Allah in Quran, By: Seyed Salman Safavi

The Nature and Attributes of God, or the Demiurge-Creator and Designer of the cosmos, is a venerable subject in Quran, philosophy and natural theology.

Allah is the Arabic word, which denotes God in the Quran.

It is derived from the word ilāh (Arabic: إله‎), or the Divine. Allah is the essential name of God in Islam.

At times it is referred to as the “Great Name” (Ism al-a‘zam), which is the most comprehensive of the Divine names.

The merit of “Allah” over the other “Beautiful Names” (Asma’ al-Husna) is that the word ikhlas is specifically related to it, and testimony (shahadah) is performed in the use of this name.

This is the name that is worthy of the Divine Essence, and it is comprised of all the perfect and noble attributes.

Allah is none other than God; Allah is the foundation of all the other Divine names. “Allah (God) refers to the Divine Essence.”

Allah is central in the Qur’anic world perspective, both from an ontological and an epistemological perspective.

Allah is the only absolute and Necessary Existence, subsistent by itself, the absolute and final agent of the world.

Every phenomenon in the world, and everything in existence, is a manifestation of His Noumenon.

The world is the manifestation of Allah’s Beautiful and of His Majestic Names. All the possible worlds, in existence and in contingency, are dependent on, and in need of, Allah’s Emanation. He is neither begotten nor does He beget. Allah is absolute good and only good comes from Allah.

Allah knows all the general and particular aspects of the world; He is everywhere, and he is closer to human beings than their jugular vein.

Allah is the Compassionate, the Merciful, and the Just. He is aware of the beginning, the end, the esoteric and exoteric of the world. Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth.

Allah is “the Eternally Living” (Hayy), “the Omniscient,” (‘Alim), “the Omnipotent” (Qadir), and “the Guardian’ (Wali). The Qur’anic invitation is on the basis of Divine Unity (tawhid):

only Allah is to be worshipped and in the social sphere, it is on the basis of social justice, the forming of a Divine society on the foundation of Divine Unity.

Allah is the axis for all of a Muslim’s social and individual acts.

The holy Qur’an makes thousands of references to Allah’s delicate role in an individual’s social, individual, spiritual and political life.

Allah in Quran, Salman Safavi

Introduction

Chapter One:

God in the Quranic Transcendent Philosophy

A Brief Elucidation of the Proof of the Highly Veracious

A Logical Exposition of the Proof of the Highly Veracious

Divine Attributes

1. Universal Discussions Pertaining to Divine Attributes

2. Classifications of the Attributes

3. The Negative Attributes

4. Returning the Multiplicity of the Attributes to the Oneness of the Essence

5. The Difference Between Attributes of the Essence and Attributes of Act

6. God’s Attributes are His Very Essence

7. The Power and Knowledge of the Necessary Being: His Ess

8. The Knowledge the Necessary Being Has About That Which Other Than Himself

9. The Life of the Necessary Being

10. The Will of the Almighty Necessary Being

11. The Hearing and Vision of the Almighty Necessary Being

Chapter Two:

The Rules of Theology in Quran

Calligraphy

Bibliography

Index