The Holy Qur’an comprises teachings which work towards endearing God. They exhibit His beauties and remind us of His beneficence, inasmuch as love is created either by the observation of beauty or by the remembrance of beneficence. The Qur’an teaches that by virtue of His excellences God is One, without associate. He suffers from no defect. He comprehends all good qualities and manifests all holy powers. He is the Originator of all creation and is the fountainhead of all grace. He is the Master of all recompense, and everything returns to Him. He is near and yet far, and He is far and yet near. He is above all, but it cannot be said that there is
someone below Him. He is more hidden than everything else is but it cannot be said that there is something more manifest than Him. He is Self-Existing in His Being and everything is alive through Him. He is Self-Sustaining and everything is sustained by Him. He supports everything
and there is nothing that supports Him. There is nothing that has come into being on its own, or can live without Him on its own. He comprehends everything, but it cannot be said what is the nature of that comprehension. He is the Light of everything in heaven and earth and every light has shone forth from His hand and is a reflection of His Being. He is the Providence of the universe. There is no soul that is not sustained by Him and exists by itself. No soul has any power which it has not obtained from Him and which exists by itself.
Two Kinds of Divine Mercy
His mercy is of two kinds. One, which has been eternally manifested without being the result of any action on the part of anyone. For instance, heaven and earth, the sun, moon and planets, water, fire and air, and all the particles of the universe which were created for our comfort, and
all those things that were needed by us, were provided before our coming into being. All this was done when we were not even present. No action had proceeded from us. Who can say that the sun was created on account of some action of his, or that the earth was created in consequence
of some good action of his? This is the mercy which came into operation before the creation of man and is not the result of anyone’s actions. The second kind of Divine mercy comes into operation in consequence of human action. This needs no illustration.
Allah is Free from All Defects
The Holy Qur’an sets forth that God is free from all defects and is not subject to any loss; and He desires that man should purify himself from defects by acting upon His instructions. He has said:
“ He who has no insight in this world and is not able to behold the Peerless Being, will be blind after death and will be enveloped in darkness” , in as much as man is bestowed insight in this life with which to see God and he who will not take that insight with him from this world, will not be able to see God in the hereafter.
God Almighty has made it clear in this verse what progress He desires man to achieve and how far man can proceed by following His teaching. God sets forth in the Holy Qur’an the teaching by following which a person can see God in this very life. As Allah says:
“ He who desires to see God — who is the True Creator — in this very life, should act righteously”.
That is to say, his conduct should exhibit no default and his actions should not be for show, nor should he take pride in them that he is such and such, nor should his actions be defective and incomplete, nor should they smell of anything which is inconsistent with his personal love of God. All his actions should breathe sincerity and faithfulness. He should abstain from associating anything with God. He should worship neither sun nor moon, nor stars, nor air, nor fire, nor water, nor any other thing whatsoever. He should not exalt worldly means so as to depend upon them as if they were God’s associates, nor should he depend upon his own enterprise and effort, for this is also a species of association. Having done every should have no pride in his knowledge, nor have a dependence upon his actions. He should consider himself truly ignorant and slothful and his soul should be prostrate all the time at the threshold of God Almighty. He should draw the grace of God to himself through his supplications. He should become like a person who is thirsty and is helpless and finds a fountain spring forth in front of him, the water of which is clear and sweet, and he crawls up to the fountain and applies his lips to it and does not let go till he is fully satisfied.
In the Holy Qur’an, our God describes His attributes thus:
“ Your God is One in His Being and in His attributes. No other being is eternal and everlasting and self-existing like His Being, nor are the attributes of any being like His attributes” .
A person’s knowledge needs a teacher and yet is limited. God’s knowledge needs no teacher and is unlimited. A person’s hearing is dependent upon air and is limited, but God’s hearing is inherent and is unlimited. A person’s seeing is dependent upon the light of the sun or some other light and is limited, but God’s seeing is by His inherent light and is unlimited. The power of man to create is dependent upon some matter, needs time and is limited. God’s power to create is neither dependent on any matter nor does it need time and is unlimited. All His attributes are without equal and as He has no equal in His attributes were to be defective, all His attributes would be defective and therefore His Unity cannot be established unless He were without any equal in His attributes as He is without any equal in His Being. He is not anyone’s son, nor is anyone His son. He is Self-Sufficient and needs neither father nor son. This is the Unity which the Holy Qur’an teaches, and which is the basis of our faith.
( Essence of Islam Vol 1 Pages 43–47 )
Note: This excerpt is taken from the book “The Essence of Islam Vol 1”
The original book can be free download here:
