INTRODUCTION 

 

Bismillāhir Rahmānir Rahīm, As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh. Peace be upon you brothers and sisters. 

 

Welcome back to the Muslim Converts Channel! 

 

God, Allah, what is the difference? For people who come from non-Muslim backgrounds, these two beings often sound like they are two different Gods.  

 

This, however, is not correct. Allah just means God in Arabic.  

 

In this lesson, we will briefly introduce you to the concept of God in Islam.  

 

BODY OF TEXT 

 

Say, "He is Allah , [who is] One, Allah , the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent." (Chapter 112, verses 1 to 4 of the Holy Qur’an) 

 

God, or Allah in Islam is the creator of the universe. He is not just a creator like an engineer who makes a car, no, He is what brought all being into existence.  

 

Whether the whole of existence has a beginning or is eternal, He is the one who sustains it and is the ultimate explanation as to why anything exists at all.  

Unlike the God of deism, Allah is not a callous God. He is the all-Compassionate, the All-Merciful, the All-Forgiving and the All-Loving.  

 

Out of His love and compassion He created humanity and all life in the world.  

 

According to Islam, God did not create humankind out of play, but created it so that it might find spiritual perfection. He created us human beings so that as freely willing agents, we may purify our souls and become compassionate, merciful, loving and wise beings in a way that is analogous to the source of these wonderful attributes, namely God Himself.  

 

In order to do this, Allah sends down His special revelation in the form of religion to guide humankind to spiritual perfection. Revelation comes in the form of constitutive instructions on how to lead the good life and cleans our hearts from spiritual impurities such as pride, anger, hatred and jealousy among other things, and therefore lead our hearts to be filled with the living light of God. With the light of God in our hearts, we become wise, insightful, patient, forgiving and loving like God Himself.  

 

In this sense, we see that the default position of God is that we enter heaven, unless we use our free will for the sake of evil and destroy our souls. But even then, the God of Islam still wishes redemption for evil doers and will do what He can to give them excuses and forgive them on the Day of Judgment. 

 

For those who betray themselves and their souls, there is a punishment. Yet as J.R.R Tolkien once said, God’s punishment is also His reward. This is because suffering is our greatest teacher; it is a process of pain that opens the doors of our perceptions and ability to selflessly love others. 

 

It not only shows our hearts our wrongs, but it also creates room in our hardened hearts for compassion, a compassion that partakes in and feels the suffering of others. In this compassion for the pain of others is where divine love is born in the heart once again and hence why Allah’s punishment is also His reward.  

 

This is the God of Islam, Allah. 

 

Until Next Time, Thank you for watching. As-salāmu ʿAlaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh