[God and the creation of the world]1
وَالمُحْدِثُ لِلْعَالَمِ هُوَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى، اَلْوَاحِدُ، الْقَدِيمُ، الحَيُّ، الْقَادِرُ، الْعَلِيمُ، السَّمِيعُ، الْبَصِيُر، الشَّائِي، المُرِيدُ لَيْسَ بِعَرَضٍ، وَلاَ جِسْمٍ، وَلاَ جَوْهَرٍ، وَلاَ مُصَوَّرٍ، وَلاَ مَحْدُودٍ، وَلاَ مَعْدُودٍ، وَلاَ مُتَبَعِّضً، وَلاَ مُتَجَزَّ، وَلاَ مُتَرَكِّبٍ، وَلاَ مُتَنَاهٍ، وَلاَ يُوصَفُ بِالْماهِيَّةِ، وَلاَ بِالْكَيفِيَّةِ، وَلاَ يَتَمَكَّنُ فِي مَكانِ، وَلاَ يَجْرِي عَلَيْهِ زَمَانٌ، وَلاَ يُشْبِهُهُ شَيْءٌ، وَلاَ يَخْرُجُ عَنْ عِلْمِهِ وَقُدَرتِهِ شَيْءٌ.
012- The Originator (muḥdith) of the world is God,2 the exalted (taʿllā), the One (wāḥid), the Eternal (qadīm), the Living (ḥayy), the Powerful (qādīr), the Knowing (ʿalīm), the Hearing (samīʿ), the Seeing (baṣīr), the Desiring (shāʾī), and the Willing (murīd). He is not an accident, or a body (jism), or a atom (jawhar); nor is He something formed (muṣawwar), or a thing limited (maḥdūd), or numbered (maʿdūd), or portioned, or divided, or a composite thing; nor does He come to an end. He is not described by quiddity (māhīya), or by quality (kayfīya), or is He located in space (makān). Time doesnot affect Him and nothing resembles Him, and nothing is beyond His Knowledge and Power.
- Elder, Earl Edgar, A Commentary on the Creed of Islam. NY: Columbia University Press, 1950, p. 36 with modifications. Elder has the section titled “Chapter 4: The Originator of the World.“
- The word God is used here for Allāh in the text as its our contention to make the text readable in English and since this a work on the creed the definition of the word is being explained so there is no confusion in using the word. Since Muslims don’t worship a different God than the one worshipped by those that speak English.