The Quranic Concept of Ilah
-
The meaning of the term ?ilah? can be best understood by the following verse. According to the verse there are those who take their ?hawa?/desire/wishful thinking as their ilah. Now of course no one ascribes divinity to his desires. But while they do ascribe divinity to God/Allah alone, they disregard Him as their ilah because instead of accepting His laws in the world for matters already dealt with in His book, they create laws and rules/regulations according to their hawa/desire
25/43 Have you noticed the one who took his hawa/desires as his ilah?
Therefore bearing witness to Tauheed, the very basic tenet of Quran and Islam, that God is the only ilah, is not merely accepting the sole divinity of God, but recognizing Him as the lawgiver not only in the heavens but in the earthly affairs as well
3/18 God bears witness/shahaada surely that ??la ilaha illa hua?/there is no ilah except Him, and so do the angels and those with the knowledge, established in Justice/al-qist. There is no god except He, The Mighty, The Wise.
Those who distinguish between God?s law for the universe and the laws for the people on earth, take two different ilahs i.e. when one recognizes God?s universal laws but when it comes to the earthly affairs and the law of the land, he derives laws from sources other than God?s book. There should be no distinguishing between accepting God?s laws for earth and His laws for the rest of the universe since both laws come from the same source
16/51 And God said ?Do not take two ilahs; He is only one ilah; ??
43/84 And He is the one who is the Ilah in the heaven and the Ilah in the earth; and He alone is the all-Wise, the all-Knowing
If there were any ilahs in the heavens and the earth other than God, there would have been fasaad in both. But while we see no fasaad in the heavens, we do see fasaad on earth. Because it is on earth that people are guilty of taking ilahs other than God by accepting their laws, which cause conflict with God?s ultimate laws for earth and result in fasaad/confusion, disorder, bloodshed, destruction in the land
21/22 If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other ilahs besides God, surely there would have been fasaad in both!?
For example Firaun took his hawa/desires as his ilah, while his people took Firaun as their ilah. Both became mufsideen and both were destroyed. Thus, people taking ilahs other than God is the very cause of all the fasaad on earth, the most dangerous ilah being ?hawa?/Desire/wishful thinking
23/71 And if the Truth had been in accordance with their ahwaa/desires, surely the heavens and the earth, and all beings therein would have been in fasaad!
As opposed to the mufsideen, those who take only God as their ilah promote Justice(3/1. Only when people accept God as their ilah (ilahinnaas) by accepting the Quranic law as the law of the land will it result in harmony like in the rest of the universe.
http//thequran.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/the-quranic-concept-of-ilah/
-
See http//www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/M_four_term/t4_ilah.htm