ভূমিকা
Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theological Instructions LESSON SIXTEEN: ONENESS OF GOD Introduction In previous lessons the essentiality of the existence of God the Creator of the universe was established. In later lessons we investigated the materialist worldview and provided an explanation of their various criticisms. To assume the universe was free from a creator became apparently absurd and the interpretations given were unacceptable.
It is now an appropriate time to expand upon the issues relating to the oneness of God and unveil the flaws in polytheistic thought. With reference to the appearance and alteration of polytheistic beliefs, there have been distinctive opinions between the sociologists. However none of these arguments can be considered as clear or authentic.
It may be possible to state that the initial reason for the inclination towards polytheism was the appearance of numerous heavenly and earthly phenomena, which, lead to the view that a particular god manages each phenomenon. Some related goodness to the god of good and evil to the god of evil. This resulted in the belief of there being two sources for the world.
From another angle by focusing upon the effect of the light (nūr) of the sun, moon and stars, upon the earthly phenomena, they discerned that the celestial objects have a type of lordship (rubūbiyyah) compared to the earth. In addition to the above, man’s tendency towards having a tangible God became the reason for creating different idols, signs and symbols for worshiping their presumed gods.
These idols and symbols then gradually became the fundamental aspect of belief among the less intelligent. Every nation, perhaps every tribe on the basis of ambiguity and doubt established customs and rituals for idol worship as an answer for the intrinsic tendency of god worshiping. Furthermore, in order to sanctify their animalistic and egoistic tendencies, they moulded these tendencies into religious rituals.
Such rituals like dancing festivals, wine-drinking fiestas, Epicureanism, etc still exist among the idol worshipper. However more significant than the mentioned reasons, were the egotistic interests and arrogance of tyrants and authoritarians, which caused them to abuse the beliefs of simpletons in order to expand their power and rule. Furthermore they considered a type of lordship for themselves and also regarded satanic worship as part of their rituals.