Allah: The Concept of God in Islam

In Volume One of his book titled All¡h: The Concept of God in Islam, the author divides its 532 pages of text into three parts thus:

Part One discusses topics such as knowing the Almighty, how and why Muslims start everything in the name of God in addition to 18 commonly asked questions about our Maker. These questions may be asked by those who believe in such Maker or those who do not, and the answers are provided in an easy to understand way without going deeply into any philosophy or confusing sophistry.

Part Two contains an interesting section about experiments which were actually conducted by Muslim and non-Muslim physicians on patients in which no medication was used other than the repetition by the patients of the word “All¡h” and how doing so has actually healed these patients with true testimonies. It discusses the derivation of the word “All¡h” which Muslims of the world prefer to use over any other word in their respective mother tongues that describes God. Then this part details the “99 Attributes of All¡h”. These may be the most widely used Names of the Almighty in the Islamic faith. There are entire books that discuss these attributes or names. The author explains the meaning and derivation of each of these attributes and its spiritual impacts on one who repeats it often, believing in its connotation. This section takes up 163 pages of this Volume.

Part Three starts by discussing the most important tenet of Islam: the Unity of God or Tawhīd, that is, His being One and only, indivisible, having no partner or equal, a son or a daughter, a wife, an assistant or an advisor… This is the spirit of the first portion of the Islamic Declaration of Faith: There is no god but All¡h. The author cites verses from the Holy Qur’¡n testifying to and strongly emphasizing the Unity of God concept. The next section within this Part details how some misinformed Muslims view the Almighty, giving Him human forms and attributing to Him behavior which is typical of some of His creations but never of Him such as moving from one place to another, wrestling with devils and over-powering them superman-style, descending from the heavens to earth to hear His servants’ pleas, walking and talking to the faithful on Doomsday, laughing and testing their knowledge of Him, and how He puts His leg in the fire of hell in order to fill it… Other sections of this Part contain different supplications to the Almighty, discussions of the angels, jinns (genies), Satan, the creation of Adam and Eve and the members of the first human family. It also answers the question: How did the first family multiply? Did some of Adam’s sons really marry their sisters? This lengthy Part, which takes up most of the book’s space, ends with stories from the Islamic literature about a number of God’s prophets: Enoch, Noah, Hud, Abraham, Job, Moses, David, Solomon, Mary and Jesus. Volume Two of this book will introduce to the reader the Prophet of Islam in order to complete this series.

The book’s conclusion is almost a repetition of the same text with which the author concludes his books, that is, the meanings, implications, greatness and merits of recitating the first Chapter of the Qur’¡n, Islam’s Holy Book. If you do not read this book in its entirety, you may enjoy reading its Conclusion a great deal!

There are certain parts of this Volume which the author likes in particular. They include the discussion of how Adam was formed, shaped, created then placed at the gate of the Garden for a number of years, how the angels admired his form and how Satan envied him. What were the first words uttered by Adam? How did Adam and Eve get married? What dower, if any, did Adam give Eve?! How long did the couple stay in Paradise and how was the expulsion from it? Did they stay together after the expulsion or were they deliberately separated from each other? The answers to all these questions and others are provided in this Volume.

Another part of the book which the author likes is the discussion of Moses, his marriage in exile and his return to liberate his people. In particular, he very much likes the dialogue which went on between him and the Almighty on Mount Sinai which is often referred to as the “Sermon on the Mount”. You will read the questions which Moses put forth to his Lord and the answers which he received from Him as well as the questions which God directed to Moses. Using smaller print size, this dialogue between God and Moses fills eight pages, and it is truly inspiring.

The story of Jesus Christ and his saintly mother is the most detailed in this book, and it shows you the great status Christ enjoys in Islam and how present day Christianity has departed from the original pristine faith brought by Jesus, how there is actually only one Gospel of the Bible which was written during the lifetime of Jesus Christ, a Gospel which is not “canonized” by the Church despite being the only one which really and truthfully recorded the message brought by Christ. Most of the references used in this section are “Christian” in addition to verses from the Qur’¡n and traditions from the Prophet of Islam. Do not read this section if you are close-minded, if you belong to the Jehovah Witnesses or to any fanatical “Christian” sect. If you read it with an open mind, you will probably enjoy it a great deal.