Question: In a book that I was recently
using for my research into the concept of monotheism, I ran across an interesting
statement which I was hoping to get some comment on. The author has proposed
that the mention of "there is no God but Allah" came into mention in the
Qur’a#n only in the Madi#nan
verses, and that initially this was not mentioned in the Qur’a#n.
He has suggested that initially the notion that Allah is Great, was promoted
so as to lift Allah above the other gods, but not to directly reject the
other gods. He suggested that only after Muhammad (sws) gained power in
Madi#nah did he utilise the concept
of monotheism to secure his power. Is this true?
Answer: This is not true at all. There
are so many Makkan Su#rahs of
the Qur’a#n which depict the
concept of monotheism, and positively negate the existence of other gods
besides Allah. (To quote just a few, see for example, 6:19,106; 13:30;
16:2,51; 20:8,14,98; 21:25; 23:23,116; 27:60,61,62,63; 28:88; 37:35; 38:68;
39:6; 40:3; 44:8, 75:9). In fact, some of these Makkan Su#rahs,
while recounting the basic message of the various Prophets of Allah which
preceded Muhammad (sws), say that this belief was the very first tenet
of their message:
We sent Noah to his people. He said O my people! worship
Allah. You have no other God but Him. I fear for you the punishment of
a dreadful day … To the A^d people
[We sent] Hu#d, one of their
own brethren. He said O my people! worship Allah. You have no other God
but Him. Will you not fear [Him] … To the Thamu#d
people [We sent] S~a#lih@,
one of their own brethren. He said O my people! worship Allah. You have
no other God but Him … To the Madyan people [We sent] Shu‘ayb, one of their
own brethren. He said O my people! worship Allah. You have no other God
but Him. (7: 59, 65, 73, 85)
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