Who is Allah? How do Muslims understand God?
Allah is the God of Ibrāhīm, of Mūsā, of ʿĪsā, of Muḥammad ﷺ — one, without partner, transcendent and intimately near. The classical theology of tawḥīd in one frame.
2 passages from 2 books in the library
The two passages here touch the sanctity of Allah's names rather than a full creed of who Allah is. Al-Ghazali notes that even the word Ramadan is "one of the names of Allah," counselling reverence in speech, and recounts a man told to "lift your foot off the names of Allah, exalted and glorified" — underscoring the awe due to His names. They convey that Allah is utterly exalted and that His names carry sacredness, but a fuller account of tawḥīd — Allah as one, without partner — would need passages beyond the two cited on this page.
Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 2 books by Imam al-Ghazali — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"Do not call it Ramadan, for it is one of the names of Allah, but say the month of Ramadan."
11th–12th century · Ṭūs, Khurāsān
Reviving the inner life of Islam through the Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn — one of the most influential works ever written in any religious tradition.
More on Imam al-Ghazali →
· Provenance →
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"Seeing this, the man said, Lift your foot off the names of Allah, exalted and glorified,"
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