قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ﴿١﴾ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ ﴿٢﴾ لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ﴿٣﴾ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ ﴿٤﴾
Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent."
Short answer
Allah is the Arabic name for God, the one Creator of everything. He is not a different god from the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews also use the word Allah for God.
The fuller answer
In Islam, God is One, eternal, all-knowing and all-powerful. He was not born and has not given birth, and nothing is like Him. He is also the Most Merciful: all but one of the 114 chapters of the Quran begin with the words 'In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'.
Muslims know God through His beautiful names, such as the Most Merciful, the Forgiving, the Just, the Wise and the Loving. The Quran says He is closer to a person than the vein in their neck, and that He answers the one who calls on Him. Muslims pray to Him directly, with no priest between a person and God.
From the Quran
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا ٱلْإِنسَٰنَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِۦ نَفْسُهُۥ ۖ وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ ٱلْوَرِيدِ ﴿١٦﴾
And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein
Please note
This answer follows the mainstream Sunni understanding and is general learning, not a fatwa. Where Muslims differ, the answer says so. Have a question of your own? Write to us.