The Religions Book

280

GOD IS

UNEQUALED

I

slam is a monotheistic religion

and one of its central tenets

is tawhid (literally “oneness”)

—the doctrine of divine unity.

According to Muslim thought, there

is only one God, and he is single

in nature; he is not a trinity, as

Christians believe. The notion

of tawhid features widely in the

Qur’an and forms the first part

of Islam’s central creed, the

shahada: “There is no god but

God.” Conversely, the doctrine

of divine unity also forms the

basis for the greatest sin in

Islam, and one that is unforgivable:

IN CONTEXT

KEY FIGURE

Muhammad ibn Tumart

WHEN AND WHERE

1082–1130, North Africa

BEFORE

c.800–950 CE Aristotle’s works

are translated into Arabic.

10th century Muslim

scholar al-Farabi discusses

the First Cause (God).

1027 Persian philosopher Ibn

Sina (known in the West as

Avicenna) argues that reason

requires God’s existence.

AFTER

c.1238 Ibn ‘Arabi, a prominent

Sufi teacher, reflects on the

“Oneness of Being.”

1982 The Palestinian thinker

Ismail al-Faruqi writes

Tawhid: Its Implications

for Thought and Life.

1990 Ozay Mehmet argues

that tawhid is the basis

for Muslim religious and

secular identity.

THE UNITY OF DIVINITY IS NECESSARY

However, at the beginning

of all events and beings, there

must be something that was

not itself caused by

any other thing.

This is God, the

unique creator.

God is one being, that has

no partners or equals.

Reason tells us that things

in the world (including

humans) are changing,

impermanent, and were

created by something

that preceded them.

The unique creator did not

“begin” and will not end—

God has existed and

will exist forever.

The absolute creator

is the only being that

is unchanging, eternal, and

the First Cause of everything.