1. He is the one
God, Who has no partner.
2. Nothing
is like Him. He is the Creator, not created, nor a part of
His creation.
3. He is All-Powerful,
absolutely Just.
4. There is
no other entity in the entire universe worthy of worship besides
Him.
5. He is First,
Last, and Everlasting; He was when nothing was, and will be
when nothing else remains.
6. He is the
All-Knowing, and All-Merciful,the Supreme, the Sovereign.
7. It is only
He Who is capable of granting life to anything.
8. He sent
His Messengers (peace be upon them) to guide all of mankind.
9. He sent
Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the last Prophet and Messenger
for all mankind.
10. His book
is the Holy Qur'an, the only authentic revealed book in the
world that has been kept without change.
11. Allah knows
what is in our hearts.
These are some of the basic guidelines Muslims follow in
their knowledge of God:
1. Eliminate
any anthropomorphism (human qualities) from their conception
of Allah. His attributes are not like human attributes, despite
similar labels or appellations.
2. Have unwavering faith in exactly what
Allah and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) described Allah
to be, no more, no less.
3. Eradicate any hope or desire of learning
or knowing the modality of His names and attributes.
4. Believe totally in all the names and
attributes of Allah; one cannot believe in some and disbelieve
the others.
5. One cannot accept the names of Allah
without their associated attributes, i.e. one cannot say He
is Al-Hayy - 'The Living' and then say that He is without
life.
6. Similarity in names (or meanings) does
not imply similarity in what is being described (referents).
As a robotics arm differs from a human arm, so the "hand"
of Allah is nothing like a human hand, His speech is nothing
like human speech, etc.
7. Certain words are ambiguous or vague
in their meanings, and thus may be susceptible to misinterpretation.
Only those meanings that are in accordance with what is specified
by Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him) are acceptable.
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