God in Islam

In Islam, God (Arabic: ٱللَّٰه, romanized: Allāh, contraction of ٱلْإِلَٰه al-’Ilāh, lit. 'the God', or Arabic: رب, romanized: Rabb, lit. 'Lord') is seen as the creator and sustainer of the universe, who lives eternally. God is conceived as a perfect, singular, immortal, omnipotent, and omniscient deity, completely infinite in all of his attributes. Islam further emphasizes that God is most merciful. The Islamic concept of God is variously described as monotheistic, panentheistic, and monistic.

The Islamic concept of tawhid (unification) emphasises that God is absolutely pure and free from association or partnership with other beings, which means attributing the powers and qualities of God to his creation, and vice versa. In Islam, God is never portrayed in any image. The Quran specifically forbids ascribing partners to share his singular sovereignty, as he is considered to be the absolute one without a second, indivisible, and incomparable being, who is similar to nothing, and nothing is comparable to him. Thus, God is absolutely transcendent, unique and utterly other than anything in or of the world as to be beyond all forms of human thought and expression. The briefest and the most comprehensive description of God in the Quran is found in Surat al-Ikhlas.

In theology, anthropomorphism (tashbīh) and corporealism (tajsīm) refer to beliefs in the human-like and materially embedded form of God, an idea that has been classically described assimilating or comparing God to the creatures. By contrast, belief in the transcendence of God is called tanzih, which also rejects notions of incarnation and a personal god. Although tanzih is widely accepted in Islam today, it stridently competed for orthodox status until the tenth century, especially during the Mihna. Besides that, beyond purpose, excessive emphasis on God's uniqueness and transcendence may also mean stripping some of his human connotating attributes and names (Ta'til). Because, in addition to metaphors such as King (Melik) and Master (Rabb), it may also clearly contradicts the image of a god who is arrogant (al-Mutakabbir), angry (al-Jalīl), avenger (al-Muntaqim) but also compassionate (ar-Raḥīm), pardoner (Al-ʻAfūw) etc. and living Al-Ḥayy, who, as in Sufism, establishes a closeness with humans. (see; Sufi metaphysics, and Ali-Illahism) In premodern times, corporealist views were said to have been more socially prominent among the common people, with more abstract and transcendental views more common for the elite.