Allah's Attributes
An attribute is a characteristic of a person which is inseparable from that person; Ontologically, these are the unchanging, or necessary parts of the person. Changing these changes the person themselves so they are no longer the same person. If Allah has such attributes, and what are they? What are the implications of Allah’s attributes—or lack of attributes?
The Names of Allah
In the Bible, a person’s name often provides us with some information about their character. When we pray as the Lord taught us to, “hallowed be thy name,” we are actually praying for the name of God to be used in a respectful manner; for God’s name to be glorified.[1] Jacob’s name literally means “grasper,” or “deceiver,” both good descriptions of Jacob’s early life. When Yahweh removed these attributes from Jacob’s life through the various tests of his life, he also changed Jacob’s name to Israel; his nature had changed, so his name must as well.[2]
Islam places a great deal of emphasis on the names of Allah, as well; a large number of books within the Islamic world celebrate and list the ninety-nine names of Allah as a path to paradise.
The attributes of God are called by Moslems Ismii-ul-Bifat and are also called in the Koran Isma-ul-Husna, the excellent names. We read in Surah 7:179: "But God's are the excellent names; call on Him then thereby and leave those who pervert His names." The number of these names or attributes of Allah is given by tradition as ninety-nine. Abu Huraira relates that Mohammed said, "Verily, there are ninety-nine names of God and whoever recites them shall enter Paradise."[3]
Many of the names of Allah would be familiar to Christians as they either could be or actually are applied as attributes of Yahweh. Allah is called Al-Quddūs, the Holy, in Surah 59:23; Al-Khāliq, the Creator, in Surah 6:102; As-Samī', the All Hearing, in Surah 2:127; Al-Baṣīr, the All Seeing, in Surah 4:58; and Al-'Adl, the Utterly Just, in Surah 6:115.
There is a set of names, however, that could never belong to Yahweh: the terrible names of Allah. These are often softened in their translation to English in Islamic publications, such as in Surah 8:30:
Remember how the Unbelievers plotted against thee, to keep thee in bonds, or slay thee, or get thee out (of thy home). They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah.[4]
The term planner here is actually deceiver in the original Arabic.[5] The terrible names of Allah includes Al-Khāfiḍ, the Abaser, in Surah 95:5; Al-Mumīt, the Destroyer, in Surah 3:156; and Aḍ-Ḍārr, the Afflicter (or Harmer), in Surah 6:17.
How could names implying such contradictory attributes belong to the same person? Islam resolves this dilemma by refusing to link Allah’s names to his person —Allah is considered to have attributes of action, rather than personal attributes.
Love, hate, and dislike according to some of our [Ash'ar] scholars are among the attributes of acts (sifat al-fi'l). Therefore Allah's love means His praise of someone as embodied by his benevolence towards him, while his hate and dislike mean His blame as embodied by the abasement in which He put him.[6]
Negation as Description
If Allah’s names cannot be used to describe him, where can the seeker find him? According to Islamic scribes down through the centuries, the only place to find Allah is in describing what he is not. As an example, As-Samī' means the All Hearing. This is taken from Surah 2:127:
And remember Abraham and Isma’il raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): “Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing.”[7]
A Moslem writer comments on this Surah: “The meaning of ‘The All Hearing’ (al-Sami) is He Who perceives the sounds which creatures perceive with their ears, but without his having ears.”[8] This method is taken in describing every possible attribute of Allah, including such ideas as love, hate, jealousy, nearness, and even physical descriptions, such as Allah’s hand or palm.[9]
Allah, then is not love, but rather he chooses to love whenever it suits his purpose. Allah is not just, but may choose to act justly when it suits his purpose. Allah’s attributes can be said to be extensions of his will, rather than extensions of his person; “His attributes are viewed as subject to His will and not to His nature.”[10]
Allah’s Relationships
The otherness of Allah is distinctly reflected in his relationships; examining these relationships provides a deeper understand of who Allah is. What is Allah’s relationship to creation, or nature? Yahweh is both transcendent and yet omnipresent in the world; how is Allah described? Yahweh is loving towards man, and desiring man to grow into the maturity of being like him; what is Allah’s relationship to man, and man’s to Allah?
To Creation
If Allah can only be described in negative terms, then how does he communicate or otherwise relate to his creation? The pattern of negatives in Allah’s description focuses on the complete otherness of Allah; this is transcendence taken to an extreme degree. Allah is not only not a part of his creation, he is the polar opposite of everything within his creation.
As popular song has it, "Whatsoever your mind can conceive, That Allah is not you may well believe." … The great Imams are agreed regarding the danger and impiety of studying the nature of the being of God. They, therefore, when speaking of Allah's being, fall back on negations.[11]
This insistence on the otherness of Allah results from an insistence on his unity; if Allah has an attribute, then that attribute must either exist eternally like Allah himself, or it must be created by Allah. For Allah to create an attribute of himself would mean creating something godlike in addition to Allah; this would be shirk, the ultimate sin with Islam —the placing of another god beside Allah. If he has attributes which are eternal, then these attributes must also be like gods themselves; again, this would be shirk.[12]
This belief in God’s radical unity, a negation of all attributes that have any relation to human or natural reality, tends to result in a form of pantheism. Denying that god is anything ends up with god being everything in order to have god exist at all.[13] This is how Islam deals with the absolute transcendence of God.
Allah’s dominance over his world is striking in its sweep, so that he causes all events by his direct actions. In the words of one Muslim scholar, “He is actually the only One who does anything. When a man writes, it is Allah who has created in his mind the will to write. Allah. .. then brings about the motion of the hand and pen and the appearance upon paper. All other things are passive. Allah alone is active.”[14]
The result is two contradicting and competing claims: Allah is behind every action, and therefore is literally acting for everything within his creation, and yet Allah is completely foreign to and outside his creation. There is no apparent attempt to resolve this contradiction, nor to deal with the pantheism it produces. In the world of Islam, demons and jinns can exist without number, verses even given to Mohammed himself by Satan.[15] All of these things are simply seen another action of Allah, in whom is no good or evil, but simply will.
There is a third thread in the Islamic idea of Allah that is quite surprising, but can be seen to spring naturally out of this pantheistic version of his immanence: virtually all descriptions of Allah negate physical attributes, rather than spiritual ones. The example of As-Samī' has already been given above; Allah is simply said to hear without having ears. Other examples abound.
Some of the keenest scholars has said that the Right (al-yamin) signifies the Hand (al-yad), and the Palm (al-kaff) likewise, in the sense that the hand for Allah is an attribute, not a limb. Thus every passage that mentions it in the Book and the authentic Sunna carries a meaning in connection with the object of mention such as folding up, taking, seizing, spreading, sweeping, accepting, giving, and other acts connecting the personal Attribute entail, without touch nor contact. There is never in all this any likeness between Allah and creation whatsoever.[16]
While Christians virtually always describe Yahweh and his attributes without any reference to the physical, Allah is virtually always described as a negation of something physical. This lends an emphasis on the physical world that would appear to be contrary to the concept of Allah as completely transcendent.
To Man
Allah does not love men in any sense; love is an action of Allah, rather than an attribute. Allah does not hate men in any sense; hate is also an action of Allah, rather than an attribute. These two statements sum up the entire relationship between Allah and man. Allah directs man to his (predetermined) destination, and teaches him the laws he needs to obey.[17] William Palgrave has stated the essence of Allah’s relationship to man well:
I say "relative," because it is clear that in such a theology no place is left for absolute good or evil, reason or extravagance ; all is abridged in the autocratical will of the one great Agent: "sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas;" or, more significantly still, in Arabic, "Kemd yesha'o," "as He wills it," to quote the constantly recurring expression of the Coran. … One might at first sight think that this tremendous Autocrat, this uncontrolled and unsympathizing Power, would be far above anything like passions, desires, or inclinations. Yet such is not the case, for He has with respect to His creatures one main feeling and source of action, namely, jealousy of them, lest they should perchance attribute to themselves something of what is His alone, and thus encroach on His all-engrossing kingdom. Hence He is ever more prone to punish than to reward, to inflict pain than to bestow pleasure, to ruin than to build. It is His singular satisfaction to let created beings continually feel that they are nothing else than His slaves, His tools, and contemptible tools also, that thus they may the better acknowledge His superiority, and know His power to be above their power, His cunning above their cunning, His will above their will, His pride above their pride; or rather, that there is no power, cunning, will, or pride save His own.[18]
Man’s Relationship with Allah
Since Allah’s relationship to man is focused on being obeyed, it should be no surprise that man’s relationship to Allah revolves around obedient submission; Islam means submission.[19] Man’s relationship to Allah is always placed in terms of what man must do, or how man must obey.
I now take up the third question. What are the ways by which man can express his relationship with God: in other words, what are the duties imposed by God on man? Each religion has answered this question differently, and in fact there is greater disagreement between them concerning this question, than with regard to the first two questions. Islam answers this question by saying that man ought to fulfill the object of his creation, that is to say, he should try to become the perfect servant of God and should constantly seek Union with Him. This indeed is the only natural answer that can be given.[20]
Obedience in submission is focused on the physical; each of the five pillars of Islam is a physical act: Shahadah, the confession of faith; Salat, prayer; Zakat, tithing; Sawm, fasting; and Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.[21] Prayer, itself, is focused on the physical, including the direction of prayer, the position of the hands, and the touching of the full palms, forehead, and souls of the feet to the floor.
Islam was spread through jihad, or rather physical war, in the centuries following its founding; there was little concept of an “inner jihad” until much later in the history of Islam.[22] The Qur’an itself makes this clear in Surahs 2:190, 193, and 216:
Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors.
And fight them on until there is no more Tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah; but if they cease, Let there be no hostility except to those who practise oppression.
Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.[23]
Man’s relationship to Allah, then, is one of submissive obedience in a set of physical actions.
The Impact of Allah’s Attributes
If the goal of Islam is to reach Allah, then surely the character of Allah will have a major impact on the road of Islam. What impact does the idea of Allah as otherness have on the idea of holiness within Islam? Fatalism becomes the natural human response to a god who is so large that humans have no place.
The Meaning of Holiness
In Christianity, holiness is conceived of as conformance to the image of God focused in the acts of regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.[24] Paul writes in Romans 8:29: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (ESV)
Allah has no personal attributes, so holiness in Islam cannot focus on conformance to Allah’s character. To seek to become like Allah would be impossible, because Allah is wholly other; humans cannot conceive of Allah, much less seek to become like him in any way. Instead, holiness in Islam is focused on physical action, just as Allah’s attributes are all called “attributes of action.” Holiness in Islam, then, is a physical affair; submissive obedience to the immediate and direct decrees of Allah.
The words "permitted" and "forbidden" have superseded the use of "guilt" and "transgression;" the reason for this is found in the Koran itself. Nothing is right or wrong by nature, but becomes such by the fiat of the Almighty. What Allah forbids is sin, even should he forbid what seems to the human conscience right and lawful. What Allah allows is not sin and cannot be sin at the time he allows it, though it may have been before or after.[25]
If we truly become what we worship, the follower of Allah will ultimately be willful, concerned only with exerting influence where possible, and expanding the area of his influence to the widest range possible.
Fatalism
Fatalists believe that whatever happens does so necessarily; human choice cannot effect the outcome of history. Does Islam promote a fatalistic view of life?
First, Allah has already determined which creatures will be case into hell, and he has already decided that hell must be filled up, there is little the individual Muslim can do about whether he enters paradise or hell. Surah 32:13 states:
If We had so willed, We could certainly have brought every soul its true guidance: but the Word from Me will come true, “I will fill Hell with Jinns and men all together.”[26]
Second, Allah is free to modify the meaning of morality as he wills.
God is absolutely free, and unrestricted even in the realm of truth and morality. He is free to “abrogate” the truth or obligations of earlier revelations by subsequently revealed truths and obligations. He is free to judge the same act to be “good” in one circumstance and “evil” in another according to the situation, although in principle acts are “good” or “evil” according to whether they are commanded or forbidden in the Qur’an. The criteria by which God judges and assigns man his destiny are unknowable to man. He is free to forgive the sinner or to condemn him. He is free to do opposites as He pleases.[27]
Finally, Allah directly causes each and every action that has ever taken place —including the actions of humans who believe they are freely choosing. This is a form of causalism; the occasion at which I raise my arm is also the occasion at which Allah raises my arm.
The result of these three beliefs in combination is a deep and abiding fatalism within Islam; man is powerless to do other than what Allah has determined, and yet he is bound to be judged by Allah’s ever changing decrees for what he has done. There is no promise of salvation through faith, for Allah determines who will believe and who will not.
Christian Interaction
The most commonly accepted path to interaction with those in Islam is to emphasize the common strains between Allah and Yahweh, often attempting to go farther to show how Yahweh is superior to Allah. The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t take into account the radical differences in the concepts of sin, holiness, salvation, or the object of the religious life inherent in Islam. What appears to be common ground normally turns out, at a deeper level, to be a gulf of separation. How, then, can the Christian apologist approach the Muslim?
A primary means of approach would be through bringing the Muslim to an understanding of the differences between Allah and Yahweh. The pointed difference between Allah’s capriciousness and Yahweh’s covenant keeping nature is one point certain to illustrate the gulf of distance between the two.
An alternate approach might be to consider the contradictions within the theology of Islam concerning Allah himself; He is said to be completely other, and yet he is also said to act in all things, all the time, down to the tiniest decision or action. Either Allah must be some form of pantheistic god, who is in everything all the time, or he must be some form of theistic god, separate from his creation. One other useful contradiction to consider is that while Allah can have no attributes because if anything eternal exists, then it must be a god besides Allah, the Qur’an, itself is said to exist eternally: “Muslims believe that Allah is eternal, but they confess that the Qur’an is also eternal.”[28]
The resulting view of Allah drives an outward, action focused, idea of holiness; in Islam it is what you do, rather than what you believe or who you are, that makes you holy. Combining this with the absolute freedom of Allah from all standards of justice, righteousness, or love, results in a pervasive fatalism that is difficult to overcome.
The Islamic concept of Allah’s attributes, therefore, underlies an entire worldview that is difficult for the Christian to imagine or interact with —and yet, Christians are called to love and preach the Gospel to those caught in Allah’s grip no less than any others.
[1] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 1994). 157
[2] K. A. Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, electronic ed. Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2007), 559.
[3] Samuel M. Zwemer, The Moslem Doctrine of God: An Essay on the Character and Attributes of Allah According to the Koran and Orthodox Tradition (NY: American Tract Society, 1905), 34.
[4] Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an (n.p.: Public Domain, 2004).
[5] Patrick O. Cate, “Islamic Values and the Gospel,” Bibliotheca Sacra 155, no. 618 (1998): 357.
[6] Al-Bayhaqi, Allah's Names and Attributes, trans. Gibril Fouad Haddad (Fenton, MI: As-Sunna Foundation of America, 1999), 34.
[7] Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an.
[8] Al-Bayhaqi, Allah's Names and Attributes, 30.
[9] Ibid., 34.
[10] Imad N. Shehadeh, “The Predicament of Islamic Monotheism,” Bibliotheca Sacra 161, no. 642 (2004): 150.
[11] Zwemer, The Moslem Doctrine of God: An Essay on the Character and Attributes of Allah According to the Koran and Orthodox Tradition, 30.
[12] Kevin Staley, “God and Allah: Are They the Same?,” Christian Apologetics Journal 3, no. 1 (2004): 61.
[13] Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology (Bellingham, Wa.: Logos Research Systems,, 2004), 244.
[14] Chad Owen Brand, “As Far as the East Is from the West: Islam, Holy War, and the Possibility of Rapprochement,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 8, no. 1 (2004): 4.
[15] James A. Beverley, Religions A-Z (Nashville, Tenn.: T. Nelson, 2005).
[16] Al-Bayhaqi, Allah's Names and Attributes, 34.
[17] Anor Azhak, Distortion of Islam (Bloomington, IN: Tafford Publishing, 2009), 129.
[18] William Gifford Palgrave, A Journey Through Central and Eastern Asia (London: MacMillan and Company, 1865).
[19] Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed. Springfield, Mass., U.S.A (A.: Merriam-Webster, 1996).
[20] Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmud Ahmad, Ahmadiyyat, or the True Islam (Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, n.d.).
[21] Beverley, Religions A-Z.
[22] Emir F. Caner, “The Doctrine of Jihad in the Islamic Hadith,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 8, no. 1 (2004): 26.
[23] Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an.
[24] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 1994). 490
[25] Zwemer, The Moslem Doctrine of God: An Essay on the Character and Attributes of Allah According to the Koran and Orthodox Tradition, 54.
[26] Ali, The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an.
[27] Samuel P. Schlorff, “Theological and Apologetical Dimensions of Muslim Evangelization,” Westminster Theological Journal 42, no. 2 (1979): 334.
[28] Bassam M. Madany, “The Trinity and Christian Missions to Muslims,” Reformation and Revival 10, no. 3 (2001): 130.