monotheism

Since ancient times, various epistemological approaches, such as rationalism and traditionalism, have been debated within different theological schools. In contrast to the Salafis, the Maturidi school adheres to a rationalist approach to the tenets of Tawhid (monotheism), giving rise to several theological repercussions. Given that the divergence in perspectives stems from the contrasting viewpoints of the two schools’ founders, this research, employing a descriptive-analytical methodology, delves into the extent of rationalism employed by Ibn Taymiyyah and Abu Mansur al-Maturidi, as well as the theological ramifications of their respective perspectives on Tawhid. The findings reveal that Ibn Taymiyyah and his followers exhibit a lesser degree of rationalism in their understanding of Tawhid compared to Abu Mansur al-Maturidi and the Maturidi school. This divergence in rationalist thought leads to significant consequences, including differing classifications of Tawhid, contrasting views on divine attributes and actions, diverse approaches to presenting rational proofs, and dissimilar perspectives on the concept of good and evil.  

Doctrinal hadiths (those concerned with beliefs), which reflect the involvement of the Imams in theological discussions and the development and reinforcement of the Shiite theological school, highlight the significance and status of hadiths within transmitted theology (al-kalām al-naqlī). Among these are the golden-chain (silsilat al-dhahab) hadiths, which, if their chain of transmission is authenticated—concerning the non-infallible transmitters—are among the most reliable and valuable hadiths in Imāmī tradition. This justifies reliance on them, and their examination contributes to the affirmation and enrichment of transmitted Shiite theological evidence. ʿUyūn Akhbār al-Riḍā includes such hadiths, encompassing both doctrinal and non-doctrinal content. In this study, the hadiths related to doctrinal topics (other than imamate), such as faith (īmān), monotheism (tawḥīd), the attributes of God, the characteristics and status of the Prophet, the angels, and other related issues, were identified, described, and then subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis. The content of the 94 hadiths identified in this context affirms Shiite doctrinal teachings or responds to objections raised against them. The statistical and analytical examination of these hadiths not only provides strong evidence for the antiquity and authenticity of Shiite beliefs from the era of the Imams’ presence, but also indicates the longstanding and frequent transmission of these teachings and their importance to the Imams.

ʾAmīr al-Muʾminīn- peace be upon him - in the Monotheistic sermon of Nahj al-balāgha, in a purely metaphysical way, has placed the levels of knowledge of God Almighty in five levels, each of which is placed above the other, and the highest level of all of them is the level of negation of God’s attributes. This passage from his statement is one of the most brilliant and profound statements in the knowledge of God Almighty, which has opened a chapter in monotheism, and throughout history, after its issuance, it has astonished philosophers, mystics, researchers, and commentators in its understanding, and hence, the source of various explanations and analyzes have appeared. Allāma Tabātabāī has thought deeply about this statement, the result of which has been reflected in his multiple works. According to this view, reflection into the meaning of monotheism leads to the sincerity of monotheism, and the complete sincerity of monotheism is when no attributes other than essence are proven in it. This paper has been extracting, analyzing, explaining, and investigating Allāma Tabātabāī’s point of view in this field.

Scholars have offered a wide range of views on the role of innate nature (fiṭra) in attaining faith. On one end of the spectrum, there is the belief that fiṭra serves as a complete guide, capable of leading humans to the threshold of divine rulings (Ibn Ṭufayl’s view). On the other end, it is argued that fiṭra alone cannot guide humans to God, and that guidance can only be achieved through the teachings of prophets and one's presence in society (al-Shaykh al-Ṣadūq’s view). However, an analysis of Quranic verses and hadiths provides a different perspective, rejecting both the maximal and minimal roles of fiṭra in the attainment of faith. In times of hardship and difficult circumstances, fiṭra guides individuals toward intuitive faith or faith in a general sense, which in itself is non-guiding and can quickly fade. Nevertheless, it can create the conditions for accepting acquired guidance and achieving contemplative faith, or faith in the specific sense (as presented by the divine prophets).

Anyone who seeks truth and happiness acknowledges the necessity of studying God's existence and his uniqueness. This necessity is even more important considering that human’s innate nature has a tendency towards God. However, one can research this issue in the holy texts of different religions, not with “a priori” approach or seeking their rational reasons, but merely with “a posteriori” and descriptive approach; and can reach to this conclusion that the doctrine of the existence of God and monotheism is not necessary in one religion, but it is necessary in various religions. This result can be worthwhile for religious scholars. This research has tried to analyze the issue of God's existence, especially his uniqueness, in the Old Testament, using a library research method and a descriptive-analytical method. According to this research, there are numerous evidences in the Old Testament that introduce God as the progenitor of being, and several terms indicate the unity of God as well. Although some believe that the two mentioned belief principles are evident based on the Old Testament, but this claim is not acceptable, which is elaborately discussed in the article.

Monotheism is the key to solving the meaningless problem of contemporary human life. The ratio of belief in God and the meaning of life is the same as the ratio of the sun and sunlight, in the sense that the meaning of contemporary human life is moment-by-moment dependent on God. Javadi Amoli's view on the issue of meaninglessness of life is based on the maximum belief in God. Javadi Amoli has helped to solve this problem by using his first philosophical foundations, which are based on a theistic view. Some of his first principles are the principle of causality and the transubstantiation sum of existence and non-existence (estehale jame hasti va nisti), which lead to solve the problem of the meaninglessness of contemporary human life. This article, organized by the library method, by referring to the literature of contemporary philosopher Javadi Amoli, tries to answer the question of how Javadi Amoli contributes to solve the issue of the meaninglessness of life contemporary man? From a philosophical perspective, this research attempts to prove the meaning of life from the perspective of the New Sadrasians, especially Javadi Amoli. The findings of the present study are as follows: 1. Javadi Amoli's view on helping to solve the problem of the meaninglessness of life is based on the God-centered theory of the meaning of life. 2. The key to solve the problem of meaninglessness in contemporary human life is belief in God. 3. The first philosophical foundations of New Sadrasians philosophers played a vital role in helping to solve the problem of the meaninglessness of life. 4. In the New Sadrasians School, by preserving the fundamentals and essential elements, we face restoration and reconstruction, and new ideas have been presented.

One of the most important sociological, psychological, and theological issues in the contemporary world is "lifestyle". The significant point here is the role of worldviews in forming, dividing, and explaining the lifestyle. The divine and material worldviews divide the lifestyle into two important types. The subject matter of this article is the role of monotheism, as the most important foundation and infrastructure of Islam, in the lifestyle. This paper has answered these questions using a descriptive-analytical method What is the role of belief in God in people's lifestyles? What are the main characteristics of a monotheistic lifestyle? Is there only one type of monotheistic lifestyle or one can believe in different types of it? The results of this article show that monotheism completely changes the lifestyle and a believer's lifestyle is completely different from a non-believer’s lifestyle. Moreover, a monotheistic lifestyle leads to an optimistic view of the world and life, a profound and comprehensive understanding of the human being and the world, balance in life choices, deep pleasures, a coherent system in life, superior knowledge and values, rational action in life, making the immeasurable aspects of affairs measurable, creating the capacity of having superior choices, and directing the choices. Finally, the monotheistic lifestyle has different levels, so we are not faced with only one type of monotheistic lifestyle.

In the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, some scholars in the West, influenced by the Enlightenment worldview, believed that the cause of each incident could be found in nature. They took into consideration the existing primitive religions to find mundane origin of religion. They also discovered that some matters such as Animism, Fetishism, Manichaeism, Totemism have been common principles among the existing primitive religions and each of them knew one of these matters as the beginning and origin of religion, but because of their specific worldview, intentionally or unintentionally, ignored this idea that belief in one God is more than anything else a common belief among primitive peoples, so the origin and beginning of the religion may be monotheism. This theory was presented at that time by christian pastor, Wilhelm Schmidt, but was ignored by others. The results of research that Western anthropologists have gained from these religions can provide a lot of evidence in favor of Schmidt's theory.

Enhancing human capacity to adapt and remain resilient in the face of natural and man-made disasters has long been a central concern. This article explores the relationship between practical monotheism and social resilience, drawing on the thoughts of Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi. Employing a library-based research approach with descriptive and analytical methods, the article examines how practical manifestations of monotheism can strengthen societal resilience. According to Ayatollah Misbah’s works, three key areas are identified in this respect: (1) constructive interaction within society, (2) promotion of moral virtues and human values, and (3) emphasis on the meaning and purpose of life. Constructive interaction, grounded in monotheism, fosters social resilience by promoting societal unity, respect for individual and collective rights, and the dignity of the underprivileged. Theological contributions associated with monotheism further contribute to resilience. By fostering hope in God’s grace and encouraging societal members to embrace truth, patience, and mercy, these contributions build resilience. Finally, focusing on the meaning and purpose of life within a monotheistic framework, which includes recognizing God’s judgment, destiny, and wisdom in shaping the world, provides a foundation for resilience by acknowledging the limitations of worldly knowledge and the certainty of the afterlife.

The issue of this article is to introduce the general field of science and religion and explain its importance. For this purpose, after defining the desired meanings for "science", "religion" and "theology", we address the question "Why does theology relate to science?". After that, we will describe the various stages that non-sensory knowledge will enter into the process of scientific theorizing, and in this section, we will refer to some of the accepted theses of the philosophy of science of the second half of the 20th century. Then, we will define naturalism and show its place as one of the irreplaceable foundations of the modern experimental science, and we will depict the theological consequences of its acceptance. Finally, looking at the contrast of naturalism with theism on the one hand and the falseness of naturalism on the other hand, we will establish the necessity of a monotheistic worldview in the process of understanding nature.

The subject of humanities in a general meaning is human, society and its individual and social behavior, and in a specific meaning in the intellectual system of Islam and with the Quranic approach, it is: "actions" and "reactions" of human; Whether external and internal actions; worldly and hereafter, external and internal; Individual and social and the like. According to this meaning, the network of human relations and actions can be drawn in at least four categories: the relationship with himself, God, other humans (and society) and with the world (nature and life). This approach to the subject of Islamic humanities and its scope has many results in the development and production of these sciences. this article tries to show the results of the mentioned basis in the nature and coordinates of Islamic humanities with a rational and descriptive method and based on the network of the mentioned relationships. Some of the findings of the current research are: monotheism in the network of human actions and relationships; The diversity of Islamic humanities concepts and issues, the diversity of Islamic humanities fields, the development of Islamic humanities fields, the diversity and abundance of epistemic resources, and the functional diversity of Islamic humanities.

Different definitions of the concept of "worship" have been presented, and this concept has become the central signifier of actions and reactions between Islamic denominations. The beginning of this challenge is the Salafists' definition of worship, which is based on the literal meaning and emphasis on meanings such as "high degree of humiliation, submission" accompanied with "high degree of love". Adding other elements such as "distinct property of Godhood in God" and "absolute divinty of God and negation of independence from masiwa" to the literal definition is also to face this wrong interpretation of worship. The question is how to correct the descriptive definitions of worship. In this article, an attempt is made to present a more accurate picture of the concept of worship, taking into account the prevailing atmosphere in the Jahili era and looking at the situational and meta-linguistic context, and on this axis, worship means voluntary belief in the oneness of God and humble obedience free from arrogance and defiance towards God.

Felicity has been the longstanding dream of Man that stands in the need of God’s cognition. Imam Ali (a) has lit upon cognition of God through negation of divine attribute. The current research employed a descriptive-analytical method to investigate the reciprocal interdependence between purity excellence and negation of divine attributes. To this aim, different views associated with divine attributes, their criticism, the evidential views of negation of attributes as well as the meaning conveyed by purification and its relationship with negation of attributes and the relationship between monotheism in divine attributes and unity of Imam’s attributes are taken into an analytical account. Research findings revealed that purification is the true interpretation for the noble expression of “there is no God save Allah” and denotes the wholesome rejection of any substantial mode from God while acknowledging simplicity of truth in manifestation and conception of His attributes, which, in turn, denies a compound conception of divine attributes in mental modes. Thus, a purified servant, due to his true belief in divine attributes of perfection becomes an absolute manifestation of divine attributes as well as a simple truth while preserving its contingency in order. That is why in the noble traditions of “golden chain” obedience to God is introduced as the condition for arriving at the truth of the expression “there is no God save Allah“.

Talking about the belief in God and its opposite point, atheism, is one of the essential topics in theology and philosophy. Rejection of monotheistic worldview, negation of faith and surrender to any supernatural object or person, disbelief in the existence of a personal God who plays a role in human existence and life, denial of fixed beliefs and laws and monotheistic dogma or rites and rituals, negation of immortality and utopianism of monotheistic religions and so on, are the common characteristics of atheists. But the question is whether atheists really are honest in their claim of independence and distance from theism in their worldview, beliefs, and actions. With a descriptive-analytical method and by presenting numerous pieces of evidence, this article has challenged the claim that atheism is a totally independent and contradictory idea and is opposed to theism and considered it false. The result of this evidence and reasons is that atheism is a crude, immature, and indefensible idea and, at best, a clumsy, unjustified, and impractical copycat of theism.

The subject of this article is the examination of the evolution of the principles of religion in Mu'tazilite theology with a focus on the semantics of the term "principles of religion." Determining the principles of religion has been of great importance to Muslim theologians. In the Mu'tazilite school of thought, the principles of religion initially began with two principles: monotheism (Tawhid) and justice ('Adl), and then throughout the history of theological discourse, this sect underwent transformations due to intensified theological and sometimes political disputes. Three additional principles - the intermediacy between intermediates (Manzilah bayn al-manzilatayn), promise and threat (wa'd wa wa'id), enjoining good and forbidding evil (amr bi'l-ma'ruf wa-nahy 'an al-munkar) - were added. The main question of this research is what changes in the semantics of the term "principles of religion" occurred during the history of this sect that led from those initial two principles to the final five? This article, in order to answer this question, employs a descriptive-analytical method to examine the semantic meaning of the term "principles of religion" and its evolutionary trajectory among the Mu'tazilites. It seems that the term "principles of religion" in this sect, based on their definition of faith, refers to the principles of belief and practice that are considered pillars of faith. The non-acceptance of these principles implies departure from the circle of faith and Islam. Among these principles, two belief principles, monotheism and justice, are among the main pillars of belief, while the three principles of intermediacy between intermediates, promise and threat, and enjoining good and forbidding evil are considered subsidiary principles extracted from the heart of the two preceding principles.

Among the important and basic issues of philosophy that have been discussed during recent centuries, the rule of "Basit al-Haqiqah" or simple and uncompounded truth has been among the sages and philosophers of the East and West of the world.This rule has a special place to solve other philosophical problems and especially to prove monotheism.Mulla Sadra (Sadr al-Din Shirazi) believes in the principle of "Basît al-Haqiqa of all things and licks of something minus" means that all things are truly simple, while none of the things are; That is, it has the perfections and existential aspects and the goodness of everything, and is devoid of their defects, limits, and determinations. It is not easyOn the other hand, Leibniz, one of the great philosophers of the West, has tried to investigate, analyze and prove it with the expression "individual essence" or "manad". Leibniz believed that "herald" is a single, indivisible, elemental substance with many properties, but because it is simple, it has no components.According to what is stated in this article, simple existence, absolute existence, and infinite existence have the same meaning, and this is a common topic between Mulla Sadra and Leibniz.

The monotheistic tradition, especially in Abrahamic religions, emphasizes the belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, purely benevolent, just and wise God. Such a view is threatened by various forms of evil-beliefs, and if logical and convincing answers cannot be given to it, it is a serious threat to the tradition of monotheism. In this article, it is shown that due to the presence of the infinite God's activity on one side of the equation of the problem of evil, the most logical solution is to use the total of possible answers in a combined and unified way, because the combination of the existing ways brings closer to the answer and is more convincing in this context. Therefore, while paying attention to the differences between the metaphysical, natural and moral evils from each other, combining answers such as the relativity of evil, evil as a necessity of human free will, seeing evil as a punishment for human sins, evil as the cause of human spiritual excellence, and seeing the world of the hereafter and the importance of the eternal perspective are needed as the final manifestation of the evil philosophy.

 Mirza Javad Tehrani is one of the followers of the school of Tafkik and had been strongly influenced by the thoughts of Mirza Mehdi Isfahani and Sheikh Hadi Tehrani. According to school of Tafkik, the use of rational and philosophical methods has no place in proving or explaining religious teachings. Also, one of the reasons, given by the deniers of the Sadra's philosophy is that this philosophy takes contradictory approach, and therefore they accuse the transcendent philosophy of methodological eclecticism. But Tehrani by proving the fundamental reality of quiddity and using it for the issue of monotheism, has confirmed the use of philosophical and rational discussions in the religious teachings.   Tehrani by proposing eight critiques, he has criticized the principles and arguments of the fundamental reality of existence, and consequently, he considers the issue of essential monotheism to be provable only by the principles of the fundamental reality of quiddity. As for the background of the present research, the only article that has been published on this subject is "Critique of the arguments of the fundamental reality of existence in the thought of Mirza Javad Tehrani" by Hossein Soheili (Soheili and others، 1398) in the journal of Hikmat Muaser. The present research is structurally, contently and basically, from four aspects, different from this research.

In this article the authors, firstly, relying on the descriptive method and analysis of the content, have studied and evaluated eight Tehrani’s critiques on the fundamental reality of existence. Consequently, it is specified that the origin of Tehrani's attitude to explaining the provable characteristic of the Essence of the Necessary Being, in order to support the principles of the fundamental reality of quiddity, is that he did not distinguish between acceptance of requirement and acceptance of causality regarding the Essence of the Necessary Being. On the other hand, it has been cleared that, relying on the Tehrani’s view -criticizing the fundamental reality of existence and strengthening the fundamental reality of quiddity- it is not possible to give a convincing answer to Ibn Kamuna's doubt and the arguments of the monotheism of Essence, attributes and actions envisage problem. But relying on the Sadra's fundamental reality of existence, although God is not a special being of any quiddity, to require His possibility, the supreme Divine Existence possesses all perfect entities. Accordingly, firstly, the existential attributes of creatures are attributed to God in the status of the act, not in the status of the Essence. Secondly, they are attributed to God in that they are existences. Therefore, it can be acknowledged that although creatures have perfections, there is no perfection other than the perfection of God. According to this interpretation, philosophical purification will not be in conflict with the appearance of verses and hadiths that limit existential attributes as well as activity and influence in God alone or attributed the actions of the creature to God.According to Tehrani, the adherents of the fundamental reality of existence believe that the truth of external objects is existence and the truth of existence is not something like other objects, so it cannot be perceived by the five senses, but its perception is possible with intuition. According to the authors' research, Tehrani, since he could not perceive the truth of existence with empirical knowledge, inevitably considered what he perceives with his five senses as truth, and finally came to believe that what exists externally is quiddity.

These consequences are resulted from this article: 1- Tehrani’s criticisms on the fundamental reality of existence are not correct. In some positions, he quoted the words of the predecessors of the adherents of the fundamental reality of quiddity, and in other cases, he did not accept the principles of the adherents of the fundamental reality of quiddity. There are two central points in most of Tehran's criticisms: Firstly, he did not have a correct idea of how the object and the subject correspond to each other, because he considered the concrete to be a container-like reality in which external beings have taken place, while the subject and the subjective are the same thing, as well as object and objective are the same thing. Secondly, in most cases, he has meant what the adherents of the fundamental reality of existence mean, but in order to escape from this thesis, he has adhered to the fundamental reality of quiddity. 2- Considering the difference between requirement and causality, which is based on the fundamental reality of existence, the Essence of the Necessary Being can be considered as possessor of requirement, without any causality, because considering the issue of causality, the Essence of the Necessary Being will have caused and otherness of existence and quiddity in the contingents indicates the essential dependence of the contingent on the cause, but the sameness of existence and quiddity in the Necessary Being indicates the non-dependence of the Essence of Necessary Being on the cause, since His Essence is His Existence. But according to the fundamental reality of quiddity, relying on the unification of requirement and causality, in the Essence of the Necessary Being, the main problem is that the Essence of the Necessary Being can no longer be considered the Necessary Being of all aspects.

The present article intends to present a new and unprecedented argument to prove monotheism by reflecting on the existential relationship between two correlative (motazayef) matters and how they are originated and evolved in the outside world. For this purpose, I first quote and critique two exclusive theories in this regard, namely the theory of Fakhr-e Razi and the theory of Khajeh Nasir, and then, in the light of the rationality of the Infallibles’ narrations, I present a third theory that includes a new and innovative argument  in proving monotheism. Thus I first argue that the external existence of two correlative matters always requires a circular reasoning, but the realization of a circular reasoning entails impossibility only if it is the result of a subjectivity of the type "making something from something", but if it is the result of a subjectivity of the type "making something not from a thing", it will not entail any impossibility. Thus I will conclude that the mere external existence of correlative matters implies a subjective existence; an agent who is the creator not from a thing. Then I will show, using four implication eliminations, that whoever is a creator not from a thing, will be the one who has no second.