Christianity and Judaism: The Islamic perspective

The term monotheism is defined as “the doctrine or belief that there is but one God” (Merriam-webster, n.d.). The concept strictly opposes the belief in plural gods or other associated powers, thus, singling out divinity for one God (Hastings, 1910, p. 817). Among the great religions of the world, Christianity, Islam and Judaism are considered as monotheistic. However, from Islamic perspective, both Christianity and Judaism fail to qualify for the pure monotheistic principles, thus rendering them as polytheistic. In order to comprehend their deviation, it is appropriate to elucidate the principles which serve as the dais of Islamic faith.

The foundation of Islam is the testification “Lā ilāha illā Allāh” (None has the right to be worshiped except Allah). The perfection of this pronouncement is achieved only after realization of three conditions: (a) knowledge of what it affirms and what it negates, (b) firm belief, and (c) compliance (Al-Uthaymin, 2012). This fundamentally encompasses the concept of tawhīd, which translates to “unification” or “profession of the unity of God” (Cowan, 1976, p. 1055). Al-Uthaymin (2012) further says: “The explanation of Tawhid is undoubtedly connected to two matters: 1. Declaring oneself innocent from every other (deity) than Allah – and disbelieving in other than Him. 2. Affirmation of divinity (the right to be worshiped) for Allah alone” (p. 29). In order to understand the concept categorically, scholars have grouped tawhid into three categories:

1. Tawhīd ar-Rubūbiyah: It affirms that Allah alone is the absolute Creator and Sustainer of the universe and to Him belongs the absolute dominion of everything. He organizes all the affairs of this world without taking any partner.

2. Tawhīd al-Ulūhiyyah or Tawhid Al Ibādah: It refers to the unity of Allah with regards to worship; in terms of acceptance and compliance of His commands and circumvention of His prohibitions.

3. Tawhīd al-Asma’ was-Sifāt: It affirms the unity of Allah’s Names and Attributes with which He has described Himself through revelation. It also contains the denial for any sort of resemblance to Him. (Al-Uthaymin, 2012, pp. 11-14)

Due to all the three categories being interwoven, failure to comply with any one of them will constitute the sacrilege of tawhid as a whole (Philips, 2005, pp. 17-18).

The above discussion presents a bird’s eye view of Islamic monotheism with which Christianity and Judaism can be compared to evaluate their beliefs. To start with, the focal point of Christian faith revolves around ‘Holy Trinity’ i.e. the belief that God manifests Himself in three forms, Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit, and the latter two have a share in His Sovereignty and His Control of the worldly affairs. However, it is a clear violation of Tawhīd ar-Rubūbiyah for God’s Lordship is shared by other than Him (Philips, 2005, p. 45). Allah says (Qur’an 112:1, Saheeh International): “Say, “He is Allah, [who is] One””. As far as the resemblance of God is considered, the Judeo-Christian belief has gone astray in attributing human characteristics to God. For example, God is depicted walking in the garden and unable to find Adam and his wife (Genesis 3:8, New International Version). A very strange depiction of God’s inability is made in The Bible (Genesis, 32:24-28) where in God is depicted as a human who wrestled with Jacob till the point Jacob caught hold of him. Being ‘unable’ to break off, God is seen ‘requesting’ him to let go to which Jacob denied and demanded blessings in return. Then, the inability of God is expressed by Himself that Jacob has overcome Him. Also, the resemblance of God to man is described in the following verse: “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them” (Genesis 1:26-27). Consequent to this, Christians regarded God as being similar in form to man. As a result, many painters made pictures of God, depicting him as a white bearded old man in their paintings, which are still kept reverentially in their religious centers (Philips, 2005). It is due to this misconception of anthropomorphism or “the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object” (English Oxford Living Dictionary, n.d.) which lead Christians to deifying Prophet Jesus (Peace be upon Him). Islam rejects any sort of comparisons to Lord as He has commanded (Qur’an 42:11): “There is nothing like unto Him” so as to limit humans from rationalizing His attributes with their finite intellect. The Judeo-Christian belief also violates the unity of God’s names and attributes by ascribing various imperfections to Him. For example, God is depicted as resting on the seventh day after the creation of universe in six days and being refreshed after the rest (Exodus 31:17). Allah, may He be Exalted, is free from all imperfections. Regarding this false attribute, Allah says (Qur’an 2:255): “Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep”. In other instance, repentance and remorse is attributed to Him for His actions (Genesis 6:6; Exodus 32:14). The attribution of God as a spirit is yet another desecration since the spirit itself is a creation of the Lord and not the Lord Himself (Philips, 2005). Besides these and many other deviations in the fundamentals of tawhid and, especially, the subsequent result of humanizing God, Christians have deified Jesus Christ and consider him as a God incarnate who came down to Earth to address the humanity while being one of them. Consequently, all the prayers are directed to him and he is considered as the savior of humanity. Apart from him, many other humanly figures are deified e.g., Melchizedek is attributed with having no beginning nor end (Genesis 14:18-20) while Allah clearly mentions (Qur’an 112:2): “Allah, the Eternal Refuge”. A form of polytheism is also noticed among many Christians as praying to the dead in the form of revered saints, St. Anthony of Thebes, St. Thaddaeus, St. Christopher and their likes (Philips, 2005, pp. 197-198).

Concluding from the mentioned examples, it is clear how Jews and Christians have gone astray from the teachings of Moses and Jesus (Peace be upon Them) and indulged in underlying pagan practices like association of God in His Lordship and worship, deification of certain humans, anthropomorphic perception of God, etc. which are clearly in conflict with the Islamic creed, the essence of which lies in pure monotheism as Allah mentions (Qur’an 19:65): “Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them – so worship Him and have patience for His worship. Do you know of any similarity to Him?”

References

Al-Uthaymin, M. b. (2012). A summary of al-qawl al-mufīd [The explanation of kitāb ut-tawhīd]. (A. E. Gibbs, Trans.) London: 5 Pillars Publications.

Cowan, J. M. (1976). The hans wehr dictionary of modern written arabic (3rd ed.). New York: Spoken Language Services, Inc.

English Oxford Living Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/anthropomorphism

Hastings, J. (Ed.). (1910). Encyclopaedia of religion and ethics (4 ed., Vol. VIII). Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.

Merriam-webster. (n.d.). Retrieved May 31, 2017, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monotheism

Philips, A. B. (2005). The Fundamentals of Tawheed (Islamic Monotheism) (2nd ed.). Riyadh: Internation Islamic Publishing House.