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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Monotheistic Conception of the Universe Chapter 3: Degrees of Monotheism Both monotheism and polytheism have degrees and stages. Unless a man passes through all the stages of monotheism, he cannot be a true monotheist. I. Unity of the Essence of Allah To acknowledge the unity of His essence means that Allah is One in His essence. The first impression of Allah which anybody has is that of His Self-dependence.

He is a Being who is not dependent on any other being in any way. In the words of the Holy Qur'an, He is Ghani (the Absolute). Everything depends on Him and seeks His help. He is independent of everything. The Holy Qur'an says: "O men, it is you who stand in need of Allah. As for Allah, He is above all need, worthy of praise." (Surah al-Fatir, 35:15) The philosophers describe Him as Self-existent or as a being whose existence is necessary.

The second impression of Allah which everybody has is that of His creatorship. He is the Creator and the ultimate source of all the existing things. All things are "from Him". He is not from anything. According to the philosophical terminology, He is the First cause. This is the first conception of Allah which everybody has. Everybody thinks of Allah, and while thinking of Him, he has this conception in his mind.

Then he decides whether there, really exists a truth, which is not dependent on any other truth, and from which originate all other truths. Unity of essence means that this truth is not multiplicable, and has no like of it. The Holy Qur'an says: "Nothing is similar to Him." (Surah ash-Shura, 42:11) "And there is none comparable to Him." (Surah at-Tawhid, 112:4) The rule that an existing being is always a member of a species is applicable to the created beings only.

For example, if is a member of the human species, we can presume that may be other members of this species. But no such thing be presumed in the case of the Self-existing Being. He is above all such notions. The Self-existing truth being one, this world has only one source and one end. It has neither originated from various sources nor will it return to various sources. It has originated from one source and one truth.

The Holy Qur'an says: "Say: Allah is the Creator of everything." (Surah ar-Ra'd, 13:16) Everything will return to the same source and the same truth: "Do not all things reach Allah at last?" (Surah ash-Shura, 42:53) In other words, the whole universe has one centre, one pole and one orbit.