This belief is called the “Tawhid.

This belief is called the “Tawhid.” This is made clear in the shahadah, the first pillar of Islam, which states that, “There is no God except Allah the One God &“Muhammad” is the Messenger of Allah. A Muslim is someone who has submitted himself or herself to the will of Allah.

Since Allah (God) is beyond all human understanding, so human beings cannot describe Him: “Say: He is Allah, the One and the only; Allah, the eternal, Absolute; He beget not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him” (quoted in Keene, 2005).

The first statement of the Holy Bible describes God as the creator of the heaven and the earth whose command encompasses the entire world, “God said, let there be light and there was light… And let the dry land appear: and it was so…” (Genesis 1: 2 & 7). God is the central subject of the Bible and always presented in relationship with the world, with that which is not God.

God’s existence is assumed from the first verse of Genesis, God’s core character and most basic purposes are very constant across two testaments, and the divine speaking and acting are always in service of those purposes, whether in creation, judgment, or salvation. God is a character in every biblical tradition (except Esther).

God is presented as one who speaks, is spoken to, and is spoken about (though God’s direct peaking is rare in the NT), and one who acts and is affected by the action of others (e.g. provoked to anger). Most commonly, God is presented as a character in a narrative, whose presence may be depicted as both intense (Sinai, Jesus Christ) and unobtrusive (the Joseph story). Narratives provide depth to God’s character without bringing closure to the depiction of God; they present God as a complexity.