Surah Ikhlas (Chapter 112) of the Glorious Quran, is the touchstone of theology. Theo in Greek means God and logy means study. Thus Theology means study of God and to Muslims this four line definition of Almighty God serves as the touchstone of the study of God. Any candidate to divinity must be subjected to this acid test. Since the attributes of Allah given in this chapter are unique, false gods and pretenders to divinity can be easily dismissed using these verses.

Say: He is Allah,
The One and Only.
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute.
He begets not, nor is He begotten.
And there is none like unto Him.
[Al-Quran 112:1-4]


The word as*amad is difficult to translate. It means absolute existence, which can be attributed only to Allah (swt), all other existence being temporal or conditional. It also means that Allah (swt) is not dependent on any person or thing, but all persons and things are dependent on Him.