God has been given many forms by various groups derived from their beliefs and culture. Upon hearing the word God an image comes to mind, some envision a man with a beard, others a man with an elephant head, or perhaps a green alien with animated antennas, and for others simply a ray of white light. All preconceived ideas and images need to be challenged until they match to how Allah has described Himself.

Exalted is your Lord, the Lord of might, above what they describe. And peace upon the messengers. And praise to Allah, Lord of the worlds. [Quran 37:180-182]

Like the heavens and hell, angels and jinn, Allah is part of the ‘ghayb’, unseen, which means that no one can rightfully claim to have seen Allah and narrate any notion of what He is or is not unless He has informed us of it. We learn about this from an incident when Musa (Moses), one of our noble Messengers, asked to see Allah:

And when Musa arrived at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, "My Lord, show me [Yourself] that I may look at You." [ Allah ] said, "You will not see Me, but look at the mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me." But when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Musa fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, "Exalted are You! I have repented to You, and I am the first of the believers." [Quran 7:143]

Understanding Allah is a noble pursuit but it needs to be understood while preserving Oneness of His Names and Attributes, that is we only know of Allah through what He has chosen to tell us via the Quran and His Messenger Muhammad (pbuh). For example, we know that Allah has a face, hands, eyes, and is merciful:

[ Allah ] said, "O Iblees, what prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My hands?..." [Quran 38:75]

Everything will be destroyed except His Face... [Quran 28:88]

And be patient, [O Muhammad], for the decision of your Lord, for indeed, you are in Our eyes... [Quran 52:48]

Your Lord has ordained Mercy for Himself... [Quran 6:54]

Allah has told us about the above attributes and therefore we need to recognize they exist and not deny them, otherwise we would be expressing we know more about Allah than He does. At the same time we should know His attributes are not in any way similar to our hands, face, eyes, mercy, nor does He have any weakness like needing to eat, sleep, getting tired. This concept again has been confirmed by Allah:

There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing... [Quran 42:11]

The concise ayah teaches us a very important lesson: Allah is not like the creation and that His Name and Attributes are only preserved for Him, in essence Tawheed.

In addition to the Attributes of Allah’s we briefly touched upon, His beautiful Names are an important source that further describe and help us to appreciate His Greatness. For example:

He is the First [nothing is before Him] and the Last [nothing is after Him], and the Ascendant [nothing is above Him] and the Intimate [nothing is nearer than Him]. And He is, of all things, Knowing. [Quran 57:3]

Note the names Al-Awwal (The First), Al-Akhir (The Last), Ad-Dhahir (The Most High), Al-Batin (The Most Near), Al-‘Alim (The Knower) describe attributes of Allah that no one can claim and therefore the Names can only be ascribed to our Lord.

To summarize there are four principles surrounding the Oneness of Allah Names and Attributes. We need to understand and explain Allah’s Names and Attributes without:

1TAHREEF:
Without changing the texts and interpreting them incorrectly

2TA'TEEL:
Without denying their meanings or rejecting them

3TAKYEEF:
Without seeking after their specific details when no further information is given by Allah or His Messenger (pbuh)

4TAMTHEEL:
Without likening Allah to His Creation

All that we know about Allah’s Names and Attributes is from Him and His Messenger, and believing in His Oneness means affirming them for our Lord alone, at the level that is fitting for the Most High. Simply put, only our Lord is deserving of these special Names and Attributes, as established in the Quran:

Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One. Allah-us-Samad [The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need, He neither eats nor drinks]. He neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent." [Quran 112]