Oneness of God in the Quran in the View of Allameh Tabataba i

Allah (God) is in the view of the Quran the Almighty above everything and anything who is never limited in any of his names. His being is far from any confinement, limit, and condition, and describing Him with numerable oneness and plurality, i.e. oneness and plurality in terms of numbers, is never possible, which is stated in the Holy Quran. The reason is that the one whose oneness is in terms of numbers is necessarily confined and conditioned by limits of time and space and probably by many other limits, and will necessarily be conditioned and affected by actions of another being who is aware of him. In the view of the Quran, God is far above being affected or conditioned by anything. This does not however imply that human thought is absolutely incapable of knowing God, which is what Sceptics claim. As understood from the Divine Wisdom and Revelation, human thought is unable to reach in its intellectual course to a full understanding of God’s names, including His Oneness (Tawhīd). However, although incapable of reaching a full understanding, the human thought is capable of reaching a limited understanding. In other words, the human is surely capable of knowing God and His names within the limits of his human power of thought and understanding, though not as would suit His Glory, Majesty and Splendour. This paper aims to give an interpretation of two names of God, the One (‘Ahad’) and the Unique (Wāhid), and by way of this interpretation concludes that God is One in His very essence, and His Oneness is His very being and not an attribute assigned to Him. Other forms of oneness and unity, including numerable oneness, therefore never suit God.