The Sense of Monotheism
Al-Risala (English), May 1985, p. 19
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
The Sense of Monotheism
1985 5 May 19 The Sense of Monotheism (373) The essence of religion is monotheism. Belief in one God implies trusting God above all else and reserving all one’s emotions of love and fear and hope for Him alone. Man has been endowed with the ability to think and to feel. He needs a focal point to relate to; to place his trust in; to depend upon and cherish. Man is thus forced by his very nature and by the circumstances in which he finds himself on earth, to seek some external source of dependence. Unable to rely on his own scant inner resources, he seeks a prop in life – one who will compensate for his own shortcoming. But the taking of entities other than God to oneself as objects of worship is, like polytheism, no solution to the problem. True monotheism, in accordance with which feelings of devotion and adoration are directed towards God, the one and only God, is the true solution.
Islam, therefore, demands, that all of one's attention be turned to God, to the exclusion of all else.
We turn to the Qur’an to understand the exact nature of this relationship where the emotions of love, fear and trust are integral parts of it:
“There are some who make others equal to God, bestowing on them the adoration due to God, though; the love of God is stronger in the faithful. But if only they could see their punishment, the wrong doers would know that might is His alone, and that God is stern in retribution” (2:165).
“Allah – there is no god but Him; In Allah let the faithful put their trust” (64:13).
“They vied with each other in good works and called on Us with piety, fear and submission” (21:90).
A true monotheist, as the verses reveal, is one who discovers God in all His perfection. It is then only natural that one should be filled with love and devotion for Him above all else, and fear Him more than anything else. Lest one should incur His wrath. When one takes to God in this way, one’s hopes and fears are associated with Him to such a degree that he becomes one’s greatest treasure. This is indeed the greatest of all the discoveries that man can make.
