Ultimate reality — Islam

What the specification asks for

Paper 1, Section 1, 1.5 (Islam). Assessed on AO1 (knowledge and understanding) and AO2 (analysis and evaluation), weighted equally. Incandio is aligned to this specification. It is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's indicative content — the point numbers are given so you can check every unit against your own copy.

1 · Understand it

Walk into a mosque and look for a picture of God. There is not one — and not one of anybody else either. No statues, no faces, no scenes. That absence is not decorative restraint or a rule about art; it is a single belief made visible in stone and plaster, and if you can explain why the building looks like that, you have understood this unit.

What it means

For Islam the ultimate reality is Allah, and the doctrine that defines him is tawhid — absolute oneness. It is worth being precise about how strong that claim is, because the usual paraphrase is too weak. Tawhid is not merely 'there is one God rather than several'. It excludes any sharing of divinity at all: no partner, no division into parts, and nothing that resembles him.

Because of that last clause, no image can represent him. Anything that could be mistaken for a likeness compromises the doctrine, so Islamic art turned to calligraphy and geometric pattern instead. The mihrab in a mosque indicates a direction; it does not depict anything. The building is an argument.

The opposite of tawhid is shirk — associating partners with God — and it is the gravest wrong in Islam precisely because it attacks the axis rather than a branch.

Two things are held together that sound contradictory. God is transcendent: utterly beyond creation, unlike anything in it. And God is immanent: described as closer to a person than their own jugular vein. Transcendence in Islam is not distance. The Ninety-Nine Names — the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Just, the Creator — describe him without limiting him, and the Fatihah rehearses those attributes in every unit of prayer.

Why believers hold it

Tawhid is not one doctrine among several; it is the axis the rest turns on, and the way to see that is to trace practices back to it. No images in the mosque, because nothing resembles him. No priesthood and no intermediary in prayer, because a mediator would stand between a worshipper and the one they are addressing. The shahadah as the first thing a Muslim says and ideally the last, because the whole religion compresses into that one claim.

It also explains a range of Islamic teaching that otherwise looks like an assortment of prohibitions. Idolatry, superstition, and even excessive deference to a ruler are all treated as versions of the same error — giving something created the standing that belongs to the creator alone. Once you see that, a list becomes a principle.

And it explains the shape of the Ninety-Nine Names. They describe God without defining him, because a definition would place him in a category alongside other things, which is exactly what oneness rules out. Naming without limiting is a careful solution to a real problem, not a poetic habit.

Where it comes from

• The Qur'an — the Opening — Qur'an 1 (Surah Al-Fatihah) (translated)

  Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

  The chapter recited in every unit of salah. It names God as Creator, as merciful and as judge, and asks for guidance.

  What it is doing here: The attributes said in every prayer — use it to show which qualities are load-bearing for Muslims in practice, rather than picking names off the list of ninety-nine at random.

• The Qur'an — Qur'an 2:30 (with 6:165) (translated)

  I will create a vicegerent on earth.

  Humans as khalifah — God's trustees on earth, accountable for how creation is treated. Paired with the concept of amanah, the trust.

  What it is doing here: Establishes God as the one who creates and assigns, which is the sovereignty that oneness is a claim about.

• The Qur'an — the first revelation — Qur'an 96:1–5 (Surah Al-Alaq) (translated)

  Read, in the name of your Lord who created.

  The first words revealed to the Prophet Muhammad on the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr), through the angel Jibril at the cave of Hira.

  What it is doing here: The first revelation begins in the name of the Lord who created — useful for showing that God is approached as creator first, which is where the argument against any partner starts.

Where it bites

It is visible in every mosque, and arguing from the architecture back to the theology is the strongest move available on this unit. No images of living beings, calligraphy and pattern instead, a mihrab that points rather than pictures. That is a belief doing work in the world, which is exactly what the six-mark grid asks you to show.

It shapes prayer itself. A Muslim addresses God directly, with no priest and no intermediary, because introducing one would compromise the oneness. And it shapes the shahadah — the declaration that there is no god but God — which is the sentence a Muslim begins with and hopes to end with.

What people get wrong

People think: The ultimate reality in Islam is heaven, or Jannah.

Actually: The ultimate reality is Allah. Jannah is created and is part of what he made. This exact confusion is named in an examiner report, so it is worth being deliberate about.

People think: Muslims worship Muhammad.

Actually: They do not, and this is a serious accuracy error as well as offensive to the tradition. Muhammad is a prophet and a human being; treating him as divine would be shirk, the gravest wrong in Islam.

People think: Muslims disagree about tawhid the way Christians disagree about the Trinity.

Actually: They do not. Tawhid is affirmed identically by Sunni, Shi'a and Sufi Muslims — this is one of the least divided points on the whole specification, and inventing a disagreement here will cost accuracy marks.

What the examiner expects you to understand

• Define tawhid at full strength: not merely one God, but no partner, no division and no likeness. The weak paraphrase is the commonest way to lose marks on this unit.
• Transcendence and immanence together is the top-band point — God is utterly beyond creation and closer than the jugular vein, and neither cancels the other.
• Argue from the mosque back to the doctrine. A belief you can show operating in a building is a developed point; a belief stated on its own is not.
• Do not answer this question with Jannah, and do not invent Muslim disagreement about oneness. Both are recorded errors rather than matters of emphasis.
• For the extended question the usual hinge is whether a God this far beyond us can be known at all — the Ninety-Nine Names and the jugular-vein description are your material for saying yes.

2 · Grade 9 Notes

Core belief / issue

For Islam the ultimate reality is Allah, and the defining doctrine is tawhid — absolute oneness, without partner, division or likeness. That is a stronger claim than 'there is one God': it excludes any sharing of divinity at all, which is why shirk is the gravest wrong and why mosques contain no images of living beings. The Ninety-Nine Names describe Allah without limiting him, and the Fatihah names the attributes a Muslim rehearses in every prayer.

Key terminology

Incandio's mark schemes credit the religion's own vocabulary; spelling variants are accepted, a vague paraphrase is not.

Tawhid (also tawheed)

The absolute oneness and uniqueness of Allah, without partner or division.

Shirk

Associating partners with Allah — the gravest wrong in Islam.

The Ninety-Nine Names

The names or attributes of Allah — the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Just, the Creator.

Transcendence

Allah is utterly beyond creation and unlike anything in it; nothing resembles him.

Immanence

Allah is also near — 'closer than the jugular vein' — so transcendence is not distance.

Al-Fatihah (also the Fatihah, Surah 1)

The opening chapter of the Qur'an, recited in every unit of prayer.

What Islam teaches

• shared — There is one God, Allah, with no partner, no offspring and no division. Tawhid is the foundation of everything else in Islam.
• shared — Allah is the Creator of everything, and nothing exists independently of him.
• shared — Allah is both transcendent — unlike anything created — and near. The Qur'an holds both without treating them as in tension.
• shared — Allah is described through his names and attributes: merciful, compassionate, just, all-knowing, all-powerful. Mercy is named first and most often.

Why it teaches this

Tawhid is not one doctrine among several; it is the axis. Because Allah is one and unlike anything, no image can represent him — which explains Islamic art, mosque decoration and the absence of statues. Because he is the sole creator, nothing else may be worshipped or feared in the same way, which is the root of Islamic teaching about idolatry, superstition and even excessive deference to rulers. Almost every distinctive Muslim practice can be traced back to it.

Sources of authority

• The Qur'an — the Opening — Qur'an 1 (Surah Al-Fatihah) (translated)

  Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

  The chapter recited in every unit of salah. It names God as Creator, as merciful and as judge, and asks for guidance.

  How to use it: Because it is said in every prayer, its content is what a Muslim rehearses several times a day — which is how belief and practice hold together in Islam.

  What it does not settle: Shared by all Muslims, so it distinguishes no tradition from another.

• The Qur'an — Qur'an 2:30 (with 6:165) (translated)

  I will create a vicegerent on earth.

  Humans as khalifah — God's trustees on earth, accountable for how creation is treated. Paired with the concept of amanah, the trust.

  How to use it: Trusteeship means the earth is not ours, so damaging it wrongs God and not only future generations — which reaches a conclusion secular environmentalism cannot.

  What it does not settle: Establishes responsibility, not any specific environmental policy.

• The Qur'an — the first revelation — Qur'an 96:1–5 (Surah Al-Alaq) (translated)

  Read, in the name of your Lord who created.

  The first words revealed to the Prophet Muhammad on the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr), through the angel Jibril at the cave of Hira.

  How to use it: It establishes the Qur'an as revealed rather than composed — which is why Muslims regard it as the direct word of Allah and not as a prophet's writing.

  What it does not settle: Explains the Qur'an's origin, not its interpretation. Sunni and Shi'a agree on this and differ on later authority.

Different interpretations

• Tawhid as unity of lordship, of worship and of names and attributes — the classical threefold analysis.
• The attributes affirmed without asking how: Allah is described as hearing and seeing, and the tradition affirms the descriptions while declining to ask what they are like.
• The Sufi emphasis on nearness: 'closer than the jugular vein' read as the ground of an interior life, without compromising transcendence.

Differences within Islam

Tawhid is affirmed identically by Sunni, Shi'a and Sufi Muslims. This is one of the least divided points on the whole specification, and a learner who invents disagreement about it will lose accuracy marks.

The traditions broadly agree here. Saying so is a stronger answer than inventing a division.

Application to the issue

It is visible in every mosque: no images of living beings, calligraphy and geometric pattern instead, the mihrab indicating direction rather than depicting anything. It shapes prayer, which is addressed to Allah directly with no intermediary and no priesthood. And it shapes the shahadah — the declaration that there is no god but Allah — which is the first thing a Muslim says and, ideally, the last.

Arguments supporting

• A single, personal creator explains the moral order better than an impersonal principle. — Commands need a commander; a law of cause and effect issues no obligations. (islam)
  Answered by: Buddhism generates a demanding ethic with no commander at all, which shows the inference is not necessary.
• Oneness is simpler and therefore more likely. — One ultimate reality explains everything a plurality would, without the additional entities. (islam)
  Answered by: Simplicity is a virtue in theories, and the universe is not obliged to be simple.

Arguments challenging

• There is no ultimate reality beyond the physical universe. — Physics describes what there is, and adding a ground explains nothing that needed explaining. (non-religious)
  Answered by: Describing the universe does not settle why there is one, which is where the argument from contingency starts.
• The question is not the useful one. — The Buddha treated speculative metaphysics as a distraction from the actual problem of suffering. (buddhism)
  Answered by: Setting a question aside is not answering it, and Mahayana traditions did develop extensive metaphysics.

Secular / non-religious perspective

There is no ultimate reality in the religious sense. The universe requires no ground and answers no prayers. Some non-religious people retain a sense of awe at the whole without treating it as a person — a position worth distinguishing from flat materialism, because it accepts the experience the religious point to while rejecting the explanation.

Examinable throughout Paper 1. Nothing here earns a mark on Paper 2.

Evaluation

The hinge: Two questions stacked: whether reality is one, and whether it is the kind of thing that can be addressed. A religion can answer yes to the first and no to the second, and Buddhism does.

Defensible conclusions

• 'One' is better supported than 'personal': the arguments from causation and contingency reach a ground, and reach a person only with a further step.
• Tawhid is the most uncompromising version of monotheism on this specification, and its strength is also its exposure — it cannot accommodate the Trinity or Brahman-through-forms as variants of itself.
• Buddhism's refusal shows the question can be set aside without losing the ethical content, which weakens the claim that an ultimate reality is necessary rather than optional.

Not defensible

• Manufacturing disagreement among Muslims about the oneness of Allah — tawhid is uncontested, and inventing a division here is the exact error the reports warn about.
• Describing ultimate reality as a place in the afterlife, which the 2025 report records costing marks.

Exam use

• Identify · 3 marks — Three beliefs about Allah, or three views about ultimate reality. Short phrases.
• Outline · 4 marks — Two beliefs about ultimate reality, developed. The 2025 mark scheme uses exactly this shape: 'Muslims believe Allah is the ultimate reality (1). Allah is responsible for everything (1).'
• Explain · 6 marks — Explain what Muslims believe about Allah: tawhid, creator, the attributes, transcendence with nearness — each with what follows for practice.
• Evaluate · 12 marks — 'There is only one God.' Islam agrees uncompromisingly, so the interesting work is in what tawhid excludes and why other traditions describe oneness differently.

Common mistakes

• Describing ultimate reality as heaven or Jannah — named in the 2025 report.
• Inventing disagreement among Muslims about tawhid.
• Saying Muslims worship Muhammad, which is a serious accuracy error and offensive to the tradition.

“The ultimate reality is heaven — the place believers go after they die.” — Ultimate reality is what is most fundamentally real — God, Brahman, Nirvana. Heaven is a destination within a religion's picture of the afterlife, not the ground of everything.

Write instead: Ultimate reality is what a religion holds to be finally real and the source of everything else: God for Christians, Muslims, Jews and Sikhs; Brahman for many Hindus; and for many Buddhists, no creator God at all. Some Buddhists do speak of Nirvana or Buddha-nature as an ultimate reality; others hold that the question is not useful. Both are creditable if attributed. (Named in the 2025 examiner report for Paper 1.)

“Some Muslims believe there is one God and some believe there are several.” — Tawhid — the absolute oneness of God — is the foundation of Islam, and shirk is its gravest offence. This is not a matter on which Muslims differ.

Write instead: Where a belief is shared, say it plainly. Where it genuinely divides traditions — the Imamate, the authority of hadith, whether pilgrimage is required — name the traditions and what each holds. The instinct behind this error is right: the grid rewards different viewpoints. The fix is to find the REAL disagreement in the topic, not to invent one.

Grade 9 insight

Tawhid is the reason the mosque looks the way it does, and using the building as evidence is the strongest move on this unit. No images of living beings, no statues, no depiction of Allah — not because decoration is disliked but because anything that could be mistaken for a likeness compromises the doctrine. A learner who argues from architecture back to theology has shown that the belief does work in the world, which is exactly what the 6-mark grid's AO2 bullets are asking for.

Carry on through Islam

• Previous unit: 1.4 · Free will, determinism and predestination
• Next unit: 1.6 · Belief, uncertainty and unbelief
• Ultimate reality in the other religions: Buddhism · Christianity · Hinduism · Judaism · Sikhism
• All of Islam · Incandio Religious Studies · The 4RS1 specification