God

the quranic verse “he is the first and the Last, the Outward and the Inward” (LVII, 3) refers not only to the Divine Nature but also to God's role and function in Islamic spirituality, for God is the alpha and omega of Islamic spirituality and both its inner and outer reality. He is at the center of the arena of Islamic life, and all facets and dimensions of spirituality revolve around Him, seek Him, and are concerned with Him as the goal of human existence. The raison d'Être of the Quranic Revelation and the religion of Islam is the unveiling of the doctrine of the Divine Nature in its fullness, of the knowledge of God as He is in Himself, not as He has manifested Himself in a particular message or form. At the heart of the Quranic message lies the full and plenary doctrine of God as both transcendent and immanent, as both majesty and beauty, as both the One and the Source of the manifold, as both Origin of Mercy and Judge of all human actions, as the Originator and Sustainer of the cosmos and the goal to which all beings journey, as the suprapersonal Essence beyond all creation, and as the personal Deity Whose Will rules over all things, Whose love for knowledge of Himself is the cause of creation, and Whose Mercy is the very substance of which the threads of His creation are woven. The Quranic doctrine of God reveals Him as being at once Absolute, Infinite, and Perfect, as the Source of all reality and all positive qualities manifested in the cosmic order. Islamic spirituality is nothing other than knowing, loving, and obeying God through the means revealed in the Quran and promulgated and exemplified by the Prophet on the basis of the full doctrine of the Divine Nature contained in the Quran and Ḥadīth. This doctrine is made explicit and unfolded in the sapiential commentaries upon these sources and also in other traditional works of wisdom written over the ages by Muslim gnostics, philosophers, and theologians.