Allah is One...

Allah is One, in view of His attribute, like His divinity, which is not shared by anyone else. He is one in His divinity as well as in His knowledge, power and life. He has knowledge, unlike other knowledge, and power and life unlike others' powers and lives.

Also, He is one because His attributes are not multiple, they are not separate from one another except in their verbal meanings; His knowledge, His power and His life, all is one thing, all is His very person; none of them is separate from the other. Allah knows by His power, and has power by His life, and is alive by His knowledge. He is not like other things where attributes are multiple and numerous not only in meanings but in reality also.

Sometimes a thing possesses the characteristic of oneness in its personality, that is, by its very nature and essence, it cannot accept multiplication or division in its self; it cannot be divided into various parts or into its person and name etc.

This oneness is called oneness of person, and it is referred to with the word al-ahad (= one); this word is never used except as a first construct of a genitive construction or in a negative, prohibitive or similar sentences, in the meaning of no one, any one, etc. For example, we say: No one came to me. This sentence negates the personality itself, irrespective of its oneness or plurality, because this oneness is related to its nature and essence, and not to its attribute.

This connotation will be lost if we were to say, one man did not come to me. This sentence does not imply that two or more men did not come; it is because "oneness" in this sentence is an attribute of the comer, not of his person. The reader should keep in mind this short explanation until we write about it in detail. Allah willing, under the verse: Say: "He, Allah, is One .

" (112:1) The words, "And your God is one God," imply that divinity, godhead, is exclusively reserved for Allah, and that His oneness in divinity is such as becomes His sublime status. The word al-wahid (one), as understood by the audience of the Qur'an gives the idea of oneness, of a general type That meaning may be applied to various kinds of oneness. But only a few of those connotations may be applied for Allah. The word "one” may show oneness of number, of species, or of genes, etc.

And the people were bound to take it in the meaning best suited to their beliefs and ideas. That is why the Qur'an did not say: And Allah is one God.