Knowing God 1

Introduction.

There are numerous people who are struggling with questions like Does God Exist Who is God? How do we know Him? This is a huge topic – scholars can speak for hours on this topic but we will discuss today the very basics of what the Quran says about these questions.

Allah is the Arabic name for the God used in the Quran so we may use both words God or Allah  as needed for our discussion.

The most fundamental principle about Allah mentioned in the Quran is that “There is nothing like Him” – meaning there is nothing in this world which we humans have known, seen or imagined that resembles Him. Therefore, we should not try to imagine or visualize Allah on our own with our limited knowledge and vision; rather we should learn from authentic sources what God says about Himself.  So  that’s what we will do today – we will try to know what the Quran says about God, also, for this discussion we will not try to elaborate on details; we will just mention the verses as they appear in the Quran for information.

The fact that “There is nothing like Him” is mentioned in the verse like this:

There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing. 42:11

So now our task is to learn what is said about God in the Quran.

Why we call Him Allah?

The first point is that – we call Him Allah. Why? Because God chose this name for Himself. In the Quran at three places God said “I am Allah”, and here are those verses.

Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance. 20:14

O Moses, indeed it is I – Allah, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.” 27:9,

O Moses, indeed I am Allah, Lord of the worlds.” 28:30

Allah is the most widely used name in the Quran for God – it appears about 2700 times in the Quran.

Profound description of Allah

So, searching the Quran to know God, we find a profound description of Allah in chapter 112. This chapter we may say lays down the framework of knowing God/Allah. If we try further to know Allah, nothing will fall outside of this frame; this is a kind of steppingstone from where we may move further in knowing God.

Say, “He is Allah, [who is] One, –means Allah is all by Himself, singular sole entity, He has no partners, no associates, no subordinates, no family.

Allah, the Eternal Refuge. –Everyone needs Him – He does not need any one.

He neither begets nor is (He) begotten – means He was not given birth by anyone neither he gives birth to anyone, He is far above this.

Nor is there to Him any equivalent.”  –there is no counterpart or someone equal in capacity and qualities that Allah possesses.

Ar Rahman and Ar Raheem –

Beyond these fundamental descriptions, Allah has described Himself in the Quran in many different ways and with various names and attributes – through these descriptions, names and attributes we can know Him.

Today we will mention two most prominent names or attributes of God in the Quran.

These two names are Ar Rahman and Ar Raheem –

Ar Rahman means Most Compassionate or Most Gracious

Ar Raheem means Most Merciful.

These two names are very prominent names amongst the various names of Allah mentioned in the Quran and they are both are used multiple times in the Quran.

There are 114 chapters or Surahs in the Quran and all but one begin with these two names mentioned together, as in:

“In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful”.

Ar Rahman is also a title of a chapter in the Quran.

Here are the Verses for both names

Ar Rahman

Gardens of Eternity, those which (Allah) Most Gracious has promised to His servants in the Unseen: for His promise must (necessarily) come to pass. 19:61

Ar Raheem

As for those who repent afterwards and mend their ways, then surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. 3:89

If you want to read Quran  yourself , you can download it free of cost from website www.Quranforhumanity.org. We have translations of the Quran in more than 100 languages. May guidance and peace be upon the entire humanity.