2.4. The Qur'ānic Approach
It is this very concept of authority on the basis of which the Qur'ān expends the whole force of its argument in rejecting the claims to godhood of all others than God, and affirming it to vest exclusively in Him. It categorically asserts that there is only One Being in the heavens and the earth Who possesses and exercises all the powers and all the authority. All Creation is His, and subservient to Him, all grace and blessings flow from Him alone, His alone is the Word, and in Him alone vest all power and authority. Everything that exists, whether animate or inanimate, is bound by the laws made by Him and is, to that extent, subservient and submissive to Him, willingly or unwillingly. No one besides Him is possessed of any such authority, nor does anyone else dispose of the affairs of the universe. No one else knows the secrets of the Creation or its organisation or the manner of its proper management. Nor, lastly, does anyone have the least share in His Sovereignty and Authority.
Therefore, the only reality is that there is no ilaah but He and, this being so, anything that men do on the supposition of anyone else being an ilaah in any sense whatsoever is by its very nature utterly wrong, whether it be the act of praying to someone, seeking refuge with him, turning to him with hope or fear, seeking his intercession with God, or treating him as the final authority. All such relationships which people establish with others ought to exist solely and exclusively with Allah Almighty, because He alone is the Sovereign of the Universe.
Let us now see the Qur'ānic treatment of the matter in some detail:
And He alone is the Ilaah in the heavens and the Ilaah in the earth; and He alone is the all-Wise, the All-Knowing (that is, He alone possesses the wisdom and the knowledge required for governing such a Domain). (az-Zukhruf 43:84)
Can He Who creates, and he who does not, be alike? Have you not sense to realize this simple fact? ...And those whom the people pray to other than Allah, do not create anything and are themselves creatures…your ilaah is only one Ilaah….
O mankind: Call unto mind the grace of God unto you; is there any Creator besides Allah, to give you sustenance from heaven or earth; there is no ilaah but He; how, then, are you deluded from Truth? (al-Fatir 35:3)
Say (O Prophet): “Think you, if God took away your hearing and your sight, and sealed up your hearts (that is, hardened them to the acceptance of any sensible precept), which ilaah is there, besides Allah, who could restore them to you?….” (al-An’aam 6:46)
And He is Allah–the God: no god there is but He; To Him alone is due all praise, in this world and the next; His alone is the Command and Sovereignty, and to Him alone will you be returned. Say (O Prophet): ”Have you ever thought that, if Allah should make the night continue till Doomsday, which ilaah is there besides Him who could bring you any light? Do you not hearken?” Say (to them, O Prophet):
”Has it ever occurred to you that if Allah should make the day perpetuate over you till Doomsday, who is the ilaah other than He who can give you back the night that you may rest in it? Do you not see?” (al-Qasas 28:70-72)
Say (O Prophet): “Call upon the others whom you fancy, besides Allah; they do not own even an atom in the heavens or on earth; no sort of share have they therein, nor is any of them a helper to God. No intercession can avail with Him, except where He himself permit it in anyone’s favour....” (as-Saba’ 34:22-23)
He (God) created the heavens and the earth with Truth; He makes the night overlap the day, and the day overlap the night; He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law); each one follows a course for a time appointed... He created you all from a single person (that is, brought human life into existence); then created out of him his mates; and sent down for you eight heads of cattle in pairs; He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness; such is God, your Lord and Creator; to Him belongs all dominion; there is no god but He; how then, do you get turned another way?” (az-Zumar 39:5-6)
Who is it who has created the heavens and the earth, and who sends down rain from the sky? Yea, with it We cause to Brow well-planted orchards full of beauty and delight; it is not in your power to cause the growth of the trees in them. Can there be another ilaah besides Allah? Nay, they are a people who swerve from reality. Who has made the earth firm to live upon, made rivers in its midst, act thereon mountains immovable, and made a separating bar between the two bodies of flowing water? Can there be another ilaah besides Allah? Nay, most of them know not. Who listens to the (soul) distressed when it calls to Him, and who relieves its suffering, and make you (mankind) inheritors of the earth-that is, gives you authority to utilise your purposes? Can there be another ilaah besides Allah?
Little it is that you heed. Who guides you through the depths of darkness on land and sea, and who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, of His Mercy in the form of rain? Can there be another ilaah besides Allah?–High is God above what they associate with Him! Who originates Creation, then repeats it, and who gives you sustenance from heaven and earth? Can there be another ilaah besides Allah?
Say, ”Bring forth your arguments, if you be in the right ” (an-Naml 27:60-64)
He (is the One) to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion; it is He Who created all things, and ordered them in due proportion. Yet have people taken, besides Him, gods that can create nothing but are themselves created, that have no control over harm or good to themselves; nor can they control Death nor Life nor Resurrection.
To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth. How can He have a son when He had no consort? He it is Who created all things, and He alone has full knowledge of all things; That is God, your Lord! No god there is but He, the Creator of all things; Then give your worship to Him; And He it is Who looks after the safety and well-being of all. (al-An’aam 6:102-103)
Yet are there men who take (for worship) others besides God as equals (with Him). They feel the love for them which they should for God. If only the unrighteous could but see. Behold, they would see the penalty: (they then will see)
that to God belongs all power, and God will strongly enforce the Penalty.
Say (O Prophet): ”Do you see what it is you invoke besides God? Show me what it is they have created on earth, or have they a share in the heavens?...And who is more astray than one who invokes besides God such as will answer him not (though he call to him till) the Day of Judgement….” (al-Ahqaf 46:4-5)
If there were, in the heaven and the earth, other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both! But glory to Allah, the Lord of the Mighty Throne:
High is He above that they attribute to Him. None there is who can question Him for His acts, but they (certainly) yet will be questioned for theirs.
No son did God beget, nor is there any god alone; with Him: (if there were many gods), behold, each god would have taken away what he had created and some would have lorded it over others!…. (al-Mu’minoon 23:91)
Say (O Prophet): ”If there had been other gods with Him as they say-behold, they would certainly have sought ways for capturing His Throne. Glory to Him! He is High above all that they say! –Exalted and Great (beyond measure).
It will be seen that there is one central idea running through all these verses, and that is that godhood and authority are inextricably interconnected and are, in essence and significance, one and the same thing. He who has no authority can be no god, and it is but fitting that he should not be so. And He Who has all due authority, He alone can be, and ought to be, God, because all the needs which one might refer to a god, or the experiencing of which might turn one’s thoughts to someone supposedly gifted with divinity can only be fulfilled if the person or being involved has in fact the power and the authority to be able to meet them.
Hence, we must conclude that it is meaningless to regard anyone without the necessary power and authority to have any part of godhood: it is absolutely contrary to reason and reality, and it is quite absurd as well as useless to turn to these for help.
The full argument of the Holy Qur'ān, based on this central idea will be clear from the following premises and the deductions which it sets forth:
The fulfilment of the needs of human beings, the removal of their distress, the grant to them of refuge or protection, the extension of any needed help or assistance, their bringing up or preservation, and the acceptance of their prayers - none of these matters are so simple as people seem to assume them to be and hence mistakenly regard them as within the competence of human beings. All are dependent, inextricably and ultimately, upon the creative power and the controlling and managing authority being exercised over the entire universe by its One and only Lord and Master. Even the smallest need depends, for its fulfilment, on the combined results of a vest multitude of factors.
Take for example the provision of just one glass of drinking water, or even just one grain of wheat used by men for food. Neither would come about but for incalculable and multifarious and, in many cases, get hidden activity on the part of the sun and the earth and the oceans and the winds. Therefore, the authority or power which is actually required for listening to our prayers is no ordinary authority but, rather, super-extraordinary and unique authority or power, not less than that required for creating the heavens and earth and for ordering the movement of the heavenly bodies and of the winds and of causing rain, and so on – in short, that needed for governing the entire universe itself. This authority is indivisible.
It is not possible that, while the control over creation should rest with one authority, that of providing for its food and drink should be with someone else; or that the sun should be under the control of one authority and the earth that of another; or that while one has the power to create, that of preserving health or causing illness should be possessed by another and that of ending life rest with still another. Had there been such division of authority and power, there would certainly have been utter confusion and chaos in the universe and it could never have ordered the way it has been operating all along.
Hence, it is essential that all authority and power should and does vest in one, central authority, in One Sovereign. Since all authority and power vests in one Sovereign only, with no one else having the least share in it, it must equally logically follow that godhood is special and exclusive to Him alone, and in this too there is absolutely no share. Nobody other than He has the power to listen to men’s plaints or grant any of their prayers, grant them refuge and protection, be their helper and patron, or do them good or harm.
Therefore, whatever be anyone’s conception of ilaah, there is no ilaah but He, so much so that there is no ilaah even in the apparently less important sense of someone being close enough to God to be able to intercede with Him. No one has the least power or authority to interfere with His rule over His universe or His ways, and it is entirely up to Him whether to accede to, or reject, any intercession because no one – unlike the viziers or ministers of earthly monarchs – occupies any position or status which would lend weight enough to his word. It is also of the essence of the Unity of the Supreme Authority that all the various manifestations of sovereignty or overlordship should, ultimately, be centred in one and only one Supreme Sovereign, and not even the tiniest factor of such authority should vest in anyone else.
Since God is the Creator, and no one else has had a share in the act of Creation, and since He alone is the Provider and no one else shares this attribute with Him, and since He alone is the Controller and Administrator of the entire system of the Universe, and there is none to share these capacities with Him, it follows that He alone should also be the one to lay down the law, and that His word, and no one else’s should prevail, for there is no reason at all why anyone else should have a share here either.
Just as if also is wrong, in principle and in fact, for anyone else to listen to others’ prayers and expect to deliver them from distress and be their protector, in just the same way is it wrong for anyone else to be the absolute authority and the sovereign and to have any intrinsic authority to legislate for mankind. Whether it be creation, or providing of sustenance, the giving or taking away of life, the ordering of the sun and the moon and the heavenly bodies, the bringing of the night to overlap the day and of the day to overlap the night, the ordaining of peoples’ destinies and the apportionment of their lots, or being ruler or monarch, or laying down the law or indicating the right and the wrong, all are different facets of a single, autocratic authority and sovereignty which is absolutely indivisible. If anyone regards the word of someone else to be deserving of obedience without any sanction from God, he is as much guilty of the offence of shirk as the one who prays to or worships someone other than God. And if someone regards himself as the lord and master and absolute monarch of any part of the earth in the political sense, his act too amounts as much to a claim to godhood as it would if he were to tell people that he was their helper and patron and guardian in the supernatural sense. [The Translator feels tempted, at this stage, to point to the fact that all those who indulge in such pretensions turn out invariably to be the worst oppressor, and exploiters of human beings, and the farther they are from belief in God, the more this happens to be the case. On the other hand, the more a ruler is God-fearing the greater is his beneficence towards not only his own people but even towards his enemies Abu Asad] That is why the Qur'ān emphasises, wherever it speaks of creation or of the destinies of creatures or the management of the universe, that: – To Him belongs the ultimate dispensation of men’s affairs (and of other things in creation too) His is the Kingdom, there is no sharer in His Suzerainty. All of which clearly shows that godhood includes monarchy and rulership.
And it is also that Tawheed necessarily requires that in this sense too no one should be believed to have any share with God:
Say (O Prophet): O God! You are the Lord of all the Domains; It is You who grant kingdom to whom you please; and take it away from whomsoever You will; It is You who confer honour on whomsoever You please, and take it away from whomsoever You will…. (aal-Imran 3:26)
Right and Mighty is Allah, the True Sovereign; then, is no ilaah but He, the Lord of the Sublime Throne. (al-Mu’minoon 23:116)
Say (O Prophet): I seek refuge with Him who is Rabb of all mankind, the Sovereign of all mankind, and the Ilaah of all mankind. (an-Naas 114:1-3)
The Day when the secrets of everyone of them will be laid bare; when it will become manifest to men that none of their actions is hidden from God, the call will go out: To whom belongs the Dominion this Day? And the answer will invariably be: To none but Allah alone, Allah Whose power and authority transcend that of all others. (al-Ghaafir 40:16)
This verse is excellently explained in a Hadith narrated by Imam Ahmed (ra) on the authority of Hazrat ’Abdullah ibn ’Umar (may Allah be pleased with both) that, on one occasion the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمstated, in the course of a sermon, that: God will take both the heavens and the earth in His hand, and will proclaim to all before Him: I am the King; I am the Mighty one: I am the Self-exalted one; Where are the people who used to style themselves kings upon the earth, those who called themselves mighty, and who were their ‘Majesties’?
Hazrat Abdullah (with whom Allah be pleased) narrates that while the Holy Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمwas repeating these words, his body trembled so much in awe of Allah Almighty that we were really afraid that he might fall from the pulpit.