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Belief in one God, Allah in Arabic, constitutes the
very foundation of Islam. There is no deity except Allah. He is
indivisible and absolutely transcendent. God is the Almighty, the
Creator and the Sustainer of the universe, Who is similar to nothing and
nothing is comparable to Him.
The basic message of Islam is that God
(Allah in Arabic) and His creation are distinctly different entities.
Neither is Allah His creation or a part of it, nor is His creation Him
or a part of Him. This might seem obvious, but, man's worship of
creation instead of the Creator is to a large degree based on ignorance
of this concept. It is the belief that the essence of Allah is
everywhere in His creation or that His divine being is or was present in
some aspects of His creation, which has provided justification for the
worship of creation, though such worship may be called the worship of
Allah through his creation.
However, the message of Islam as brought
by the prophets of Allah is to worship only Allah and to avoid the
worship of his creation either directly or indirectly.
Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the
Eternal, Absolute; He begets not, nor is He begotten; And
there is none like unto Him. (Surah 112)
God is He, than Whom there is no other
god;- Who knows (all things) both secret and open; He, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful. God is He, than Whom there is no other god;- the
Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source of Peace (and Perfection), the
Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the Exalted in Might, the
Irresistible, the Supreme: Glory to God! (High is He) above the partners
they attribute to Him.
He is God, the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of
Forms (or Colors). To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names: whatever is
in the heavens and on earth, doth declare His Praises and Glory: and He
is the Exalted in Might, the Wise. (59:22-24)
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