The Nature of God
Religious Studies A: AQA GCSE Religions, topic 4.1.4
The Nature of God
For Muslims, God is the greatest possible being. Muslims acknowledge this idea in prayer and throughout the day each time they say “Allahu Akbar”, which means "God is the greatest".
Names for God
- In the Qur'an and the Hadith (the sayings of the Prophet), there are 99 names for God.
- Each name reveals something different about Allah. Muslims try and learn all these names so that they can better understand Allah.
Qualities of Allah
- Allah is:
- omnipotent (all-powerful)
- omniscient (all-knowing)
- omnipresent (everywhere at once)
Just and beneficent
- Allah is just and beneficent (Adalat).
- Allah judges all people. This judgment is given with mercy.
- In daily prayers, Muslims refer to God as merciful. God understands human suffering and knows how difficult it is to live according to God’s demands.
- God is fair and just and demands that humans emulate His qualities and treat others fairly, justly and mercifully.
Immanent and transcendent
- Allah is both immanent and transcendent.
- Although Muslims believe that God is the greatest, He is also close to his people. The way to describe this is to say that God is immanent (near) and also transcendent (beyond this world).
- Only God can be both at once. As creator, God is not restricted or limited by the physical world.
- At the same time, Allah is attentive to his people, wants people to pray, and is in control of all events in the world.
Test yourself on The Nature of God
What does the saying “Allahu Akbar” mean?
How many names for God are there in the Qur'an and the Hadith?