Monotheism/Polytheism and Asian Religions and Islam

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Feb 27, 2022 at 15:46

Our dear Dave wrote:

>Originally, a "Believer" was simply any monotheist.

It is not that simple. The Qur'an addresses the Jews and Christians in Surat al-'Ankabout 46: والاهنا والهكم واحد

This can be rendered as: And our God and your God is one.

However, this could very well be poor Arabic syntax and the author meant to say: والاهنا والهكم نفس الواحد or And our God and your God is the same one.

So the Qur'an is saying that Jews and Christians pray to one God and Muslims pray to one God. So is he the same God? The Qur'an does not tell us in this verse.

More? Surat al-Tawba 30 وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ عُزَيْرٌ ابْنُ اللَّهِ وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَى الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ اللَّهِ

This can be rendered as: And the Jews said (Past tense plural Feminine) 'Uziar (Ezra may be?) is the son of Allah and the Nasara (read this as the Christians) said (plural past tense Feminine) the Messiah (read this as Jesus) is the son of Allah

So Allah is accusing the Jews and Christians or polytheism

Notice that the word الشرك means: Idolatry/polytheism and yes and as usual Muslims have long winded explanations for types of الشرك and here is a link to islamweb that explains it very well

https://www.islamweb.net/ar/article/17484/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%83-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%81%D9%87-%D9%88%D8%A3%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B9%D9%87

And here is a link to Ibn Manzur's dictionary and the word الشرك

https://www.islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&idfrom=4230&idto=4230&bk_no=122&ID=4238

Notice that it is from the Arabic root Sh-R-K or to share

Now, Arabs in the 7th century almost all of them were already Christianized but the Qur'an tells us that Muhammad's milieu was pagan which is very strange

More? The word توحيد or Tawheed means: The Unity of God it does not mean Oneness of God. The correct Arabic is: وحدانية or Oneness (of God)

The Qur'an also tells us: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ هَادُوا وَالنَّصَارَىٰ وَالصَّابِئِينَ in Surat al-Baqara 62

Or: Truly those that believed and those that are Jews and Christians and (followers) of al-Sabi'a

Their Lord (Allah) will treat them well

Notice that al-Sabi'a was an Aramaic speaking religion if Southern Mesopotamia and they worshipped stars and prohibited circumcision and regarded YHWH as an evil God. Very much contrary to Islam

Now back to your remark: And I will ask you a question: After reading the above, was Muhammad addressing a "monotheistic" audience or was he a poor and undisciplined theologian?

As for Asian and Indian religions: Did you ask yourself why would the god of the Qur'an be silent about Asian religions? Could it be because he was a local Arabian deity and nothing more?

Next? How does the Qur'an define who is a God and who is not a God

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".