Volume 3: The Name Al-Ahad (الأحد). Audio ebook

“Unique”: a word your child uses for his cuddly toy

At four, “unique” is said of a drawing he has made, of a soft toy he loves. The word is there, the meaning is not yet. This third volume does not explain it, it makes it visible.

﴿قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ﴾

“Say: He is Allah, the One.” Quran, surah الإخلاص (Al-Ikhlâs, Sincerity), 112:1. The surah your child probably already knows by heart: this book opens its first word for him.

The story

Abel knows the One we cannot see, and he knows His Name. What remains is the hardest and the most essential: understanding that Allah is الأحد (Al-Ahad, the One), without partner and without equal, the One whom nothing resembles. His parents do not give him a definition, they show him the world. Birds look like each other, so do leaves, faces, stars. Everything Abel looks at has its like. And the One who made all of it has none.

What your child takes away

• An idea of oneness he built himself, by looking, not a sentence learnt by heart.
• The reflex of comparing Allah to nothing: not to a picture, not to a person, not to anything he knows. “Nothing is like Him” becomes obvious rather than a rule.
• The first word of the surah he recites, understood at last.

The contemplative activity: go outside and look

The activity carries the story on through looking. You go out, look up, and search together for what comes in families: birds, leaves, faces, stars. The child reaches the conclusion by himself: everything he sees has its like, the One who made it all has none. It is an exercise he will do again without you, anywhere, and that is the point.

﴿لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ﴾

“There is nothing like Him.” Quran, surah الشورى (Ash-Shûrâ, Consultation), 42:11.

What this volume never does

It does not describe Allah, does not imagine Him, does not compare Him to anything. When a child asks “what does He look like?”, this book’s answer is the Quran’s: like nothing you know. That is the line of the whole collection, and this is where it matters most.

An audio ebook, read aloud page after page

The Name is pronounced with an “h” that comes from the throat, and the English narration gives it correctly from the first page: the child repeats it properly without you having to correct him. He listens alone or with you. Audio EPUB file for tablet, phone and computer, with Apple Books or an EPUB app that supports audio. The file is available as soon as payment goes through; three downloads, no time limit.

English edition; the same volume exists in French and Arabic

You are buying the English edition here, read in English. The French edition and the Arabic edition are separate books, each with its own narration, sold separately.

The third volume of “The Names of Allah explained to Abel”

Volume 1 asked the question: who is Allah? Volume 2 taught His Name. This one passes through بَابُ الْوَحْدَانِيَّة (Bâb al-Wahdâniyya, the Gate of Oneness). It stands on its own, but it makes full sense after the first two. All three together: the complete pack, about 14% less than the three volumes bought separately.

Details

Frequently asked questions

Do we need to have read Volumes 1 and 2? No, the story is complete in itself. But oneness is the most demanding of the three notions, and a child who has already met Abel in the first two volumes finds his way in more easily.

My child already recites surah Al-Ikhlâs, what is the point? Reciting is not understanding. This volume gives meaning to the first word of the surah, and the recitation changes when you know what you are saying.

Are there any images or depictions of Allah? None, ever, in this volume or the others. The book shows the created world, and only that.

On which device can it be read? Tablet, phone or computer, with Apple Books or an EPUB reading app that supports audio.

How does delivery work? There is none: the file downloads as soon as payment goes through, from the confirmation page and from the email you receive. Three downloads, no time limit.