The religion of Islam revolves around what are known to be its five pillars. These pillars are: (1). Believing in the Oneness of Allah and that the Prophet Muhammad is (not was!) His Prophet; (2). Offering daily five prayers to Allah; (3) Fasting in the month of Ramadhan; (4). Giving Zakat [alms] to the indigent Muslims and (5) Performing Hajj in Mecca at least once in one’s lifetime, if one is physically able to undertake it.

There is another cardinal Islamic belief to which all Muslims must subscribe; it being: Allah has no form or a shape and that He has no children, as He does not have a wife, or a female companion[1] to bear them for Him. This belief is very logical, for it will be a sheer stupidity for a shapeless being to have a woman to be his wife or a girlfriend. But is Allah really a shapeless or formless Being, and also, if He is a man or a woman?

Allah says in the Quran that He sees everything that exists on earth and what people do.[2] So Allah has eyes. In the time of Muhammad, Allah stealthily sat with the enemies of His Prophet and heard their discussions and then dutifully reported them to him so that he could take actions against them.[3] Allah has feet;[4] that is why He made fun of the idols for not having the ability to go to their worshippers and listen to their prayer. He also has hands[5] and He breathes, too.[6] Like a human being, He also talks.[7]

Allah also eats and aspires for all the comforts we humans seek in our lives. That is why He asked for a share of the booty His Muslim soldiers collected in the time of Muhammad from the defeated enemies of Islam.[8] He has not said, however, how He used those male and female slaves whom He came to own through His Prophet, and how He is going to use them, if His soldiers were to win battles and wars against His unbelieving enemies in future.

The Quran proves beyond any doubt that Allah is like a human being, with all the limbs almost all of us - the humans - possess. He is not shapeless or formless and that He is a man; that is why He, like a man, said in the Quran that He has no wife or girlfriend to bear children for Him. The fact that Muhammad met Allah in the seventh heaven and had a conversation with Him confirms His existence in a form or shape and that He is no different than a normal human being with all the limbs and faculties we humans have to have to lead a normal life on earth.

But is Allah the only Lord of the Universe and if He is the only Creator and Sustainer of all the lives that live in heaven and on earth?

Allah answered these questions over 1400 years ago, saying:

3:18: [There is no god but He: That is the witness of Allah, His angels, and those endued with knowledge standing firm on justice. There is no god but He, the Exalted in Power, the Wise.]

38:65: [Say: Truly am I a Warner: no god is there but the One Allah, Supreme and Irresistible,- ]

38:66: [The Lord of the heavens and the earth, and all between, - exalted in Might, able to enforce His Will, forgiving again and again.]

According to Allah, there is no god but Him and that He is Supreme, Irresistible, and Almighty and Wise – qualities that enable Him to enforce His Will with no difficulty whatsoever. These qualities, together with Him being omniscient, are what make the Muslims surrender themselves to Him in the hope that He would forgive their worldly sins on the Day of Judgment – though it is not likely to take place again after its occurrence a long time ago[9] - and grant them the Gardens of Eternity (Jannati AAadnin)[10] in which they hope to live forever.

After claiming that He was the lone Allah who ruled the Universe and who implemented His Will at will, Allah also said in the Quran:

37:125:
Yusuf Ali: [Will ye call upon Baal and forsake the Best of Creators,-]
Pickthall: [Will ye cry unto Baal and forsake the Best of creators,]
Shakir: [What! do you call upon Ba'l and forsake the best of the creators, ]

Allah also said:

23:72:
Yusuf Ali: [Or is it that thou askest them for some recompense? But the recompense of thy Lord is best: He is the Best of those who give sustenance.]
Pickthall: [Or dost thou ask of them (O Muhammad) any tribute? But the bounty of thy Lord is better, for He is Best of all who make provision.]
Shakir: [Or is it that you ask them a recompense? But the recompense of your Lord is best, and He is the best of those who provide sustenance.]

A careful reading of verse 37:125 will reveals that by asking His audience [will ye forsake the Best of creators], Allah has admitted that there exist other gods or Allahs, including Baal, besides Him, but they are not as best as He is. Verse 23:72 reveals the same thing i.e. there are other gods or Allahs besides Him, but He is the best among them in providing sustenance to the creations He and other gods create.

Allah’s confession to the existence of lesser gods makes it amply clear that He is not the lone Allah who was responsible for the creation of the Universe and all the lives that live in it. He is also not the only provider of sustenance to all lives; other gods, too, provide it to the beings they created, but the measure of sustenance they provide to them is not as good as that of Allah.

This conclusion leads me to ask: Should not the poor Muslims worship, and pray more vigorously to, those gods or Allahs who are responsible for providing them with their sustenance, and strongly besiege them to increase their sustenance to the level of sustenance Allah provides only to those people He Himself created or creates with His own hands?

On the creation of man, Allah has said in the Quran:

95:4:
Yusuf Ali: [We have indeed created man in the best of moulds, ]
Pickthall: [Surely We created man of the best stature.]
Shakir: [Certainly We created man in the best make.]

Allah followed His above statement on the creation of man by saying:

95:5:
Yusuf Ali: [Then do We abase him (to be) the lowest of the low,-]
Pickthall: [Then we reduced him to the lowest of the low,]
Shakir: [Then We render him the lowest of the low.]

How does Allah change the [best make of man] into the lowest of the low?

Here is the answer to the question: Allah created Adam from black mud that gave forth sound.[11] Where Allah had collected this mud from is not mentioned in the Quran. From one of his ribs, Allah created his wife with the intention to let them live forever in the celestial Gardens. If they had not eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree, both of them would still be living in the Gardens, and the earth would never have seen a single human being on its bosom!

Once Adam and his wife were on earth, Allah began the creation of their [progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid {i.e. semen} {that is} despised].[12] This led Abdullah Yusuf Ali to quip: [… man is, in spite of his high destiny, often the lowest of the low].[13]

Since Allah creates all humans with a despicable fluid, the question of them being the best among all of His creations does not arise. They are born with a lowly nature; they retain it with them until their death.

Their lowly nature manifested itself when Allah had to deal with them in the past. He reports one of their lowly natures in the following words:

33:72:
Yusuf Ali: [We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it;- He was indeed unjust and foolish;-]

Pickthall: [Lo! We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the hills, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it. And man assumed it. Lo! he hath proved a tyrant and a fool.]

Shakir: [Surely We offered the trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to be unfaithful to it and feared from it, and man has turned unfaithful to it; surely he is unjust, ignorant;]

It is clear from the above statement of Allah that the Heavens, the Earth and the Mountains were very clever in refusing to accept His Trust {i.e. the Religion of Islam}, as they knew they would not be able to keep it, and this they made known to Him by speaking out their minds. But man accepted it, without realizing the consequence of his action, thereby proving to Allah that he was a tyrant and a fool!

But as Allah did not find anyone else to bear the burden of His Trust, He entrusted it to man, knowing well that he was a tyrant and a fool. This action on Allah’s part speaks a volume on His own foolish nature and His propensity to take advantage of the foolish men and women He created with a malicious intention.

That said, the questions that beg answers are: Is man the best among the creations of Allah and what Allah expected a tyrant and foolish man to do on earth? Is not a foolish man supposed to do foolish things in his life? Is not worshipping idols and lesser gods part of his foolishness? If it is, then why Allah fought and killed with His own hand the Pagans of the Arabian Peninsula who worshipped idols, believing them to be their protectors and sustainers?

---

[1] See verse 6:101 of the Quran. In it, Allah has said that He has no [sahibatun]; it denoting a female companion, and not a [consort] as translated by the translators of the Quran.
[2] See 2:144.
[3] The Quran; 4:108.
[4] The Quran; 7:195.
[5] The Quran; 38:75.
[6] The Quran; 15:29.
[7] The Quran is Allah’s literal word, which He relayed to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel.
[8] See the Quran; 8:41.
[9] Cf. The Quran; 66:10.
[10] The Quran; 38:50.
[11] The Quran; 15:26.
[12] The Quran; 32:8. Also see 75:37 for a similar statement from Allah.
[13] The Holy Quran; vol. 2, p. 1321.