In the Name of God, the beneficent, the Merciful, as I said earlier, the question of monotheism or unity of God is a detailed, comprehensive discussion throughout the Quran. I mean, even the question of ‘prophethood’ with its lengthy narrations about different prophets and their missions does not rival the question of monotheism, the absolute existence of God and especially the rejection of polytheism. The holy Quran’s emphasis on monotheism, in its tone and the number of verses in this respect, is most profound or peerless. We could only talk about a few dimensions of monotheism, not all about it that has been expounded in the Quran.
In my opinion if we do accept that monotheism, apart from being an outlook or insight, is a reflection of reality which does affect our lives and forms our lives and, as I explained in previous meetings, if we do accept that monotheism involves certain commitments and responsibilities, then we must search and find those responsibilities contained in monotheism and list them one by one, sentence by sentence and chapter by chapter as extracted from the Quran, from the Narrations and from among the Islamic sources. And I ask our brothers and sisters who are familiar with the discussion to keep them on in their memories so we could ponder on them more deeply.
Thus if monotheism is a belief that brings about certain obligations, commitments and responsibilities for the believers, we must find out about the nature of these obligations. Is this belief just summed up in accepting the unity of God by our tongues and by our hearts? Could this belief be restricted to some personal practices such as performing daily prayers, citing God’s Name at the beginning or finishing some deeds and the like? Or that this belief in monotheism enjoins certain obligations beyond personal practices and involves certain more general and more fundamental problems in the society or community as a whole? Does it contain such fundamental, social questions as government, economy, international relations and the relation of individuals with one another? We do believe that the fundamental responsibilities put upon the shoulders of believers are also as important as (or more) important than personal practices and duties.
Before we enter into details and secondary questions let me say briefly that the shape and nature of a monotheistic society is completely different from those of non-monotheistic societies. If a certain law is executed in a monotheistic society and some similar laws are practiced in non-monotheistic society, the latter could also be called monotheistic. No, the shape, the nature and the arrangement of the social components of a society based on monotheism and the unity of God, do fundamentally differ from those of other societies; in one word, the so-called ‘social order’ is completely different .
In fact the social order, the social system and the social nature of a monotheistic society is not only different from, but in many aspects distinctly antithetical to non-monotheistic societies. If you do consider the present-day social systems and study the Quran and the sources of Narrations, you will surely comprehend the general aspects of monotheism.
But, in a less general investigation, we expound the question of monotheism as a resolution containing several clauses and I try to explain these clauses one by one. Exactly the same way two groups or two countries approve a binding resolution, all monotheists in the world are morally bound to execute the clauses of this resolution on behalf of their God. The very first clause of this monotheistic resolution is that: no men have the right to worship anything or be obedient to anything or anybody except the Almighty God, and of course the discussion of ‘worshipping none but God the One’ is much more extensive and detailed than we briefly expressed.
Now the Quran asks: “Did I not have a covenant with you, O Adam’s sons, not to be serving Satan…?” I have already explained that the meaning of the word Satan is not monopolized to Iblees, the one disobedient angel, or to some hidden, unseen and untouchable elements. No, Satan has a far more extensive meaning and has a more universal manifestation. In this sense the word means all those evil elements and devilish forces outside our individual bodies and souls. But when we talk about a man’s Self, especially about ‘nafs-al-ammara’, the self-commanding to evil or the spirit of lasciviousness, we mean those forces, incentives and desires that lead men to do evil things from within. Thus man is faced with two evil forces from within and from outside. Satan and satans in this sense, embrace all those elements and forces which lead you to viciousness, corruption and evil practices from outside, like wolves or highway robbers on your way; these are satanic forces outside your existence and outside your selves. We will talk about these two groups of evil forces in our future discussion of prophethood to make clear that our prophets chosen by God did have such enemies and we shall clearly express who those enemies were, to which group and classes they belonged and why they were enemies of the prophets.
Anyway, when it’s said ‘worship none but God the One’, it means not to be obedient to those evil forces, this is monotheism but not all of monotheism because there are so many stages and so many minute points about monotheism that cannot be expressed in our brief statements. There is a Narration from our Imams (AS), cited in many creditable sources and in ‘Kaafi’s Principles’ which is rather long, so I don’t quote the original Arabic but tell you briefly about it. The Imam says: ‘Obedience to a power not inspired by God and obedience to a centre not inspired by God is tantamount to polytheism or even polytheism itself, because if their followers be personally pious, virtuous people, this great ingratitude and misconception will deprive them of God’s bliss and mercy and will end them in perdition.’
This is a Narration, but what is the wisdom behind it? The wisdom behind this ‘hadeeth’ is that the worshipping and servitude to others but God is contradictory to what God has created the humanity for; it contradicts the elevation and perfection of humanity; it’s antithetical to human freedom and human salvation. If the freedom and independence that monotheism provides is not there, then humanity cannot grow to reach the elevation and perfection that God has ordained for all people. Without monotheism, men would be like some plants that because of many impediments could not grow properly and bring forth fruits. Obedience to others but God would be like those fruitless trees, the kind of trees that were expected to bear fruits. There are numerous verses about this throughout the Quran.
I selected some Quranic verses in this respect without doing a thorough research; now I try to translate these verses along with some explanations; this is the main purpose of this meeting. I do feel that we have been somehow isolated from comprehending monotheism properly due to certain deviations such as superstitions, empty, wrong beliefs and superficial suppositions and we have already noticed that such weak beliefs could not stand up to the strong waves of materialism rushing against us these days and, as a consequence, we may fall into the trap of irresponsibility concerning true monotheism.
For many decades, some Islamic scholars and philosophers have carried out lengthy but barren and useless discussions about monotheism but their philosophizing has had no effect on the establishment of a monotheistic society. How come their hundred-year old discussions on a single subject have left no impression on the actual life of Muslim societies! The reason for the uselessness of these discourses was that they were divorced from actual realities of Muslim lives; they were dry, abstract discourses that bore no fruits. We look at these philosophical discourses; we find out that they are, as the Arabic proverb goes, ‘just like a stone next to a human being’! But if they had tried to extract monotheism from the Quran, they would have realized that the Quran, through numerous verses, has defined and explained all dimensions and the whole structure of monotheism in full and when we study these Quranic verses carefully, we definitely come to know what a monotheistic life and a monotheist person are.
Now I try to only translate some of these verses on monotheism. The Quran says: “And the Day We will gather them all together, We shall declare to the idolaters ‘keep to your places, you and all your partners!’ And so We’ll have them stand in separate rows…”. As you notice this verse has a commanding, blaming tone saying that you idolaters and the partners you worshipped instead of God, must stay in separate groups to face justice. Obviously the partners are the animate ones the idolaters or polytheists served and worshipped because the inanimate partners, that is, the lifeless objects they worshipped such as Ozza and Hubal or idols and icons the Greeks worshipped could not stand in separate rows! The command is addressed to those people who behaved as gods on earth and made others serve and worship them; they are ordered to stop where they are in order to face judgment.
The very first reproach and the first objurgatory words heard on the judgment Day are ‘stop where you are and stand in a separate group’ because the worshippers and the worshipped are blaming each other for their idolatry and they are about to enter into fights! The Quran says that those rivals and partners you fabricated in place of God Almighty, Arab, Persian, Roman, Indian, Egyptian or Greek, are absolute weaklings and non-entities on the Day of Judgment; they’ll stand still at the very first address of reproach by God. The Quran then says that ‘they are separated from one another into distinct groups’. Before this the worshipped partners address their followers saying ‘you did not worship us in the world, you chose it yourselves.
Elsewhere in the Quran the same theme is dealt with “And still the oppressed hit back and say ‘Nay, it was your intrigues by night and day that made us deny belief in God…”. It’s a wonderful scene: those who followed want to pin the blame for their idolatry on their human idols and those idol-rivals of God try to exonerate themselves from those who followed them in the worldly life! The latter declare “…and then their idol-partners shall be saying ‘Behold, it was not us at all that you were serving, God is an All-sufficient Witness, between you and us, that we were utterly heedless of your worshipping.”. They are in fact claiming that your worshipping us was of no substance to us and that we didn’t even notice it.
Thus, according to the Quran: “It’s there and then that every soul shall see what it has sent ahead! All shall be sent unto God, their rightful Lord; and their invented Falsehoods shall leave them in the lurch!” in other words, all falsehoods they were attached to are gone with the wind, all incentives urging people not to serve God but other false gods are no more there and all those excuses and pretexts which idolaters thought could not help them on that Day vis-à-vis the High Court of God, they all vanish and will be of no use, and at this juncture the Quran declares: “…and their invented falsehoods will leave them in the lurch.” That is, they completely desert them.
Well, I think we must pay particular attention to how the Quran reasons in different verses; sometimes they are not straight-forward reasoning or arguments but they are told in a way that prepares the ground for mental reasoning by people themselves to worship God Almighty only. In the verses we quoted at the beginning of this meeting, the Quran asks: “Say who provides you from the skies and the earth, or who controls the hearing and the seeing…?” Yes, rain and snow come from the sky and plants, trees, animals are found on the earth and life would have been impossible without them. Seeing eyes and learning ears mean the power of hearing and seeing; who has granted them to you? Seeing means insight and the soul that sees and comprehends. Whose power encompasses these and other human talents? Who can deprive you of all these gifts? Now you enjoy all these potentials especially the power to think and understand and, in one word, you have wisdom, so please then use your wisdom and answer the question: who has brought them about?
And then we read: “…who brings forth the living from the dead and bring the dead forth from the living…”. There are several interpretations concerning this part of the Quranic verse and they could all be true ones: a pregnant woman dies but the baby is taken out alive; from a lifeless substance such as sperm, a living creature is born after a while; a barren dry land, though containing numerous materials necessary for life that seems to be dead, is revived by rain and even human beings are originally made and formed by life-giving materials found on the earth. All these prove the existence of the absolute power of God Almighty Who has created all and everything and granted them life.
And finally “…Who is ordaining Everything?” This means who is it that rules and regulates all affairs? Who gave that force of gravity to the planet earth so that people could live on it? In short, if we only look at millions of stars, the numerous galaxies, seen or unseen, and at the sun and the moon in our own solar system and only think ‘if they were located some kilometers nearer or farther, what would happen to life on earth’, then we surely realize that Hand of God at work in their order and movement.
What more could I say about God’s artful power and the indescribable order He has created? The world’s experimental scientists have written so many books, especially in the 20th century, about these divine phenomena that if, a humble lecturer as I, decide to talk about them, it will take months and years! And, in fact, I’m not too inclined to prove the existence of God through the constantly-changing discoveries and findings of scientists. The answer to the question ‘who is it that rules and regulates all affairs’, should be given by our own mental power and intellect, consciously and without any prejudice; this way you come across the true answer and find out the ultimate Truth.
The interesting point is that, not only in our century but even at the time when God’s revelations descended on the holy Prophet, the idolaters and polytheists were faced with the same question ‘who is it that rules and regulates all affairs, who is it that ordains Everything?’ and they, inevitably, had to answer ‘Allah’, the Almighty God! And here is when God tells His Prophet: “…Then ask them ‘why are you not god- fearing?!’’ What does this really mean? It means that if you do know about this powerful Creator, this God Who has brought about everything, why on earth do you set rivals and partners with him? When you confess that He has created everything, why do you think that he should not ordain laws and regulations for your proper livelihood and your earthy lives?
Previously I once explained the meaning of the first verse of the Sura Younus in Kiramat Mosque of Mash-had. The verse which says: “Most hallowed is He in whose Hand the kingdom lies, and He is ably in command of all there is! He who created Death and Life that He may put you to a test: which one of you shall be, in doing good, the best…”. Let’s pay attention to the first verse of this Sura ‘the Kingdom is in His Hand and He is in command of all affairs. This word ‘Mulk’ (kingdom) means ruling and governing and possessing all powers; how is this power? It’s the power of Creation, and bringing everything into being. Well, when He possesses this power, doesn’t He have the power to ordain laws and rules for the administration of human societies? Should He, who has created the order and the laws of nature in His vast cosmos, leave the establishing of laws, civil, judicial or administrative, in the hands of weak, imperfect human beings with limited knowledge and intelligence? Why should He not lay down laws and not appoint His own chosen person to execute them? Why should He not choose prophets and imams to carry out His laws while under His protection and support?
Here we quote a verse from Sura 10 again: “And such is Allah, your true Lord; so what is there after the Truth except going astray? Now whither are you turned away?!” Then God tells His prophet: “Ask them ‘could any of your idols guide unto the Truth…?” God Almighty says to His prophet ‘Our prophet will guide them, educate them and help them to realize the Truth’. Could any among your idols, among those whom you set up as partners to God and imagine them as rivals to God, give you guidance towards the Truth. These idols and partners mentioned here are certainly not those icons and idols made out of stone, wood or other material; it is obvious that such things may not guide humans! Surely what is meant here are the animate creatures that are worshipped, that is, persons who had some authority and power, whether leaders of worldly religions or others in positions of power such as Pharaohs.
The Quran asks ‘could any such idols lead you to Truth’? Perhaps the polytheists and the godless answer this question affirmatively! As this reply could be most ridiculous, the Quran goes further and says ‘inform them that it is only God Almighty, the Ever-Living, who could lead you, not these transient authorities you serve. The Truth about the worlds is also with God and those icons and idols, not obedient to God, inevitably lead you astray.
We certainly comprehend now that none but God could lead us to the straight paths and to the Truth. ‘Is the One who leads to the Truth worthier to be followed or people who are not able to guide, and themselves have to be guided’? Who are the latter group? These are the so-called rivals to God that you have set up; even if they were to guide people, it is necessary that they themselves should be guided beforehand! As I mentioned earlier, the latter group are not some cows worshipped in India, they are not those statues of stone and wood set up by the Quraish clan in Arabia; and they are not the icons in the idol-houses in Rome or Athens. No, the Quran is talking about those humans who have usurped the leadership of the people and falsely claim to be working for the happiness of the general public. The Quran says that it is God Who can help you to realize true happiness and lead you to find solutions and the ultimate Truth. The Quran advises us to think deeply about these false gods on earth and to reject those temporary animate gods in history whether in the cloaks of religious leaders or in the guise of temporal powers. And finally I should add that Islam once made a proposal to the people of the Book to negate and reject their obedience to all non-divine powers; this is the relevant verse: “O people of the Scripture, let us come to a common proclamation, as between us and you, that we worship none but Allah and that we never associate any partners with Him and that we raise no mortal from amongst us to be a goldy master…”. You may study it further for your own benefit and tomorrow, God willing, I will talk about this important subject a little more.
