Two questions people really ask

Sooner or later, many people ask one of these. Some ask out loud. Some only think it, late at night, and feel scared to say it:

• "If everything needs a maker, then who made Allah?"
• "If Allah is real, why can I not see Him? Why does He not just show Himself, so everyone believes?"

These are fair questions. A child asks the first one. A university student asks it too, in longer words. Asking is not a sin. The Companions also had hard thoughts, and Nabi ﷺ was gentle with them¹.

This chapter goes through both questions calmly, with the Quran and the Sunnah. It also says honestly what we do not know.

The short answer

• Who made Allah? No one. Only things that begin need a maker. Allah never began. He was always there, and He made everything else.
• Why can we not see Him? Our eyes and bodies in this world cannot bear it. And this life is a test, and a test needs some things to stay hidden.
• Will anyone ever see Him? Yes. The believers will see their Lord in the next life, as clearly as you see the full moon².

Who made Allah?

A phone was made in a factory. A tree grew from a seed. You were born to your mother. Everything that has a beginning has a cause. We live by this rule every day.

So it feels natural to ask: then who made Allah? But look closely. The question hides a mistake.

The question treats Allah like a made thing

The rule is not "everything needs a maker". The rule is "everything that begins needs a maker". Allah did not begin. So the rule does not reach Him.

Asking "who made the Maker?" is like asking "what is north of the North Pole?" It sounds like a real question. But once you understand what the North Pole is, you see the question does not fit.

A line of makers cannot go back forever

Someone may say: "Maybe something made Allah, and something else made that, and so on, forever." Picture a long line of dominoes falling. Each one falls because the one before pushed it. If every domino needs another one before it, and there is no first push, nothing would ever start falling. But the dominoes are falling. Things do exist. So there must be a first that nothing pushed.

This First must have no beginning and need nothing to exist. If it were made, it would not be first. It would just be one more domino. That First, who was never made, is Allah.

So a Maker who was never made is not a strange idea. It is where reason itself points.

What Allah says about Himself

Allah says: He is the First and the Last, the Outer and the Inner, and He knows everything³. Nabi ﷺ taught a bedtime dua that explains it: O Allah, You are the First, there is nothing before You. You are the Last, there is nothing after You⁴.

So the Muslim answer is simple. Allah was not made. Nothing came before Him. Everything else was made by Him.

What is Allah like?

This question often comes from picturing Allah like a very big person. People are born, so we think He must have come from somewhere too. But Allah is not like anything He made. Surah al-Ikhlas answers it directly:

Say: He is Allah, the One. Allah, the One everything needs, while He needs nothing. He has no child, and He was not born. And there is nothing like Him.⁵

• "He was not born." Allah Himself tells us no one brought Him into being.
• "The One everything needs." The Arabic word is as-Samad. Your breath, the sun, the whole universe depend on Him. He depends on nothing.
• "There is nothing like Him." He is not one more thing inside the universe. He is its Maker.

Allah also says: There is nothing like Him. He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing⁶. He hears and sees, but not like us. And our minds cannot take Him in⁷. That is what you would expect. A painting cannot fully understand the painter. Scholars have long said: whatever picture comes into your mind, Allah is different from it.

To learn more, see The names of Allah and Tawhid.

What did Nabi ﷺ say about this whisper?

Nabi ﷺ told us this question would come: people will keep asking each other until someone says: Allah made everything, so who made Allah? Whoever finds this in himself, he said, should say: I believe in Allah⁸.

He also said that shaytan (the devil) asks: who made this? Who made that? Until he asks: who made your Lord? When it reaches that point, ask Allah to protect you, and stop there⁹.

Why stop? The question does not fit Allah, so going round in circles only brings worry. Say a'udhu billah (I ask Allah to protect me) and amantu billah (I believe in Allah), and turn your mind to something else.

A man once told Nabi ﷺ he had thoughts so bad he would rather be burned to charcoal than say them. Nabi ﷺ said Allahu akbar three times, then: praise be to Allah, who has made shaytan's plot nothing more than a whisper¹⁰. Shaytan could not take this man's faith. All he could do was whisper.

Why can we not see Allah?

Allah says: No eyes can take Him in, but He takes in all eyes¹¹. Nabi ﷺ said: none of you will see his Lord until he dies¹². So no one sees Allah with his eyes in this world.

Our eyes are made for this world

The sun is only a star that Allah made. Yet you cannot look straight at it for more than a moment. Our eyes are weak even with the things Allah made.

Nabi ﷺ said about Allah: His veil is light. If He removed it, the glory of His face would burn up everything He made, as far as His sight reaches¹³. So the veil is a mercy. Our bodies in this world could not bear to see Him.

Even a mountain could not stand it

The prophet Musa (Moses) asked to see Allah. Allah said: you will not see Me. But look at the mountain. If it stays in its place, you will see Me. When Allah showed Himself to the mountain, it crumbled to dust, and Musa fell down unconscious¹⁴.

If a mountain of rock could not stand it, how could our small bodies? We cannot see Him, not because He is far away or not there, but because He is too great for our eyes in this life.

Will anyone ever see Allah?

Yes. All Sunni scholars agree that the believers will see Allah in the next life. Allah says: Some faces on that Day will be bright, looking at their Lord¹⁶.

The Companions asked Nabi ﷺ: will we see our Lord on the Day of Judgement? He asked: do you have any trouble seeing the full moon on a clear night, or the sun when there are no clouds? They said no. He said: you will see Him just like that¹⁷.

The best gift in Jannah

Nabi ﷺ said that when the people of Jannah (Paradise) have entered it, Allah will ask: do you want anything more? They will say: have You not made our faces bright, put us in Jannah and saved us from the Fire? Then Allah will lift the veil. Of everything they were given, nothing will be dearer to them than looking at their Lord¹⁸.

Those who rejected Allah will not have this. On that Day they will be kept behind a veil from their Lord¹⁹.

For more about Jannah, see Jannah and Jahannam.

Why would Allah keep Himself hidden?

If seeing Allah would make everyone believe, why does He not show Himself now? The Quran's answer: this life is a test. Do people think they will be left alone just because they say "we believe", and not be tested?²²

A test needs something hidden

If the answers to an exam were written on the board, passing would mean nothing. If Allah stood in front of every person, believing in Him would be like believing the sun is in the sky. There would be no test of the heart, no real choice and no reward.

That is why the Quran praises those who believe in the unseen²³, and says: those who fear their Lord without seeing Him will have forgiveness and a great reward²⁴. When the final signs come and the unseen is seen, it is too late: no soul will benefit from its faith if it did not believe before²⁵.

Hidden does not mean absent

You cannot see the wind, but you see the trees bend. This does not prove Allah by itself. But it shows that "I cannot see it" is not the same as "it is not there". And Allah has left signs: We will show them Our signs out in the world and inside themselves, until it is clear to them that this is the truth²⁶. See Fitrah: why we believe.

Hidden, yet very near

Allah is hidden from our eyes, but He is not far. When My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the one who calls on Me²⁷. You cannot see Him, but He sees you, hears you and answers you right now.

What we do not know

Islam gives clear answers on the main points. But some things are beyond us. Allah says: you have been given only a little knowledge²⁸.

• How Allah is. We know what He told us about Himself. We do not know how He is. Scholars teach: believe what Allah said about Himself, do not compare Him to anything He made, and do not ask "how".
• What "no beginning" is like. Everything we know started at some point, so it is hard to imagine something with no beginning. Hard to imagine does not mean wrong.
• How the seeing in Jannah will be. We know it will happen. We do not know how. It will be in a new life, with bodies made for it.

Did Nabi ﷺ see Allah on the night journey?

The Companions themselves discussed this:

• Aisha said firmly that he did not, and recited: no eyes can take Him in²⁹³⁰.
• Abu Dharr asked Nabi ﷺ: did you see your Lord? He said: light. How could I see Him?³¹.
• Ibn Abbas said he saw Him with his heart³².

Many scholars bring these together: he did not see Allah with his eyes, and Ibn Abbas meant a seeing of the heart. Some other scholars held that he did see Allah with his eyes that night, as an honor for him alone. All of them are respected scholars, and your faith does not depend on this detail. What all agree on: the believers will see Allah in Jannah³³.

It is fine to say "I do not know" about details. Not knowing one detail does not cancel the clear things we do know. See How to look for answers.

What to do with this doubt in daily life

• When "who made Allah?" pops into your head: say a'udhu billah and amantu billah. Then stop, and do something else³⁴³⁵.
• Pray as if you see Him. Nabi ﷺ said the highest level of faith is to worship Allah as if you see Him. And if you cannot see Him, He sees you³⁶.
• Guard Fajr and Asr. Nabi ﷺ tied the promise of seeing Allah to these two prayers³⁷.
• Make dua. Ask Allah to keep your heart firm and to let you see Him in Jannah. See the duas page.
• Ask a real question to a real person. An imam or a teacher you trust. Asking is how the Companions learned.

Common questions

My little child asked me "who made Allah?" What do I say?

Smile, and do not look worried. Say: "Everything that starts needs someone to make it. Allah never started. He was always there, and He made everything." Read Surah al-Ikhlas together: He was not born³⁹.

If Allah has no beginning, what was there before He made the world?

Allah was there, and nothing was before Him⁴⁰. Beyond that, Allah has not told us details, and our faith does not need them. It is fine to stop at what He told us.

A picture of Allah came into my mind. Did I sin?

No. You are not blamed for thoughts that come on their own⁴¹. Remind yourself: there is nothing like Him⁴². Whatever you pictured, Allah is different. Then let it go.

Why did Allah not just show Himself to everyone?

Because this life is a test⁴³. Belief that comes only after seeing everything is not a test of the heart. And Allah did not leave us without proof. He sent signs⁴⁴ and He sent the prophets.

I feel embarrassed that I even had this question. Am I a weak Muslim?

No. Nabi ﷺ told us long ago that people would ask it⁴⁵. Hating a bad thought is itself a sign of faith⁴⁶. Keep praying, keep learning, and be gentle with yourself.