Belief in Allah

Belief in Allah is the root of every other belief. It means believing that Allah exists, and that He is One in everything that belongs to Him. Scholars often explain this oneness (tawhid) in three ways, which together describe a single faith.

First, He alone is the Lord: He alone creates, provides, gives life and death, and runs the affairs of all that exists. Second, He alone deserves worship: prayer, supplication, reliance, hope and fear are directed to Him and to no one else, as every Muslim says in al-Fatihah, ﴿إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ﴾ (“You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help”) (1:5). Third, He has the most beautiful names and perfect attributes (7:180). We affirm what Allah and His Messenger ﷺ have told us about Him, without likening Him to His creation and without denying what He has affirmed, for ﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِۦ شَىْءٌ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ﴾ (“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing”) (42:11).

Surat al-Ikhlas sums this up in four short verses, and the Prophet ﷺ taught that Allah has ninety-nine names, and that whoever learns them by heart will enter Paradise (Sahih al-Bukhari 7392). Belief in Allah shapes a believer's whole life: it frees the heart from depending on anyone but Him, gives meaning to hardship and blessing alike, and turns every good deed into worship.