Who is Allah?

01

The question behind every question

Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does the universe follow laws? Why do we feel that right and wrong are real, that love matters, that life should mean something?

Every one of these questions leads back to the same place. Either it all happened by itself, for no reason and with no purpose, or there is a Creator who made it all, and made you, on purpose.

Islam’s answer is clear. There is a Creator. He is One. He knows you, He hears you, and He is closer to you than you imagine. In Arabic, His name is Allah.

This is not a matter of blind faith. The Qur’an repeatedly asks its readers to think: to look at the sky, the earth, their own bodies and their own hearts, and to follow the evidence where it leads.

The Qur’an

“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, are signs for people of understanding.”

Qur’an 3:190

02

Is there a God? Three signs

03

Who is Allah?

Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, the One true God. It is not the name of a tribal god or a god of the Muslims only. Arabic-speaking Christians use the same word in their Bibles and prayers, and it is the sister word of Elohim, the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. When Muslims say Allah, they mean the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

Even the New Testament leads back to this name. Jesus and his disciples spoke Aramaic, yet no Gospel survives in their language. The oldest Gospels we have are in Greek, where God is called Theos. Translate Theos back into the language Jesus actually spoke, and you get Alaha, the word the ancient Aramaic Bible, the Peshitta, uses for God. Mark’s Gospel even preserves one of Jesus’ cries in Aramaic: “Eloi, Eloi”, “My God, my God” (Mark 15:34).

Say Alaha aloud and you will hear how close it is to Allah.

The Qur’an describes Him most simply in a chapter of four short lines:

قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

“Say: He is Allah, the One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, and there is none comparable to Him.”

Qur’an 112:1–4

He is not like anything we can picture. He is not a man, not a force, not a part of nature. “There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” (Qur’an 42:11). He has no beginning and no end. He does not need food, sleep or help. Everything needs Him, and He needs nothing.

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ once asked his companion Ubayy which verse of the Qur’an was the greatest. Ubayy answered with the opening of a verse Muslims call Ayat al-Kursi, the Verse of the Throne, and the Prophet ﷺ praised his knowledge (Sahih Muslim 810). It describes Allah like this:

Ayat al-Kursi

ٱللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْحَيُّ ٱلْقَيُّومُ

“Allah: there is no god but Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all existence. Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth… He knows what is before them and what is behind them… His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and guarding them does not tire Him. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.”

Qur’an 2:255

04

The most beautiful names

How can we know a God we cannot see? He has introduced Himself to us through His names.

The Qur’an

“And to Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them.”

Qur’an 7:180

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah has ninety-nine names… and whoever knows them will enter Paradise” (Sahih al-Bukhari 2736). Each name opens a window onto who He is. Here are twelve of them:

Notice which names come first. Every chapter of the Qur’an but one begins: “In the name of Allah, Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim”, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Before anything else, God wants you to know Him by His mercy.

05

Why only one God?

If there is a Creator, why only one? The Qur’an answers with a simple argument that anyone can follow:

The Qur’an

لَوْ كَانَ فِيهِمَا آلِهَةٌ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ لَفَسَدَتَا

“Had there been within the heavens and the earth gods besides Allah, they both would have been ruined.”

Qur’an 21:22

The Qur’an

“Allah has not taken any son, nor has there ever been any god with Him. Otherwise, each god would have taken away what it created, and some of them would have tried to overpower others.”

Qur’an 23:91

Think of a ship with two captains, each giving different orders, or a country with two kings, each with full power. The result is conflict and chaos. Yet the universe runs on one set of laws, from the smallest atom to the furthest galaxy. The same physics works in London and in a galaxy billions of light years away. That unity points to one Will behind it all.

This belief in the absolute oneness of God is called Tawhid, and it is the heart of Islam. It means God is one in His being, with no partners, children or equals. It means He alone deserves worship: no saint, idol, prophet, angel or human being shares in it. And it means we turn to Him directly, with no go-between.

There is great freedom in this. When you worship one God, you are no longer a slave to anything else: not to money, not to fame, not to what other people think of you. Your heart answers to One.

06

His mercy and His love

Some imagine the God of Islam as distant and harsh. The Qur’an and the words of the Prophet ﷺ paint a very different picture.

Mercy written into creation

The Prophet ﷺ said that Allah made mercy in one hundred parts. He kept ninety-nine with Himself and sent down just one part to the earth:

Mercy before anger

When Allah created the creation, He wrote in a Book kept with Him above the Throne:

“Indeed, My mercy prevails over My anger.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 7404

Forgiveness without limit

In a hadith qudsi, the Prophet ﷺ relayed that Allah says:

Hadith Qudsi

“O son of Adam, as long as you call upon Me and hope in Me, I will forgive you whatever you have done, and I do not mind. O son of Adam, even if your sins were to reach the clouds of the sky and then you asked Me for forgiveness, I would forgive you.”

Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 3540

Love

One of His names is Al-Wadud, the Most Loving (Qur’an 85:14). The Qur’an speaks again and again of the people Allah loves: “Allah loves those who do good” (2:195), “Allah loves those who turn to Him in repentance” (2:222), “Allah loves those who trust in Him” (3:159).

This is the God who is calling you. Not a God waiting to punish, but a God whose door is open, who rejoices when His servant returns.

07

What does Allah want from you?

If God needs nothing, why does He ask us to worship Him? The Qur’an answers:

The Qur’an

“O mankind, it is you who stand in need of Allah, while Allah is the Free of all need, the Praiseworthy.”

Qur’an 35:15

Your prayers do not add anything to God. In a hadith qudsi, Allah says that if every human and jinn, from the first to the last, had the heart of the most pious person among them, “that would not add anything to My dominion”. And He says: “It is only your deeds that I record for you” (Sahih Muslim 2577). Worship is not something God needs. It is something you need.

Think of it like this. A fish needs water; a plant needs light. The human heart needs its Creator. Without Him, it chases one thing after another and is never satisfied. With Him, it finds what it was made for:

أَلَا بِذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ ٱلْقُلُوبُ

“Truly, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.”

Qur’an 13:28

And He has not left you to guess what is good for you. He sent messengers, from Adam to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and finally Muhammad ﷺ, each calling to the same thing: know your Lord, worship Him alone, and live with justice and kindness. He sent books, the last of which, the Qur’an, is preserved word for word. He even placed in your heart the instinct to seek Him.

08

Turn to Him

You do not need a priest, a temple or a special ritual to begin. You only need to turn to Him, honestly, from where you are now. He has promised:

The Qur’an

فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ ٱلدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ

“And when My servants ask you about Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the call of the caller when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me and believe in Me, that they may be rightly guided.”

Qur’an 2:186

Tonight, or right now, try speaking to Him in your own words. Tell Him you want to know the truth. Ask Him to show you. That simple, sincere prayer is the first step on the path every prophet walked.

When you are ready, Islam begins with one sentence, a declaration that you know your Creator and the messenger He sent:

The Shahadah

أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ

Ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasul Allah.

“I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”

• Take your time. There is no compulsion in religion.
• Read the Qur’an, His words to you. Start with Surah al-Fatihah, the opening chapter, and Ayat al-Kursi.
• Keep asking. He hears every honest heart.