GOD HAS NO PARTNER Unqualified Monotheism is the characteristic feature of Islam. Islam calls for an unshakable belief in the existence of God. Then, one must know the attributes of God. It is the knowledge of the attributes of Godwhich enables man to cultivate the noblest of human qualities and to fashion his life in virtueand godliness. If a man does not know that there is One and only One God who is the Creator,the Ruler and the Sustainer of the Universe and there is none else to share with Him even ashred of Divine power and authority, he may fall prey to false gods, and offer his homage tothem in search of favours.But if he knows the divine attribute of tawhid (Oneness of God, the Monetheism), there is no possibility ofthis. Similarly, if a man knows that God is Omnipresent and Omniscient and sees, hears andknows everything that we do in public or private - including our unexpressed thoughts! –thenhow can he afford to be disobedient to God? He will feel that he is under eternal vigil and will,therefore, behave accordingly. But he who is not aware of these attributes of God may beled, because of his ignorance, into disobedience. It is the same with all the other attributes ofGod.

The fact is that the qualities and attributes which a man must possess, if he wants to pursue the way of Islam, can be cultivated and developed only out of profound knowledge of theattributes of God. It is the knowledge of God’s attributes which purifies a man’s mind andsoul, his beliefs, morals and actions. And a mere cursory acquaintance with or just anacademic knowledge of these attributes is not sufficient - there must be an unflinching convictionfirmly rooted in the mind and heart of man so that he may remain immune from insidious doubtsand perversions.Moreover, one must know in detail the way of living by following which one can seek thepleasure of God. Unless a man knows the likes and dislikes of God, how can he choose theone and reject the other? If a man has no knowledge of the Divine Law, how can he follow it?Thus knowledge of the Divine Law and the Revealed Code of Life is essential.But here, again, mere knowledge is not enough. Man must have full confidence and convictionthat it is the Divine Law and that his salvation lies in following this code alone. For knowledgewithout this conviction will fail to spur man to the Right Path and he may be lost in the blind alleyof disobedience.

Finally, man must also know the consequences both of belief and obedience and of disbelief anddisobedience. He must know what blessings will be showered upon him if he chooses God’sway and leads a life of purity, virtue and obedience. And he must also know whatconsequences follow if he adopts the way of disobedience and revolt. Thus, knowledge oflife after death is absolutely essential for this purpose. Man must have an unwavering belief inthe fact that death does not mean the end of life; that there will be resurrection and he will bebrought to the highest court of justice, to be presided over by God Himself; that on the Day ofJudgement complete justice will prevail; and that good deeds will be rewarded and misdeedspunished. Everybody will get his due; there will be no escape. This is bound to happen. Asense of accountability is essential for fully-fledged obedience to the Law of God.

A man who has no knowledge of the world to come may consider obedience anddisobedience quite immaterial. He may think that the obedient and the disobedient will bothmeet a similar end: after death, both will be reduced to mere dust. With this attitude of mind,how can he be expected to submit to all the inconveniences and troubles that are inextricablyassociated with the life of active obedience, and avoid committing those sins which do notapparently bring him any moral or material loss in this world? With this mental attitude a mancannot acknowledge and submit to God’s Law.Nor can a man, who lacks firm belief in the life hereafter and in the Divine Court of Judgement,remain steadfast in the turbulent waters of life with its temptation to sin, crime and evil; for doubtand hesitancy rob a man of his will to action. You can remain consistent in your behaviour onlyif you are firm in your beliefs. You can whole - heartedly follow a course only if you are sure ofthe benefits that will accrue to you by following it and of the losses that will engulf you if youdisobey it. Thus, a profound knowledge of the consequences of belief and disbelief and of thelife after death is crucial.These are the essential facts which one must know if one wants to live the life of obedience, thatis, Islam.

The faith in the unity of God is expressed in the primaryKalimah of Islam as “There is no deity but Allah” (La- ilahaillallah). This beautiful phrase is thebedrock of Islam, its foundation and its essence. It is the expression of this belief whichdifferentiates a true Muslim from a kafir (unbeliever), mushrik (one who associates others withGod in His Divinity) or dahriyah (an atheist).The acceptance or denial of this phrase produces a world of difference, between man and man.The believers in it become one single community and those who do not believe in it form anopposing group. For the believers there is unhampered progress and success in this world andin the hereafter, while failure and ignominy are the ultimate lot of those who refuse to believe init.But the difference between the believers and the unbelievers does not result from the merechanting of a few words. Obviously, the mere utterance of a phrase or two is not in itselfimportant. The real difference lies in the conscious acceptance of this doctrine and completeadherence to it in practical life. Mere repetition of the word ‘food’ cannot dull hunger; merechanting of a medical prescription cannot heal the disease.In the same way, if the Kalimah is repeated without an understanding, it cannot work therevolution which it is meant to bring about. This can occur only if a person grasps the fullmeaning of the doctrine and accepts and follows it in letter and spirit. We avoid fire because weknow that it burns; we keep away from poison because we know that it can kill. Similarly, if thereal meanings of Tawhid are fully grasped, we avoid, in belief as well as in action, every form ofdisbelief, atheism and polytheism. This is the natural consequence of belief in the Unity of God.

The Meaning of the Kalimah

In Arabic the word ilah means ‘one who is worshipped’, that is, a being which on account of itsgreatness and power is considered worthy to be worshipped: to be bowed to in humility andsubmission. Anything or any being possessing power too great to be comprehended by man isalso called ilah. The concept ilah also includes the possession of infinite powers and conveysthe sense that others are dependent on ilah and that he is not dependent on anyone else. Theword ilah carries, too, a sense of concealment and mystery. The word Khuda in Persian, Devain Hindi and God in English have similar connotations. Other languages also contain words witha similar meaning.The word Allah, on the other hand, is the essential personal name of God. La ilahaillallahliterally means “There is no ilah other than the One Great Being known by the name Allah.” Itmeans that in the whole of the universe, there is absolutely no being worthy to be worshippedother than Allah, that it is only to Him that heads should bow in submission and adoration, thatHe is the only Being possessing all powers, that we are all in need of His favour, and that we areall obliged to seek His help. He is concealed from our senses, and our intellect cannot perceivewhat He is.

From the earliest known history of man as well as from the oldest relics of antiquity thatwe have been able to obtain, it appears that in every age man recognised some deity ordeities and worshipped them. Even today every nation, from the most primitive to the mostadvanced, believes in and worships some deity. Having a deity and worshipping him isingrained in human nature. There is something within man’s soul which forces him to do so.But the question is: what is that thing and why does man feel impelled to do so? The answer tothis question can be discovered if we look at the position of man in this huge universe.

Neither man nor his nature is omnipotent. He is neither self-sufficient nor self-existing; norare his powers limitless. In fact, he is weak, frail, needy and destitute.He is dependent on a multitude of forces to maintain his existence, but all of them are notessentially and totally within his powers. Sometimes they come into his possession in a simpleand natural way, and at times he finds himself deprived of them. There are many important andvaluable things which he endeavours to get, but sometimes he succeeds in getting them, whilesometimes he does not, for it is not completely in his own power to obtain them. There aremany things injurious to him; accidents destroy his life’s work in a single moment; chance bringshis hopes to a sudden end; illness, worries and calamities are always threatening him andmarring his way to happiness. He attempts to get rid of them, and meets with both success andfailure.There are many things whose greatness and grandeur overawe him: mountains and rivers,gigantic animals and ferocious beasts. He experiences earthquakes, storms and other naturaldisasters. He observes clouds over his head and sees them becoming thick and dark, withpeals of, thunder, flashes of lightning and heavy rain. He sees the sun, the moon and the stars intheir constant motions. He reflects how great, powerful and grand these bodies are, and, in contrast to them, how frail and insignificant he himself is!

These vast phenomena, on the one hand, and the consciousness of his own frailty, on the other,impress him with a deep sense of his own weakness, humbleness and helplessness. And it isquite natural that a primitive idea of divinity should coincide with this sense. He thinks of thehands which are wielding these great forces. The sense of their greatness makes him bow inhumility. The sense of their powerfulness makes him seek their help. He tries to please them sothat they may be beneficent to him, and he fears them and tries to escape their wrath so that hemay not be destroyed by them.

In the most primitive stage of ignorance, man thinks that the great objects injurious or beneficentto him, hold in themselves the real power and of nature whose grandeur and glory are visible,and which appear to be authority, and, therefore, are divine. Thus he worships trees, animals,rivers, mountains, fire, rain, air, heavenly bodies and numerous other objects. This is the worstform of ignorance.When his ignorance dissipates to some extent and some glimmers of light and knowledge appear on his intellectual horizon, he comes to know that these great and powerful objects arein themselves as helpless and dependent, or rather, they are still more dependent and helpless.The biggest and the strongest animal dies like a tiny germ, and loses all his power; great riversrise and fall and become dry; the highest mountains are blasted and shattered by man himself;the productiveness of the earth is not under the earth’s control - water makes it prosperous andlack of water makes it barren. Even water is not independent. It depends on air which bringsthe clouds. Air, too, is powerless and its usefulness depends on other causes. The moon, thesun, and the stars are also bound by a powerful law outside whose dictates they cannot makethe slightest movement.

After these considerations man’s mind turns to the possibility of some great mysteriouspower of divine nature which controls the objects he sees and which may be the repository ofall authority. These reflections give rise to belief in mysterious powers behind naturalphenomena, with innumerable gods governing various parts and aspects of nature such as air,light and water. Material forms or symbols are constructed to represent them and man beginsto worship these forms and symbols. This, too, is a form of ignorance, and reality remainshidden to the human eye even at this stage of man’s intellectual and cultural pilgrimage.As man progresses still further in knowledge and learning, and as he reflects more and moredeeply on the fundamental problems of existence, he finds an all-powerful law and all-encompassingcontrol in the universe. What a complete regularity is observed in sunrise andsunset, in winds and rains, in the motions of stars and the changes of seasons! With what awonderful harmony countless different forces are working jointly. And what a highly effectiveand supremely wise law it is according to which all the various causes in the universe are madeto work together at an appointed time to produce an appointed event! Observing thisuniformity, regularity and complete obedience to one great law in all fields of Nature, even apolytheist finds himself obliged to believe that there must be a deity greater than all the others,exercising supreme authority. For, if there were separate, independent deities, the whole machinery of the universe would be upset.He calls this greatest deity by different names, such as Allah, Permeshwar, God, Khuda-i-Khuda’igan. But as the darkness of ignorance still persists.he continues worshipping minordeities along with the Supreme One. He imagines that the Divine Kingdom of God may not bedifferent from earthly kingdoms. Just as a ruler has many ministers, trusted associates,governors, and other responsible officers, so the minor deities are like so many responsibleofficers under the Great God Who cannot be approached without winning the favour of theofficers under Him. So they must also be worshipped and appealed to for help, and should inno case be offended. They are taken as agents through whom an approach can be made to theGreat God.The more a man increases his knowledge, the greater becomes his dissatisfaction with themultiplicity of deities. So the number of minor deities begins to decrease. More enlightenedmen bring each one of them under the searchlight of scrutiny and ultimately find that none ofthese man-made deities has any divine character; they themselves are creatures like man, thoughrather more helpless. They are thus eliminated one by one until only one God remains.But the concept of one God still contains some remnants of the elements of ignorance. Somepeople imagine that He has a body as men have, and is in a particular place. Some believethat God came down to earth in human form; others think that God, after settling the affairs ofthe universe, retired and is now resting. Some believe that it is necessary to approach Godthrough the media of saints and spirits, and that nothing can be achieved without theirintercession. Some imagine God to have a certain form or image, and they believe it necessaryto keep that image before them for the purposes of worship.Such distorted notions of godhead have persisted and lingered, and many of them are prevalentamong different people even today.

Tawhid (Monotheism) is the highest conception of godhead, the knowledge of which God has sent mankind inall ages through His Prophets. It was this knowledge with which, in the beginning, Adam wassent down to earth; it was the same. knowledge that was revealed to Noah, Abraham, Mosesand Jesus (God’s blessings be upon them all). It was this knowledge which Muhammad(blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) brought to mankind. It is Knowledge, pure andabsolute, without the least shade of ignorance. Man became guilty of shirk, idol-worship andkufr only because he turned away from the teachings of the Prophets and depended on his ownfaulty reasoning, false perceptions or biased interpretations. Tawhid dispels all the clouds ofignorance and illuminates the horizon with the light of reality.

Let us see what significant realities the concept of Tawhid - this little phrase: La ilahaillallahembraces: what truth it conveys and what beliefs it fosters.

First, we are faced with the question of the universe. We are face to face with a grand, limitlessuniverse. Man’s mind cannot discern its beginning or visualise its end. It has been moving alongits chartered course from time immemorial and is continuing its journey in the vast vista of thefuture. Creatures beyond number have appeared in it - and go on appearing every day. It is sobewildering that a thinking mind finds itself wonderstruck. Man is unable to understand andgrasp its reality by his unaided vision. He cannot believe that all this has appeared just bychance or accident. The universe is not a fortuitous mass of matter. It is not a jumble ofunco-ordinated objects. It is not a conglomeration of chaotic and meaningless things. All thiscannot be without a Creator, a Designer, a Controller, a Governor.But who can create and control this majestic universe? Only He can do so Who is Master of all;Who is Infinite and Eternal; Who is All-Powerful, All-Wise, Omnipotent and Omniscient; Whois All-Knowing and All-Seeing. He must have supreme authority over all that exists in theuniverse. He must possess limitless powers, must be Lord of the universe and all that itcontains, must be free from every flaw and weakness and none may have the power to interferewith His work. Only such a Being can be the Creator, the Controller and the Governor ofthe universe.

Second, it is essential that all these divine attributes and powers must be vested in One Being:it is impossible for two or more personalities having equal powers and attributes to co-exist.They are bound to collide. Therefore, there must be one and only one Supreme Being havingcontrol over all others. You cannot think of two governors for the same province or twosupreme commanders of the army! Similarly, the distribution of these powers among differentdeities, so that, for instance, one of them is all knowledge, the other all-providence and stillanother life-giver - and each having an independent domain - is also unthinkable. Theuniverse is an indivisible whole and each one of such deities will be dependent upon others in theexecution of his task. Lack of co-ordination is bound to occur. And if this happened, the worldwould fall to pieces. These attributes are also untransferable. It is not possible that a certainattribute might be present in a certain deity at one time and at another time be found inanother deity. A divine being who is incapable of remaining alive himself cannot give life toothers. The one who cannot protect his own divine power cannot be suited to govern the vastlimitless universe.The more you reflect on the problem, the firmer must your conviction be that all these divinepowers and attributes must exist in one and the same Being alone. Thus, polytheism is a form ofignorance that cannot stand rational scrutiny. It is a practical impossibility. The facts of lifeand nature do not fit in with it. They automatically bring men to Reality, that is Tawhid, theUnity of God.

Now, keeping in mind this concept of God, look closely at this vast universe. Exert yourself tothe utmost and say if you find among all the objects that you see, among all the things that youperceive, among all that you can think, feel or imagine - all that your knowledge cancomprehend - anyone possessing these attributes. The sun, the moon, the stars, animals, birdsor fishes, matter, money, any man or a group of men - does any of them possess theseattributes? Most certainly not! For everything in the universe is created, controlled andregulated, is dependent on others, is mortal and transitory; its slightest movements arecontrolled by an inexorable law from which there can be no deviation. Their helpless conditionproves that the attire of divinity cannot fit their body. They do not possess the slightest trace ofdivinity and have absolutely nothing to do with it. It is a travesty of truth and a folly of the highestmagnitude to attribute divine status to them.

This is the meaning of La- ilaha, (i.e. there is no god) no human and material object possessesthe divine power and authority deserving worship and obedience.But this is not the end of our quest. We have found that divinity is not vested in anymaterial or human element of the universe, and that none of them possesses even the slightesttrace of it. This leads us to the conclusion that there is a Supreme Being, over and above all thatour eyes see in the universe, Who possesses Divine attributes, Who is the Will behind allphenomena, the Creator of this grand universe, the Controller of its superb Law, the Governorof its serene rhythm, the Administrator of all its workings: He is Allah, the Lord of the Universeand no one and nothing is associated in His Divinity. This is what illallah (but Allah) means.This knowledge is superior to all other kinds of knowledge and the greater you exert yourself,the deeper will be your conviction that this is the starting-point of all knowledge.In every fieldof inquiry - be it that of physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, biology, zoology, economics,politics, sociology or the humanities, you will find that the deeper you probe, the clearer becomethe indications of the truth of La- ilahaillallah. It is this concept which opens up the doors of inquiry and investigation and illumines the pathways of knowledge with the light of reality. And ifyou deny or disregard this reality, you will find that at every step you meet disillusionment, forthe denial of this primary truth robs everything in the universe of its meaning and significance.

Effects of Tawhid on Human Life

Now let us study the effects which the belief in La ilahaillallah has on the life of a man and seewhy he should always make a success of life and why one who denies it becomes a failure inlife, both here and in the hereafter.

1.    A believer in this Kalimah can never be narrow in outlook. He believes in a God Who is theCreator of the heavens and the earth, the Master of the East and the West and Sustainer of theentire universe. After this belief he does not regard anything in the world as a stranger tohimself. He looks on everything in the universe as belonging to the same Lord he himselfbelongs to. His sympathy, love and service are not confined to any particular sphere orgroup. His vision is enlarged, his intellectual horizon widens, and his outlook becomes as liberaland as boundless as is the Kingdom of God. How can this width of vision and breadth of mindbe achieved by an atheist, a polytheist or one who believes in a deity supposed to possesslimited and defective powers like a man?

2.    This belief produces in man the highest degree of self-respect and self-esteem. The believerknows that Allah alone is the Possessor of all power, and that none besides Him can benefitorharm a person, or provide for his needs, or give and take away life or wield authority orinfluence. This conviction makes him indifferent to, and independent and fearless of, all powersother than those of God. He never bows his head in homage to any of God’s creatures, nordoes he stretch out his hand before anyone else. He is not overawed by anybody’s greatness.This attitude of mind cannot be produced by any other belief. For it is necessary that thosewho associate other beings with God, or who deny God, should bow in homage to somecreatures, regard them able to benefit or harm them, fear them and place their hopes in them.

3.    Along with self-respect this belief also generates in man a sense of modesty and humbleness.It makes him unostentatious and unpretending. A believer never becomes proud, haughty orarrogant. The boisterous pride of power, wealth and worth can have no room in his heart,because he knows that whatever he possesses has been given to him by God, and that God cantake away just as He can give. In contrast to this, an unbeliever, when he achieves someworldly merit, becomes proud and conceited because he believes that his merit is due to hisown worth. In the same way pride and self-conceit are a necessary outcome andconcomitant of shirk (association of others with God in His divinity), because a mushrik believesthat he has a particular relation with the deities which does not exist between them and otherpeople.

4.    This belief makes man virtuous and upright. He has the conviction that there is no othermeans of success and salvation for him except purity of soul and righteousness ofbehaviour. He has perfect faith in God Who is above all need, is related to none and isabsolutely just. This belief creates in him the consciousness that, unless he lives rightly and actsjustly, he cannot succeed. No influence or underhand activity can save him from ruin. Asagainst this, the kafirs and the mushriks always live on false hopes. Some of them believe thatGod’s son has atoned for their sins; some think that they are God’s favourites, and will not bepunished; others believe that their saints will intercede with God on their behalf, while othersmake offerings to their deities and believe that by so bribing the deities they acquire a license todo whatever they like. Such false beliefs keep them enmeshed in sin and evil deeds; dependingon their deities, they do not bother about their souls and living pure and good lives. As toatheists, they do not believe that there is any Being having power over them, to Whomthey should be responsible for their good or bad actions; therefore they consider themselvesindependent to act in whatever way they like. Their own fancies become their gods and theylive like slaves of their wishes and desires.

5.    The believer never becomes despondent. He has a firm faith in God Who is Master of allthe treasures of the earth and the heavens, Whose grace and bounty have no limit and Whosepowers are infinite. This faith imparts to his heart extraordinary consolation, fills it withsatisfaction and keeps it filled with hope. Although he may meet with rejection from all sides inthis world, faith in and dependence on God never leave him, and on their strength he goes onstruggling. Such profound confidence can result from no other belief than belief in one God.Mushriks, kafirs and atheists have small hearts; they depend on limited powers; therefore intimes of trouble they are soon overwhelmed by despair and, frequently, they commit suicide.

6.    This belief produces in man a very strong degree of determination, patient perseveranceand trust in God. When he makes up his mind and devotes his resources to fulfiling the DivineCommands in order to secure God’s pleasure, he is sure that he has the support andbacking of the Lord of the universe. This certainty makes him firm and strong like a mountain,nand no amount of difficulties, impediments and opposition can make him give up his resolution.Shirk,kufr and atheism have no such effect.

7.    This declaration inspires bravery in man. There are two things which make a man cowardly:(i) fear of death and love of safety, and (ii) the idea that there is someone else besides God who can take away life and that man, by adopting certain devices, can ward off death. Beliefin La ilahaillallah purges the mind of both these ideas. The first idea goes out of his mindbecause he knows that his life and his property and everything else really belong to God, and hebecomes ready to sacrifice his all for His pleasure. He gets rid of the second idea because heknows that no weapon, no man or animal has the power of taking away his life; God alone has the power to do so. A time has been ordained for him, and all the forces of the worldcombined cannot take away anyone’s life before that time. It is for this reason that no one isbraver than the one who has faith in God. Nothing can daunt him: not even the strongesttempest of adversity and the mightiest of armies. Where can the mushriks, the kafirs and theatheists get such great determination, force and power from? They hold life the dearest thing inthe world; they believe that death is brought about by the enemy and can be warded off byrunning away from him!

8.    The belief in La ilahaillallah creates an attitude of peace and contentment, purges the mind ofjealousy, envy and greed and keeps away the temptations of resorting to base and unfair meansfor achieving success. The believer understands that wealth is in God’s hands, and Heapportions it out as He likes; that honour, power, reputation and authority - everything – issubjected to His will, and He bestows them as He will; and that man’s duty is only to endeavourand to struggle fairly. He knows that success and failure depend on God’s grace; if He wills togive, no power in the world can prevent Him from so doing; and if He does not will it, no powercan force Him to. On the other hand, the mushriks, the kafirs and the atheists consider successand failure as dependent on their own efforts and the help or opposition of earthly powers.Therefore, they always remain slaves to cupidity and envy. They never hesitate to turn tobribery, flattery. conspiracy and other kinds of base and unfair means to achieve theirends. Jealousy and envy of others’ success eat them away, and they will stop at nothing tobring about the downfall of a successful rival.

9.    The most important effect of La ilahaillallah is that it makes man obey and obsesrve God’s Law. One who has belief in it is sure that God knows everything hidden or open and is nearerto him than his own jugular vein. If he commits a sin in a secluded corner and in the darkness ofthe night, He knows it; He even knows our thoughts and intentions, bad or good. We canhide from everyone, but we cannot hide anything from God; we can evade everyone, but it isimpossible to evade God’s grip. The firmer a man’s belief is in this respect, the more observantwill he be of God’s commands; he will shun what God has forbidden and he will carry out Hisbehest even in solitude and in darkness, because he knows that God’s ‘police’ never leaves himalone, and he dreads the Court whose warrant he can never avoid. It is for this reason that thefirst and the most important conditions for being a Muslim is to have faith in La ilahaillallah.‘Muslim’, as you have already been told, means one ‘obedient to God’ and obedience to Godis impossible unless one firmly believes in la ilahaillallah.In the teachings of Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) faith in One God isthe most important and fundamental principle. It is the bedrock of Islam and the mainspring ofits power. All other beliefs, commands and laws of Islam stand firm on this foundation. All ofthem receive strength from this source. Take it away, and there is nothing left of Islam.

[Abridged and edited from ‘Towards Understanding Islam’ by Syed AbulAlaMaududi]