Editing Sunni Islam (section)

=== God ===
{{main|God in Islam}}

====Unity====
At the center of the Sunni creed is [[Tawhid]], the belief in the oneness of God. God is a single (''fard'') God, besides whom there is no other deity.<ref name="Aschari29056">al-Ašʿarī: ''Kitāb Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn''. 1963, S. 290. – Dt. Übers. Schacht, S. 56.</ref> He is single (''[[munfarid]]''), has no partner (''šarīk''), no opposite (''nidd''), no counterpart (''maṯīl'') and no adversary (''ḍidd'').<ref>al-Ġazālī: ''Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn''. 2005, S. 106 – Engl. Übers. Watt. 1994. S. 73.</ref> He has neither taken a companion nor children,<ref name="Aschari29056"/> neither conceived nor is he conceived.<ref name="IbnGauzi280198">Ibn al-Ǧauzī: ''Al-Muntaẓam fī sulūk al-mulūk wa-l-umam''. 1992, Bd. XV, S. 280. – Dt. Übers. Mez 198.</ref>

God created everything, the years and times, day and night, light and darkness, the heavens and the earth, all kinds of creatures that are on it, the land and the sea, and everything living, dead and solid. Before he created all of this, he was completely alone, with nothing with him.<ref name="IbnGauzi280198"/> In contrast to his creation, God has a timeless nature. He is beginningless (''azalī'') because he has existed for all eternity and nothing precedes him, and he is endless (''abadī'') because he continues to exist without interruption for all eternity. He is the first and the last, as it says in the Quran (Sura 57: 3).<ref>al-Ġazālī: ''Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn''. 2005, S. 106 – Engl. Übers. Watt. 1994. p. 73.</ref>  God brought forth creation not because he needed it, but to demonstrate his power and as the implement his previous will and his primordial speech.<ref>al-Ġazālī: ''Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn''. 2005, S. 108. – Engl. Übers. Watt. 1994. p. 76.</ref> God is creator, but has no needs. He does not need food,<ref>aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī: ''al-ʿAqīda''. 1995, p. 9. – Engl. Übers. Watt 48.</ref> does not feel lonely and does not keep company with anyone.<ref name="IbnGauzi280198"/>

====Transcendence====
To absolve God of all anthropomorphism, the Qur'anic statements that "God sat on the throne" (istawā ʿalā l-ʿarš; Surah 7:54; 20: 5) receive a lot of the Sunni creeds attention. The creed of al-Qādir emphasizes that God did not set himself up on the throne (ʿarš) "in the manner of the rest of the creatures" and that he created this throne, although he did not need it.<ref name="IbnGauzi280198"/> Al-Ghazali's knowledge of the faith states that the "sitting down" is free from contact (''mumāssa'') with the throne. It is not the throne that carries God, but the throne and its bearers are carried through the grace of his power.<ref>al-Ġazālī: ''Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn''. 2005, S. 106. – Engl. Übers. Watt. 1994. p. 73f.</ref> According to al-Ashʿari, the Sunnis confess that God is on his throne, but without asking how.<ref>al-Ašʿarī: ''Kitāb Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn''. p. 290. – Dt. Übersetzung 1931, p. 57.</ref> Even if God does not need the throne and what is below, because he spatially occupies everything, including what is above him, the throne and stool (''kursī'') are a reality.<ref>aṭ-Ṭaḥāwī: ''al-ʿAqīda''. 1995, p. 19. – Engl. Übers. Watt 52.</ref>

====Names and attributes====
The Sunnis confess that the names of God cannot be said to be anything other than God, as Muʿtazilites and Kharijites claim.<ref>al-Ašʿarī: ''Kitāb Maqālāt al-islāmīyīn''. S. 290f. – Dt. Übersetzung 1931, p. 56f.</ref> Rather, they teach that there are correlating attributes (''ṣifāt'') which exist in each of the names of God mentioned in the Quran: God is alive through life (''[[ḥayāh]]''), knowing through knowledge (''ʿilm''), mighty through power (''ʿqudra''), wanting through will (''[[irāda]]''), hearing through hearing (''samʿ''), seeing through sight (''[[baṣar]]'') and speaking through Speech (''[[kalām]]'').<ref name="Gazali10776">al-Ġazālī: ''[[Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn]]''. 2005, S. 107. – Engl. Übers. Watt. 1994. p. 76.</ref> The attributes are not identical to God, nor are they anything different from him.<ref>an-Nasafī: ''ʿUmdat ʿAqīdat ahl as-sunna wa-l-jama''. 1843, p. 7.</ref> Only those attributes are ascribed to God which he ascribed to himself (in the [[Quran]]) or which his prophet ascribed to him. And every attribute that he or his [[prophet]] has ascribed to him is a real attribute, not an attribute [[Majaz|figuratively]].<ref name="IbnGauzi280199"/>