Monotheism in Islam (Tawhid)

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Monotheism in Islam | The Islamic Tawhid

Monotheism is the belief that there is only one God and is characterized by omnipotent, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent. As such, it is distinguished from polytheism, the belief in the existence of many gods, from atheism, the belief that there is no god, and from agnosticism, the belief that the existence or nonexistence of a god or of gods is unknown or unknowable.

In this article, we’ll talk about the types of monotheism, where Islamic monotheism is positioned in these types. Moreover, how Islam is uniquely different from Judaism and Christianity as monotheistic religions.

Monotheism origins and types:

Monotheism comes from the combination of the Greek prefix monos-, “single,” and theo-, “god.” The English word was used for the first time by Henry More.

There are many words that come from the Greek base theo-: theology, polytheist, and atheism, to name a few. All of these theo- words have to do with god, gods, or the study of religion.

The first recorded monotheistic system arose in Egypt during the reign of Akhenaten.

Monotheism is any religion that believes in one god. Buddhism, for instance, isn’t an example of monotheism because Buddha is not considered a god who created the universe.

Monotheistic religion is a religion that proclaims people to submit to one all-mighty, all-power, and all-knowing God.

There are three types of monotheism: pluriform monotheism, inclusive monotheism, and exclusive monotheism. These types are similar in concept but different in prospective.

Pluriform monotheism:

Pluriform monotheism or panentheism is to believe that number of Gods are considered to be manifestations of one God. It is one of the efforts to solve the problem of the coexistence of divine unity and divine pluriformity (multiplicity of forms), which was not recognized by an older generation of scholars.

Pluriform simply believes that God exists in every single part of the universe, but he is greater than all the universe.

An example of pluriform monotheism is in the Aztec religion, in which Teotl is meant to be God as a single universal force with many facets.

Inclusive monotheism:

Inclusive monotheism accepts the existence of a great number of gods but holds that all gods are essentially one and the same so that it makes little or no difference under which name or according to which rite a god or goddess is invoked.

An example of this kind of monotheism is ancient Greek religion, which Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, etc., to their king Zeus.

We realize that these Gods have not lost their independence, but there is only one God who has the power of all of them.

Exclusive monotheism:

Exclusive monotheism: The God of monotheism is the one real god that is believed to exist or, in any case, that is acknowledged as such. God’s essence and character are believed to be unique and fundamentally different from all other beings that can be considered more or less comparable.

Monotheism in Islam:

Monotheism In Islam, God is Allah, because the word God may vary from one religion to another, but that is not the case in Islam, God is strictly singular (tawhid),

{Say, “He is Allah, [who is] One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent.”} Al-Ikhlās surah no.112 juz’ 30.

The concept of God in Islam is abstracted, as it cannot be incarnated, and that makes Islam monotheism unique and fundamentally different from all other religions.

Allah is not a being and is unquestionable about either his time or space. Besides, he is the creator of the whole universe; he is not submitted to any regulations that we as tiny weak beings are submitted.

Trinity in Christianity

is Christianity monotheistic?

Trinity, on the other hand, defines God as being one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial prosopon (divine persons): God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

This doctrine is called Trinitarianism and its adherents are called Trinitarians. The doctrine of the Trinity was first formulated among the early Christians and fathers of the Church as early Christians attempted to understand the relationship between Jesus and God in their scriptural documents and prior traditions.

Maybe the first question pops up in minds: Is trinity belongs to inclusive monotheism, not exclusive monotheism? The answer is no, because God the Father, God the Son, and God the holy spirit are not three separate Gods but three entities of all-might God.

Trinity vs Tawhid:

With reference to the above-mentioned surah of the Quran, there is a huge gap between the concept of God in Islam, and in Christianity, even though they are on the same type of monotheism.

Trinity in its context incarnates God unlike Islam, God is an abstracted concept, beyond our imaginations, beyond our thoughts, and out of reason.

So, worship is for God (Allah) only not for any prophet, and that is the essence of Islam. Moreover, Allah is one, who cannot be divided by any means. Trinity is three concepts God the Father represents Divine Entity, God the Son represents Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit represents Life.

We have two entities that we can feel with our senses the second and the third one which strongly contradicts Islam’s concept of God.

Watch Why I Rejected the Trinity and Accepted Tawhid

Final words about monotheism

Despite the efforts of philosophers, ecclesiastics, and religions to interpreted monotheism, no religion has interpreted monotheism in a more consequential and literal way than Islam.

There is no issue upon which this religion is so intransigent as the one of monotheism. The profession of faith, the first of what is called the Five Pillars of Iman (the basic requirements for the faithful Muslim), states loudly and clearly that “there is no God but Allah.”