What is One?
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salam alaykum
It usually annoys the sanity out of me, but one nice thing about working in Christian radio broadcasting is that I get to share Islam with curious folks now and then.
I was giving dawa to a Trinitarian woman who was brought into my sphere recently, and I was giving her the basics of tawhid and the nature of God in the Qur'an and the human being's relationship with Him the Lord and the servant. I was telling her that Allah is One when she stopped me and asked What is One?
The directness of the question threw me off -- it's just so obvious to a muslim -- and I had to pause. Indeed, there are so many implications from this simple equation, so I thought it would be a good topic here.
What does it really mean for God to be One? What is One?
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As Salaam Alaykum!
This is a very good question, brother... The context of Allah being "one" means He is indivisible. Does it mean that He is ONE PERSON? Not necessarily, especially since most people say that God is not a "person", or being, at all. Therefore, God can be the collection of divine factors in the Universe - perhaps the first atom, or spark, in existence - that stimulated everything else in nature. The Arabic context of "tawhiyd" doesn't necessarily imply TOTAL ONENESS, it can also imply UNITY. The concept of God being "three" doesn't make sense, basically because there were more than three elements necessary to create the known Universe. By referring to God as "three", the Trinitarian concept is restricting Him to one form of measurement and distinction.
In reality, God is the ALL-IN-ALL, everything within everything. The forces of the established Universe combine to form one infinite reality, and that is God - the sublime causeless cause and effect of all things. Therefore, by "one", God is the infinite reality within all things, the unified collection of all things known and unknown. That's why "He" is also called "We" throughout the scriptures, "I" is also called "Us". The oneness is within the unity.
Peace!
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As Salaam Alaykum!
This is a very good question, brother... The context of Allah being "one" means He is indivisible. Does it mean that He is ONE PERSON? Not necessarily, especially since most people say that God is not a "person", or being, at all. Therefore, God can be the collection of divine factors in the Universe - perhaps the first atom, or spark, in existence - that stimulated everything else in nature. The Arabic context of "tawhiyd" doesn't necessarily imply TOTAL ONENESS, it can also imply UNITY. The concept of God being "three" doesn't make sense, basically because there were more than three elements necessary to create the known Universe. By referring to God as "three", the Trinitarian concept is restricting Him to one form of measurement and distinction.
In reality, God is the ALL-IN-ALL, everything within everything. The forces of the established Universe combine to form one infinite reality, and that is God - the sublime causeless cause and effect of all things. Therefore, by "one", God is the infinite reality within all things, the unified collection of all things known and unknown. That's why "He" is also called "We" throughout the scriptures, "I" is also called "Us". The oneness is within the unity.
Peace!
I agree entirely with this. The quran itself clearly points to such an interpretation in many verses, one such
2435 Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth; a likeness of His light is as a niche in which is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass, (and) the glass is as it were a brightly shining star, lit from a blessed olive-tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof almost gives light though fire touch it not-- light upon light-- Allah guides to His light whom He pleases, and Allah sets forth parables for men, and Allah is Cognizant of all things.
Consider God as "energy" or "potential to do things". You consist of a given quantity of this potential but God is the totality of this potential. When you consider the sheer implications of the concept of infinity, it is a self evident truth that the God described in the quran is a fundamental reality of this universe. Now, what he says, you may not agree with and it could also have somehow been the case that someone came to this realisation that infinity is a rather powerful number and then forged a book around it, but when an all powerful being seems to be telling you what the fuck is up, it is surely wise to take heed and re-evaluate your own perceptions rather than saying "yes, you said this but my daddy told me that which clearly disagrees with this and my daddy can beat up your daddy".
It is fairly evident, given this explanation as to why the quran flip flops from I to We all the time. From an "Allah has arms and legs and urinates sitting down" perspective this seems fairly ridiculous and clearly inclining to "shirk". From this perspective however it is beyond obvious. "We" is used in the quran where God talks about creation, the We-ness of the universe brings every creation into being, and does many things. Where is "I" used in the quran? From what I have read, purely where God declares his sheer might. The "We" can be considered to be a mathematical statement of the universe, "We" being a set containing every divided element, quanta of energy whereas "I" = the totality of the quanta which just so happens to be infinity. This is a case of "the whole is greater than the sum of the parts". Hence, it is a reversal of the "royal We", it is instead the royal "I".
Going by my psychedelic journeys, the "I" is all that really exists, we clearly live in an illusion of separation from the one. It is considered profoundly unwise and obviously so to stand in the way of a tidal wave when you are a mere human yet most people have no issues standing in the way of the almighty.
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When I look around this observable universe, I find very few things that are one. Our universe is polarized Light and dark, positive and negative, attraction and repulsion. First pairs, then multiples another star, another galaxy.
The only thing I have found that could be called one, besides Allah, is Truth. I don't mean relative truth, as in your truth and my truth, or the truth of this and that probability, but I mean Truth itself, absolute Truth the actual way things are, the whole cosmos as one thing. As soon as you try to describe Truth it falls into the multiplicity of logic.
This is why the first chapter of John is wrong. Logic cannot be God. Logic is process and process is multiple. God is above logic. God created logic. In the beginning was not the word. Those people worship the jinn.
What is one? Truth is one. God is one. What else is one?
A game Trinitarians like to play is "one group" so they claim unity within the group of three. But Ahmad called out their error why three then and not two or four or a million. It doesn't make sense to limit the infinite.
Do most people really say that God is not a person? Most Buddhist do, but is that the human norm? I am very interested in the personification of God. Is it merely a trick of the mind? We personify almost everything. Is it the default mode that our minds relate to objects and phenomena like storms as little people?
I heard someone point out that the Qur'an uses the I pronoun for God when God is extremely angry or pleased with a specific person or people. What is amazing though is how God's transcendence is zoomed in and out through the clever usage of shifting pronouns into 1st, 2nd and 3rd person. Consider the end of chapter 88 "Enter My Garden." How much more personal can you get than that? Compare to the many verses "Those will be in the Fire" - distant and very impersonal like a law of nature.
We live in an illusion of separation from the One. True, but this separation is necessary for existence. If we dissolve completely back into the One, we can't have an individual form. God as All-Potentiality is good to throw into this mix. I think this is what the Qur'an means when it says "God is capable of everything." But this "everything" does appear to have more constricting limits as time goes on, before the clay dries, if you will.
There is another instance of "one" in the world. That is the geometric center of a circle, and I have been working with this concept of God as Center, then Principle as universal radiation, and Manifestation as particular form. But maybe I just need to eat more mushrooms.
Peace.
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I had a similar discussion with a Jewish Rabbi few years ago about 'One'.
Here's some snippet of our conversation back then..Q How many could it be possible to exist, for 'something' which has no boundary? (boundless)
A OneQ What is One in that case?
A Boundless one, since you don't know it's boundary and limit.Q Why in Hebrew Shema, it is said that "YHVH Echad" and not "YHVH Yachid"?
A Because "Yachid" can refer to 'single' / 'one which you know the boundary and limit' while "Echad" refer to 'Oneness' / 'one which you don't know the boundary'Q So where is this "One God" / "YHVH Echad" actually located?
A He is here there and everywhere since He has no boundary..Salam / Peace
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Salaam all,
I found 'THE BEST' definition of 'Allah is ONE', I should say 'Allah is ALONE'. Anyways, here it goes
1121
1122
1123
1124In the name of Allah, the Almighty, the Merciful.
1121 Say He is Allah, One/Alone,
1122 Allah, the Indivisible,
1123 He does not beget, nor was He begotten,
1124 And there is none who is His equal.394
394 If Allah wished to take a son, He could have exalted from among His creation what He pleases. Be He glorified; He is Allah, the One, the Supreme.Even if Allah wished to take a son, He is not gonna produce, but 'Astafa' that means 'Select' from His Creation to whom He pleases.
But why select? Because 'He is Allah, the ONE, the Supreme'. Alhamdulillah.
May Allah guide us all towards the Truth.
Mohammed M. Khan -
Abdullah, I wouldn't be TOO sure that there is exactly ONE truth. Logically speaking, how can we KNOW that? For certain? In fact our everyday obvservations suggest that there are several different versions of the truth depending on how you see things. But usually our intuition is that there is only one correct truth (most likely our own version). But again how do we know that that intuition is correct? I mean sure, we can scientifically verify some facts, but you can't always decide on one correct interpretation of what those facts MEAN. So how do we know that there is always one meaning?
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Abdullah, I wouldn't be TOO sure that there is exactly ONE truth. Logically speaking, how can we KNOW that? For certain? In fact our everyday obvservations suggest that there are several different versions of the truth depending on how you see things. But usually our intuition is that there is only one correct truth (most likely our own version). But again how do we know that that intuition is correct? I mean sure, we can scientifically verify some facts, but you can't always decide on one correct interpretation of what those facts MEAN. So how do we know that there is always one meaning?
Good point brother. I can't prove what I'm saying. It is actually a BELIEF that the Truth is One, just as it is a belief that Allah is One.
But it's also something in our definition of truth that is fuzzy. I would like to redefine Absolute Truth as the way in which Allah knows the Creation. Human brains will have different versions of the truth (relative truth) based on experience like you said, but Allah is al-haqq beyond modes of perception.
I am seeing a cone filled with little brains. As you go up the cone, the individual "understanding" and "interpretations" and "meanings" converge on the One Truth at the top, which only Allah can access, because only He is outside of the whole system.
Being inside the system and moving through it, we animals with intellect can only ever grasp limited parts of the whole truth. We are inextricably caught in the web of meaning, i.e. The Glass Bead Game, at least until Revelation comes down, and then we are back to the necessity of belief.
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Greetings and peace, all group
<rhetorical question> Is a bunch of grapes one grape? hmm
But then again, is 24 hours one day? sunWhat I reason is that ~some~ systems can have subsystems--at the very least conceptual subsystems. The subsystems are not the system. In Islam, we follow Allah alone. In this context, Allah is the "system." If a subsystem exists...I don't care about it! What use is there for a subsystem--~if~ such subsystem were to exist? Am I, are we, commanded to follow these "Schr?dinger's cat" subsystems?
Allah knows best.
peace
~Abdul-Hadi
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A bunch of grapes isn't one grape, it is however one bunch.
I agree that in a way there is just one truth, this truth contains all that is/was/will be within it. Everything is a segment of this store of information.
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Schr?dinger's cat - is he/she dead or alive? And does observing it make it so? This deviant reasoning clearly leaves out the All-Knowing Creator and flattens the metaphysical hierarchy into two horizontal poles subject and object. But the question of uncertainty remains.
G?del - Within a system, we can have certainty or completeness, but not both. So if you are certain, then you are necessarily leaving something out. This is such a subtle and profound principle in the Universe, I'll never get over it. And in the Tao Te Ching, thousands of years ago appeared the same idea Once you speak the truth, it's no longer the truth.
It can be said that Allah's System is the religion of One, i.e. tawhid. And I love it so much, because it's like soap, while the others go around building their one world government, and making themselves into gods. Humanity, you have a clear choice to make now One World Religion or One World Government.
What is One? Another thing comes to mind...
The END is one, i.e. there is only one Last Day. And the Last Day is one of the few things we are commanded to believe in along with the angels, books, and messengers. In fact belief in God and the Last Day are very often paired in the Qur'an.
(2.8 2.62 2.126 2.177 2.228 2.232 2.264 3.114 4.38 4.39 4.59 4.136 4.162 5.69 9.18 9.19 9.29 9.44 9.45 9.99 24.2 29.36 33.21 58.22 60.6, 65.2)
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Neither! And humanity will still have One Source.
Get your head out of the sand, brother. They already have you exactly where they want you, right under their net. They are putting chemicals in your food and water. They control your country's economy, wherever you happen to live. And they aren't going to stop tightening their blood sucking grip on every living thing on the planet, but apparently you haven't noticed yet. Maybe it's the chemicals.
The entire Universe will still have One Source, so what's the point in saying that?
Islam is the only serious alternative humanity has to total dominance by the global elite. That's what was trying to say. Provide us with your solution, brother. Don't just say, "Neither" like a kid in junior high.
Please go to infowars.com and learn something about the world.
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Get your head out of the sand, brother. They already have you exactly where they want you, right under their net. They are putting chemicals in your food and water. They control your country's economy, wherever you happen to live. And they aren't going to stop tightening their blood sucking grip on every living thing on the planet, but apparently you haven't noticed yet. Maybe it's the chemicals.
The entire Universe will still have One Source, so what's the point in saying that?
Islam is the only serious alternative humanity has to total dominance by the global elite. That's what was trying to say. Provide us with your solution, brother. Don't just say, "Neither" like a kid in junior high.
Please go to infowars.com and learn something about the world.
Infowars is a brilliant site. I wouldn't personally say one world religion as religion is a man made system whereas islam is a deen/system. So One World System of Peace - YEH peace
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Get your head out of the sand, brother. They already have you exactly where they want you, right under their net. They are putting chemicals in your food and water. They control your country's economy, wherever you happen to live. And they aren't going to stop tightening their blood sucking grip on every living thing on the planet, but apparently you haven't noticed yet. Maybe it's the chemicals.
The entire Universe will still have One Source, so what's the point in saying that?
Islam is the only serious alternative humanity has to total dominance by the global elite. That's what was trying to say. Provide us with your solution, brother. Don't just say, "Neither" like a kid in junior high.
Please go to infowars.com and learn something about the world.
Get your head in first brother. ) I forgive your tone, NP. Just please note your own use of the word "religion" and perhaps re-consider if there's a better way of expressing what you meant to say.
Firstly, don't expect the whole earthlings to embrace "Islam" as a "religion", and to top it all, as 'the one' and only 'standardized' way of life. It ain't gonna happen. If such thing is enforced, i'd have to fight against it. Isn't what matter, the answer your thread is trying to find--the One-ness, i.e. in the universality of every principle/pattern that is inherent to the nature of "Life"? Pro-creation, re-creation (instead of destruction).
There is a way to get out of mass poisoning & prisoning (mental, economical etc) decrease your reliance to the contemporary culture and all the complex layers & networks connected to it. Build your own self-sufficient, sustainable habitat turns ecosystem for your family and neighborhoods. Grow your own health foods and maintain your own clean water cycle, among other things. Connect with like-minded people. Grow as God-conscious communities, united by nothing else but the One Source. Not even religion will come close to self-consciousness, self-awareness that connects each human directly to its Source, the ONE Source.
The most ideal earth imho, btw, would be one with no religion and with no nations led by single individuals, not impartial to their people as they are bound by a partial, disintegrative system. No, any nation must be led by multiple leaders in equal order, as humans are not infallible. Each nominated and chosen on the base of morality and expertise throughout its life as witnessed by the people (perfect records). So in a sense, leaders are grown, not elected. The system would be totally oriented to the well-being of its people, verified in real-world measure (face to face), not through some high-level abstractions in the likes of numbers and statistics. Wealth and advancement is to be achieved through contribution. The more you're gifted, the more you give, the more you're given. The society is united by "helping interactions". Money is history. Politics is history. Sensationalism is history. Religious ruling is history. Spiritual development returns back as the life's most essential. The purpose of which the whole system as narrated above is based upon for minimum infliction. Keyline EACH human exercises its own consciousness and connection with the ONE Source.
This is my opinion to contribute to your thread, and thanks for reading.
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You do not even need to define the laws much if at all! Human instinct is a very powerful thing. Once you awaken to the source, the source guides you perfectly along. All you must do is ebb with the ebb and flow with the flow, that is the meaning of being at one with ALLAH.
Once I started eating wholesome foods, my body now rejects things such as chocolate bars and crisps! Instinct is incredibly powerful. There is only actually one task for humanity, we must become the masters of our instincts, not slaves to them. Have you seen how your reflexes can save your life so powerfully yet effortlessly? You can turn all of life into one smooth seamless reflex action if you so wish.
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Hi Everyone,
So what does One mean? There is a Jewish idea that G-d is Everything and Nothing at the same time. G-d is "No Thing" he isn't a thing in the way we perceive objects. This leads to G-d being everything which is unity. Jews fundamental prayer is the Shema.
"Hear O Israel G-d is your god and G-d is One."
The word in Hebrew for One is Echad. Which means unity as well as the numeric one.
Hope this sheds some light on the idea of One from the Jewish perspective.
Shalom, Salam, Peace
JewishDude -
You're damn right. God is ineffable, this is the meaning of God is "no thing". Yet God is EVERYTHING. To compare, consider what energy is. We know that everything is made of energy but nobody can or ever will be able to say what "energy" is! Of course I am talking about the ineffable essence behind the "energy" not "energy" itself. There is a saying, the tao that can be named is not the real tao.
What people are afraid of is the direct conclusion that results - that we are all collectively playing God whether or not we like it. Some will realise this and do justice to the name of God but a lot will not and they will blunder on.