Who is Allah?

What the name means

The name Allah is not a personal name like "John" or "Mary" that could belong to anyone. The scholars explain that it is the name of the divine Being Himself, and that no one else has ever borne it.

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen explains that Allah is the proper name of God's own self, reserved to Him alone, and that it carries the meaning of al-ilah — "the one who is worshipped." The word was shortened in Arabic through constant use, the way many common words are, but its meaning remains: the Being whom all creation turns to in worship.

Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'di, in his explanation of the names of Allah, puts it this way:

"Allah is the One who is worshipped and served, the possessor of divinity, and all creation is His servant — because He is described with the attributes of divinity, which are the attributes of perfection."— al-Sa'di, in his commentary on the names of Allah

The name that contains all the others

Muslims speak of the "beautiful names" of Allah — al-asma' al-husna — the names by which He describes Himself in the Qur'an, such as the Most Merciful, the All-Knowing, the Almighty. The scholars hold that the name Allah is unique among them because it gathers all the rest.

Al-Sa'di states that the name Allah is the comprehensive name that includes every other beautiful name and every lofty attribute. Ibn Uthaymeen makes the same point: whatever name of God comes after it in the Qur'an is, in a sense, an explanation of it. So when the Qur'an says "Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate," the second name unfolds part of what the first already contains.

This is why the scholars describe the name Allah as the greatest of the names — not because the others are small, but because it points to the whole of who He is, while each of the others points to one aspect of His perfection.

Why He alone is worshipped

The reasoning the scholars give is straightforward. Worship is the utmost honour and submission, and it belongs only to the one from whom every blessing ultimately comes.

Al-Sa'di explains that every blessing — its roots and its branches — comes from Allah alone. Nothing that exists came to be except by His bringing it into being, and whatever good reaches people reaches them only through Him. Since worship is the highest form of honour, and the highest honour belongs only to the source of the highest generosity, worship is due to Allah alone and to nothing else.

The same author notes that the human heart finds its rest in Him:

"Truly, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest" (Qur'an 13:28)

The scholars read this as a statement about how people are made — that the heart is built to settle only when it knows its Creator.

What Muslims deny about Him

Islamic belief about God is defined as much by what it rejects as by what it affirms. The scholars of the Sunnah hold firmly that:

• He has no equal or likeness: the Qur'an states, "There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing" (Qur'an 42:11).
• He is not a created being: Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, a great early scholar, said plainly that Allah would never command us to worship something created — so the One He commands us to worship cannot be a creature.
• He does not need anyone: the Prophet ﷺ is himself a servant of God who needs his Lord, which is why Muslims ask God to grant him peace. As the scholar Abd al-Aziz al-Rajihi notes, this very fact shows the Prophet ﷺ is not a lord or a god — the one who is prayed for is not the one prayed to.
• He is above His creation: Ibn al-Mubarak, asked how we should know our Lord, answered that He is above the seventh heaven, upon His throne — not, as some claimed, present here on earth.

A question the scholars addressed

One of the earliest recorded objections was put to a Muslim as a challenge: "You say Allah created the heavens and the earth — so who created Allah?" The answer given was that the question itself is flawed. The scholars point out that the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ, for all their depth of knowledge, never asked it, and that the question assumes a chain of creators — but Allah is not a link in a chain. He is the First, before whom there is nothing, and the Last, after whom there is nothing (Qur'an 57:3). Asking "who made Him" treats Him as one more item inside the universe He made.

Key takeaways

• Allah is the Arabic name for God — the same word Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians use — and Muslims hold that no one else has ever shared this name.
• He is one, without partner, equal or likeness, and everything other than Him is His creation.
• The name Allah gathers all of His beautiful names, which is why the scholars call it the greatest of them.
• He alone deserves worship, because every blessing comes from Him and worship is the highest honour, owed only to the highest giver.
• He is above His creation and in no need of it, while all creation depends entirely on Him.

Further reading

• al-Sa'di, Tafsir Asma' Allah al-Husna
• Ibn Uthaymeen, Sharh of Surah al-Ikhlas
• Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Furqan bayna Awliya' al-Rahman wa Awliya' al-Shaytan

And Allah knows best.