Tauhid - a cruel and sterile blasphemy
A theological emasculation.

'Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father'         1 John. 2.23a

For a clumsy translation of and some tendentious history behind the rambling* but rigorous Saudi exposition of this kernel of Islamic theology see Kitab At-Tauhid here, an exposition by the architect of its Sunni revivification, Muhammad bin Abdul-Wahhab,
from whom the epithet Wahhabi comes.


For its root in the Qur'an consider Surah Al Ikhlas (Purity - but sadly it is far from pure doctrine, as will be explained here soon more minutely) - perhaps the second best known Surah in the Qur'an, which expounds the lethal denial of a core Biblical doctrine explicitly:

Surah 112 Al-Ikhlâs  - The Purity

 In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

  Say: He is Allah, the One and Only!
   Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
  He begetteth not nor is He begotten.
  And there is none like unto Him.
                          
                                 -  translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Sura Al Ikhlas (112), 'worth a third of the Qur'an', (Bukhari 6.533), bears significant similarity to Maimonides' 2nd principle,
which  governs much modern Jewish theology, and contains the same neo-Platonic overtones.

‘The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "I am the first" (Isa 44:6) for I have no father; "and I am the last" for I have no brother;
"and beside me there is no God" for I have no son.’ (Exod. R. xxix. 5, cited in Everyman's Talmud).

One of the most telling witnesses against the doctrine is its own distortion of the Arabic language, tauhid
is a noun taken from the root verb wahhada, its usual meaning is Unity. It is a cognate of the word Ahad in the first verse of the Sura. However the word Tauhid properly intends and is still used in other contexts for a unity not in the sense of original, simple solitariness, the concept of an impersonal primary cause. This teaching originally formulated by the overzealous anti-anthropomorphism of pagan Greek philosophers, defended by their Hellenised Jewish heirs, partially assimilated by some short sighted Christian theologians has been embraced so eagerly and self-destructively by iconoclastic Arabians. The term Tauhid (توحيد) in Arabic however implies a compound unification or unity. It is expression used to describe an act of political or national unification, and is not naturally applied to a solitary isolated existence. Its theological use is contrived and forced from its linguistic roots, as even Muslim apologists acknowledge. The same also applies to its related Hebrew root verb, see Psalm 19.9 for example - the phrase 'the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether' uses the same verb (in Hebrew yachad) to describe the complex, interdependent and harmonious mutual perfection of God's actions (plural). Another striking witness to the verb's meaning in Hebrew is in Gen.11.1, where the words (plural in Hebrew) of one language are described as united as one. Or again in Isaiah 52.8b, ' with the voice together shall they sing' many watchmen join together (יחדו, yachadu) with many voices
to form a compound single voice.

The inescapable conclusion of a careful examination of its use in both languages is that its use to describe Divine solitariness in Arabic results from a foreign semantic intrusion. Abundant evidence of the same tendency both to sterilise and also emasculate Arabic idiom exists, and may also be examined here in due course.

Tauhid is a deeply cruel and insensitive insult to the living God, the Heavenly Father, Who's very being is love. As Moses cried using the related noun in Hebrew to that used in Al Ikhlas, the famous Jewish Shema:

שׁםע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד
'Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD :
ואהבת את יהוה אלהיך בכל לבבך ובכל נופשׁך ובכל מאדך
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.'
(Deut.6.4-5)

Would He require from us, what He has not already first done for us?



The scriptural preemption of this error

  The second psalm         b      תְּהִלִּים
(Taken from the Jewish scripture, written 1,000 years before Messiah, with manuscripts of portions of the volume also going back well before His advent,
though the Dead Sea Scrolls depicted below do not include the second psalm)

 

א  לָמָּה, רָגְשׁוּ גוֹיִם;    וּלְאֻמִּים, יֶהְגּוּ-רִיק.	1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
ב  יִתְיַצְּבוּ, מַלְכֵי-אֶרֶץ--    וְרוֹזְנִים נוֹסְדוּ-יָחַד: עַל-יְהוָה,    וְעַל-מְשִׁיחוֹ.	2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
ג  נְנַתְּקָה, אֶת-מוֹסְרוֹתֵימוֹ;    וְנַשְׁלִיכָה מִמֶּנּוּ עֲבֹתֵימוֹ.	3 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.'
ד  יוֹשֵׁב בַּשָּׁמַיִם יִשְׂחָק:    אֲדֹנָי, יִלְעַג-לָמוֹ.	4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
ה  אָז יְדַבֵּר אֵלֵימוֹ בְאַפּוֹ;    וּבַחֲרוֹנוֹ יְבַהֲלֵמוֹ.	5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
ו  וַאֲנִי, נָסַכְתִּי מַלְכִּי:    עַל-צִיּוֹן, הַר-קָדְשִׁי.	6 'Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
ז  אֲסַפְּרָה, אֶל-חֹק:    יְהוָה, אָמַר אֵלַי בְּנִי אַתָּה--אֲנִי, הַיּוֹם יְלִדְתִּיךָ.	7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
ח  שְׁאַל מִמֶּנִּי--וְאֶתְּנָה גוֹיִם, נַחֲלָתֶךָ;    וַאֲחֻזָּתְךָ, אַפְסֵי-אָרֶץ.	8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
ט  תְּרֹעֵם, בְּשֵׁבֶט בַּרְזֶל:    כִּכְלִי יוֹצֵר תְּנַפְּצֵם.	9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.'
י  וְעַתָּה, מְלָכִים הַשְׂכִּילוּ;    הִוָּסְרוּ, שֹׁפְטֵי אָרֶץ.	10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
יא  עִבְדוּ אֶת-יְהוָה בְּיִרְאָה;    וְגִילוּ, בִּרְעָדָה.	11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
יב  נַשְּׁקוּ-בַר, פֶּן-יֶאֱנַף וְתֹאבְדוּ דֶרֶךְ--    כִּי-יִבְעַר כִּמְעַט אַפּוֹ: אַשְׁרֵי,    כָּל-חוֹסֵי בוֹ.	12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

John of Damascus
(although his writings on simplicity are tainted with the same philosophical roots as Islam)

Chapter 8
Exposition of the Orthodox Faith

'This [the denial of the Eternal Son] is the worst form of blasphemy.
For we may not speak of God as destitute of natural generative power:
and generative power means, the power of producing from one’s self, that is to say,
from one’s own proper essence, that which is like in nature to one’s self.'

Roberts, Alexander and Donaldson, James,
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers,
Second Series: Volume IX



Mohammed's own act of major shirk    
(according to the criteria of chapter 14, conclusion 3, and chapter 17 of bin 'Abd Al Wahhab's thesis)
the other reason behind the rigour of Islamic anti-anthropomorphism.


"Have you thought upon al-Lat and al-Uzza and Manat, the third, the other?
Satan cast the words on his tongue, "These are the high flying cranes; verily their intercession is accepted with approval."

Narrated consistently by four reputable Muslim historians - Al Waqidi, Ibn Ishaq, Mohammed Ibn Sa'd*  and Imam Tabari*
- airbrushed away by modern Muslims -
perhaps the cause of the peculiarly Islamic view that polytheism is always unforgiveable was a volatile overcompensation for this sinful and foolish compromise with idolatry.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَىٰ إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا
Allah forgiveth not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgiveth anything else, to whom He pleaseth;
to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin most heinous indeed. (4.48)

How can a truly inspired revelation so irrevocably condemn its own messenger?
How can a true prophet of the God of Truth even once formally declare so damnable a lie as Truth?
Where is there any example of such a hideous defect in all the Torah, Zabur or Injil?

(*Scans of the original Arabic text are given here in the links)



'Can thou by searching find out God? can thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?
As high as heaven; what can thou do? deeper than hell; what can thou know?'
Job 11.7-8

'I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.
Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in His fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if thou canst tell?
Every word of God is pure: He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.
Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.'
Solomon's Proverbs 30.3-6

Some serious adverse theological consequences of Tauhid
(The result of neo-Platonic and Aristotelian influence)






Some useful comments on Bible teaching about the Godhead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit for Muslims