He is the God in the heavens and in the earth. (6:3)

God (Allah) is the All -Powerful, the All –Knowing the Ever –Living, yet the Invisible Personality that created the universe and now rules over it in detail, without help or association of any body else. He is One and Only. Everything else is His creation and is insignificant before Him. Indeed, He alone is the Master, all the rest are His humble slaves who are dependent for life, food, honor, etc. On Him, and they stand responsible before Him for their individual deeds.

The Quran teaches us, as its first teaching, to believe in God.

Belief (iman) in God does not mean believing in His existence only. It is accepting Him as Master, the only Master, in Whose hands lie all our gains and losses, nay, our full destiny , then acting according to His commandments, trusting fully in Him for a handsome reward for our submission.

Service (Ibadat) also does not mean simply adoring or worshipping Him for a while or reciting His name the whole day. It is to serve Him like a slave, upholding his command, fulfilling his purpose, denying the self, and laying down one’s very life for His glory.

The aim of the Prophetic teachings is to bring mankind under the bannership of God, the Creator, the Only Master where all men stand equal and humble, all in the service of God, none enslaving others. The main theme of the Quran is Unity of God, which means that relationship of man and God is direct without intermediaries – prayer is direct and benevolence is direct. God’s chosen men, the Prophets and the saints, are only guides and have no share in the sovereignty of God. Unfortunately mankind has not properly appreciated this concept of Unity of God, and most of them still foolishly seek help from others, making them a part of God. Anyone who properly appreciates the true concept of God feels immediately lifted to heavens; thenceforth, he stands next too God and the whole world appears to him humble and insignificant.

That is God. Now, let us understand him as He is mentioned in the Quran, in the words of the Quran itself. Let us find Him direct from the Book given by Him.

Say, ‘ God is the creator of everything and He is the One, the Omnipotent.’ (13:16)

Pharaoh said, ‘What is the Lord of the World?’ He (Moses) said, ‘The Lord of the heavens and the earth and what between them is, if you would be sure.’ (26:23-24)

God is He Who created the heavens and the earth and what between them is in Six Days, then took the throne; you have, apart from Him, no protector or mediator; will you not pay heed? He manages the Affair from heaven to earth, then it goes up to Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years of your counting. (32:4-5)

He is God, besides Whom there is no god, the knower of the unseen and the visible; He is the Merciful, the All- Merciful. He is God, besides Whom there is no god, the King, the Holy, the Peaceable, the Faithful, the Preserver, the Mighty, the Compeller, the Majestic; hallowed be God, above that they associate. He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper; His are the most beautiful Names; all that is in the heavens and earth glorifies Him, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. (59:22-24)

His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, He gives life and makes to die, and He is powerful over everything. He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, and He knows everything. (57:2-3)

Gold, there is no god but He, the Living, the Everlasting; slumber does not seize Him nor does sleep;His is all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth; who is there that shall intercede with Him, except by His permission; He knows what is before them and what is after them, but they do not comprehend anything of His knowledge except what He will; His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth; their guarding does not strain Him; He is the High, the Mighty. (2:255)

God is the Light of the heavens and the earth; the likeness of His Light is as a niche with a lamp in it; the lamp is in a glass; the glass is as if it were a glittering star, kindled from a blessed olive tree, that is neither of the East nor of the West; its oil would shine, even if no fire touches it; Light upon Light; God guides to His Light whom He will; and God strikes similitudes for mankind; and God knows everything. (24:35)

Know that God stands between man and his heart, and that to Him you shall be mustered. (8:24)

Eyes do not perceive Him, but He perceives the eyes, and He is the Subtle, the Aware. (6:104)

Nothing is like Him. (42:11)

Pharaoh said, ‘O Human, build for me a tower so that I may reach the cords, the cords of the heavens, and look upon Moses’ God, for I guess him to be a liar.’ Thus evil of his deed was shown fair to Pharaoh and he was barred from the Way; but Pharaoh’s guile came only to perish. (40:36-37)

How do you disbelieve in God seeing that you were dead and He gave you life, then He shall make you to die, then He shall give you life, then unto Him you shall be returned? (2:28)

It is We Who created you, then why do you not believe? Have you considered that which you spill? Do you create it or are We the creators? It is We Who have ordained among you death and We cannot be outstripped that We may change your likes and make you grow in a fashion you do not know. And you have known, the first growth; then why do you not pay heed? Have you seen the soil you till? Is it you that sow it, or are We the sowers? IF We will, We will make it broken orts, and you will remain jesting ^___‘we are debt-loaded, nay, we have been robbed!’ Have you seen the water you drink? Is it you that send it down from the clouds or do We send it? If We will, We will make it bitter, then why do you not give thanks? Have you seen the fire you kindle? Is it you that make its timber to grow or are We the growers? (56:57-72)

Of His signs is that He created you from dust; then, lo, you are mortals, scattered abroad. And of His signs is that He created for you, out of your selves, spouses that you might repose in them, and He put between you love and mercy; in that are surely signs for a people who consider. And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and the variety of your languages and your colors; in that are surely signs for men of knowledge. And of His signs is your sleeping and your seeking after His bounty by night and day; in that are surely signs for a people who hear. And of His signs in that He shows you lightning for fear and for hope, and sends down from heaven water, wherewith He revives the earth after it is dead; in that are surely signs for a people who understand. And of His signs is that the heaven and earth stand firm by His command; then, when He gives you a call, out of earth, low, you shall come forth. And to Him belongs whoso is in the heavens and earth; all are obedient to Him. And it is He Who begins the creation then reproduces it, and it is very easy for Him. And His is the loftiest example in the heavens and earth; and He is the Mighty, the Wise. (30:20-27)

Has there not come to you the news of those before you– the people of Noah, Ad, Thamood and of those after them, whom none knows now but God? Their Messengers came to them with clear signs, but they thrust their hands into their mouths and said, ‘we disbelieve in what you have been sent with, and we are in a disquieting doubt regarding what you call us to.’ Their Messengers said, ‘Is there doubt regarding God, the Originator of the heavens and the earth? He calls you that He may forgive you your sins and defer you to a stated term.’ They said, ‘You are nothing but mortals like us; you desire to stop us from that our fathers served; now bring us a clear authority.’ And the unbelievers said to their Messengers, ‘We will expel you, or you shall return into our creed.’ Then their Lord revealed to them, ‘We will destroy the wrong-doers and make you to dwell in the land after them. That is for him who fears My station and fears My threat.’ And they sought a judgement, then every froward tyrant was disappointed; beyond him is Hell and he will be given to drink of oozing pus which he will gulp but will scarcely swallow, and death will come upon him from every quarter, yet he will not die; and still beyond him shall be a harsh punishment. (14:9-17)

Praise belongs to God Who created the heavens and earth, and made darkness and light, yet the unbelievers ascribe equals to their Lord. It is He Who created you from clay, then determined a term, and it is a stated term with Him, yet you doubt. And He is the God (Master) in the heavens and earth; He knows your secrets and your open things, and He knows what you earn. (6:1-3)

I put my trust in God, my Lord and your Lord. There is not a creature but He holds it by its forelock. My Lord is on a Straight Path. (11:56)

Behold, they fold their breasts to hide them from Him; behold, when they wrap themselves in their garments, He knows what they hide and what they display. He knows the thoughts in the breasts. No creature is there on earth but its provision rests on God, and He knows its lodging and its repository; all is in a clear Book. And it is He Who created the heavens and the earth is Six Days, His throne on water, that He might try you which of you is best in work. (11:5-7)

With Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them but He; and He knows what is in the land and the sea; and not a leaf falls but He knows it, and not a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything fresh or withered, is there but it is in a clear Book. (6:59)

Say, ‘who delivers you from the darkness of land and sea,’ when you call upon Him humbly and secretly: ‘if He delivers us from this, we will surely be among the thankful.’ Say, ‘God delivers you from it and from every distress, yet you assign associates to Him.’ (6:63-64)

Say, ‘have you considered, if God should make the night unceasing over you until the Day of Resurrection, what god, other than God, shall bring you illumination ? Will you not then listen?’ Say, ‘have you considered if God should make the day unceasing over you until the Day of Resurrection, what god, other than God, shall bring you night to repose in? Will you not then see?’ (28:71-72)

Say, ‘who provides you out of the heaven and earth, or who controls the hearing and the sight, and who brings forth the living from the dead, and brings forth the dead from the living, and who manages the Affairs?’ They shall say, ‘God’ Then say, ‘will you not be godfearing?’ That then is God, your true Lord; and what is there after truth but error? Then how are you turned about?’ (10:31-32)

God bears witness and the angels and men of knowledge, that there is no god but He, upholding justice; there is no god but He, the Mighty, the Wise. (3:18)

God forgives not that He should be associated with any, but He forgives, apart from that, whomsoever He will; and whoso associates anything with God has gone astray, far away. (4:116)

Have they taken intercessors apart from God? Say, ‘even though they hold no power on anything, nor do they understand.’ Say, ‘to God belongs intercession altogether; to Him belongs the kingdom of the heavens and earth; then unto Him you shall be returned.’ (39:43-44)

Whoso associates any with God, it is as if he has fallen from heaven and the birds have snatched him away, or the wind has carried him off to a place far away. (22:31)

Set not up with God another god, or thou wilt sit condemned and forsaken. (17:22)

(Abraham said) ‘Father, serve not the Devil; surely the Devil is disobedient to the All-Merciful.’ (19:44)

Recite to them the tale of Abraham when He said to his father and his people, ‘what do you serve?’ They said, ‘we serve idols and we are devoted to them.’ He said, ‘do they listen to you when you call, or profit or harm you?’ They said, ‘no, but we found our fathers so doing.’ He said, ‘have you considered what you have been serving, you and your ancient fathers? They are an enemy to me except the Lord of the world, Who created me, guides me and Himself gives me to eat and drink, and when I fall sick, Himself heals me, and who will make me to die, then will Himself give me life; and who, I am eager, may forgive me my mistakes on the Day of Resurrection’. (26:69-82)

He said, ‘you have taken idols, apart from God, only as a mark of mutual love between you in the present life; but, on the Day of Resurrection, you will deny one another, and curse one another, and your abode will be the Fire, and you will have no helpers’. (29:25)

Do not abuse those on whom they call, apart from God, or they will abuse God in revenge without knowledge; thus We have adorned for every community their deeds; then, unto their Lord will they return, and He will tell them what they have been doing. (6:109)

They say, ‘God has taken to Him a son’; glory be to him. No, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and earth; all stand obedient to Him. The Originator of the heavens and earth, when He decrees a thing He only says to it, ‘Be’, and it is. (2:116-117)

Originator of the heavens and earth, how should He have a son when He has no consort; He created everything, and He knows everything. (6:102)

They are indeed unbelievers who say, ‘God Himself is the Messiah, son of Mary.’ Say, ‘who will over-rule God, if He desired to destroy the Messiah, son of Mary, and his mother, and all those who are on earth?’ For to God belongs the kingdom of the heavens and earth and whatever is between them; He creates what he will; and God is powerful over everything.’ (5:17)

They are indeed unbelievers who say, ‘God Himself is the Messiah, son of Mary,’ but the Messiah said, ‘O Children of Israel, serve God, my Lord and your Lord; whoso associates any with God, God has forbidden Paradise to him, and his abode shall be the Fire; and the wrong-doers shall have no helpers.’ The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a Messenger; Messengers passed away before him; his mother was a truthful woman; they ate food; see how We make clear the signs to them, then see how they are perverted. Say, ‘do you serve, apart from God, that which can neither harm you nor profit you and God, He is the Hearing, the Knowing.’ (5:72-76)

The Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of God’, and the Christians say, ‘Messiah is the son of God’; such is the utterance of their mouths, imitating the unbelievers before them; God destroy them; how they are perverted. They have taken their doctors and their monks and the Messiah son of Mary, as lords, while they were commanded not but to serve One God; there is no god but He; He is Holy, above that they associate. (9:30-31)

We have sent down to thee the Book with the truth, so serve God, making obedience sincerely His. Behold, to God belongs sincere obedience, but those who take protectors, apart from Him, (say), ‘we serve them, not but that they may take us near to God.’ God will judge between them in what they differ; surely God does not guide him who is a thankless liar. (39:2-3)

Among men are those who take to themselves compeers, apart from God, loving them as God is loved, but the Believers love God intensely. If the wrong-doers could see, when they see the punishment, that the power belongs to God altogether, and that God is terrible in punishment. When those that were followed disown the followers and they see the punishment, and their ties are cut; and the followers say, ‘if we could return once we shall disown them as they have disowned us. ’Thus will God show them their deeds as bitter regrets for them, and never shall they come out of the Fire.(2:165-167)

What! He who stands over every soul for what it earns. Yet they ascribe associates to God. Say, ‘name them, or do you tell Him what He knows not in the earth?’ (13:33)

(Joseph said) ‘It is not ours to associate anything with God; that is God’s bounty to us and to mankind, but most men are not thankful. O my companions of the prison, are many lords at variance better or One Omnipotent God? That what you serve, apart from Him, is nothing but names you and your fathers have named; God has sent down no authority for them; judgement belongs to God only, and He has commanded that you shall not serve any but Him; that is the Standing Religion, but most men know not.’ (12:38-40)

They serve, apart from God, that which neither harms them nor profits them, and they say, ‘these are our intercessors with God.’ Say, ‘do you tell God what He knows not in the heavens, nor in the earth?’ Holy, Exalted is He, above that they associate with Him. (10:18)

Do they associate those which create nothing and themselves are created? And they cannot help them, nor can they help themselves. If you call them for guidance they will not follow you; equal it is to you whether you call them or you keep silent. Those who you call upon, apart from God, are servants like you; now call them and let them answer you if you speak truly. Have they the feet wherewith they walk, or have they the eyes wherewith they see, or have they the ears wherewith they hear? Say, ‘call to your associates, then try your guile on me, and give me no respite. My protector is God, Who has sent down the Book, and Himself protect the righteous’. (7:191-196)

Say, ‘call on those whom you assert apart from God; they possess not as the weight of an ant in the heavens, nor in the earth; and they have no partnership in either of them, nor has He any supporter among them.’ (34:22)

The likeness of those who take protectors other than God is as the likeness of the spider that makes a house; surely the frailest of houses is the house of the spider, had they but known. (29:41)

O mankind, a similitude is struck, listen to it ;those upon whom you call apart from God, shall never create a fly, though they gathered together for it ; and if a fly should snatch away from them anything, they would not rescue it from it: how weak are the seeker and the sought ! They have not measured God with His true measure; God is surely Strong and Mighty. (22:73-74)

If there were gods other than God in them (heavens and earth), they would have been in disorder; Holy is God, the Lord of the Throne, High, above that they associate. (21:22)

God has not taken to Himself any son, nor is there any god with Him, for then each god would have taken off what he created, and some would have risen up over others; Holy is God, beyond that they describe, the Knower of the unseen and the visible, Above that they associate. (23:91-92)

Do the unbelievers think that they would take My servants as protectors, apart from Me? We have prepared Hell for the unbelievers’ hospitality. (18:102)

The day, He will muster them all together, then will say to the angels, ‘was it you that they served?’ They will say, ‘Holy art Thou; Thou art our protector, apart from them; they were rather serving the jinn, most of them believing in them. (34:40-41)

The day We will muster them all together, We will say to those who had associated (others with God), ‘get to your places, you and your associate-gods.’ Then We will set a space between them; and their associate-gods will say, ‘us you never served, God suffices as witness between us and you; we were indeed unaware of your service.’ (10:28-29)

To Him is referred the knowledge of the Hour: and no fruit comes out of its sheath, nor a female bears or delivers, but it is in His knowledge; and the day He shall call to them, ‘where are My associates’, they shall say, ‘we proclaim to Thee that there is no witness among us.’ (41:47)

You and what you serve apart from God are fuel for Hell; you shall go down to it. If they had been gods, they would have never gone down to it; and all shall abide therein for ever. (21:98-99)

Say, ‘He alone is the God, the Everlasting God, He has not begotten and he has not been begotten, and not anyone equals Him.’ (112)

We sent Noah to his people, and he said, ‘my people, serve God; you have no god other than He; I fear upon you the punishment of a Mighty Day.’ (7:59)

And to Ad – the brother Hood, and he said, ‘my people, serve God, you have no god other than He.’ (7:65)

And to Thamood^___ their brother Salih, and he said, ‘my people, serve God; you have no god other than He.’ (7:73)

And We did not send before thee any Messenger but We revealed to him that there is no god but I, so serve Me But they say, ‘the all-Merciful has taken to Him a son;’ He is Holy; they are but honoured servants who outstrip. Him not in speech and act upon His command. He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they intercede only for him with whom He is pleased; and they tremble in awe of Him. And if any out of them says, ‘I am a god apart from Him, that one We will recompense with Hell.’ (21:25-29)

Serve God and do not associate anything with Him. (4:36)

When My servants ask thee about Me, I am near; I answer the call of the caller when he calls to Me; so let them respond to Me and have faith in Me, that they may go aright. (2:186)

Say, ‘People of the Book, come to a word common between us and you, that we serve none but God and that we associate not with Him anything and some of us do not take others as lords, apart from God.’ Then if they turn away, say, ‘bear witness we have surrendered.’ (3:64)

People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and speak not of God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God and His Word that He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit from Him, so believe in God and His Messengers, but say not ‘three’. Refrain, it is good for you; God is only One God; He is Holy, beyond that He should have a son. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and earth; and God suffices for a caretaker. (4:171)

Set thy face straight to the Religion, the original law of God, on which He originated mankind; in God’s creation there is no change; that is the standing Religion, but most men do not know. (30:30)

The Religion of God is, thus, the basic, eternal law, inherent in the very structure of man on which his life and behaviour were fashioned, That law is the very nature of man that gives him right direction. Islam means following that law every moment of life. Peace, success and salvation are the fruits of obedience to that law. Its disregard means going astray from the laid down path resulting in troubles and disaster. Man has no choice but to follow that Law, the law of God, being the only way established by Him. No other religion could be acceptable to God. (Even the Atheists act on it and get the fruits of life).

He who seeks a religion other than Submission to God (Islam), that shall not be accepted of him, and he shall be a loser in the Hereafter. (3:85)

It was this basic "Law of Islam" and the unchanging original law of life that all the Messengers of God taught through ages. Islam is Not Mohammadenism. Muhammad (may God bless him) never claimed any philosophy of life evolved by him. He said that he was only one among many Messengers of God, all of whom were ordained to submit themselves to, and bring the world on, the natural, eternal, unchanging and Only Religion of God.

Muhammad is naught but a Messenger; Messengers have passed away before him; so if he should die or be slain, will you turn about on your heels ? If any turns about on his heels, he will not harm God in the least, and God will recompense the grateful. (3:144)

When his Lord said to him (Abraham), ‘submit thyself’, he said, ‘ I submit myself to the Lord of the World’. And with that Abraham charged his sons, and so did jacob, ‘my sons, God has chosen for you the Religion (of Submission), so die not but in Submission’. (2:131-132)

The Religion with God is Submission (Islam). Those who were given the Book differed not but after the knowledge had come to them, being insolent to one another. And if any disbelieves in the Signs of God, then God is swift at the reckoning. (3:19)

Say, ‘ I have been commanded that I should serve God, being sincere to Him in the Religion, and I have been commanded that I should be the first of the Obedient.’ Say, ‘I fear, if I rebel against my Lord, the punishment of a Great Day’. (39:11-13)

O Believers, enter Submission totally, and follow not the steps of the Devil; he is a clear foe to you. But if you slip after the Clear Signs have come to you, then know that God is Mighty, Wise. (2:208-209)