The Best Knowledge: Oneness of Allah

The call of the Prophet to worship one God (Allah):

The era of ignorance was a time in which ignorance prevailed, the Arabs in the Arabian peninsula were scattered tribes, dispersed throughout the land, fighting and plundering each other. An era of injustice and falsehood, in the aforementioned area people worshipped idols (made out of wood, stone, even dates), a creation that can't create anything. Then came the Greatest Man, Muhammad, may Allah raise his rank, he called for believing and worshipping one God, the only True God, Allah.

In our blog today we will be covering the explanation of the attribute of Oneness of Allah, following our previous method of presenting the information, we will be giving the meaning of each of these attributes along with how do we prove it intellectually and through textual proofs.

The Oneness of Allah:

Let it be known when we say Allah is one, the meaning intended is that Allah doesn't have any partners in Godhood. The Oneness of Allah does not mean oneness in terms of numbers, because a being who is ‘one’ in the numerical sense would also have a half and parts. Also, the meaning of the Oneness of Allah is that He has no similar to Him. Hence, there is no being like His Being, and no one other than Him has an attribute like His Attributes, or a doing like His Doings.

Proofs of the Oneness of Allah:

1. The mental proof of Allah's Oneness:

   The proof for His Oneness is that it is intellectually necessary for the Creator to be Alive, Powerful, Knowledgeable, a Willer, and Chooser. Hence, because the Attributes of the Creator are affirmed to be as we have mentioned, we say that, if the universe had two creators, it would have been necessary for each of them to be [equally] alive, powerful, knowledgeable, willers, and choosers.

   If the two are choosers, then it is possible that they would differ in their preponderance of matters because neither of them is forced to comply with what the other willed, otherwise, both of them would be overpowered, and the one who is overpowered would not be God.

   Since the above is true, if one of them had willed for something that is opposite to what the other had willed — like, for one of them to have willed for a person to be alive, and for the other to have willed for him to be dead — then it must be that either both of their wills are fulfilled, or neither of their wills are fulfilled, or that the will of one is fulfilled and the will of the other is not. It is impossible for both wills to be fulfilled because they oppose each other. That is, if one of them had willed for a person to be alive and the other had willed for him to be dead, then it is impossible for that person to be alive and dead at the same time. If both of their wills are unfulfilled, then they are both powerless and the one who is powerless cannot be God. If the will of one of them was fulfilled and the will of the other was not, then surely the one whose will was unfulfilled is powerless, and the powerless being would not be God and would not be eternal.

   This evidence is known to those who believe in Divine Oneness. This is called دِلَالَةُ التَّمَانُع (dilalatu-t-tamanu^) [The proof of mutual opposition].

2. The textual proofs of Allah's Oneness:

   The proof from the Holy Qur'an:

   ﴿لَو كَانَ فِيهِمَا ءَالهَةٌ إِلا اللهُ لَفَسَدَتَا﴾ [Surat Al-Anbiya': 22]

   ﴿وَإِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ ۖ لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ الرَّحِيمُ﴾ [Surat Al-Baqarah: 163]

   The first verse means: “Had there been gods other than Allah for the Heavens and Earth, they would not have existed to be running in their established order”. The second verse means: "Your God (Allah) is One, there is no God other than Him, He is the Rahman and Rahim".

   The proof from the Hadith:

   It was mentioned that when the Prophet used to wake up in the night he would say:

   «لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا الله الْوَاحِدُ الْقَهَّارُ رَبُّ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا الْعَزِيزُ الْغَفَّارُ»

   The meaning of the first part of the saying is: "No one is God except Allah, the One who is attributed with Oneness".

Islam, the True Religion, calls to worship the One and only God Allah. Allah - the One who is dissimilar to His creations.

In our next blog we will be discussing the attribute of Non-Resemblance to the creations, an attribute ignored by the anthropomorphists (people who regard Allah similar to His creations). We will be mentioning the story of the sun worshipper vs. the anthropomorphist and how a Muslim would refute both.

Stay tuned...