The Utterly Pure and Holy (al-Quddūs)

Start with what we know

Start with something we know. Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us: it is the Name.

Episode 1

In us

The purest thing we make is silicon for computer chips: 99.9999999% pure, “nine nines”. Even that has a flaw in every sample. We approach purity; we never reach it.

Episode 2

In nature

No two snowflakes are alike, because each is shaped, and marked, by its own path through the cloud. Beautiful, and never flawless.

Episode 3

At our best

When the Planck telescope mapped the oldest light in the universe, the headline was “an almost perfect Universe” (ESA, 2013). Notice the word almost. Physics even says absolute zero, perfect stillness, can never quite be reached.

Episode 4

The Break

Take away every flaw, every comparison, even our best idea of what perfect means. Al-Quddūs is not the purest thing, but the One no flaw has ever touched, including our picture of Him. That is why Muslims refuse to picture God.

Read: Q 59:23; 62:1

From the tradition: al-Ghazālī: al-Quddūs transcends whatever the senses, imagination or even our ideas of perfection grasp. Muslim 487: in bowing, 'subbūḥun quddūs'. Isaiah 6:3 'Holy, holy, holy'

Watch and listen

Films, documentaries and voices that reach towards this Name. Each links out to where you can watch it.

FreeYouTube videoسورة الحشر حفص عن عاصم | الشيخ مشاري راشد العفاسي | Surah Al-Hashr English SUBSurah al-Hashr with English subtitles, ending on the verses that name God over and over.12:01 · Alafasy (Mishary Rashid Alafasy, official)

On screen

We can reach 'nine nines' of purity, never ten. Al-Quddūs is not the last nine; He is outside the scale.

Where it shows up

In scripture: Q 59:23; 62:1; 2:30. Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8
The same thread in Jewish and Christian scripture: Isaiah 6:3 'Holy, holy, holy! GOD of Hosts'; Revelation 4:8 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty'; shared root q-d-sh; Jerusalem is al-Quds (avoid geopolitics, §6)
In the universe: ESA Planck, 'Planck reveals an almost perfect Universe' (esa.int, 21 Mar 2013)
In nature: Frozen Planet II (BBC, 2022), iPlayer: snow and ice sequences
In people: Cleanroom technicians (ISO class 1) gowning up to keep one speck off a chip
In science: Chemistry: no substance is 100% pure; thermodynamics: absolute zero unreachable (third law)

Living it

Purify intention and speech; refuse to picture God

Its kind

Beyond: majesty: what He is not, and how far beyond.

In the Qur'an: 59:23; 62:1

Take off your shoes

Moses (peace be upon him) was a long way from home. He had fled Egypt and was tending sheep in the wilderness, near the mountain called Horeb in the Torah. One evening he saw a fire on the mountainside. In the Qur'an's telling, he said to his family: wait here, I can see a fire; perhaps I can bring you a burning brand from it, or find someone there who can guide us (Qur'an 20:10).

In the Torah the fire is in a bush that burns and is not burnt up. As Moses comes close, a voice calls his name. “Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). The Qur'an gives the same command: “Lo! I, even I, am thy Lord, So take off thy shoes, for lo! thou art in the holy valley of Tuwa.” (20:12, Pickthall).

What happens next is just as telling. The Torah says Moses hid his face, “for he was afraid to look upon God” (Exodus 3:6). Neither book describes anything to see. There is a fire, a voice, bare feet and a man who will not look up.

That is the oldest picture of holiness the three faiths share. It is not a shape or a face. It is ground made different by Whose presence it is, and a person who knows to take off whatever came in with him from the road.

What each faith says

Read:

Judaism

“Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.”
Isaiah 6:3 · JPS 1917

The prophet Isaiah saw angels calling to one another, “Holy, holy, holy.” Those words are at the heart of the Kedushah, “sanctification”, said standing in the synagogue service, with worshippers rising on their toes at each “holy”.

Holiness in Judaism is also something people are asked to live. “Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). That verse opens a chapter that also commands fair wages, honest weights, care for the deaf and blind, and love for the neighbour and the stranger.

Christianity

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”
Revelation 4:8 · WEB

The same threefold “holy” returns in the last book of the Christian Bible, sung around God's throne. In churches it became the Sanctus, sung at every Eucharist, and the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty” (Reginald Heber, 1826). Orthodox Christians sing the Trisagion: Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us.

The first request of the Lord's Prayer, taught by Jesus, is about holiness: “may your name be kept holy” (Matthew 6:9). For Christians, honouring God's holiness starts with how His name is spoken.

Islam

“All that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth glorifieth Allah, the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One, the Mighty, the Wise.”
Qur'an 62:1 · Pickthall (1930)

Al-Quddūs appears twice in the Qur'an, both times beside al-Malik, the King. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) used to say in his bowing and prostration: “Subbūḥun quddūs, Rabb al-malāʾikati wa-r-rūḥ”, “Glorified, Holy, Lord of the angels and the Spirit” (Muslim 487).

The great scholar al-Ghazālī (died 1111) said al-Quddūs is beyond anything the senses can perceive, the imagination can picture or the mind can grasp, even our own idea of perfection. This is one reason Muslims never picture God: any image would be smaller than He is. Washing before prayer and taking off shoes are small, daily ways of answering that holiness.

Same and different

Jews, Christians and Muslims all describe God as holy, all three keep the burning-bush story and its bare feet, and the threefold “holy” runs from Isaiah into Christian worship. They agree that holiness asks something of how we live, not only how we pray. They differ in how holiness meets the world. Christians believe the Holy One became flesh in Jesus Christ. Judaism and Islam hold that God never takes a body, and both refuse any image of Him.

A moment to reflect

Is there a place, a time or a thing that feels holy to you? What makes it different?
What do you take off, put down or wash before something that matters to you?
What would it mean to treat a person, not just a place, as holy ground?

Watch

A physicist who grows snow crystals in the lab explains why even the most perfect-looking one carries the marks of its making.

How snowflakes form, from the Met Office: a short, clear starting point for younger viewers.

ESA's map of the oldest light in the universe, the ‘almost perfect’ sky described in the ladder.

Do it together

schools / faith groups / neighboursShoes at the door

Arrange a visit to a local mosque, gurdwara or synagogue on an open day. Before you go, ask everyone to find out why shoes come off there, and afterwards compare what each host said with Exodus 3:5 and Qur'an 20:12.

families / schoolsThe clearest water

Pour tap water through a coffee filter, then through sand and charcoal, and hold each glass up to the light. However clear it looks, something is always left in it. Talk about why the faiths say purity like God's belongs to Him alone.

faith groups / schools / familiesKedushah and Sanctus

Listen to the Kedushah from a synagogue service, then the Sanctus from a choral Mass, such as William Byrd's Mass for Four Voices, then a recitation of Qur'an 62:1. Notice what each tradition's music does with the word 'holy', and where people stand, bow or fall silent.

Go deeper

Isaiah 6 (JPS 1917) on Sefaria · scripture
Qur'an 20:9-14 with translations · scripture
Revelation 4 (WEB) on Bible Gateway · scripture
ESA: Planck reveals an almost perfect Universe · article

Sources (5)

Burning bush; 'put off thy shoes': Exodus 3:1-6, JPS 1917
'Take off your sandals; you are in the sacred valley, Ṭuwā': Qur'an 20:12
'Subbūḥun quddūs' said in bowing and prostration: Sahih Muslim 487
Leviticus 19:2 opens a chapter of social laws: Leviticus 19, JPS 1917
'May your name be kept holy': Matthew 6:9, WEB

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