What is Islam?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


The purpose for existence as we know it is to worship Allah, for Allah says this in the Qur'an. Life is an open-book test we will all be graded on.

Who is Allah? He is the necessary being, what must and always exists, and the creator of all possible beings.

Islamic Monotheism (Tawheed)

The Qur'an completely rejects univocity of being repeatedly. So know that Allah's shin or hand or Mercy is nothing like ours, He's unhuman and unlike anything in creation. He has distinct qualities but they are not the qualities created beings have, and when He describes Himself this must be understood.

The oneness of Allah is understood as pertaining to three things. Oneness in Name and qualities, thus His qualities are not different entities and His name cannot refer to someone other than Him. Neither is there a distinction of His qualitative this and His essential, as ontological and the existential are the same and incoherent if considered seperately except for semantic purposes. So though the distinct reality of every quality is affirmed, the unity is a given.

Next the oneness of Allah in lordship, this means there is no other power over creation. All power Allah's and only Allah's, His authority is the only authority, both in fact and in right.

Finally, oneness in worship, meaning no act that is categorized as worship is permissible to render to any but Allah. An example is fear, while it's not enough of shirk to take you out of Islam, fearing anything other than Allah is still a form of shirk, for example. Killing is also considered an act of worship, even an animal, so it must solely be done in the name of Allah.

An idol or false god (taghut) is what is associated with Allah in a way that infringes upon what is exclusively His quality or right, this association is called "shirk".

From the first man, Adam, عليه السلام, Allah has sent prophets to mankind to deliver this message, different prophets to different peoples. The last and final prophet is Muhammad ﷺ, and he is for all mankind.