MONOTHEISTS VS POLYTHEISTS
Monotheism emphasizes that humans should have the utmost love for their Lord, trust Him alone, and place their hopes in God alone.
A profound spiritual connection is established psychologically when a person truly believes in the existence of the One God. He starts receiving inspiration from God. He begins to experience God in his memories, catching glimpses of Him in his tears. God becomes ever-present in his thoughts and feelings as if he has entered the proximity of His divine presence and started living under the shelter of His mercy.
The Quran declares that associating partners with God (shirk) is the greatest injustice (zulm). (31:13). Zulm refers to placing something in the wrong place. In other words, shirk is completely alien in this universe. Therefore, embracing polytheistic beliefs or engaging in polytheistic actions has no place in God’s plan of creation.
God is the Creator, Owner, Sustainer, and Controller of this world. He possesses all power. Hence, considering anyone else as God or associating partners with God is to give some supposition the status of reality. It involves attributing existence to something that does not exist in this world at all. The polytheistic mindset is the epitome of evil. When a person thinks in a polytheistic manner, one chooses something unreal. When a person nurtures polytheistic thoughts in his mind, he adopts something that has no existence. The very existence of the universe denies it. Polytheism fails to provide intellectual sustenance or illuminates a person with the spiritual light that gives meaning to his existence in this world.
The reality of monotheism cannot be encapsulated in a single word. The Quran teaches us that it represents a relationship between a servant and his Lord, encompassing feelings of love, fear, and trust. A person can be called a monotheist when he finds God in such a way that He becomes his beloved. He places the utmost trust in Him, fearing any act that may deprive him of His mercy. Monotheism is the exclusive dedication of all these human emotions to God. Here are a few verses from the Quran:
“Yet some set up equals with God and adore them with the adoration due to God, but those who believe love God most. If only the wrongdoers could see—as they will see when they face the punishment—that all power belongs to God and that God is severe in punishment.” (2:165)
“God! There is no god but He, so let the faithful trust Him.” (64:13)
“They used to hasten to do good, called on Us in hope and fear, and were always humble towards Us.” (21:90)
According to these verses, the concept of monotheism emphasizes that humans should have the utmost love for their Lord. They should place their highest trust in God alone. Their hopes and concerns should be deeply connected to God, as they eagerly call upon Him day in and day out.
This realization is known as maarifah. Through this discovery, a personality is developed that lives in the remembrance of God. God becomes one’s sole concern. Such a person is a true monotheist. Conversely, one who has not made God one’s primary concern and whose thoughts are focused on something other than God is involved in shirk according to Shariah. According to Shariah, God is the ultimate goal of human beings, while other things are only meant to serve as necessities for them.
