َ يَا عِبَادِي! إِنِّي حَرَّمْتُ الظُّلْمَ عَلَى نَفْسِي وَجَعَلْتُهُ بَيْنَكُمْ مُحَرَّمًا فَلاَ تَظَالَمُوا, يَا عِبَادِي! كُلُّكُمْ ضَالٌّ إِلاَّ مَنْ هَدَيْتُهُ فَاسْتَهْدُونِي أَهْدِكُمْ, يَا عِبَادِي! كُلُّكُمْ جَائِعٌ إِلاَّ مَنْ أَطْعَمْتُهُ فَاسْتَطْعِمُونِي أُطْعِمْكُمْ, يَا عِبَادِي! كُلُّكُمْ عَارٍ إِلاَّ مَنْ كَسَوْتُهُ فَاسْتَكْسُونِي أَكْسُكُمْ, يَا عِبَادِي! إِنَّكُمْ تُخْطِئُونَ بِاللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَأَنَا أَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا فَاسْتَغْفِرُونِي أَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ, يَا عِبَادِي! إِنَّكُمْ لَنْ تَبْلُغُوا ضَرِّي فَتَضُرُّونِي وَلَنْ تَبْلُغُوا نَفْعِي فَتَنْفَعُونِي, يَا عِبَادِي! لَوْ أَنَّ أَوَّلَكُمْ وَآخِرَكُمْ وَإِنْسَكُمْ وَجِنَّكُمْ كَانُوا عَلَى أَتْقَى قَلْبِ رَجُلٍ وَاحِدٍ مِنْكُمْ مَا زَادَ ذَلِكَ فِي مُلْكِي شَيْئًا, يَا عِبَادِي! لَوْ أَنَّ أَوَّلَكُمْ وَآخِرَكُمْ وَإِنْسَكُمْ وَجِنَّكُمْ كَانُوا عَلَى أَفْجَرِ قَلْبِ رَجُلٍ وَاحِدٍ مِنْكُمْ مَا نَقَصَ ذَلِكَ مِنْ مُلْكِي شَيْئًا, يَا عِبَادِي! لَوْ أَنَّ أَوَّلَكُمْ وَآخِرَكُمْ وَإِنْسَكُمْ وَجِنَّكُمْ قَامُوا فِي صَعِيدٍ وَاحِدٍ فَسَأَلُونِي فَأَعْطَيْتُ كُلَّ إِنْسَانٍ مَسْأَلَتَهُ مَا نَقَصَ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا عِنْدِي إِلاَّ كَمَا يَنْقُصُ الْمِخْيَطُ إِذَا أُدْخِلَ الْبَحْرَ, يَا عِبَادِي! إِنَّمَا هِيَ أَعْمَالُكُمْ أُحْصِيهَا لَكُمْ ثُمَّ أُوَفِّيكُمْ إِيَّاهَا فَمَنْ وَجَدَ خَيْرًا فَلْيَحْمَدِ اللَّهَ وَمَنْ وَجَدَ غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ فَلاَ يَلُومَنَّ إِلاَّ نَفْسَهُ.

Abu Dharr (May Allah be pleased with him) narrated: The Prophet (May the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said:

“…. O My slaves, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and jinn of you to be as pious as the most pious heart of any man amongst you, that would not increase My domain in anything. O My slaves, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any man amongst you, that would not decrease My domain in anything. O My slaves, were the first of you and the last of you , the human of you and jinn of you to stand in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more than a needle decreases the ocean if put into it. O My slaves, it is but your deeds that I reckon for you and then recompense you for, so let him who finds good ( i.e., paradise in the hereafter) praise Allah and let him who finds other than that blame no one but himself..”

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MAJESTY OF ALLAH

From this Hadith we learn more about our Creator Allah, the Exalted, in a way that gives great effect to our hearts! Just as Abu Sa’id Al-Khawlani (one of the narrators of this Hadith, who took it from Abu Dharr (r) the companion).While Abu Sa’id was teaching it to his students of the next generation; he could not complete its reading, he fell down on his knees and fainted under the great magnificence of the Hadith. When we think deeply over the Hadith, we too, prostrate ourselves in the face of the Majesty, Sovereignty, Supremacy and Power of Allah! There is no god but Him! He is the One and Only God, Lord and Creator! Nothing in the universe can be compared to Him! He is Eternal; has no beginning or end! He is Absolute, not limited by time, place or circumstances, and He is unlike his creation. There is nothing like Him. He does not depend on any person or anything, but all persons and things depend on Him… He is the Sustainer of all creatures. He, Glory be to Him, encompasses all His creatures by His Knowledge and Will.. None of their affairs is hidden from Him. He is the Omniscient; He knows what is hidden in the wombs, what is concealed in the hearts and knows everything that happened in the past and everything that will happen in the future. He is the Omnipotent. When He desires a thing, He commands “Be” and it is. He is the Supreme, Transcendent and All-Perfect in Himself, in His Attributes and in His Actions! He is Allah, the Most Merciful, and the Most Kind.

“He is Allah besides Whom there is no god. He is the Knower of the unseen and the seen. He is the Compassionate and the Merciful. He is Allah, besides Whom there is no god. He is the Sovereign, the Holy, the Source of safety, the Giver of Peace, the Guardian, the All-Mighty, the Enforcer of His decrees, and the Ever Supreme. Exalted is Allah above what they associate with Him. He is Allah alone, Who is the Planner of Creation, its Enforcer and its Fashioner. His are excellent names. Whatever is there in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him, and He is All-Mighty and All-Wise”.

In the beginning of the above Hadith, Allah, the Exalted addresses His slaves from the human and Jinn, saying:

“O My slaves! I have prohibited Myself injustice; and have made oppression unlawful for you, so do not oppress one another. O My slaves! All of you are liable to err except the one whom I guide on the Right Path, so seek guidance from Me so that I will guide you to the Right Path. O My slaves! All of you are hungry except the one whom I feed, so ask food from Me, I will feed you. O My slaves! All of you are naked except those whom I clothe, so ask clothing of Me and I shall clothe you. O My slaves! You commit sins night and day and I forgive all sins, so seek My forgiveness and I shall forgive you. O My slaves! You can neither do Me any harm nor can you do Me any good…”

ONENESS OF ALLAH

From a philosophical and logical point of view, it is impossible and contrary to the mind to accept any concept of polytheism (Shirk). One's intellect cannot accept that there is more than one god. We can logically prove this with the following example:

Let us suppose there are more gods other than Allah in the universe. For example, there are two gods in the universe. In this case, when the first one has done something or has decided upon something, it means the second one is weak to oppose it or has no ability to change the first one’s decision. So, someone who has no ability to do something, who has no ability to practice his will, cannot be a god. “God” means someone who is all-powerful, whose power has no limit, who can do what he wants without any dependency on anything. Let's say the second one –in the case above- has the ability to do something opposite of the first one’s activities or can change the first one’s decision, then the first one is weak and the first one cannot be considered a god but the second one, because the second one’s will took place. According to the two cases, it shows us there can be no god in this universe but Allah, All-Wise, All-Knowing. To Him belongs the kingdom of the earth and the heavens.

We can illustrate this logical evidence on a particular example. But first, we should give two premises:

1- Logic says two opposite things, like white and black, hot and cold, short and tall, light and darkness etc. can not be present at the same time in the same place, but can be at the same time in different places or at different times in the same place. We can not say, for example, a glass of water, in the same place, is very hot and at the same time, is very cold!? It is contrary to one's understanding of logic!

2- The concept of God: “God” means one who does everything he wants without any dependency on anything. For instance, if someone has the ability to do many things, but he cannot do one thing, it is impossible to consider him as God, because he is impotent. We cannot consider him to be god as he is incapable of doing something. A weak one can not be a god.

Now, let us suppose there is more than one god in this universe. In the above case, if one of them decreed that a glass of water must be very hot in a particular place (glass) and a particular time, it means the second one (or any other) can not change the first one’s decision by saying for example “it must be very cold in that place at that time!” when the second one does not carry out his will and becomes incapable of doing something, he can not be god. This logical evidence and many others, absolutely shows that there must be only one God in this universe, who can do everything He wants, who is Omnipotent, Omniscient. He is Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, we glorify Him as many times as the number of his creatures!..

“Had there been other gods in heaven or earth besides Allah, there would have been confusion in both. Exalted be Allah, Lord of the Throne, above those (falsehoods) they ascribe to Him”.

On the other hand, as the Quran says in the above verse, if there were more gods other than Allah, there would have been confusion in the earth and the heaven, because of the varied will of several gods, just like we observe in the ancient Greek mythology. But we observe there is magnificent harmony in this universe from the smallest atom to the great galaxies.

We find that during the lifetime of each and every prophet, Shirk was considered the most serious sin. That is why every prophet began his mission by calling upon his people to believe in Tauhid (oneness of God) and to give up Shirk. All Prophets – Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad (peace be upon them all) - said to their people the same message:

“O my people! Worship Allah, You have no other Ilah (God) but Him!”

Muslim, Birr 55

Al-Hashr: 22-24

Muslim, Birr 55

Al-Enbiya: 32

Al-A’raf: 73