"O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians): Come to a word that is common between us and you, that we worship none but Allâh (god), and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides Allâh..." (3:64)
قال شيخ الإسلام إبن تيمية:" الراد على أهل البدع مجاهد"
This is the purest form of monotheism that exists between all of the world's religions. However most religions claim that they adhere to monotheism. Judaism claims that they worship one God and I must say that I agree on the claim, but disagree with the fact. Christianity claims that it worships one God and I must say I disagree with both the claim and the actuality of the fact. Even Hinduism claims that they worship one God. Amongst the millions of idols that they have named, they still manage to claim that there is in actuality only one supreme God. Islam has a claim as well, and it is called tawheed. In the light of simple proof we will analyze the claims and understand which faith can actually boast of pure monotheism.
Judaism claims that God is one, He has no partners, He has certain attributes and qualities, and He is the originator of everything. Is that monotheism? Before we go further we must make a disclaimer: Islam's definition of monotheism is much different than that of any other religion. Many have screamed and swore monotheism however when you analyze the concept in the light of practice and text, you find that it was nothing more than a claim made through a sentence that only satisfied the grammatical requirements for being a sentence. Nothing more! So what is monotheism according to Islam: according to Islam monotheism or the concept of tawheed is the oneness of God in person and in worship. God is one without a partner, He is unique, there is nothing like onto Him. All things come from Him, and without Him there is no life, there is not creation, there is no sustenance. He is the Lord of everything. Being the Lord and Owner of everything the second part of tawheed comes in which is a very logical consequence: If someone gives you everything you have will you go and thank someone else? No! screams the crowd, NO! This is one of the greatest separation points between Islam and all the other faiths which claim monotheism. God gives everything, therefore all our services, prayers, sacrifices and our lives should be directed to Him alone, and nothing else. Just in case you did not get that: TO HIM ALONE! But the Jews will say: we do that.
Let us put that claim to test. Part of directing your service and worship to God alone is that you obey Him. The Jews claim to follow the Torah but any scrutiny of the text and practices that the Jews have put together for themselves will find that they are not of divine origin. My purpose here is not to prove that, however any inquisitive mind can find such information in the volumes of scholars who have been proving this for ages. If you do not follow the word of God than how can you claim that you are on a monotheistic religion. It is a crippled monotheism. You claim there is only one God, however you follow men who have made up scriptures claiming they are from God. They have invented laws, legislations, and services that you follow and thus you have taken them as gods besides God. THAT IS WHY WHEN ONE OF THE COMPANIONS WHO WAS A CHRISTIAN BEFORE WHEN HEARING OF THE VERSE THAT SAYS : "YOU HAVE TAKEN YOUR RABIES AND MONKS AS YOUR GODS", HE SAID WE DID NOT DO THAT. THE PROPHET ASKED HIM, DID THEY NOT MAKE FOR YOU THINGS ALLOWED AND FORBIDDEN? HE ANSWERED IN THE AFFIRMATIVE. Only God can make things lawful and unlawful, therefore whoever takes such from other than God, know that they have ascribed a partner with God.
Another extreme point of separation is the attributes of God. I will only give one example that covers but the Jews and Christians: God rested on the 7th day after creation, according to both faiths. Islam says that no slumber, no tiredness overtook God after creation, because He is perfect and free from weaknesses. Needing to rest is a form of imperfection and the God is free from that. So Islam affirms God's monotheism in His attributes as well (asma wal sifat). People get tired. So if both people and God get tired, they have something in common, which is again a claim that discards monotheism.
Christians will come quick to say that they worship only one God, however that is so far from the fact. First of all their theology teaches that God is not one in person but three in person and one in essence. Of course after centuries of comparing God to clover leafs, eggs and recently to water states, the modern Christian thinker has given up and said you cannot really understand the essence of God: three distinct persons but one god. One father, one son, one holly ghost, one god. Monotheism everyone? But it does not stop there. One person of the perfect monotheistic family died for 3 days. Now of course the claim was that the persons were three but still there was only one perfect united god. If that was the case than when the son died, did the father die? Did the holy ghost die? Of course they will say no. It gets more complicated than that, that is why I really respect the Christian that just says WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND IT. This goes beyond my scope here but the claim to monotheism at this point is only satisfying the grammatical requirements for a sentence and nothing more. Christians do not worship the same God Muslims do. Muslims who are involved in inviting Christians to Islam should stop using this point of communality because it's not there. That should be the point that one should focus on in showing the true God and His perfect attributes. Muslims worship the God that Christians should worship. That is the correct stance. At this point the Christians would try to convince us that they are still monotheistic no matter what the Muslims think. However that can be easily dispelled. Ask the Christian a few questions: who do you love the most, Jesus or God the Father? If you have not noticed till now, most of the Christian talk is around Jesus. Ask them if God had a son? They will say, yes. Ask them if Jesus had a son? They will say no. Ask them if Jesus is God? They will say yes. Put one and two together. Is this monotheism? Any non-indoctrinated person who picks up the Gospels and studies them will get the clear impression that Jesus and God the Father are not the same person. They do not hold the same deity, and clearly Jesus never claims such. Of course later in Paul's attempts to explain this, he brushes it away saying: Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. (Phillipians ch 2). And we all agree, however beyond the shadow of a doubt Christianity is not a pure monotheistic faith. It ascribes partners to God, denies the attributes of perfection of God, and gives the rights of God to other than God.
We need to put the right things in the right place. God gave us, we need to worship Him alone. We cannot give the rights of God to other than God. That is the biggest injustice. We need to come back and shave all the extras off. We need to loose the fat that is not healthy and return to the organic faith. God created us to worship him alone, so let us do so. O christian, O jew, O hindu, O people of the world, worship your Lord and enter Islam, where you will find your peace.
“Say: Surely my prayer and my sacrifice and my life and my death are (all) for Allah, the Lord of the worlds. (The Cattle 6.162)”
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