Who is God?

Terminology

You may have heard people refer to “Allah” or “Ellah”.

This is an Arabic word which literally means “the One to be served”.

It is formed by the elision of two Arabic words, the definite article “El” meaning “The” and “ilah” meaning “one that is served”.

Some interesting historical and etymological points to note:

• Abraham lived in the ancient Akkadian empire, the first civilisational empire on Earth. The Akkadian word for God was “El” or “Elum”
• Moses spoke Hebrew and the word for God in Hebrew is “Elohim”.
• Jesus and Mary spoke Aramaic and the Aramaic word for God is “Elah”.
• Muhammad spoke Arabic and so it is logical that the word he used for God would be an Arabic word – “Ellah” or more usually written as “Allah”.

It’s very easy to get caught up in one’s own time, place and language and see difference, when in fact similar terminology was used to describe God across many different cultures and languages by different messengers. The reason such similarity exists is because the reference point is always the same – God.

Whether we are using the term Allah, Ellah, Elah, Elohim, God or other equivalent terms, they all refer to the same being: the One to be served.

Indeed, all revelations when read in the English language (including the Torah, the Gospels and the Qur’an) are, by definition, simply translations of words used in other languages.

Perspectives

Now that we know all these terms are synonymous, the next thing to consider is, who is God from His perspective? Most of the time we think about God from a bottom-up perspective – i.e., we think about ourselves first and then God second, or rather we think about God from our perspective. But do we ever take the time to consider how God describes Himself? Who is this Being?

Interestingly, God describes Himself in many places within the Qur’an (please refer to the “Qur’an” section for an explanation as to what the Qur’an is). For example, in the Chapter “Sincerity” (chapter 112), He describes Himself thus:

‘In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy

Say, ‘He is God the One,

God the eternal.

He begot no one nor was He begotten.

No one is comparable to Him.’

From these verses we can glean that He is without partner, not subject to time or space, has no beginning or end and is of a substance and nature which is truly unique. Much to ponder for those who wish to reflect.

Every human will have variant capacities and God calls upon each of us to engage, explore and reflect to our utmost ability so that we might recognise Him.

Characterising our relationship in juxtaposition to God

In the opening verses of the Qur’an, this Great Entity refers to Himself as, “the Lord of Mercy”, “the Lord of the Worlds” and as a “King”.

There are many attributes of God, however, zooming in on these few as a starting point is extremely helpful in enabling us to characterise the nature of our relationship with Him. If He is a Merciful King and Lord of all the Worlds, then immediately that throws everything and everyone else into the status of subjects to the King. Subjects can choose to serve or submit to that King, or to rebel against Him.

For those who recognise His status, it is logical that they would choose to submit their faces to Him. The word for those who submit themselves to the King in Arabic is “muslim”. The word in Arabic for those who have trust and believe in Him is “mu’min”. And the word for a person who strives to do all those things and live life with excellence is “muhsin”.

Note, that these are not ethnic or socio-cultural labels, but descriptions of actions involving acknowledgement and behavioural approaches to life designed to ensure that one lives in optimal alignment with the algorithm of existence.

Too often, in general parlance people use these terms to refer to particular ethnic or social groups – but that is incorrect. Or to put it another way, the amount of melanin in your skin and the country you are born in are not determinants of whether or not you have submitted to the Lord of the Worlds. Rather what matters is your intentions and your actions.

“Be mindful of God: God has full knowledge of the secrets of the heart.” (Qur’an 5:7)

 

What is Submission to God?

In the Qur’an (3:19), God says that the only “code” He recognises and accepts as an expression of subservience to His will is “the submission” (in Arabic, “al islam”).

“The submission” of which God speaks in the Quran is very specific – it is an ellipsis, elucidated and contextualised in revelation itself, when God commands the Prophet ﷺ thus:

“Say, ‘My Lord has guided me to a straight path, a longstanding code, the faith of Abraham, a man of pure faith. He was not a polytheist.’” (Qur’an, 6:161)

Similarly, God goes on to say,

“Who but a fool would forsake the tradition of Abraham? We have chosen him in this world and he will rank among the righteous in the Hereafter. His Lord said to him, ‘Submit yourself to Me.’ Abraham replied, ‘I submit myself to the Lord of the Universe,’” (Qur’an, 2:130-131)

How does this conceptualisation of “the submission” fit with Judaism and Christianity?

We often hear people talk of “three Abrahamic faiths”, but what is really interesting in the Qur’an is that God does not categorise behavioural codes into three separate faiths. Rather, He speaks of there being only one monotheistic code that should govern human behaviour – the faith of Abraham. Moreover, He explicitly makes the point that the Prophet ﷺ himself is to tell people that he himself has been guided to this “straight path” and that only the foolish would forsake it.

If there has only ever been one monotheistic faith which all the prophets have followed, how do we square this with there being a Torah, the Gospels and a Qur’an?

Quite simply – though there has only ever been one monotheistic faith, there have been updates to the law of God over time to suit different communities. For example, the Torah confirmed the monotheism of Abraham but provided a set of laws for the Jewish community to follow. Similarly, the Qur’an, being the final testament to all mankind rather than just a particular community, again confirms the monotheism of Abraham and updates the law of God so that it is functional for all of mankind rather than just one group.

“We sent a messenger to every community, saying, ‘Serve God and shun false gods.’” (Qur’an, 16:36)

The message itself has always been the same and the one who undertakes to submit their face to God must necessarily accept the prophets and revelations of the past as being from the same source, the Lord of the Universe:

“So [you believers], say, ‘We believe in God and in what was sent down to us and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and what was given to Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets by their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we submit ourselves to Him.’” (Qur’an 2:136)

Abraham in history

Abraham was the first messenger of God sent to human civilisation. More specifically, Abraham lived under the Akkadian empire – widely regarded as the first human civilisational empire on Earth.

He would likely have spoken Akkadian and/or Sumerian – and accordingly would have referred to God in his own language, just as different people on Earth today refer to God in their own language. Language is merely a vessel of meaning – different words can be used in different languages to express the same meaning or concept.

To illustrate this point, we should always bear in mind that if one reads, for example, the speech of Moses in the Qur’an in Arabic, God has actually translated the speech of Moses from Hebrew and/or ancient Egyptian into Arabic for us.

Abraham, father of nations

“Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” (Genesis 17:3-7, NIV)

The code was carried by Abraham’s descendants for approximately 2,600 years via the Hebrew Israelites (the descendants of his son Isaac) and then spread beyond them throughout the world via the Ishmaelites (the descendants of his son Ishmael) and later on others over the last 1,400 years. During this period, a great multitude of messengers were sent to various communities with guidance or laws – for example, the Torah was revealed to Moses and the Gospels were revealed to Jesus. As mentioned before, each set of laws and guidance were designed specifically for the relevant recipients.

Who was Muhammad?

Muhammad was God’s final messenger. He was an Ishmaelite descendant of Abraham (from the “tents of Kedar”), tasked with upholding the code of his forefather Abraham and delivering the final amendments of the Law to mankind.

He was God’s response to the prayers of Abraham and Ishmael, thinking of their descendants upon building the “Cube” (in Arabic, “Ka’bah”), the Ancient House at Makkah (a town previously known as “Bakka”):

“Send them a messenger from their own to deliver your signs (revelations) to them, teach them the scripture and wisdom, and purify them.” (Quran 2:129)

God’s Law was first revealed to Abraham and then amended over thousands of years via a multitude of prophets sent to different communities on Earth, reflecting changing contexts and circumstances. The final amendments were eventually given to Muhammad.

Muhammad ﷺ was a Prophet and a Messenger sent by the Lord of all the Worlds, the King. Indeed, when one proclaims publicly their allegiance to the King, the statement they make (often referred to as “converting”) to bear witness (in Arabic, the “shahada”) is, “there is none to be served but the One to be served and Muhammad is the Messenger of the One to be served”. Muhammad’s status is therefore axiomatically defined by reference to his status as the King’s Messenger.

What is the Qur’an?

The Qur’an is the final testament to mankind from the One to be served. There are only two ways to know the King – (1) by observing the natural world around us, recognising its beauty and reflecting on how it came into existence; and (2) by way of data transfer from the Lord of the Universe himself to us, carbon based lifeforms.

Each revelation (whether it be the Torah, the Gospels or the Qur’an) represents an example of that data transfer.

The delivery mechanism by which that information transfer took place in the case of the Qur’an was via a being made of electromagnetic radiation (light), named Gabriel. The same Gabriel who came to Mary to tell inform her that she would give birth to Jesus.

Muhammad was a trader, known for his honesty, who, though an urbanite of Makkah, was in the habit of retreating the outskirts of the city in order to meditate in the serenity of the nearby mountains. One evening, whilst engaging in this practice, Gabriel appeared before him and commanded him,

“Read! In the name of your Lord who created” (Qur’an 96:1)

The literal transation of the Qur’an is, “reading”. The purpose of reading something is to derive meaning from it and consistent with this, the Qur’an’s entire stated raison d’etre is to provide mankind with guidance and wisdom from the Lord of all the worlds.

It is for this reason that the Qur’an was revealed in Arabic – Muhammad was an Ishmaelite living amongst Arab speaking peoples. Naturally, just as Jesus spoke Aramaic so that his people could understand him, Muhammad spoke Arabic,

“We have sent it down as an Arabic reading (Qur’an) so that you may understand.” (Qur’an, 12:2)

“If We had made it a foreign reading (Qur’an), they would have said, ‘If only its verses were clear! What? Foreign speech to an Arab?’….” (Qur’an, 41:44)

God describes the Qur’an as “a guidance to those conscious of God” (Qur’an, 2:2) “…a blessed scripture which We sent down to you, for people to think about its messages, and for those with understanding to take heed.” (Qur’an, 38:29)

God instructs the final messenger to say: “This reading (Qur’an) was revealed for me to warn you and everyone it reaches.” (Qur’an, 6:19)

As the Prophet ﷺ put it, peace be to those who follow the guidance.

Structure of the Qur’an

The Qur’an is unusual when compared with other books in that it is structured as God speaking to those listening via the Messenger. For the uninitiated, gazing at the stars is a confusing exercise – but for those versed in astronomy, beautiful structures are apparent. And so it is with the Qur’an.

Structurally, it begins with the “Opening” – a summary of God’s position relative to everything in existence (Lord of all the worlds, King), His characteristics (the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy) and a request for guidance.

Thereafter, it begins with the chapter of the “Heifer”, or the “Cow”, which (much to the surprise of those unfamiliar with the text) is primarily an invitation to the Children of Israel from God.

The following chapter, the “Family of Imran”, is named for the grandfather of Jesus. It focuses on an invitation from God to Christians and talks extensively of the virtuous Mary and Jesus.

The next chapter, “Women”, is so named as women represent half or more of mankind and are therefore a group that God places specific importance on within the text.

The fifth chapter, the “Feast” is named after the Last Supper and again calls to those who follow Jesus to follow his example and that of the disciples – to serve God, the King.

“Livestock”, the sixth chapter, was addressed to those Arabs who were devoted to superstition and pagan practices, with God inviting them to leave those behind for a just, monotheistic lifestyle.

The Qur’an then moves on to the “Heights”, which is addressed to all mankind rather than any particular group. It provides us with an insight into the events post this existence as a means of encouraging us to think about where we wish to spend eternity.

Later chapters in the Qur’an detail the examples of prophets of the past, the consistent messaging they brought to their peoples and how they were invariably rejected or ignored, even though their advice was specifically designed to improve the lives of their local communities and to bring them success and sustainable modes of living whilst in a state of submission to God. Interestingly, Muhammad is mentioned very few times by name in the Qur’an – the most oft cited prophet in the Qur’an is in fact Moses, so much so that historical exegetes of the Qur’an have previously commented that it is almost as though it became the story of Moses.

Towards the end of the Qur’an the chapters become shorter, dealing more with the planes of existence after this one – to remind us that life is short and certain to end, despite appearances to the contrary, we have very little time to make good choices.

“Every soul will taste death, then it is to Us that you will be returned.” (Qur’an, 29:57)

What does God tell us about what He wants from humans on Earth?

In short, to serve Him as King, to celebrate His praise and show devotion to Him, to follow His guidance when it comes to us in the form of revelation as it is for our benefit and to cultivate and maintain an environment for successive generations which is conducive to them continuing this behaviour.

As humans we should live good, sustainable, successful lives, mindful of the countless blessings He has granted us where justice and decency prevail.

“If you tried to count God’s favours you could never calculate them…” (Qur’an, 14:34)