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What
is MONOTHEISM ?
The concept of monotheism (known as tawheed in Arabic) is
the single most important concept in Islam. Monotheism points
to the first of the Ten Commandments, and in Islam everything
is built upon the oneness of God. Islam calls humanity away
from the worship of any part of creation to the worship
of The One and Only True God. No act of worship or devotion has any meaning
or value if the concept of monotheism is in any way compromised.
Due
to its importance, the concept of monotheism (divine unity
and singularity) must be properly and fully understood.
For ease of discussion, monotheism can be looked at from
the following three perspectives:
a.
The Oneness of God
in His Lordship (Omnipotence)
b.
The Devotion of All Worship to The One God Alone
c.
The Uniqueness and Oneness
of God in His Names and Attributes
This
breakdown is by no means the only way to approach the subject
that God is one and
unique, but it allows the topic to be easily analyzed
and discussed. (Monotheism is the key to understanding Islam,
and revisiting this concept is recommended.)
THE ONENESS OF GOD IN HIS LORDSHIP (OMNIPOTENCE)
The
oneness of God in His Lordship means that God, The Originating Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, has absolute
and perfect mastery over the universe. He
alone is The Creator
of all things. He alone causes everything to happen.
He is The One
who provides all sustenance and who determines all life
and death. He is The
Powerful, The Omnipotent, absolutely perfect and free from any defect. No one
shares in His dominion. None can resist His decree. He is
The One who created each of us from a single cell and made us into
what we are. He is The
One who created over a hundred billion galaxies and
every electron, neutron, and quark contained within them,
keeping all that exists and all the laws of nature in perfect
measure. Not a leaf falls from a tree without His permission.
Everything is kept in a precise record.
He
is far greater than our imagination. He is so powerful that
for anything to be created He simply says “Be,”
and it is. He created time, space, and all the known and
unknown worlds, yet He is not part of any of them. Most
faiths recognize that The Creator of the universe is one, without partner. Islam includes
the knowledge that God is not a part of His creation and
none of His creation shares in His power.
In
Islam, to believe that any of God’s creation shares in His
power or attributes is considered polytheism and disbelief.
Examples of such false beliefs would be to consider that
fortune-tellers or astrologers can predict the future; God,
The All Aware,
says that only He possesses the knowledge of the future.
Only the Divine can give divine help. No being except God
has the ability to give divine help or divine guidance.
Belief that good luck charms and talismans have any power
is a form of polytheism. These concepts are renounced in
Islam.
THE
DEVOTION OF ALL WORSHIP TO THE ONE GOD ALONE
Only
God, The Appreciative,
is to be worshipped. This was proclaimed by all the Prophets
and Messengersp
of Islam who were sent by God throughout the ages, and is
the core belief of Islam. God tells us that the purpose
of the creation of humanity is to worship
Him alone. The purpose of Islam is to call people away
from the worship of creation and to direct them toward the
worship of The Creator
alone.
This
is where Islam differs from other religions. Although most
religions teach that there is a creator who created all
that exists, they are rarely free of some form of polytheism
(idolatry) with respect to worship. These religions either
call on their adherents to worship other beings besides
God (though usually placing these other gods on a lower
level than the God who is The
Creator), or they demand that their adherents call on
other beings as intercessors between themselves and God.
All
the Prophets and Messengers of God, from Adamp
to Muhammadp,
called people to
worship God alone, without partner or intermediary.
This is the purest, simplest, most natural faith. Islam
rejects the notion held by cultural anthropologists that
the early religion of human beings was polytheism — which
gradually evolved into monotheism. In fact, Muslims believe
just the opposite, human cultures descended into idolatry
during the intervals of time between the many Messengers
of God. Even while the Messengers were among them, many
people resisted their call and practiced idolatry despite
their warnings. Subsequent Messengers were commissioned
by God to bring people back to monotheism.
God created humans with an innate, natural inclination toward the worship
of Him alone. Satan, on the other hand, does his utmost to get
people to turn away from monotheism, enticing mankind to
the worship of creation (idolatry). Most people have a tendency
to focus their devotion on something they can visualize,
something imaginable, even though they have an instinctive
knowledge that The
Creator of the universe is far greater than their imaginations.
Throughout human history, God sent a succession of Prophets
and Messengers to call the people back to the worship of
The One and Only True
God. Due to the allure of Satan, people repeatedly deviated
to the worship of created beings (idolatry and polytheism).
God
created human beings to worship Him alone. In Islam, the
greatest possible sin is to worship anything or anyone other
than God, even if the worshipper intends to get nearer to
God by offering devotions to another being. God, The
Sufficient, does not need intercessors or intermediaries.
He hears all of our prayers and has complete knowledge of
everything that happens.
At
the same time, God does not need our worship, but He says
that it is pleasing to Him. He is completely independent
of all things. All creation is dependent upon Him. If every
person in the world were to come together to worship only
God, it would not benefit God in the least. It would not
add an atom’s weight to His majestic dominion. Conversely,
if all creation abandoned the worship of God, it would not
decrease His dominion in the least. By worshipping God,
we benefit our own souls and fulfill the noble purpose for
which we were created. God has no needs; He is The Eternal,
The Absolute.
Worship
is not just traditional religious ceremonies or practices.
The concept of worship is inclusive. Changing a diaper,
honoring and caring for one’s parents, as well as picking
up a piece of broken glass from the sidewalk — all can be
forms of worship if they are done with the primary intent
to please God. If any sort of gain, be it wealth, job, power,
or recognition, becomes more important than pleasing God,
even that is a form of polytheism.
THE UNIQUENESS
AND ONENESS OF GOD IN HIS NAMES AND ATTRIBUTES
The
uniqueness and oneness of God in His names and attributes
indicates that God does not share
in the attributes of created beings, nor do they share
in any of His. God is unique in every way. He cannot be
limited in any way, for He is The
Creator of everything. God, The
Most Great says, “God!
None is worthy of worship but He, The Ever Living, The One
who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber
nor sleep overtakes Him. To Him belongs whatever is in the
heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is he that can
intercede with Him except with His permission? He knows
what happens to them [His creatures] in this world, and
what will happen to them in the Hereafter. And they will
never encompass anything of His knowledge except that which
He wills. The pedestal of His throne extends over the heavens
and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving
them. And He is The Most High, The Supreme.” [Qur’an
2:255]
In
Islam it is forbidden to attribute to God characteristics
of His creation. The only attributes that may be ascribed
to God are the ones He revealed Himself in the Qur’an or
those used by the Prophetp
to describe Him. Many of God’s names and attributes seem
to have equivalents on the human level, but this is only
a reflection of human language. God’s attributes, like God
Himself, are unlike anything in our experience. For instance,
God has divine knowledge. Man has knowledge. God’s knowledge
however, is nothing at all like the knowledge of human beings.
God’s knowledge is unlimited (omniscient, The
All Knowing). It is neither learned nor acquired. God’s
knowledge encompasses all things without experiencing increase
or decrease. Human knowledge, on the other hand, is acquired
and limited. It is constantly changing, increasing and decreasing,
and subject to forgetfulness and error.
God,
The Irresistible,
has divine will. The human being also has a will. God’s
will always comes to pass. Like His divine knowledge, His
will encompasses all things that God wants to come to pass
in creation — past, present, and future. Human will, on
the other hand, is merely an intention, a desire. It can
only come to pass if God wills it to happen.
Human
attributes cannot be ascribed to God. All human attributes
are limited. God
has no gender, weakness, or deficiency. God is beyond
the human and creation attribute of gender. Here we have
used the pronoun “He” only because there is no gender-neutral
pronoun in English/Semitic languages, and it follows the
conventions of English usage. When the royal “We” is used
in the Qur’an to refer to God, it is for respect and in
no way implies plurality. To ascribe to God attributes of
created things is a form of polytheism. It is likewise a
form of polytheism to ascribe to created things attributes
that belong to God alone. For instance, anyone who believes
that any other than God is The
All-Wise or All
Powerful has committed the sin of polytheism.
“Blessed
be the name of your Lord, full of majesty, bounty, and honor.”
[Qur’an 55:78]
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