There is only One God who is worshipped by Jews, Christians and Moslems but the Muslims see God from a unique perspective. Muslims face of Allah is primarily that of the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe with an emphasis of the Absolute Oneness and Transcendence of Allah. This perspective is reflected in their 99 names or attributes of Allah.

Allah is --The Great One, The Aware, The All Seeing, The All Knowing, The Judge, etc.

 

 

 

Allah is also loving and merciful but the relation is that of a slave to a master. There is no concept of being a son or daughter of Allah by sharing His divine nature as in Christianity. Allah is too Exulted and Almighty for such a concept to take hold in Islam.

The transcendence of Allah is also evident in other ways. The name "Islam" means "surrender". In worship this is symbolized by bowing to the ground as a sign of profound humility thus emphasizing that Allah stands far above all his creatures. I wonder if this attitude was engendered by the geography of the desert. In the desert one realizes his or her smallness in relation to the vast stretches of sand with the lofty blue sky above. A comparison of the Salat (prayer each Muslin is required to pray five time a day) with the Our Father will make clear the Transcendent emphasis of Islam --

THE SALAT God is great. Glory to You, O Allah, and yours is the praise. And blessed is You Name, and exulted your Majesty. And there is no deity to be worshipped but You. I seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the accuser. In the name of God, the infinitely Compassionate and Merciful. Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds. The Compassionate, the Merciful. Ruler of the day of Reckoning. You alone do we worship, and You alone do we ask for help. Guide us on the straight path, the path of those who have received your grace; not the path of those who have brought down wrath, nor of those who wonder astray. Amen.

OUR FATHER Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this say our daily bread; and forgive us out trasspasses as we forgive those who traspasses against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

 

The Christian conception of God is Logos (Reason). God is unchanging and all creatures embody some degree of his infinite intelligence. He cannot contradict himself. For example, God is infinitely good and cannot will evil as such. In this rational view of God "God's Justice is his Will". Islam sees this conception of God as placing a limitation on the will of Allah.

The Islamic conception of God is quite different. Pope Benedict XVI has observed that according to most Islamic scholars since "God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." Since Allah's will is absolute he can do whatever he wants. The Jesuit Father James Schall states the concept thus, "If Allah is pure will, then anything that is, can be the opposite of what is, so that nothing really is what it is. It can always be otherwise." (Zeneth.org) The primacy of God's will can be sensed in reading the Koran but would Mohammed have taken it to such an extreme? Radical Islam may subscribe to the above view of Allah but the majority of Muslims, I know, are more sane, reasonable and loving.

 

8. The Mystic Face of God