ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theological Instructions LESSON SEVENTEEN: THE MEANING OF THE ONENESS OF THE GOD Introduction The word monotheism from the lexical point of view means ‘oneness or unity ’, but in philosophy, scholastic theology, ethics (akhlāq), and mysticism it has been applied with various different meanings.

However it gives the same basic meaning in all of these sciences, but when viewed from different aspects it can be regarded differently, such as ‘the different forms of oneness’ or ‘the different levels oneness’. The investigation of these offshoots cannot be comprised in these writings.

Therefore from this angle it is sufficient enough that we bring the most significant and befitting arguments for our explanation: The negation of plurality The initial and distinguished meaning of monotheism is that very believing in the unity of God and negation of plurality and multiplicity outside its essence. This belief is in complete opposition to polytheism, and the belief in two or more gods who are independent and apart in their existence from each other.

The negation of composition he second terminological meaning of monotheism is to believe in oneness, and to believe that the essence is self-evident and not composed of actual or potential parts. This meaning is usually interpreted as the negative attributes (al-sifāt al-salbiyyah) (mentioned in lesson ten), because our mind is more familiar with compositional concepts as compared to the concept of self-evidence. a.

The negation of attributes as additional to the essence The third meaning of monotheism is to believe in the unity of the attributes of essence with the essence of God Himself, and the negation of considering the attributes as being additional to the essence. This is known as the unity of Divine attributes (tawhīd al-sifāti).

Furthermore this Divine unity of attributes in the traditional texts is known as the negation of attributes, which is in opposition to those Ashirites (ashā’irah) who have regarded the Divine attributes as additional to the Divine essence, and believed in the Eight Ancients (qudama al-thamāniyah).