The Concept of God
There is a wide spread fundamental misunderstanding about the Islamic concept of Allah, even among Muslims. It is confused with the common notion of "god".
The word "god" as commonly used by Christians and others refers to anything which is worshipped or to which human beings sub-ordinate themselves, be it stones, people, objects, forces, nature, institutions, ideologies, systems, and their own desires, prejudices, and so on.
Even in the Old and New Testaments this is so:-
"Jesus answered them (the Jews who wished to stone him), Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;" John 10:34-35
He was quoting the Old Testament:-
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." Psalms 82:6
This why the phrase "son of God" was misunderstood:-
"(Therefore) Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him." 10:36-38
The Quran does not use the word "Allah" in this way. The word means "That which alone is worthy of worship." It refers to the fundamental original self-existing reality, the creator and maintainer of the Universe. It refers only to what Jesus called "The Father".
In order to become a Muslim it is necessary to affirm the formula,
"La ilaha ill-Allah".
This is translated as "THERE IS NO GOD - but ONLY ALLAH"
To make a person into a modern Muslim, a follower of Muhammad (saw) in whom Religion was renewed, brought up to date and completed, it is also necessary to accept "Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah". In other words, we have to accept the concept of Allah brought by him.
Therefore, if someone has the concept "god" in mind, then Islam is atheist, and if he worships this he is an idolater.
On the other hand if, when speaking about God, someone has the concept "Allah" in mind, as described in the Quran, then Islam is Theist, provided, of course, that this word is not misunderstood either. Something has to be fundamental and self-existing, and it must be responsible for all phenomena, matter, energy, order, life, intelligence and consciousness.
The implication is that the concept of God in Islam has become more sophisticated than formerly. It has transcended thought itself and reached the limit, referring to the absolute fundamental and unitary. By doing this it liberates human thinking from all superstition and the prison of limitations.
As Islam, by definition, is "Surrender to Allah", it also follows that surrender to anything else is not Islam. Those who call themselves Shiahs, Sunnis, Arabs, Persians, Europeans, Africans, or anything else with which they identify themselves are, in fact, committing Idolatry because they have a god other than Allah. If they make an image of God in their mind, thereby limiting Him, they also commit Idolatry and are not Muslim.
However, all human beings, having limitations, are probably idolater of some kind. The difference between a Muslim and others is then in the ideal they strive for. A Muslim is one trying to be a Muslim - he is on the Straight Way, though he has not arrived at the destination.
Critic:-
Archeology tells us that Allah is really the pagan Moon god.
Comment:-
Here is a story about this kind of thinking:-
There was an idiot called Albert who being ill had to see a Dr. Carpenter but did not like him. He looked up a dictionary and found that Carpenter meant someone who worked in wood and by looking into encyclopedias he discovered that the ancestors of people with this name were wood workers. Congratulating himself on the great efforts at research he had made he began a campaign against Dr. Carpenter telling everyone that was a fraud, not really a doctor but a wood worker. While doing all this, his illness grew worse. It was also pointed out to him that he could be prosecuted for libel and that other ill people might not go to the doctor and get worse. But fortunately most people realized that Albert was an idiot.
In case some others do not get the relevance of this story:-
Muslims believe in Allah as defined in the Quran not as found in Archeology. This is the Creator and Maintainer of the whole Universe.
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