In a way, the best way to understand Allah is to say that He is transcendent.  However, because transcendent means above and beyond human understanding, saying that Allah is transcendent is the same as saying that we cannot understand Him.  Saying Allah is transcendent supports the tradition of using 99 names to call on Allah, rather than using any one.  The Qur’an instructs Muslims to use “the most beautiful names” to call on Allah (7:180) and in the Hadith the Prophet Muhammad said that whoever memorised all 99 names of Allah would enter Paradise.  Further, saying that Allah is transcendent is consistent with saying that Allah is one.  Tawhid is one of the six articles of Sunni Muslim faith and one of the roots of Usul ad-Dinh for Shia Muslims and stems from Qur’an 112, which affirms that Muslims should say “He is Allah, the One and Only! Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.” So Tawhid affirms that there is none like God, which suggests that He is transcendent.  The fact that Allah communicates with humanity via angels and the fact that our deeds must be recorded by Angels so that Allah can judge our actions after the end of time supports the belief that Allah is transcendent in the sense of being eternal and outside time and space. 

Nevertheless, it would be wrong to only say that Allah is transcendent and ignore His other names.  The tradition of using 99 names is designed to avoid the trap of thinking that any one Human concept, even the concept of being transcendent and beyond understanding, can contain the Nature of Allah.  Further, many Muslims prefer to focus on Allah as creator – Al-Khaliq – or the Good – Al-Barr, because these names emphasise Allah’s connection with our world rather than his remoteness from it.  If we focus on Allah being transcendent and beyond understanding then we might be tempted to abandon attempts to understand or even worship Him.  Yet, while these arguments are persuasive, they only serve to emphasise the importance of using other names for Allah as well as transcendent and do not undermine the claim that transcendent is the best thing to say about Allah’s nature. 

In conclusion, saying that Allah is transcendent is the best way to speak of Allah, although importantly not the only way to speak of Allah.  Saying that Allah is transcendent is most important as it reminds us that no name can fully capture Allah’s nature, but using other names as well is also important so people don’t abandon the important business of trying to understand Allah, even though this is an impossible task.