See The Difference

Hazrat Mohammed, who informed the Deen-i Islam, defies the idea of a GOD and emphasizes that there is no GOD; only “ALLAH” exists, based on the Koran al Karim... Are you aware of this fact?

In this chapter you will clearly see why the concept “ALLAH” informed by the Koran al Karim is completely different from any concept of a “GOD” in all other beliefs.

There is a version of GOD in the minds of everybody, of almost all from the most primitive to the civilized.

It is such a GOD that we love at times or feel angry with, at other times. There are even times when we judge and condemn HIM for his wrong deeds and misgivings somehow. To tell the truth, we often fancy Him almost as a sweet, plump grand-dad or as an enraged, wrathful sultan who sits on a star FAR ABOVE US, or maybe in some other places of outer space!

There are some with a broader sense however, who argue that there cannot be such a “GOD” in reality as that in people’s imagination, and say that “they do not believe in God.” Such people are therefore called “godless” or “atheist.”

Though in fact, neither atheists who do not recognize a god, nor those who had an image of GOD in their minds in association with what they heard about and were preconditioned, are aware of “MOHAMMED's ALLAH” at all!

Therefore, assuming that the concept of a “God” is the same as “ALLAH”, people substitute their concept of “God” for “ALLAH” in a manner of as if making something better. In fact, what they do is right as they are indeed speaking about the image of THEIR “GODS” in their minds rather than “ALLAH” and the true concept of “ALLAH”.

We must certainly know that...

RasulAllah Mohammed Mustafa (peace be upon him) and the Koran al Karim emphasize this important fact;

Neither is there a GOD OUT-THERE nor AFAR OFF YOU; there is ONLY “ALLAH”...

The sign in the Koran that:

“They did not understand ALLAH with the understanding due to ALLAH” (22:74) signifies our negligence about this fact...

It should be known that:

The words “GOD”, “DEITY” in English and “DIEU” in French and “GOT” in German do all mean a concept of “being to worship” as their equivalents in other languages...

This means, people denote a GOD or a DEITY out-there through all these words!

Yet the word “ALLAH” is a PROPER noun for a BEING! It is therefore that, to mean that Being or to introduce that Being we either denote Hu through some of Hu’s attributes or point out Hu’s attributes through some of names. However, all those names signify only a few of the qualities of that Being and define Hu only in terms of such mentioned qualities.

For instance, people call this poor humble as “HULUSI”. This is a proper noun for him... This name cannot be translated into any other language... It has always to be “HULUSI” whether in English or in French...

The same way as this, the word “ALLAH” cannot be translated into any other language nor can it be replaced with any other word, as it is a proper noun for a Unique Being...

In point of fact, as seen above, while all other names denote a “concept of deity”, only the word “ALLAH” denotes that Unique Being for it is a proper noun for that Being.

Hence, none of the words implying a concept of deity can be replaced with the word “ALLAH”...

Those who substitute the word “GOD” for “ALLAH” have been falling into such an error for either their ignorance or their unknowingness, or they have a lack of understanding and perception to truly evaluate this fact...

If a person imagines or assumes the presence of a separate “being” associated with “ALLAH”, no matter what term of address or conception it is given when “ALLAH” is mentioned, that is a Being known with this proper noun and is free from any concept of a “fragment” (juzz), he will fall into a state of polytheism (shirk), that is associating partners with ALLAH. In such a case, he will have acknowledged a “GOD” because of veiling the truth “ALLAH”...

The following is the sign to warn such a person against such a state:

“SET UP NO GOD BESIDES ALLAH, lest you incur disgrace and ruin...” (17:22)

Here is another warning about the same situation:

“INVOKE NO GOD WITH ALLAH.” (28:88)

It is meant that, as the true Absolute Being that exists is “ALLAH”, you should avoid acting heedlessly toward the meaning of concept “ALLAH” and from falling into the state of setting up a “GOD” through assuming the Being denoted through the name “ALLAH” as a “god afar off you”...

Through the acceptance of a god out there or afar off you, you will unintentionally get out of the meaning of the concept “ALLAH” and will be trapped in a “god” image...

As a consequence, you will make yourself deprived of the “unity” (wahdat) comprehension that the Koran al Karim informs!

This will be “the greatest oppression (zulm) done onto your own soul”!..

Hazrat Mohammed aleyhessalam (peace and blessings be upon him) proclaimed as a result of the Divine Inspiration (wahey) that he was the Rasul of Allah and he began to do his best to warn people not to worship a god...

The reality that Hazrat Mohammed emphasized and began with suggesting to men through the message as “THERE IS NO GOD, THERE IS ONLY ALLAH” (La ilaha ill-Allah) was formulated as the Word of Oneness (Kalimat-it tawhid).

The meaning of the statement “La ilaha ill-Allah” constitutes the basis of Islam.

“La ilaha ill-Allah” can be interpreted simply as; “there is no god, there is only ALLAH.”

If we analyze the meaning of each word:

La ilaha: “La” means “there is no"; “ilah” means “god,” that is “a being to be worshipped.” Hence, “la ilaha” means “there is no being to be worshipped.”

Now, let us pay attention to this fact at this point: The “Word of Oneness” begins with “La ilaha” and so, a definite degree is emphasized right in the beginning: “There is no being to be worshipped” (LA ILAHA).

Then, ill-Allah follows as an explanation: “illa” meaning “only,” “ALLAH.” It does not even say, “there is ALLAH"; it simply says “only ALLAH.”

This is the fact revealed from this statement first as a primary meaning: “There is no god to worship!”

After definitely stating that there is no god afar off somewhere that to be worshipped, “illa ALLAH” follows.

The word “illa” can be understood as “ONLY” in its usage here.

When using “illa” with the word “ALLAH,” it must be definitely understood as “ONLY"; because there is no other existence apart from “ALLAH” that ALLAH could be compared with it, or could be measured and defined in connection with it. This theme is widely explained in our coming book entitled “WHAT MOHAMMED READ”.

It is because of this reason that if the word “illa” comes in connection with the name “ALLAH,” it must always be translated as “ONLY.”

From this point of view, the translation of the Word of Oneness into English should not be as “there is no god but ALLAH,” but “there is no god, ONLY ALLAH.”

Only after then that the concept of wahdat (UNITY - ONENESS), which is the system [fundamental principal] of thought and belief that the Deen of Islam informs, should be grasped accordingly.

This statement informs that there exists only “ALLAH” and ALLAH is not a god to worship. Because it is definitely stated at the beginning that “la ilaha” — there is no being to be worshipped!

Therefore, what is informed through the noun ALLAH is not a GOD outside human that to be worshipped, nor a GOD-afar-off, outside, far away from all existing things that we perceive they are there!

If we precisely understand that “ALLAH is AHAD,” we will then see through insight (basirat) that there is not a duality of “an ALLAH” and “a separate universe” all aside!

That is to say, it is not such that there is ALLAH and also there are universes [that exist independently]!

In other words, such a consideration as there are some universes we live in, the cosmos (alam), and there is a separate GOD-out-of-all-things and at the farther side, is absolute nonsense!

MOHAMMED's ALLAH is not a GOD!

MOHAMMED's ALLAH is “AHAD!”

Having infinite expressions (meanings - mana), MOHAMMED's ALLAH is in a state of contemplating them fully at every moment!

The “ONENESS” (tawhid) principal in Islam that is the BELIEF SYSTEM notified by Mohammed (peace be upon him) that “THERE IS NO GOD TO WORSHIP, there is ONLY “ALLAH” who is AHAD, and therefore no GOD ever existed,” is based on the fact that every person will be responsible for the result of his actions that are carried out through himself all through his lifetime.

Accordingly, the following signs in the Koran emphasize that every person will directly receive the return of his own deeds:

Since man will see only the return of practices he or she has done in this world as seen from the signs above, it must be the most urgent task for a man to make investigation about life beyond death and to understand what “ALLAH” means!

When Mohammed (peace be upon him) was asked the question, what is ALLAH, the answer was directly given by “ALLAH” in the Chapter of ONENESS in the Koran:

“Say that: ALLAH is AHAD,
ALLAH is SAMED,
LAMYALID and LAMYULAD,
And LAMYAKUN LAHU QUFUWAN, AHAD.”

Let us first understand the deep rich meaning of these phrases in that Chapter that inform what MOHAMMED's ALLAH is, and then start meditating on the results of their meanings.

“ALLAH is AHAD": It means ALLAH is the infinite and limitless (eternal) ONE who is unbroken and undivided into fragments or particles.

Now, let us try to comprehend this notification properly!

The “AHAD” who is the inseparable ONE unbroken, undivided into sections or particles (zarra), is either a limited and finite one —in this case, he dwells somewhere in the universe (!)— or is the limitless, infinite, unfragmented, whole ONE that in this case, only HU's OWN SELF alone, if I repeat, all and all HU, only HU Itself alone exists!

By reasoning and by understanding, it is groundless to claim any other thing's existence apart from what is informed through the name “ALLAH” who is “AHAD!”

Take a minute to consider this:

If it were for something apart from “ALLAH,” that stands next to the one denoted by the name “ALLAH,” where would the line between such a being and “ALLAH” take part? Where would you draw such a limiting line?

It is either that there is the infinite and limitless WHOLE ONE, without any additional separate being outside; or else, there is a limited and finite “GOD"(!) LOCALIZED somewhere inside or outside the universe!

The most important point to comprehend now is the concept of “LIMITLESSNESS - INFINITY.”

So now, let us try to comprehend the conception of “limitlessness and infinity,” not in terms of width, length and height but rather dimensionally.

In ABSOLUTE REALITY, the only ONE that exists is the infinite and eternal ONE, who is undivided and unbroken WHOLE, the AHAD!

ALLAH is AHAD, as there is nothing other than “ALLAH” neither in macro nor in micro plan, and there is nothing to be HU's counterpart, like or to match HU!

However, because of our dependence on our physical senses, we are fooled into thinking in which we mistakenly view the whole ONE existence to be composed of many separate parts and fragments. It must be understood that our brains’ determination results from the condition of its intersectional sensory means.

However, if only a brain should not remain restricted in that very narrow range of its perception instruments’ capability… If only it could understand and interpret all the perceptional phenomena evident to the five senses as signs and samples drawn out among countless sensory experiences in the cosmos . . .

If only after that he could sink into deep thought (tafaqqur) and discover what else is out there after these samples… If then he could sail to a dimensional journey into the structural depth of them . . . and meet with the cosmic self, the cosmic ESSENCE, and could even finally realize the “nonexistence” of his individual self beside this Universal Essence, in anyway...

This is the most significant point of the theme!

As to the second significant detail of the theme...

MOHAMMED's ALLAH is “AHAD” meaning the infinite, limitless ONE unfragmented into parts, and this state involves all aspects and all “DIMENSIONS.” So in this case, where, in which dimension and at which starting point could a separate being presumed to exist beside HU's own being, limit ALLAH by a line and make a space for itself?

Where is the place for a second being, for a GOD that would be mentioned to exist apart from “ALLAH”?

Will it be inside or outside “ALLAH?”

As we have already stated, “ALLAH” is limitless and infinite.

Since “ALLAH” is limitless and infinite, it is an impossibility to consider HU within a CENTRAL CORE!

To recognize a center of something, it ought to have its boundaries, so that the point at which all its diameters meet may be considered as its center.

Yet, “ALLAH” has no limits.

If something does not come into measurement or a limit, then it cannot have a center! If something does not have a center, neither does it have a core nor an inside and an outside!

With reference to our current way of viewing the world through our five senses and our determination of substances based on our way of perceiving, we ascribe every object its external and internal parts, an inside and an outside sector. But it is senseless to talk about the core or the surface of something, an inside and an outside part of something that is not known by a center!

The same information is emphasized in the Koran as in the following sign:

This means: All that is known as visible and unseen, the beginning and the last is nothing other than “HU”! All those words in fact signify just a single being. That is, the distinction between visible and unseen does not really exist. They are not two separate things!

Call HU the Apparent (Zakhir) or the Unseen (Batin), the First or the Last as you like, but it all is still nothing other than HU indicated, no matter whichever word you employed.

Regardless of which word we employ, it is only HU that will be qualified or signified. The distinction between the visible and the unseen (i.e., physical and nonphysical) results from your five senses. You call as “visible” what you are capable of perceiving through your five senses and call the rest as “invisible” as they are unseen to you.

However, if you were in a condition of perceiving through more, for instance, six, seven or twelve sensory means, then your determination of all “the visible” and all “the unseen” would entirely alter! You would then likely call “visible” whatever you currently call “unseen,” and “unseen” whatever you currently call “visible.”

Since what is informed through the name “ALLAH” is the limitless and infinite ONE, HU is free from the limitations of such concepts as external and internal, and from concepts of Zakhir and Batin.

Of course, it cannot be mentioned for a being that defies any centers, any interiors and exteriors, any apparents and inwards, and any beginnings and ends, as it is free of all such conceptions and formations, to vanish at a particular place, so that a second separate existence should be found beyond such a point.

Here due to this, we realize that in every point ever perceived or imagined, all in all, merely ALLAH being AHAD IS and only HU alone is present with HU's ESSENCE (Zhat) and thence within all HU's properties and attributes.

If someone assumes the presence of a second being other than “ALLAH,” —apart from “ALLAH,” he is then entirely in a state of error resulting from an incapability of deep thinking! This state is called “POLYTHEISM” (shirk —ascribing a partner) in religious terminology!

Since “ALLAH” is “AHAD,” no other being beside HU can be mentioned! Furthermore, HU cannot be referred to a time passage where HU would be considered in pieces. This is out of question, either.

“ALLAH is SAMED”

If we make a serious study, some of the deep meanings we find in the definition of the word “SAMED” are as follows: “That which has no gap, which is in perfect condition, is whole without holes and is impermeable; that which admits nothing in, nothing out”. It means “solid,” same as in that when we say “solid gold”. In other words, mere, pure, the absolute!

As seen, all these statements essentially contribute and illuminate the content of the name AHAD.

If so, then how should one understand the meaning of “LAMYALID”, simply meaning “HU DID NOT BEGET”...

Here is what should be understood at the first sight: “ALLAH” has never given birth to a second being from HU's own being!

In other way of saying, there is not an existence of a second separate being broken off ALLAH's existence!

Because, HU is AHAD, the inseparable whole ONE undivided, unbroken and unfragmented into parts, elements or particles!

1- HU is limitless and infinite! Thus, it cannot be mentioned for HU to bring out a second being inside or outside Hu's self.

2- Since it is an impossibility to consider HU in parts or atoms because HU is AHAD, then there is not a second part which could be divided from HU!

Therefore, the presence of a second one broken off “ALLAH,” which is meant to be begotten by HU, sharing HU's qualities even, can never be considered!

Let us now understand “LAMYULAD,” simply meaning, “ALLAH WAS NOT BEGOTTEN.”

At this point we are to understand that “ALLAH did not come into existence out of another being!”

How can one consider the One informed through the name “ALLAH” to be brought into being by another existence? “ALLAH” is AHAD, the ONE Alone who is infinite, limitless and unfragmented into parts!

To be able to think of an existence to beget “ALLAH”, “ALLAH” needs once to be known by some directional or DIMENSIONAL limits, so that beyond such limits there would be mentioned a second existence to beget HU! And only then that such a second existence could beget “ALLAH” from itself!

“ALLAH” is AHAD!

Being AHAD means being limitless and infinite Whole undivided and unfragmented into parts.

Therefore, neither a vanishing point for HU nor an initiation of another existence beyond such a point can be considered.

Hence, a second being to make up, to BEGET “ALLAH” cannot be mentioned. Such a consideration is an impossibility!

This is what is meant by “LAMYULAD” as far as we could understand.

In conclusion, neither has “ALLAH” been begotten by another being, nor has HU beget another being such as a second separate being that came out of HU.

We have come to the final notification in this description:

“LAMYAKUL-LA-HUU QUFUWAN ‘AHAD":

There is not an existence of another being after HU's macro or micro likeness; HU is matchless, peerless and is AHAD.”

By the way, we should note a sign hereby: “LAYSA KAMISLIHII SHAY'A” (42:11) meaning, “neither in macro nor in micro plan, there is nothing to be compared with HU.”

Meanwhile, we should also notify that significant point now in order to prevent some unfamiliar people with this subject, from falling into a mistake.

In some places of the Koran, such statements as “our god” and “your god” are cited occasionally. However, each is followed by an emphasis that “god” is “ALLAH.”

Well, could it be then suggested that “ALLAH” is a “god” (ilah)?

No, this can never be suggested!

Such kinds of statements are the clarifications made to the “worshippers of a god.”

They are being admonished that:

“Whatever they consider as “GOD” or whatever they call “GOD” does not exist at all, but it is ONLY “ALLAH” that exists in reality!” “Their god” and ours are just the same and one. Moreover, it is still “ALLAH,” and is nothing other than “ALLAH.”

Of course, by such statements, it is proposed to make people cleanse their conjectural “god” images and try to understand “ALLAH.”

If the Koran is looked into carefully, it is noticed that such kinds of signs are addressed to polytheists (mushrik), namely to those who assume the existence of a “GOD” despite the understanding of “ALLAH” and who worship a god.

Only then could their acceptance of a “god” translate into the understanding of “ALLAH.”

Let us now consider honestly and with moderation!

Is MOHAMMED's ALLAH introduced here the same as GOD that we either believe in or do not believe, but still name ALLAH as a conditioning in either case?

Could we use the word “GOD” or a concept of GOD to replace with Hazrat MOHAMMED's “ALLAH” and could a concept of “DEITY” be allowed instead? Will they be correct?

That is, what in reality has ever existed so far, that exists today and will exist tomorrow, IS the “BAKI” (deathless) “WAJHAH” (face) only, that will have been existing forever.

The only veil on “WAJHAH” is however, the name given to something, that this name is a veil put on later to a meaning of the wajhah. Yet the original being behind such a veil, and the meanings that make it up take their origins from the names of “ALLAH.”

As a final word, it should be known for certain that no concept of a “GOD” out there, afar off man, that is, out of yourself, is meant by the concept “ALLAH” neither as introduced by Hazrat Mohammed nor in the Koran al Karim, but it is tried to make people comprehend the Limitless and ENDLESS ONE as the only Being ever existing by HU alone...