Personal Versus Impersonal Nature of God

In Islam, the relationship that one has with God is personal, while His nature can be referred to as impersonal in some cases. I will discuss both.

In terms of physical attributes, God cannot be explained or comprehended by human beings. This is primarily because he transcends all human senses and limits and it is in fact not possible to grasp Him physically. It is also because God may possess physical attributes that we cannot explain because our imagination and our language is limited by the three dimensional world we live in.

At the same time, God has made manifest His attributes in terms of qualities that we can very well comprehend and understand. He is Omnipotent, Omniscient, All-Knowledgable, All-Wise, Most Merciful, Ever Merciful, and Just in addition to possessing many more attributes. Quran tells us that all good attributes belong to Him and that He is free of any and all weaknesses.

As a result, even though physically one may not be able to comprehend Him, it is actually His these qualities that create our relationship of a Creator and Creation with Him.

Building upon these qualities, He, being Merciful, has provided us with guidance to succeed in this world and secure for us a good place in the Hereafter. He being Mighty and Omnipotent can do anything anytime anywhere He wishes, and He shall bring a Day where everyone's deeds will be judged. He being Just shall then judge between everyone fairly. He being All-Knowing knows our deeds and they will be accounted for when we are judged. Looked at this way, one sees that God has a very strong relationship with a man, He becomes a part of one's life.

We are here in this world going through a test. In order for us to know how to succeed in this test, He, being Merciful, has sent His prophets time and again and provided us with guidance. If you look at Quran, the last revelation from Him, it is prefaced by a prayer to God from man asking Him to show us the right path. Quran is the answer from God to that prayer. When one studies Quran, one sees that it is perhaps the most important tool in one's relationship with Almighty and the reader is often directly talked to. It happens to be more of an address to us by God. The same is the case when a Muslim offers his daily prayers. He recites the preface to the Quran, asking God to show him the right path, followed by a few verses from the Quran as His answer to the prayer. Then one bows and prostrates before God in gratitude for providing guidance and as acceptance of His authority to success.

In one's personal life, God tells us that God indeed listens to one's prayers and is close to man as his jugular vein:

There are many more facets in one's life where they are connected with God and building a relationship with Him. This is just an introduction to the subject. One's relationship with God can be a very close one, or a very distant one, depending on how one wants to build this relationship. God has provided us with mechanisms on how to build a strong relationship and how to succeed in the test of this life, it is now left up to the individual to choose the way they want to.

Lastly, I would strongly recommend that you take a look at Quran and study it - it forms the basis of Islam and is perhaps the most important book to study to understand Islam.