Al-Wāhid- Al-Ahad
The One - The Only One
He is the One Who is single and unique in all His absolute perfections. No one shares them with Him, and none is like Him. Allah’s name ‘the Only One’ occurs only once in the Qur’an in Sūrat Al-Ikhlās: (Say, “He is Allah, the Only One.")

It also occurs in the Sunnah. Buraydah reported from his father that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) heard a man saying, “O Allah, I implore You by virtue of my testimony that You are Allah, there is no god but You, the Only One, the Eternal Refuge, Who has not begotten and has not been begotten and none is like Him.”

Thereupon, the Prophet said, “You have implored Allah by the name by which when asked, He gives, and by which when supplicated, He answers.”27 As for Allah’s name ‘the One’, it occurs in a number of places in the Qur’an.

For example:
(They have certainly disbelieved who say, “Allah is the third of three.” And there is no god except one God.) (Sūrat Al-Mā’idah: 73) And (Say, “Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Superb Vanquisher.”) (Sūrat Al-Ra‘d: 16)
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27 Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi)
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In light of these two great names, I would say:
1. Since Allah is One and Unique in His Self, attributes and Lordship, a servant is required to believe and adhere to His Oneness in terms of belief and deeds; in other words, he should worship none but Him and not apply any Shariah except His.

2. Know that your heart will not enjoy happiness or tranquility except through belief in the Oneness of Allah with whole devotion to Him. A heart attached to someone else will find worry and desolation. The most blissful people ever are those with the best belief in the Oneness of Allah, namely the prophets and messengers.

3. Allah’s name ‘the One’ is not associated with any other name in the Qur’an except the name ‘the Superb Vanquisher’ for indeed it follows from Him being One that He should be Vanquisher of everything. Al Sa‘di (may Allah have mercy upon him) said, “The One should necessarily be Vanquisher, and the Vanquisher should necessarily be One. So, partnerships are denied from all aspects.”

4. The scholars (may Allah have mercy upon them) mentioned some differences between the names ‘the One’ and ‘the Only One’. They include the following:
• ‘The Only One’ is more powerful in negating polytheism than ‘the One’. It is like the difference between ‘one’ and ‘anyone’.
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If it is said, for example,
“there is not one in the house”, this could mean there are two or three. But if it is said “there is not anyone in the house”, this means that none whatsoever is in the house.

• The idea suits the names in Arabic; it does not apply to the English translation.

• The idea suits the names in Arabic; it does not apply to the English translation.
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