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Showing posts with label Al Ahad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Al Ahad. Show all posts

Monday 1 July 2019

99 Attributes of Allah: Al Ahad - The One and Only


Al Ahad "الأحد" is one of the 99 attributes of Allah. In Arabic, Ahad means One, Unique or matchless. Thus when it comes to describing the attribute of Allah, Al Ahad means The One and the Only One for there Allah's attributes can never be DUPLICATED. Allah is the symbol of Unity for it is He alone Who unites the entire universe and keeps it perfectly timed and tightly under control.

This attribute is very meaningful for He the Only One does not any second [that shares] in the Lordship, nor in the essence, nor in the attributes. The One who was not begotten and has never begotten. That is why His attributes and powers can neither be shared nor duplicated.

The ancient roots of Ahad point toward to the essential qualities which describe Unity, while the ancient roots of Wāhid point toward the manifestations which arise from that Unity. That which is Ahad cannot be divided into parts, or any parts distinguished. That which is Wāhid has the appearance of being divisible into separate parts, or being comprised of separate parts.

Allah Himself proclaims Him to be the Only One in Surah Al Ikhlas:

قُلۡ هُوَ اللّٰهُ اَحَدٌ​ ۚ‏ 
Say: “He is Allah, the One and Unique

The explanation of the above said verse is "that Huwa is the subject and Allahu its predicate, and Ahad-un its second predicate. According to this parsing the sentence means: He (about Whom you are questioning me) is Allah, is One and only one. Another meaning can also be, and according to language rules it is not wrong either: He is Allah, the One.
Here, the first thing to be understood is the unusual use of ahad in this sentence. Usually this word is either used in the possessive case as yaum ul-ahad (first day of the week), or to indicate total negative as Ma jaa a-ni ahad-un (No one has come to me), or in common questions like Hal indaka ahadun (Is there anyone with you), or in conditional clauses like Injaa-ka ahad-un (If someone comes to you), or in counting as ahad, ithnan, ahad ashar (one, two, eleven). 
Apart from these uses, there is no precedent in the pre-Quranic Arabic that the mere word ahad might have been used as an adjective for a person or thing. After the revelation of the Quran this word has been used only for the Being of Allah, and for no one else. This extraordinary use by itself shows that being single, unique and matchless is a fundamental attribute of Allah; no one else in the world is qualified with this quality: He is One, He has no equal.
In fact the entire four versed Surah Al Ikhlas explain the Oneness of Allah. Please read exegesis of Surah Al Ikhlas already posted.

Thus, Ahad is used to refer to the One, the sole One, the One who was not begotten and who has ever been alone, the One who has no second, the Indivisible. He alone is the Sustainer: no one else has any share or part in providence and since He alone can be the Ilah (Deity) Who is Master and Sustainer, therefore, no one else is His associate in Divinity either.

Likewise the attribute "Wāhid" indicates the solitary Starting Point, the One Source, the First of the Many, from which all of creation has arisen as manifestations of Unity. From a human point of view, the manifestations may appear separate and diverse, but in reality they are One.

In Surah Al Baqarah 2:163, the attribute Wāhid is used, conveying the meaning of Oneness of Allah:

وَاِلٰهُكُمۡ اِلٰهٌ وَّاحِدٌ  ۚ لَآ اِلٰهَ اِلَّا هُوَ الرَّحۡمٰنُ الرَّحِيۡمُ  
Your Ilah [God] is One Ilah [God], there is no god but He; the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.

Ibn Kathir Explanation:
In this Ayah, Allah mentions that He is the only deity, and that He has no partners or equals. He is Allah, the One and Only, the Sustainer, and there is no deity worthy of worship except Him. He is the Most Gracious ـ Ar-Rahman, the Most Merciful ـ Ar-Rahim. We explained the meanings of these two Names in the beginning of Surat Al-Fatihah. 

Shahr bin Hawshab reported that Asma' bint Yazid bin As-Sakan narrated that Allah's Messenger said: (Allah's Greatest Name is contained in the following Ayat): 
وَإِلَـهُكُمْ إِلَـهٌ وَحِدٌ لاَّ إِلَـهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الرَّحْمَـنُ الرَّحِيمُ
(And your Ilah (God) is One Ilah (God ـ Allah), La ilaha illa Huwa (there is none who has the right to be worshipped but He), the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.) 

The clearly explains that Allah is alone as the deity, that He is the One who created the heavens and the earth and all of the various creatures between them, all of which testify to His Oneness.  The meaning of al-Ahad is the Unique, who is forever One and has never and will never have another alongside Him. (al-Nihaayah, 1/35).

Ahad dtems from the root a-h-d whichin classical Arabic means: (1) to be one, (2) to be the only one, one alone, sole, (3) to unite, unify. The ancient roots of Ahad point toward to the essential qualities which describe Unity, while the ancient roots of Wāhid point toward the manifestations which arise from that Unity.

The Oneness of Allah thus ruled out there being anything else that could be like Him. Allah has no peer and no rival. He is the One God, the One Lord, and no one other than Him deserves to be obeyed; no one other than Him should be worshipped. 

You may refer to our post "99 Attributes of Allah" for complete list of 99 attributes of Allah Almighty with meaning and explanation.

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Sunday 20 January 2019

Concept of Tawheed in Islam- The Oneness of Allah


Faith in oneness of Allah is the foremost pillar of Islam. Although all Divine religions since the Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) have revolved round the concept of oneness of Allah, there seems to have been some deviation in the concept of belief regarding God in Christianity. The concept of Trinity negates the very concept of oneness of Allah and divide the concept of God into three. Islam and followers of Old Testament (Torah) however strongly believe in oneness of one trued God, called in Arabic: Allah.

Thus the basic “doctrine of Oneness” (of Allah) is Islam’s most fundamental concept of Islam, called Tawheed. Surah Al Ikhlas, the 112th chapter of the Holy Qur'an clearly spells out the Declaration of Oneness of Allah, clearly dispelling any notion of Him being begotten or born:
Say (O'Muhammad), “He is Allah, (the) One (Ahad - In Arabic Ahad means One).   Allah, the Absolute.   He begets not, nor was He begotten;And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him.”

The above surah lays down the foundation of the concept of absolute monotheism and dispels any notion of there being any equal or comparable to Allah and amply clarifies there is only Allah, like the God of Jews. But not like the God of Christians which also shares the title with two other. This, however, does not mean that the three leading religions of Jews, Christians and Muslims worship a different God , because all religions believe in One True God, though with passage of time the term has assumed different meanings due to distortions and man made beliefs and interpretations. We Muslims thus believe that there is no plurality of gods, as the polytheist society of Makkah believed before the advent of Islam.

It also negates the claims of the pagans of Makkah that angels are the off springs of Allah. The surah clearly states that Allah is far above being the progeny of anybody or having any offspring. Thus He has no son or father. He is eternal ,without beginning or end. He is such a unique being that there is nobody like Him or equal to Him in any manner whatsoever. As for the Three in One concept, Allah clearly says in the Holy Quran:
They have certainly disbelieved who say, " Allah is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment. [Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:73]
The Holy Quran thus clearly asserts the existence of a single and absolute truth that transcends the world; a unique, independent and indivisible being, who is independent of the entire creation. Allah, is a universal God, rather than a local, tribal, or parochial one for Allah is an absolute, who integrates all affirmative values and brooks no evil.

The concept of Tawheed unequivocally holds that God is One (Al-ʾAḥad) and Single (Al-Wāḥid). The Arabic term Tawheed is used to describe this belief in the absolute Oneness of God. Tawheed comes from an Arabic word meaning "unification" or "oneness"—it is a complex term with many depths of meaning in Islam. The word Tawheed is derived from the Arabic verb wahhada, which means "He made it one; or called it one". The Arabs say "Wāḥid, Ahad and Waheed," all meaning one. Allah is Waahid, meaning that He has no rivals or peers in any way. So Tawheed means knowing Allah is One, with none like unto Him. Whoever does not acknowledge Allah in these terms and does not describe Him as being One with no partner or associate does not believe in Tawheed. Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran [Surah Al Baqarah 2:255]:
“Allah - there is no deity except Him, the Ever- Living, the Sustainer of [all] existence. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they encompass not a thing of His knowledge except for what He wills. His Kursi (literally, a footstool) extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.” 
Tawheed in nutshell is analogous to the monotheistic concept of God in Judaism, as declared in the Shema Yisrael, the Jewish declaration of faith. Tawheed is also analogous to Christian Unitarianism adhered to by a minority of Christian denominations which reject a trinitarian position of God in Christianity, which is in contrast to most Christian faiths that ascribe to the Trinity (God as three persons in one being; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). 

Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him) has also stressed the concept of Tawheed in Saheeh al-Bukhaari (7372) 
Narrated Ibn `Abbas: When the Prophet sent Mu`adh to Yemen, he said to him, You are going to a nation from the people of the Scripture, so let the first thing to which you will invite them, be the Tawheed of Allah. If they learn that, tell them that Allah has enjoined on them, five prayers to be offered in one day and one night. And if they pray, tell them that Allah has enjoined on them Zakat of their properties and it is to be taken from the rich among them and given to the poor. And if they agree to that, then take from them Zakat but avoid the best property of the people.
Therefore it is mandatory for all Muslims, specially the reverts, to know the concept of Tawheed and FIRMLY believe in Tawheed - To acknowledge Oneness of Allah, who is away from likeness and numeration and he is not divisible even in imagination. Allah must be recognized as The Lord or The Master and that He is so absolutely pure and above nature that nothing can be added to or subtracted from His being.

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