They asked Rasoolullahﷺ, ‘Who is Allahﷻ?’ And Allahﷻ answered:

قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ

لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ

وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ

Ikhlaas 112: 1-4      Say (O Muhammadﷺ): He is Allah, (the) One. Allah-us-Samad (Free from all needs, whose creatures need Him). He begets not, nor was He begotten; And there is none equal or comparable unto Him.

Let us reflect on this Sura. It is the essence of Islam. It is the sum total of what we believe because though it is about Allahﷻ, He didn’t speak directly to us as He did in many other places in the Qur’an. Instead, He ordered His Messengerﷺ to introduce Him to the questioners and to us all. Suratul Ikhlaas not only speaks about the Glory and Majesty of Allahﷻ but indicates the exalted status of Rasoolullahﷺ. Then Allahﷻ told us why He created us:

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ

Zariyat 51: 56     And I (Allah) did not create the Jinn and humans except they should worship Me (Alone).

To worship, it is essential to know, to recognize, to have a relationship with, and to love more than anyone or anything else.  So, who is Allahﷻ?

ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْحَىُّ ٱلْقَيُّومُ لَا تَأْخُذُهُۥ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ لَّهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَن ذَا ٱلَّذِى يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُۥٓ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِۦ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَىْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِۦٓ إِلَّا بِمَا شَآءَ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ وَلَا يَـُٔودُهُۥ حِفْظُهُمَا وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِىُّ ٱلْعَظِيمُ

Baqara 2: 255      Allah! La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber, nor sleep overtake Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth. Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His Permission? He knows what happens to them (His creatures) in this world, and what will happen to them in the Hereafter. And they will never compass anything of His Knowledge except that which He wills. His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.

Allahﷻ introduced Himself in the Ayah which is considered the Ayah of highest status in the Qur’an, Ayatul Kursi. Tawheed is our greatest treasure. To be jealously guarded against any adulteration, which comes in benign forms, the most seductive of which is ‘love’. In the name of love, we raise the status of those we love until that enters the realm of that which belongs only to Allahﷻ. That is what the Christians did with Eesa (AS). That is what many sects of Muslims do with different people they love. Eesa (AS) and all those people of high status we love, the highest of them being Muhammadﷺ, are all worthy of great respect, veneration, and emulation. But they are all human. They are all creatures. They are all Ghayrullah. They are not related to Allahﷻ in any way other than being His Makhlooq, His creatures. He created them and they do not share anything with Him, whatsoever, in terms of His Dhaat (identity), Sifaat (attributes), Afa’al (actions, decisions), or Asaar (signs, creation). To believe that anything, human or otherwise, irrespective of who or what it is, shares anything at all with Allahﷻ, is major Shirk and renders us out of Islam. Allahﷻ declared clearly:

فَاطِرُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًا وَمِنَ ٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ أَزْوَٰجًا يَذْرَؤُكُمْ فِيهِ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِۦ شَىْءٌ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ

Shura 42: 11   The Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you mates from yourselves, and for the cattle (also) mates. By this means He creates you (in the wombs). There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.

Ibn Abbas (R) narrated that when Rasoolullahﷺ used to awake for Tahajjud he would say: Allahumma lakal-hamd....