Al Wahid, Al Ahad
When you read stories of Allah’s prophets and messengers in the Quran, you find that there is one common message they were all teaching their people, that there is only ONE God to be worshipped, and that is Allah. It is no different with our prophet Mohamed (PBUH). The first thing he taught people who believed him was that there is no God but Allah.
This message is the base upon which Islam is built. We worship Allah, and no one but Allah. If we take a look at the names of Allah we will find not one, but two names that show us this crucial pillar of Islam and Iman (faith).
The first is: Al Wahid - The One.
Despite its seemingly simple meaning, and that we use the word “the one” in other contexts; when Allah calls Himself the one, it means He is the only one. There is no one but Him.
Allah has no sons, no daughters, no siblings, no parents, no partners, and no rivals. Allah is the source of all creation, He is the only one who can create things out of nothing, human beings of mud, and everything in the universe returns back to Him in the end.
The second is: Al Ahad: The Unique, The Only One.
This name is only used for Allah, there is no other use for it, as the name itself is unique to Him. Translation does not do it justice, however, so let’s take a deeper look into its meaning.
When we talked about Al Wahid, we said there is no one but Allah, in his essence, in His existence. Al Ahad, on the other hand, means there is no one like Allah, in his attributes, in his qualities.
If you take a quick look at the 99 names of Allah, you will notice that they all describe Allah, tell us what He is like. The fact that they all have “Al” before them, shows us that He is the source of these qualities.
Yes, Allah gives us human beings some of His attributes to live by, but no one comes near to having as many qualities as He does, or as much of one quality as He has.
For example: He is Al Kareem (The Most Generous). You will find many people who are generous, but are they as Generous as Allah? Not even close, we only try to be as generous as we can.
So to sum it up;
Al Wahid: The Only One, there is no one but Him.
Al Ahad: The Only One, there is no one like Him.
How can we live by those two names?
Al Wahid:
Remind yourself to only ask Allah for anything you want. Make duaa (pray) only for Allah when you need anything, from the simplest smallest request to the most important one.
Whenever you’re in trouble, seek help first and foremost from Allah, He will guide you towards how to fix your problem, even if through help from another person.
Don’t be afraid of anyone but Allah. No teacher, parent, coach or even friend should get as much respect, fear or even love from you as Allah.
When something/someone becomes way too important for you that you feel lost without; remind yourself that only Allah is worthy of this kind of “worship”, and try to let go of your holding onto this thing/that person.
Al Ahad:
Study the different qualities of God through his names, and write them down in a place you can see. Pick a new name every week or two, and try to reflect this name in everything you do. For example, “This week I will be more merciful with everyone I deal with, and every animal and every plant I come across”.
Be more forgiving of people who are not as merciful, as generous, or as appreciative as you would like them to be. Nobody is perfect but Allah, nobody has all the good qualities, and nobody shows their best qualities all the time. Accept people’s imperfections and love them the way they are.
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