At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God: Allah, the One, the Absolutely Perfect, Unique, Eternal, Beautiful, Loving, Infinitely Kind and Compassionate, All-Knowing, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, beyond what man can ever conceive, yet nearer to him than his jugular vein. [50:16]

Islam does not demand blind faith in God. The Qur’an tells us a great deal about Him. There it depicts God by certain “names” and “attributes” to help us understand something about His nature. In fact, in Islam, the most precious type of knowledge is that which lends itself to comprehending God’s names and attributes. This is the key to truly knowing God and becoming devoted to Him. The received wisdom here is: sharaf al-‘ilm bi sharaf al-ma‘lum – “The excellence of [any] knowledge depends upon what it is concerned with.”

‘The best knowledge is knowing God’s Names (asma), Attributes (sifat) and Acts (