | Al-Fattāḥ | The Opener. | | 19. | Al-ʿAlīm | The Knower. | | 20. | Al-Qābiẓ | The Restrainer. | | 21. | Al-Bāsit̤ | The Spreader. | | 22. | Al-K͟hāfiẓ | The Abaser. | | 23. | Ar-Rāfiʿ | The Exalter. | | 24. | Al-Muʿizz | The Honourer. | | 25. | Al-Muzīl | The Destroyer. | | 26. | As-Sāmiʿ | The Hearer. | | 27. | Al-Baṣīr | The Seer. | | 28. | Al-Ḥākim | The Ruler. | | 29. | Al-ʿAdl | The Just. | | 30. | Al-Lat̤īf | The Subtle. | | 31. | Al-K͟habīr | The Aware. | | 32. | Al-Ḥalīm | The Clement. | | 33. | Al-ʿAz̤īm | The Grand. | | 34. | Al-G͟hafūr | The Forgiving. | | 35. | Ash-Shakūr | The Grateful. | | 36. | Al-ʿAlī | The Exalted. | | 37. | Al-Kabīr | The Great. | | 38. | Al-Ḥafīz̤ | The Guardian. | | 39. | Al-Muqīt | The Strengthener. | | 40. | Al-Ḥasīb | The Reckoner. | | 41. | Al-Jalīl | The Majestic. | | 42. | Al-Karīm | The Generous. | | 43. | Ar-Raqīb | The Watcher. | | 44. | Al-Mujīb | The Approver. | | 45. | Al-Wāsiʿ | The Comprehensive. | | 46. | Al-Ḥakīm | The Wise. | | 47. | Al-Wadūd | The Loving. | | 48. | Al-Majīd | The Glorious. | | 49. | Al-Bāʿis̤ | The Raiser. | | 50. | Ash-Shahīd | The Witne . | | 51. | Al-Ḥaqq | The Truth. | | 52. | Al-Wakīl | The Advocate. | | 53. | Al-Qawī | The Strong. | | 54. | Al-Matīn | The Firm. | | 55. | Al-Walī | The Patron. | | 56. | Al-Ḥamīd | The Laudable. | | 57. | Al-Muḥṣī | The Counter. | | 58. | Al-Mubdī | The Beginner. | | 59. | Al-Muʿīd | The Restorer. | | 60. | Al-Muḥyī | The Quickener. | | 61. | Al-Mumīt | The Killer. | | 62. | Al-Ḥaiy | The Living. | | 63. | Al-Qaiyūm | The Subsisting. | | 64. | Al-Wājid | The Finder. | | 65. | Al-Majīd | The Glorious. | | 66. | Al-Wāḥid | The One. | | 67. | Aṣ-Ṣamad | The Eternal. | | 68. | Al-Qādir | The Powerful. | | 69. | Al-Muqtadir | The Prevailing. | | 70. | Al-Muqaddim | The Bringing forward. | | 71. | Al-Muʾak͟hk͟hir | The Deferrer. | | 72. | Al-Awwal | The First. | | 73. | Al-Āk͟hir | The Last. | | 74. | Az̤-Z̤āhir | The Evident. | | 75. | Al-Bāt̤in | The Hidden. | | 76. | Al-Wālī | The Governor. | | 77. | Al-Mutaʿālī | The Exalted. | | 78. | Al-Barr | The Righteous. | | 79. | At-Tauwāb | The Accepter of Repentance. | | 80. | Al-Muntaqim | The Avenger. | | 81. | Al-ʿAfūw | The Pardoner. | | 82. | Ar-Raʾuf | The Kind. | | 83. | Māliku ʾl-Mulk | The Ruler of the Kingdom. | | 84. | Ẕū ʾl-Jalāli wa ʾl-Ikrām | The Lord of Majesty and Liberality. | | 85. | Al-Muqsit̤ | The Equitable. | | 86. | Al-Jāmīʿ | The Collector. | | 87. | Al-G͟hanī | The Independent. | | 88. | Al-Mug͟hnī | The Enricher. | | 89. | Al-Muʿt̤ī | The Giver. | | 90. | Al-Māniʿ | The Withholder. | | 91. | Aẓ-Ẓārr | The Distre er. | | 92. | An-Nāfiʿ | The Profiter. | | 93. | An-Nūr | The Light. | | 94. | Al-Hādī | The Guide. | | 95. | Al-Badīʿ | The Incomparable. | | 96. | Al-Bāqī | The Enduring. | | 97. | Al-Wāris̤ | The Inheritor. | | 98. | Ar-Rashīd | The Director. | | 99. | Aṣ-Ṣabūr | The Patient. | The list either begins or closes with Allāh , thus completing the number of one hundred names, which are usually recited on a rosary in the ceremony of Ẕikr [ ZIKR ], as well as at all leisure moments, by devout Muslims. The Wahhābīs do not use a rosary, but count the names on their fingers, which they say was the custom of the Prophet, for from the Traditions it appears that Muḥammad did not use a rosary. According to the Traditions ( Mishkāt , book x. c. i.), the Almighty has an “exalted name” known as the Ismu ʾl-Aʿz̤am , which Muḥammad is related to have said was either in the Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah , the second chapter of the Qurʾān, 158th verse, or in the Sūratu Āli ʿImrān , the third chapter, first verse. The names of God which occur in these two verses are ar-Raḥmān , “the Merciful,” ar-Raḥīm , “The Compa ionate,” al-Ḥaiy , “the Living,” and al-Qaiyūm , “the Subsisting.” There is, however, another tradition, from which it would appear that the name may be either al-Aḥad , “the One,” or aṣ-Ṣamad , “the Eternal.” ʿAbdu ʾl-Ḥaqq, in his remarks on these traditions, says that it is generally held, according to a tradition by ʿĀyishah , that this great name is known only to the prophets and other saintly persons. The compiler of the Kitābu ʾt-Taʿrifāt says it is none other than the name of Allāh . The Prophet having said that whoever calls upon God by this name shall obtain all his desires ( Mishkāt , book x. c. i. pt. 2), the various sects of faqīrs and mystics spend much time in endeavouring to ascertain what the name really is [ DAʿWAH ], and the person who is able to a ert that he has obtained this secret knowledge po e es great influence over the minds of the superstitious. There can be little doubt that the discu ion regarding this exalted name has arisen from the circumstance that Muḥammad became aware of the fact that the Jews never recited the great name of Jehovah, and spoke of it as “the great and terrible name,” “the peculiar name” of God. The attributes of God as expre ed in the ninety-nine names, are divided into the asmāʾu ʾl-jalālīyah , or the glorious attributes, and the asmāʾu ʾl-jamālīyah , or the terrible attributes. Such names as ar-Raḥīm , “the Merciful,” al-Karīm , “the Kind,” and al-ʿAfūw , “the Forgiver,” belonging to the former; and al-Qawī , “the Strong,” al-Muntaqim , “the Avenger,” and al-Qādir , “the Powerful,” to the latter. In praying to God it is usual for the worshipper to addre the Almighty by that name or attribute which he wishes to appeal to. For example, if praying for pardon, he will addre God as either al-ʿAfūw , “the Pardoner,” or at-Tauwāb , “the Receiver of repentance. ” A belief in the existence of God, His Unity, His Absolute Power, and in the other e ential attributes of an Eternal and Almighty Being, is the most important part of the Muslim religion, and is supposed to be expre ed in the two clauses of the well-known formula:— لااله الاالله‎ Lā ilāha Il-lā ʾl-lāhu . There is no deity But Allāh. The first clause, “There is no deity,” is known as the Nafī , or that which is rejected, and the second clause, “But Allāh,” as the Is̤bāt , or that which is established, the term Nafī wa-Is̤bāt being applied to the first two clauses of the Muslim’s Kalimah , or creed. The teaching of Muḥammad in his Qurʾān as to the nature of God, forms such an important consideration in an exposition of Islām, that no apology is needed for full and lengthy quotations from that book on the subject. The following verses are arranged in chronological order according to Jalālu ʾd-dīn as-Suyūt̤ī’s list:— Sūratu ʾl-Ik͟hlāṣ . Chapter cxiii . (One of the earliest chapters of the Qurʾān) “Say, He is God, One [God] “God, the Eternal. “He be get teth not nor is begotten, “And there is none equal unto Him.” Sūratu ʾl-Aʿrāf . Chapter vii. 52 . (Given at al-Madīnah.) “Verily your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six days: then He ascended the throne. He causeth the night to cover the day; it follow eth it swiftly: and He created the sun and the moon and the stars, made subject utterly to His command. Do not the whole creation and command belong to Him? Ble ed be God, the Lord of the Worlds.” Sūratu Maryam . Chapter xix. 91–96 . (Given at Makkah.) “They say, ‘The Compa ionate hath gotten offspring’: Ye have done an impious thing. “It wanteth little but that the heavens be rent thereat, and that the earth cleave asunder, and that the mountains fall down in pieces. “ For that they have attributed offspring to the Compa ionate, when it be see meth not the Compa ionate to get offspring. “There is none of all that are in the heavens and the earth but he shall come unto the Compa ionate as a servant. He hath known them and numbered them with an exact numbering. “And each of them shall come unto Him on the day of resurrection, alone. “Verily those who have believed and have done the things that are right, on them the Compa ionate will bestow [His] love.” Sūratu ʾl-Ḥijr . Chapter xv. 16–25 . (Given at Makkah.) “We (God) have placed in heaven the twelve signs of the Zodiac , and adorned them for the beholders with the constellations ; “And We have guarded them ( by means of shooting stars ) from every accursed devil. “Excepting him who listened by stealth, whom a manifest shooting star pursueth. “We have also spread forth the earth, and thrown thereon firm mountains , and We have caused to spring forth in it every kind [of green thing] weighed. “And We have provided for you therein nece aries of life, and for him whom ye do not sustain; “And there is not a thing but the store-houses thereof are with Us, and We send it not down save in determined quantities. “We also send the fertilizing winds, and We send down water from heaven, and give you to drink thereof; and ye are not the storers of it. “And verily We give life and death, and We are the heirs of all the creation . “We also know those who have gone before you, and We know those who follow after [you]. “And verily thy Lord will a emble them together: for He is Wise, Knowing.” Sūratu ʾl-Anʿām . Chapter vi. 59–64 . (Given at Makkah.) “With Him are the keys of the hidden things: none knoweth them but He: and He knoweth whatsoever is on the land and in the sea, and there falleth not a leaf but He knoweth it, nor a grain in the dark parts of the earth, nor a moist thing nor a dry thing, but [it is noted] in a distinct writing. “And it is He who taketh your souls at night, and knoweth what ye have gained in the day; then He reviveth you therein, that an appointed time may be fulfilled. Then unto Him shall ye return: then will He declare unto you what ye have done. “And He is the Supreme over His servants, and He sendeth watchers over you, until when death cometh unto any one of you, Our me engers take his soul, and they fail not. “Then are they returned unto God their Lord, the True. Doth not judgment belong to Him? And He is the most quick of reckoners. “ Say , Who deliver eth you from the darkne es of the land and of the sea, when ye supplicate Him humbly and in secret, saying , ‘If Thou deliver us from these dangers , we will a uredly be of [the number of] the thankful’? “ Say , God deliver eth you from them and from every affliction.” Ib ., 95–103 :— “Verily God causeth the grain to come forth, and the date-stone: He bringeth forth the living from the dead, and He bringeth forth the dead from the living: This is God; then wherefore are ye turned away? “He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the night for rest, and the sun and the moon for reckoning time : this is the appointment of the Mighty, the Wise. “And it is He who hath ordained for you the stars, that ye may be guided by them in the darkne of the land and of the sea: We have clearly shown the signs of Our power unto the people who know. “And it is He who hath produced you from one soul, and there is a place of rest and of storing: We have clearly shown the signs to the people who understand. “And it is He who hath sent down water from heaven, and We have produced thereby the germs of everything, and We have caused the green thing to come forth therefrom, from which We draw forth grains ma ed; and from the palm-tree, from its fruit-branch, clusters of dates heaped together: and gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate, like one another and not like. Look ye at their fruits when they bear fruit, and their ripening. Verily therein are signs unto the people who believe. “Yet they have set up the Jinn as partners of God, though He hath created them, and without knowledge have they falsely attributed to Him sons and daughters. Extolled be His purity, and high be He exalted above that which they attribute [to Him]! “ He is the Author of the heavens and the earth. How then should He have offspring, when He hath no consort, and hath created everything and knoweth everything? “This is God your Lord. There is no God but He, the Creator of everything: therefore worship ye Him; and He is guardian over everything. “The eyes see Him not, but He seeth the eyes: and He is the Gracious, the Knowing.” Sūratu Banī Israʾīl . Chapter lxvii. 1–4 . (Given at Makkah.) “Ble ed be He in whose hand is the dominion and who is all powerful; “Who hath created death and life, that He may prove you, which of you [will be] best in works: and He is the Mighty, the Very-Forgiving: “Who hath created seven heavens, one above another. Thou seest not any fault in the creation of the Compa ionate. But lift up the eyes again to heaven . Dost thou see any fi ures? “Then lift up the eyes again twice; the sight shall return unto thee dull and dim.” Sūratu ʾl-ʿAnkabūt . Chapter xxix. 40–43 . (Given at Makkah.) “The likene of those who take to themselves Tutelars instead of God is as the likene of the spider, which maketh for herself a dwelling; and the frailest of dwellings surely is the dwelling of the spider! If they knew——! “Verily God knoweth whatever thing they invoke in His stead; and He is the Mighty, the Wise. “And these parables we propound unto men; but none understand them except the wise. “God hath created the heavens and the earth in truth: verily therein is a sign unto the believers.” Sūratu ʾl-Baqarah . Chapter ii. 157–160 . (Given at al-Madīnah.) “And your God is One God: there is no god but He, the Compa ionate, the Merciful. “Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the varying of night and day, and the ships that course upon the sea laden with what is profitable to mankind, and the water that God hath sent down from heaven, quickening the earth thereby after its death, and scattering about it all kinds of beasts; and in the changing of the winds, and the clouds that are compelled to do service between heaven and earth, are signs unto a people who understand. “Yet among men are those who take to themselves, beside God, idols, which they love as with the love of God: but those who have believed are more loving towards God than these towards their idols .” Ib ., 256 :— “God! There is no God but He, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Subsisting. Slumber seizeth Him not, nor sleep. To Him be long eth whatsoever is in the Heavens and whatsoever is in the Earth. Who is he that shall intercede with Him, unle by His permi ion? He knoweth what [hath been] before them and what [shall be] after them, and they shall not compa aught of His knowledge save what He willeth. His Throne comprehend eth the Heavens and the Earth, and the care of them burden eth Him not. And He is the High, the Great. ” Sūratu Āli ʿImrān . Chapter iii. 25 . (Given at al-Madīnah . ) “Say, O God, to whom be long eth dominion, Thou givest dominion to whom Thou wilt, and from whom Thou wilt Thou takest it away; Thou exaltest whom Thou wilt, and whom Thou wilt Thou humblest. In Thy hand is good. Verily Thou art all-powerful. “Thou causest the night to pa into the day, and Thou causest the day to pa into the night; and Thou bring est forth the living from the dead, and Thou bring est forth the dead from the living; and Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou wilt without measure.” Sūratu ʾr-Raʿd . Chapter xiii. 13 . (Given at al-Madīnah.) “It is He who maketh the lightning to appear unto you, [causing] fear and hope of rain , and for meth the pregnant clouds. “And the thunder proclaim eth His perfection with His praise; and [likewise] the angels, in fear of Him. And He sendeth the thunderbolts, and striketh with them whom He pleaseth, whilst they dispute concerning God; for He is mighty in power.” Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ . Chapter iv. 51 . (Given at al-Madīnah.) “Verily God will not forgive the a ociating with Him [any other being as a god], but will forgive other sins unto whom He pleaseth; and whoso as so cia teth [another] with God hath wrought a great wickedne .” The following is an interpretation of the Muslim belief in the existence and nature of God, by the famous scholastic divine, the Imām al-G͟hazzālī, in his book entitled al-Maqṣadu ʾl-asnā , an extract from which Ockley has translated from Pocock’s Specimen Historiæ Arabum :— “Praise be to God the Creator and Restorer of all things; who does whatsoever He pleases, who is master of the glorious throne and mighty force, and directs His sincere servants into the right way and the straight path; who favour eth them, who have once borne testimony to the unity, by preserving their confe ions from the darkne of doubt and hesitation; who directs them to follow His chosen apostle, upon whom be the ble ing and peace of God; and to go after His most honourable companions, to whom he hath vouchsafed His a istance and direction which is revealed to them in His e ence and operations by the excellencies of His attributes, to the knowledge whereof no man attains but he that hath been taught by hearing. To these, as touching His e ence, He maketh known that He is one, and hath no partner; singular, without anything like Him; uniform, having no contrary; separate, having no equal. He is ancient, having no first; eternal, having no beginning; remaining for ever, having no end; continuing to eternity, without any termination. He persists, without ceasing to be; remains without failing, and never did cease, nor ever shall cease to be described by glorious attributes, nor is subject to any decree so as to be determined by any precise limits or set times, but is the First and the Last, and is within and without. “( What God is not .) He, glorified be His name, is not a body endued with form, nor a substance circumscribed with limits or determined by measure; neither does He resemble bodies, as they are capable of being measured or divided. Neither is He a substance, neither do substances exist in Him; neither is He an accident, nor do accidents exist in Him. Neither is he like to anything that exists, neither is anything like to Him; nor is he determinate in quantity nor comprehended by bounds, nor circumscribed by the differences of situation, nor contained in the heavens. He sits upon the throne, after that manner which He Himself hath described, and in that same sense which He Himself means, which is a sitting far removed from any notion of contact, or resting upon, or local situation; but both the throne itself, and whatsoever is upon it, are sustained by the goodne of his power, and are subject to the grasp of His hand. But He is above the throne, and above all things, even to the utmost ends of the earth; but so above as at the same time not to be a whit nearer the throne and the heaven; since He is exalted by (infinite) degrees above the throne no le than He is exalted above the earth, and at the same time is near to everything that hath a being; nay, ‘nearer to man than their jugular veins, and is witne to everything’: though His nearne is not like the nearne of bodies, as neither is His e ence like the e ence of bodies. Neither doth He exist in anything, neither doth anything exist in Him; but He is too high to be contained in any place, and too holy to be determined by time; for He was before time and place were created, and is now after the same manner as He always was. He is also distinct from the creatures by His attributes, neither is there anything besides Himself in His e ence, nor is His e ence in any other besides Him. He is too holy to be subject to change, or any local motion; neither do any accidents dwell in Him, nor any contingencies befall Him; but He abides through all generations with His glorious attributes, free from all danger of di olution. As to the attribute of perfection, He wants no addition of His perfection. As to being, He is known to exist by the apprehension of the understanding; and He is seen as He is by an ocular intuition, which will be vouchsafed out of His mercy and grace to the holy in the eternal mansion, completing their joy by the vision of His glorious presence. “( His power .) He, praised be His name, is living, powerful, mighty, omnipotent, not liable to any defect or impotence; neither slumbering nor sleeping, nor being obnoxious to decay or death. To Him belongs the kingdom, and the power, and the might. His is the dominion, and the excellency, and the creation, and the command thereof. The heavens are folded up in His right hand, and all creatures are couched within His grasp. His excellency consists in His creating and producing, and His unity in communicating existence and a beginning of being. He created men and their works, and measured out their maintenance and their determined times. Nothing that is po ible can escape His grasp, nor can the vici itudes of things elude his power. The effects of his might are innumerable, and the objects of his knowledge infinite. “( His knowledge .) He, praised be His name, knows all things that can be understood, and comprehends whatsoever comes to pa , from the extremities of the earth to the highest heavens. Even the weight of a pismire could not escape Him either in earth or heaven; but He would perceive the creeping of the black pismire in the dark night upon the hard stone, and discern the motion of an atom in the open air. He knows what is secret and conceals it, and views the conceptions of the minds, and the motions of the thoughts, and the inmost rece es of secrets, by a knowledge ancient and eternal, that never ceased to be His attribute from eternal eternity, and not by any new knowledge, superadded to His e ence, either inhering or adventitious. “( His will .) He, praised be His name, doth will those things to be that are, and disposes of all accidents. Nothing pa es in the empire, nor the kingdom, neither little nor much, nor small nor great, nor good nor evil, nor profitable nor hurtful, nor faith nor infidelity, nor knowledge nor ignorance, nor prosperity nor adversity, nor increase nor decrease, nor obedience nor rebellion, but by His determinate counsel and decree, and His definite sentence and will. Nor doth the wink of him that seeth, nor the subtlety of him that think eth, exceed the bounds of His will; but it is He who gave all things their beginning; He is the creator and restorer, the sole operator of what He pleases; there is no reversing His decree nor delaying what He hath determined, nor is there any refuge to man from his rebellion against Him, but only His help and mercy; nor hath any man any power to perform any duty towards Him, but through His love and will. Though men, genii, angels and devils, should conspire together either to put one single atom in motion, or cause it to cease its motion, without His will and approbation, they would not be able to do it. His will subsists in His e ence amongst the rest of His attributes, and was from eternity one of His eternal attributes, by which He willed from eternity the existence of those things that He had decreed, which were produced in their proper seasons according to His eternal will, without any before or after , and in agreement both with His knowledge and will, and not by methodising of thoughts, nor waiting for a proper time, for which reason no one thing is in Him a hindrance from another. “( His hearing and sight .) And He, praised be His name, is hearing and seeing, and heareth and seeth. No audible object, how still soever, escapeth His hearing; nor is any thing visible so small as to escape his sight; for distance is no hindrance to His hearing, nor darkne to His sight. He sees without pupil or eye-lid, and hears without any pa age or ear, even as He knoweth without a heart, and performs His actions without the a istance of any corporeal limb, and creates without any instrument, for His attributes (or properties) are not like those of men, any more than His e ence is like theirs. “( His word .) Furthermore, He doth speak, command, forbid, promise, and threaten by an eternal, ancient word, subsisting in His e ence. Neither is it like to the word of the creatures, nor doth it consist in a voice arising from the commotion of the air and the collision of bodies, nor letters which are separated by the joining together of the lips or the motion of the tongue. The Qurʾān, the Law, the Gospel, and the Psalter, are books sent down by Him to His apostles, and the Qurʾān, indeed, is read with tongues, written in books, and kept in hearts: yet as subsisting in the e ence of God, it doth not become liable to separation and division whilst it is transferred into the hearts and the papers. Thus Moses also heard the Word of God without voice or letter, even as the saints behold the e ence of God without substance or accident. And since these are His attributes, He liveth and knoweth, is powerful and willeth and opera teth, and seeth and speaketh, by life and knowledge, and will and hearing, and sight and word, not by His simple e ence. “( His works .) He, praised be His name, exists after such a manner that nothing besides Him hath the best, most excellent, most perfect, and most just model. He is, moreover, wise in His works, and just in His decrees. But His justice is not to be compared with the justice of men. For a man may be supposed to act unjustly by invading the po e ion of another; but no injustice can be conceived by God, inasmuch as there is nothing that belongs to any other besides Himself, so that wrong is not imputable to Him as meddling with things not appertaining to Him. All things, Himself only excepted, genii, men, the devil, angels, heaven, earth, animals, plants, substance, accident, intelligible, sensible, were all created originally by Him. He created them by His power out of mere privation, and brought them into light, when as yet they were nothing at all, but He alone existing from eternity, neither was there any other with Him. Now He created all things in the beginning for the manifestation of His power, and His will, and the confirmation of His word, which was true from all eternity. Not that He stood in need of them, nor wanted them; but He manifestly declared His glory in creating and producing, and commanding, without being under any obligation, nor out of nece ity. Loving kindne , the showing favour and grace, and beneficence, belong to Him; whereas it is in His power to pour forth upon men a variety of torments, and afflict them with various kinds of sorrows and diseases, which, if He were to do, His justice could not be arraigned, nor would He be chargeable with injustice. Yet He rewards those that worship Him for their obedience on account of his promise and beneficence, not of their merit nor of nece ity, since there is nothing which He can be tied to perform; nor can any injustice be supposed in Him, nor can He be under any obligation to any person whatsoever. That His creatures, however, should be bound to serve Him, ariseth from His having declared by the tongues of the prophets that it was due to Him from them. The worship of Him is not simply the dictate of the understanding, but He sent me engers to carry to men His commands, and promises, and threats, whose veracity He proved by manifest miracles, whereby men are obliged to give credit to them in those things that they relate.” Included in the attributes of God as given in His ninety-nine titles or names, there are the Haft ṣifāt , or Seven Attributes; Muḥammad al-Barqawī has expre ed them as follows:— (1) Ḥayāt , or Life. God Most High is alone to be adored. He has neither a ociate nor equal. He is free from the imperfections of humanity. He is neither begotten nor does He beget. He is invisible. He is without figure, form, colour or parts. His existence has neither beginning nor end. He is immutable. If He so wills, He can annihilate the world in a moment of time and, if it seem good to Him, recreate it in an instant. Nothing is difficult to Him, whether it be the creation of a fly or that of the seven heavens. He receives neither profit nor lo from whatever may happen. If all the Infidels became believers and all the irreligious pious, He would gain no advantage. On the other hand, if all Believers became infidels, He would suffer no lo . (2) ʿIlm , or Knowledge. He has knowledge of all things hidden or manifest, whether in heaven or on earth. He knows the number of the leaves of the trees, of the grains of wheat and of sand. Events past and future are known to Him. He knows what enters into the heart of man and what he utters with his mouth. He alone, except those to whom He has revealed them, knows the invisible things. He is free from forgetfulne , negligence and error. His knowledge is eternal: it is not posterior to His e ence. (3) Qudrah , or Power. He is Almighty. If He wills, He can raise the dead, make stones talk, trees walk, annihilate the heavens and the earth, and recreate of gold or of silver you sands similar to those destroyed. He can transport a man in a moment of time from the east to the west, or from the west to the east, or to the seventh heaven. His power is eternal a prior i and a posterior i . It is not posterior to His e ence. (4) Irādah , or Will. He can do what He wills, and whatever He wills comes to pa . He is not obliged to act. Everything, good or evil, in this world exists by His will. He wills the faith of the believer and the piety of the religious. If He were to change His will there would be neither a true believer nor a pious man. He willeth also the unbelief of the unbeliever and the irreligion of the wicked and, without that will, there would neither be unbelief nor irreligion. All we do we do by His will: what He willeth not does not come to pa . If one should ask why God does not will that all men should believe, we answer: “We have no right to enquire about what God wills and does. He is perfectly free to will and to do what He pleases.” In creating unbelievers, in willing that they should remain in that state; in making serpents, scorpions and pigs: in willing, in short, all that is evil, God has wise ends in view which it is not nece ary that we should know. We must acknowledge that the will of God is eternal and that it is not posterior to His e ence. (5) Samʿ , or Hearing. He hears all sounds whether low or loud. He hears without an ear, for His attributes are not like those of men. (6) Baṣar , or Seeing. He sees all things, even the steps of a black ant on a black stone in a dark night; yet He has no eye as men have. (7) Kalām , or Speech. He speaks, but not with a tongue as men do. He speaks to some of His servants without the intervention of another, even as He spoke to Moses, and to Muḥammad on the night of the ascension to heaven. He speaks to others by the instrumentality of Gabriel, and this is the usual way in which He communicates His will to the prophets. It follows from this that the Qurʾān is the word of God, and is eternal and uncreated. (Sale’s Faith of Islam .) With regard to the Muḥammadan belief in the Supreme Being, Mr. Palgrave, the well-known Oriental traveller, thus expre es himself:— “ ‘There is no god but God,’ are words simply tantamount in English to the negation of any deity save one alone; and thus much they certainly mean in Arabic, but they imply much more also. Their full sense is, not only to deny absolutely and unreservedly all plurality, whether of nature or of person, in the Supreme Being, not only to establish the unity of the Unbegetting and Unbegot, in all its simple and uncommunicable Onene ; but besides this, the words in Arabic and among Arabs imply that this one Supreme Being is also the only Agent, the only Force, the only Act existing throughout the universe, and leave to all beings else, matter or spirit, instinct or intelligence, physical or moral, nothing but pure unconditional pa ivene , alike in movement or in quiescence, in action or in capacity. The sole power, the sole motor, movement, energy, and deed, is God; the rest is downright inertia and mere instrumentality, from the highest archangel down to the simplest atom of creation. Hence, in this one sentence, is summed up a system which, for want of a better name, I may be permitted to call the Pantheism of Force, or of Act, thus exclusively a igned to God, Who absorbs it all, exercises it all, and to Whom alone it can be ascribed, whether for preserving or for destroying, for relative evil or for equally relative good. I say ‘relative,’ because it is clear that in such a theology no place is left for absolute good or evil, reason or extravagance, all is abridged in the autocratical will of the One great Agent: ‘ sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas ’; or, more significantly still, in Arabic Kema yeshao ( ka-mā yashāʾu ), ‘as He wills it,’ to quote the constantly recurring expre ion of the Coran. “Thus immeasureably and eternally exalted above, and di imilar from, all creatures, which lie levelled before Him on one common plane of instrumentality and inertne , God is One in the totality of omnipotent and omnipresent action, which acknowledges no rule, standard, or limit, save His own sole and absolute will. He communicates nothing to His creatures, for their seeming power and act ever remain His alone, and in return He receives nothing from them; for whatever they may be, that they are in Him, by Him, and from Him only. And, secondly, no superiority, no distinction, no pre-eminence, can be lawfully claimed by one creature over its fellow, in the utter equalisation of their unexceptional servitude and abasement; all are alike tools of the one solitary Force which employs them to crush or to benefit, to truth or to error, to honour or shame, to happine or misery, quite independently of their individual fitne , deserts, or advantage, and simply because ‘He wills it,’ and ‘as He wills it.’ “One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this uncontrolled and unsympathising Power, would be far above anything like pa ions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, for He has with respect to His creatures one main feeling and source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, and thus encroach on His all-engro ing kingdom. Hence He is ever more prone to punish than to reward, to inflict pain than to bestow pleasure, to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also, that thus they may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will above their will, His pride above their pride; or rather, that there is no power, cunning, will, or pride, save His own. “But He Himself, sterile in His inacce ible height, neither loving nor enjoying aught save His own and self-measured decree, without son, companion, or counsellor, is no le barren of Himself than for His creatures, and His own barrenne and lone egoism in Himself is the cause and rule of His indifferent and unregarding despotism around. The first note is the key of the whole tune, and the primal idea of God runs through and modifies the whole system and creed that centres in Him. “That the notion here given of the Deity, monstrous and blasphemous as it may appear, is exactly and literally that which the Coran conveys or intends to convey, I at present take for granted. But that it indeed is so, no one who has attentively perused and thought over the Arabic text (for mere cursory reading, especially in a translation, will not suffice), can hesitate to allow. In fact, every phrase of the preceding sentences, every touch in this odious portrait, has been taken, to the best of my ability, word for word, or at least meaning for meaning, from the ‘Book,’ the truest mirror of the mind and scope of its writer. “And that such was in reality Mahomet’s mind and idea, is fully confirmed by the witne -tongue of contemporary tradition. Of this we have many authentic samples: the Saheeh ( Ṣaḥīḥ ), the Commentary of Beydāwi ( al-Baiẓāwī ), the Mishkat ul Masabih , and fifty similar works, afford ample testimony on this point. But for the benefit of my readers in general, all of whom may not have drunk equally deep at the fountain-heads of Islamic dogma, I will subjoin a specimen, known perhaps to many Orientalists, yet too characteristic to be here omitted, a repetition of which I have endured times out of number from admiring and approving Wahhābīs in Nejed. “ ‘Accordingly, when God’—so runs the tradition: I had better said, the blasphemy—‘resolved to create the human race, He took into His hands a ma of earth, the same whence all mankind were to be formed, and in which they after a manner pre-existed; and having then divided the clod into two equal portions, He threw the one half into hell, saying, “These to eternal fire, and I care not”; and projected the other half into heaven, adding, “and these to Paradise, I care not.” ’ (See Mishkātu ʾl-Maṣābīḥ , Bābu ʾl-Qadr .) “Commentary would here be superfluous. But in this we have before us the adequate idea of predestination, or, to give it a truer name, pre-damnation, held and taught in the school of the Coran. Paradise and hell are at once totally independent of love or hatred on the part of the Deity, and of merits or demerits, of good or evil conduct, on the part of the creature; and, in the corresponding theory, rightly so, since the very actions which we call good or ill-deserving, right or wrong, wicked or virtuous, are in their e ence all one and of one, and accordingly merit neither praise nor blame, punishment nor recompense, except and simply after the arbitrary value which the all-regulating will of the great despot may choose to a ign or impute to them. In a word, He burns one individual through all eternity amid red-hot chains and seas of molten fire, and seats another in the plenary enjoyment of an everlasting brothel between forty celestial concubines, just and equally for His own good pleasure, and because He wills it. “Men are thus all on one common level, here and hereafter, in their physical, social, and moral light—the level of slaves to one sole Master, of tools to one universal Agent. But the equalising proce does not stop here: beasts, birds, fishes, insects, all participate of the same honour or debasement; all are, like man, the slaves of God, the tools and automata of His will; and hence Mahomet is simply logical and self-consistent when in the Coran he informs his followers, that birds, beasts, and the rest are ‘nations’ like themselves, nor does any intrinsic distinction exist between them and the human species, except what accidental diversity the ‘King, the Proud One, the Mighty, the Giant,’ ., as he styles his God, may have been pleased to make, just as He willed it, and so long as He may will it. “However, should any one think himself aggrieved by such a ociation, he may console himself by reflecting that, on the other hand, angels, archangels, genii, devils, and whatever other spiritual beings may exist, are no le on his level also; and that if he himself be no better than a camel, he is, however, no worse than Gabriel or any seraph. And then, over all and above all, ‘There is no god but God.’ ”—( Central and Eastern Arabia , vol. i. p. 365.)