BIG AND SMALL ALLAH

 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BIG AND SMALLER ALLAH

The Quran presents a powerful idea about reality of human beings. It begins with the understanding that everything in existence comes from one supreme source of awareness - the Greatest Conscience, which the Quran calls Allah. The expression اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلِيًّا كَبِيرًا points to this reality: that the ultimate truth is far greater, higher, and wider than the limited understanding of Allah with the human mind.

According to general view, the universe is not just a mechanical system of matter and movement. Rather, it is a manifestation of Energy / Power / Force (قُوَّةٍ) that encompasses everything and descends / emerges from a higher level of consciousness to a lower human conscious level.

However, the main subject of the book Quran is not the Universe or its Creator but the conscious force (rabb) that evolves or effects human character. Therefore, most of the Quran’s message speaks to the conscience of each individual. Its narrative is directed toward awakening the human mind, the good / bad energy within and guiding the inner awareness of every person.

At the same time, the Quran points to another subtle but very important aspect of human life. Although everything originates from that supreme consciousness (رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ), human beings rarely act from that highest level of awareness. Most of the time, our desires, fears, ambitions, and attachments come from a much more limited level within us - a smaller and weaker inner authority.

In Quranic language, this lower / weak state is described by the phrase مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ (min duni Allah). It suggests acting from something that is below or beneath the greater divine consciousness.

This phrase is often translated as “other than Allah,” but this translation is not accurate at all. Grammatically, min is a preposition meaning “from,” and dun is a noun that refers to something weaker, lower, lesser, or beneath. Therefore, the phrase more accurately indicates acting from a lower level instead of the higher divine consciousness, rather than worshipping something completely separate from it (other than).

Philosophically understood, this does not necessarily refer to external idols or deities. Rather, it points to the many inner authorities that humans unconsciously elevate: ego, social pressure, inherited dogma, habit, fear, tribal loyalty, or personal desire. When these limited impulses begin to guide human thought and action, they function as “lesser gods” within the psychological landscape of the individual. In such moments, the human being is no longer aligned with the expansive moral and intellectual horizon represented by Allah, but instead moves under the influence of narrower forces which are other than inner Allah (positive power/force).

For this reason, a remarkable feature of the Quranic discourse is that almost all the references to Allah appear within the human context rather than purely in the cosmic or theological context. The Quran repeatedly invokes Allah not simply to describe the Almighty as an abstract metaphysical being, but to awaken human consciousness. The mention of Allah becomes a reminder - a call for human beings to realign their decisions, intentions, and perceptions with the highest possible standard of awareness, signified as as-samawat in Quranic terminology.

Thus, the Quran’s discussion of Allah is deeply existential than imaginary. It is less about defining God in philosophical abstraction and more about confronting the human inner condition. The text continually challenges individuals to ask themselves: From which center am I acting? Is my thought arising from the expansive, principled consciousness that reflects the greater order of reality, or from the fragmented impulses of the smaller self?

In this sense, the Quranic message can be seen as an invitation to move from the rule of the “lesser authorities” within us toward alignment with the Greatest Conscience (Allah). The journey it proposes is not theological but profoundly psychological and ethical - a transformation of the inner compass by which human beings perceive reality and choose their path within it.