Islamic godforms
From Free Encyclopedia of Thelema
Islam has only one God, Allah.But God has 100 names, one secret which is to be revealed in paradise.
To recite the 99 Names of God is a core practice of some Sufi sects.
In a note to column V of Liber 777, Crowley lists these names, with the observation: "That these following are only titles of the One Ineffable Name is shown by Koran xvii. 110. But monotheism is not true for the normal consciousness, but only for that of the adept."
Koran xvii.110.:
- Say: "Call upon God, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name ye call upon Him, (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Neither speak thy Prayer aloud, nor speak it in a low tone, but seek a middle course between."
Especially the name Al Mumeetu can be of a particular importance for mystics, being the "Death giver", the destroyer of the Ego.
Aleister Crowley remarked that the formula of Mohammed (AL LA, one god) really was LA AL (no god), and he considered Mohammed to be a Magus (9°=2) of A.'.A.'. and one of the Gnostic Saints. (See Liber Aleph and The Heart of the Master.)
An interesting aspect of the word "Allah" is that in Islam it does not imply an anthropormorphic God (i.e. a god with human attributes). As it says in Surat al-Ihklas (Chapter of Sincerity):
- Qul Hu Allahu Ahad, Allahu Samad, lam Yalid wa lam yulad, wa lam ya Qul ahu kufu wan ahad - "Say: He is One, upon whom all depend, he begets not, nore is he begotten, and there is nothing which can be compared unto him".
The last Ayat or verse being the emphasis here, "There is nothing which can be compared unto Him", i.e. no being or Living thing. Allah really is LA AL (No God) , as God is understood in the western concept, as Allah is nothing that can be comprehended, Allah is the power that exists, nothing more, nothing less. Crowley included this verse in as a mantra in Magick, Book 4.
References
- Crowley, Aleister (1973). The Heart of the Master. Montréal: 93 Publishing.
- Crowley, Aleister (1991). Liber Aleph vel CXI : the Book of Wisdom or Folly. York Beach, Maine: Sameul Weiser.
- Crowley, Aleister (1997). Magick: Book 4. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser.
- Crowley, Aleister (1982). 777 and Other Qabalistic Writings. York Beach, Maine: Samuel Weiser.

