Where did Islam Originate(Part-1)
Many misunderstand the fact that Islam came upon the earth not 1445 years ago, but after the ascension of First Human Adam to First Prophet when he got the first scripture from The God.
This is where humans were instructed to follow certain rules revealed from the almighty, carried by Jibreel (Peace be upon him). From time to time, prophets (peace be upon them) were born and deceased, new scriptures were introduced up until the latest and final book Holy Quran, but never two things changed. One happens to be the Oneness of God and His non-comparing, ever lasting attributes which are beyond the thought of the creation what so ever unless described by Himself to the limit that humans would understand. The other one is, acceptance of Messengers AKA Prophets (Peace be upon them) and what he brought along.
The laws and the ways of praying differed from prophet to prophet and theology remained same. Because Attributes of God is ever lasting and non-comparable. Unlike other believes, Islamic theology is based on rigid, straight forward facts and deviation, logical explanation, simulation of possibilities, putting human mind play roles in establishing facts, all these are prohibited.
The Name
God is called by many names in different divine scriptures as per their language. As per Islamic Belief, there are total of 104 Scriptures which have had revealed to the Prophets in different times. 4 of these scriptures are called Kitab (Meaning Book, plural Kutub meaning Books), others are called Sahifa (Meaning documents, papers, newspapers etc.). The last and the final Book aka The Holy Quran was, is being, will be being preserved since Allah mentioned to do so all by His Power. As it is mentioned
إِنَّا نَحۡنُ نَزَّلۡنَا ٱلذِّكۡرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُۥ لَحَـٰفِظُونَ (Ch:9 Verse:15)
Verily we revealed the Quran and we are the preserver for it.
Believing in all 104 books and all the prophets who walked on earth is compulsory in Islam, where the Quran states 25 Prophets and 4 books. They are-
Tawrat (meaning the actions, works, responsibilities, good suggestions)
Zabuur (meaning book, inscription)
Injeel (meaning good news, glad tidings)
Quran (meaning read (said in passive form), amalgam, union)
The books were revealed to Musa, Dawud, Isa and Muhammad (Peace and Blessing upon them) respectively. The first 3 were the descendants of Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Ishak, Yakub aka Yisrael (peace be upon them). The last and final messenger was the descendant of Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Ismael (peace be upon them). As it is observed, all the prophets were the from the same lineage and hence bear the same torch of spreading the oneness of Allah.
The word Allah (ٱللَّهُ) came from A-L-H (إِلَـٰهَ) root which means worthy to be served/worshipped/prayed/called. The L-L superposition indicates a stronger, deeper meaning of the same root.
Apart from the Natural Name, Allah has many attributes which are mentioned in the holy Quran and Hadith. The names exceed 100 in number, notable ones are mentioned in Ayatul Qursi and Last 3 verses of Sura Hashr.
4 Category for Oneness of Allah
During the time of last prophet (Peace be upon him), a Pagan asked him that tell us about the family of your god? Then Allah revealed Chapter 112 Verse 1–4 to prophet stating the four category of Oneness of Allah. These 4 verses are touchstone to justify Allah and nullify any false god.
قُلۡ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ
لَمۡ یَلِدۡ وَلَمۡ یُولَدۡ
وَلَمۡ یَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدُۢ
The exact translation of the Divine words of the Quran is impossible unless learnt and read in Arabic. The closest translation is-
Say (o prophet!) Allah is the one.
Allah is Free of Needs, Free of Dependency.*
He never gave/will never give birth, He never was/will never be Born.
There is none that can be comparable to Him.*
* The words ٱلصَّمَدُ (Samad) and كُفُوًا (Kufu) are vast in meaning. Translation in one word or simple sentence cannot describe the total commentary.
The Commentary of First Verse is-
“
- He is the One
- The One, to whom there is no equal, no minister, no compare, no sameness.
- This word is not used to refer to anyone in the context of proof except for God Almighty; Because He is perfect in all His attributes and actions.”
The Commentary of Second Verse is-
“
- According to Ibn Abbas, Samad means to whom all the creations are dependent in respect of Needs and Requirements.
- He is the Master who has been perfected in His mastery, the Noble One who has been perfect in His honour, the Great One who has been perfect in His greatness, the Forbearing who has been perfect in His forbearance, and All Knowing who is perfect in His knowledge, and Wise who is perfect in His wisdom and He is who is perfect in types of honor and glory, and He is God, Glory be to Him. This is His attribute and no one should be worthy of anyone except Him. He has no equal.
- According to Katadah, He is who remains after his creations.
- According to Hasan, He is ever living, ever lasting which has no end.
- According to Ikrimah, From Him nothing comes out, and He never eats”.
The Third verse was the answer to Pagans who used to say Angels are daughters of God, to Christians who used to say Isa aka Jesus (peace be upon him) is Son of God and to Jews who used to say Uzair to be Son of God. The commentary of third verse is-
“
- He has no children
- He has no parents
- To clear the doubts further, Allah revealed this verse in such a way that it indicates Past and Future. Hence there is no possibility of happening such.”
The commentary of Fourth Verse is-
“
- This sentence is based on the content of what came before it, because if God Almighty was characterized by the previous attributes, then He would be characterized by the fact that no one has equaled Him, nor matched Him, nor shared anything with Him, and the last noun was to create emphasize of oneness.”
Conclusion
These four verses are the basis of theology of Concept of God in Islam. We can not imagine simply a universe where the Almighty will have shared glory and honor and creations. The reason is also mentioned in the Quran by saying-
21. أَمِ ٱتَّخَذُوۤا۟ ءَالِهَةࣰ مِّنَ ٱلۡأَرۡضِ هُمۡ یُنشِرُونَ
22. لَوۡ كَانَ فِیهِمَاۤ ءَالِهَةٌ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ لَفَسَدَتَاۚ فَسُبۡحَـٰنَ ٱللَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَرۡشِ عَمَّا یَصِفُونَ
23. لَا یُسۡـَٔلُ عَمَّا یَفۡعَلُ وَهُمۡ یُسۡـَٔلُونَ
Meaning-
21. “Or have they taken (for worship) gods from the earth who can raise (the dead)?
22. If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods besides Allah, there would have been confusion in both! but glory to Allah, the Lord of the Throne: (High is He) above what they attribute to Him!
23. He is not questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned.” (translation of Sahih International).
