WHY ISLAM IS NOT A MONOTHEISTIC RELIGION
One of the many beauties of Islam according to its adherents is the fact it worships one God, the “one true God” as they call it. Hence the Quran repeatedly emphasizes that Allah is one and not one of three as the Christians say,
“…so believe in Allah and His messengers. Say not “Trinity”: desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son…”
(Surah 4:171)
“Those who say, “Allah is one in a Trinity,” have certainly fallen into disbelief. There is only One God. If they do not stop saying this, those who disbelieve among them will be afflicted with a painful punishment.”
(Surah 5:73)
The belief in the Oneness of God is further split into three branches: the Oneness of Allah, the Oneness of worship and the Oneness of attributes of Allah.
We proceed to examine these in light of the Quran.
First, there is Allah’s continuous reference to himself as “we”. For example,
“The Messiah, son of Mary, was no more than a messenger. ˹Many˺ messengers had ˹come and˺ gone before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They both ate food. See how We make the signs clear to them, yet see how they are deluded ˹from the truth˺!”
(Surah 5:75)
And again,
“Have they not seen how many ˹disbelieving˺ peoples We destroyed before them? We had made them more established in the land than you. We sent down abundant rain for them and made rivers flow at their feet. Then We destroyed them for their sins and replaced them with other peoples.”
(Surah 6:6)
Why the use of “we” rather than “I”? When God in the Bible says, “Let us create man in our own image and likeness”, this is because the Bible teaches that God is a trinity, three persons in one God. What reason does the One Allah have for using “we”?
Ah! says the Muslim scholar, it is a plural of majesty! Allah is using the “royal we”. If Allah needs to use “we” to honour himself and be majestic does that not mean being plural is more majestic being singular in Allah’s estimation? Why does Allah use “we” if he is not a real “we”. Why use “we” at all if his oneness, which is in sharp contradistinction to the trinitarianism he so despises, is very important to him? But for the sake of argument, “We” concede this point to the Muslim scholar…
Again, if Allah is indeed one, why does he make the following statement?
“Had We intended to take a pastime (i.e. a wife or a son), We could surely have taken it from Us, if We were going to do (that).”
(Surah 21:17)
Who would Allah have taken a wife from among if he wanted to take a “pastime”? Who is the “us” who “they” would have taken a wife from? Whatever the answer to this question is, it would seem Allah here is associating partners with himself in contradiction to Oneness because whoever the “us” is that Allah could have taken a wife from (i) definitely exists somewhere and (ii) is potentially a partner meet for Allah. Hence the notion that Allah is unique and has no equal would fall apart.
Third, there is the below verse which is very problematic, Allah speaking of himself says to Muhammad,
“He is the One Who showers His blessings upon you — and His angels pray for you — so that He may bring you out of darkness and into light. For He is ever Merciful to the believers.”
(Surah 33:43)
Now, it is unsurprising if the problem is not spotted in the first instance and this is because there seems to have been some very creative interpreting of the verse. The word translated “showers His blessings on” is actually “Yusaliy” in Arabic and the meaning of this is “to pray”.
Now please it takes a quick look at Quran.com and playing the word translated “sends his blessings” on audio. Then type that word into Google translate “English to Arabic”. Or Alternatively just type “pray” into English to be translated into Arabic and you get the same word when you listen to the Arabic played on Quran.com. Please fact check this!
So it seems Allah Himself prays for Muhammed his prophet. The question though is why Allah needs to pray at all and who he prays to. Even Muhammed Hijab, that legendary defender of child marriage and Muslim husbands having secret second wives, stated during his debate with David Wood that the verse does not say “Allah prays to the prophet” but rather “Allah prays FOOOOR the prophet”, Whether “for” or “to”, the question is why does the one God need to pray at all and who does he pray to? Why does he not simply do as he wishes? And if He has already prayed on Muhammed, why do the angels need to pray on him as well? Is the prayer of this one God not enough?
The second leg of the Oneness of Allah is the Oneness of worship, Allah alone is to be worshipped. For example,
“Those who say, “Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary,” have certainly fallen into disbelief. The Messiah ˹himself˺ said, “O Children of Israel! Worship Allah — my Lord and your Lord.” Whoever associates others with Allah ˹in worship˺ will surely be forbidden Paradise by Allah. Their home will be the Fire. And the wrongdoers will have no helpers.”
(Surah 5:72)
In order to become a Muslim, the phrase that is cited is this,
“I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger”
The above phrase is called “The Shahada”
The question though is why is the name of Muhammad associated with the name of God? Who is Muhammad and why must he be accepted alongside Allah in order for one to truly become a Muslim? Again Allah says,
“Whoever obeys the Messenger has truly obeyed Allah...” (Surah 4:80)
Why is obedience of Allah attached to this same messenger? This verse, among others, in fact opens the door to the Hadith or Sunnah, which are the sayings and doings of Muhammad. Now in this Hadith, Muhammad says the following,
“Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “By Him in Whose Hands my life is, none of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father and his children.”
(Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book 2 Hadith 7)
And again,
“The Prophet (ﷺ) said “None of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father, his children and all mankind.”
(Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book 2 Hadith 8)
And again,
“The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Whoever possesses the following three qualities will have the sweetness (delight) of faith:
- The one to whom Allah and His Apostle becomes dearer than anything else….”
(Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book 2 Hadith 9)
Why in the world is the Islamic faith tied to love of both Allah and his messenger?
Again, in another Hadith,
“I was sitting behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who was riding a donkey while the sun was setting. He asked: Do you know where this sets ? I replied: Allah and his Apostle know best. He said: It sets in a spring of warm water (Hamiyah).”
(Sunan Abi Dawud Book 32 Hadith 34)
And again,
“The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “O Mu`adh! Do you know what Allah’s Right upon His slaves is?” I said, “Allah and His Apostle know best.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “To worship Him (Allah) Alone and to join none in worship with Him (Allah). Do you know what their right upon Him is?” I replied, “Allah and His Apostle know best.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Not to punish them (if they do so).
(Sahih Al-Bukhari, Book 97 Hadith 3)
Why is the knowledge of God being attributed to his messenger if he is only a man? Ironically in the first hadith, it appears the knowledge of Allah and his messenger is flawed because we know for a fact that the sun does not set in a spring of warm water. In the second hadith, Muhammad seems to be rebuking worshipping anything in addition to Allah, while literally being worshipped in addition to Allah by his assent to the association of the knowledge of God and his knowledge. For context, imagine if somebody said to you, “God Almighty and you know better than anybody else”, that would be sacrilegious would it not?
Now in Christianity, Jesus Christ says,
“ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
(Matthew 10:37)
And again,
“Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.
And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.
And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.
For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.
And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”
(John 12:44–50)
And again,
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
(John 17:3)
But why is Jesus in the Bible entitled to say these things? Because the Bible teaches that He is God in human flesh, hence He is to be worshipped as such and is in fact worshipped as such,
“ After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
Be to our God forever and ever.
Amen.”
(Revelation 7:9–12)
And again,
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”
(Revelation 12:10)
On the other hand, what excuse does Muhammad have to make such claims if he is just a mere mortal and a messenger? Why is obedience to him equivalent to obedience to God? Why is the knowledge of Allah equated with his knowledge? Why are people to love him more than their parents, children and all of mankind in order to truly have faith in Islam? Why does even Allah himself as well as the angels offer up prayers for Muhammad? This is because Muhammad is worshipped alongside Allah in Islam, Islam revolves around Muhammad hence if something is permitted in the Quran but forbidden by Muhammad in the Hadith (Mutah marriages for instance), the Hadith is followed, it is almost like the words of Muhammad are superior to the words of Allah. Islam teaches worship of Muhammad without teaching it. So just as in Christianity one must believe God raised Christ from the dead so also in Islam one must believe Muhammad alongside Allah as reflected in the Shahada.
Finally, Oneness of attributes. Curiously the Quran says the following about Jesus,
“O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) a messenger of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him…”
(Surah 4:171)
The Quran teaches that Jesus is the Word of Allah. If the attributes of Allah are one, is Jesus Allah then? What does it mean for Jesus to be Allah’s word? It boils down to this, is the word of Allah, which he used to create everything (by saying “Be”), created or creator? If created, then this attribute of his cannot be eternal since it had a beginning and Allah did not have a beginning. If creator, then Jesus is every bit as God as Allah is. There are also some sects that say the Quran, being the eternal speech of Allah is an attribute of Allah which raises questions as to whether or not the Quran should be worshipped alongside Allah. Either way, the attributes of Allah whether the Quran or Jesus are clearly not one with Allah because if they were they should be worthy of worship which would contradict the second leg of “Oneness”.
In conclusion, it seems this “Oneness of God” and “We believe in one God” mantra of Islam falls apart based on its most trusted sources upon close scrutiny. From Allah’s use of “we”, to his potential pool of partners (“us”)he could take a pastime from, to his prayers to, sorry Mohammed Hijab, FOR his prophet, to his partnership with Muhammad in terms of knowledge, to having Jesus and the Quran as his word, it would take Simona Biles level of gymnastics to explain all this away and reconcile it to the oneness of God, oneness of worship and oneness of attributes, but knowing Islamic scholars, they surely would find a way.
I am no prophet, but I expect the insulting comments and admonitions to read the sources and refer to the original Arabic and scholars are about to start right…….now!
