A question about words in the Quran
An esteemed friend has sent the following question.
I was participating in a discussion and i suggested that cure for all social ills, result of serving other-than-Him, is to get a clear understanding about Tauheed.
the argument in response to it was – get us the word ‘tauheed’ from Quran. I do not know if that term is used in Quran or not. I used this term to refer to the phenomenon of Unity of God, His excellence above all in all regards.
That argument did not make sense because if that term is itself not mentioned but the concept then what term should be used to refer to it?
i was asked – I dont know what you mean by tauheed or unity of Allah, is the word tauheed used for the unity of Allah in the Quran?
…if the term tauheed is not used in the Quran, not as a description of the “concept of oneness”, then who thought its nessecary to find a word out of the Quran, to describe the “oneness of Allah”?
what does oneness of Allah mean?
It is a non quranic term which would also make it’s “concept” non quranic as well. Those who came up with the term are also the ones who provide the definition of that term. So, I believe the first thing we should do is ask ourselves if the quran agrees with the concept that has been assigned to this term “Tauheed”.
Did the Quran allowed anyone to make up concepts about Allah which are not in the Quran?
Is Allah THE GOD or THE ONLY GOD?
Tauheed is a concept, is Is Allah’s oneness a hypothesis or an actual practical reality?
ANYTHING said about Allah, his Deen, His Rusools must be proven throught the Quran itself, otherwise anyone can come up with stories and concepts as they like.
My question is – what is meaning of this arabic term Tauheed. We are asked to believe in His superiority – saves us from slavery to man and from man made ideas about Him. i ve been using this term in this context – Tauheed furnished us with knowledge which can stand against any other-than-Him.
If you could comment on it. Thanks.
From Zahid Aziz:
The objection someone raised regarding the word tauhid in the Quran is very superficial, in fact absurd to be frank.
What is a word? For example, if I receive a letter saying “you must pay this fine”, can I claim that the letter is not asking me to make a payment because it doesn’t mention the word “payment” but says “pay”!
The objector is saying in effect that the Quran only says “God is One”, so we cannot say that it teaches the “oneness of God” because it nowhere says “oneness”. Can any person accept this argument?
The word “tauhid” means the state of being “ahad” or “wahid”, meaning “one”. The Quran clearly says that Allah is “ahad” (ch. 112) and “your God is One (wahid) God” (2:163 and six other verses).
In the word “tauhid”, the “h” and the “d” are the letters from the word “ahad” or “wahid”. The “t” is the initial letter which is added to make it into a verbal noun.
For example, Allah is “Majid”, and we speak of His “tamjid”.
We all talk about the “qudrat” of Allah, i.e. His power or omnipotence. The word “qudrat” (I checked) nowhere occurs in the Quran. In the Quran Allah is called “qadeer” or “qadir”, which therefore means He has “qudrat”.
“Tauhid” is all that the Quran teaches us about Allah being One. Even if it occurred in the Quran, someone could still misinterpret it by not following the right principles. A word by occurring in the Quran does not guarantee that everyone will interpret it correctly.
Finally, suppose the US constitution mentions only the term “President”. Does it mean there is no such thing as Mr Obama’s “presidency” because this term is not used in the constitution?
From Omar:
With that line of thought, I suppose another objection that could be raised is that the “five pillars” of Islam is not mentioned in the Qur’an.
From Amna:
Thats right. i did hear this argument by a participant.
i do not know if this represent the opinion of the author of that site or not but it remained unquestioned.
I am not into ritualistic worship but no one can negate the significance of these acts and their results on our practice when they are done mindfully.
http://quaideazam.com/our-mission/comment-page-1/#comments
>>>THE FABRICATED PILLARS OF ISLAM
The term “Pillars of Islam” is absolutely non-Qur’anic. There is no such term as ‘Imaadil Islam’ or ‘Imaad-id-Deen’ in the Book of Allah . (‘Imaad means pillars.) But our clergy, the “Imams” of Hadith, invented the so-called five pillars of Islam.
The Sunni Pillars:*Iman (Faith) – *Salat (Relegated to ritual prayers five times a day) – *Zakaat (distorted as annual charity or poor-due) – *Saum (Fasting in the month of Ramadhan) – *Hajj (Pilgrimage to Makkah).The clergy, however, abjectly fail to describe a beautiful building on these “pillars”. Guarding human rights, benefiting people are the central themes in the Qur’an. Give and grow!I can imagine “Imam” Bukhari committing an atrocious forgery, writing an incomplete, erroneous sentence with a fibrillating heart and a trembling hand, “Al-binaa-il-Islam ‘ala khams.” (The foundation of Islam is on five.) Notice the word ‘Pillars’ missing even here, betraying his attempt at frank forgery.
The Shi’a Pillars are quite different:*Tawheed (Monotheism) – *‘Adl (Justice) *Nubuwwat (Belief in the prophets of God) – *Imamat (Imamate or belief in “Imams”) -*Qiyamat (Resurrection)>>>
i dont think i can agree with it – i remember a verse which speaks of those who remember Him standing, prostrating and bending. Ibadat may not be translated as worship but serving but certainly God is not ‘imaginary’ and if He is why would anyone need to speak for Quran, which that site does (imaginary God’s word)???
WORSHIP is referred in the Quran as ‘Shirk’—establishing private relations with imaginary God. Shirk was condemned by the Quran as it destroys unity and yields nothing. The current deplorable socioeconomic state of affairs of Muslims is a most illuminating example of results of Shirk based practices. Our present Namaz and its rituals were introduced by Zoroastrian-Christian converts who used the medium ofHADITH to mystify Quran and its teachings.
Yes, I am referring to ‘Our Namaz.’ It has become a Lip Service Worship. This is the the root cause of our misery. Shirk has always destroyed nations.
The success of USA , Europe, Israel and now India and China lies in the fact that these nations abandoned official worship or Shirk. SURAH AL BAQARA is so titled because it illuminates a message, warning mankind of the perils of WORSHIP. The perils are obvious.
atleast they r different than the general mindset about Islam but they need to reflect on
Let a word mature inside yourself.
Withhold the unripened thought.
Come and understand the kind of word
that reduces money and riches to dust.
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/E/EmreYunus/Asinglewordc.htm
From Amna:
quote – As some of you would know, Quran Al- Hakeem —Quran, ‘The Sovereign‘ was the original title of Our Great Manifesto in times of Prophet Muhammad but the Anti Quran conspiracy during Abbasid era, belittled and maimed the word Hakeem to ‘Quran, the All-Wise’ making it perfect to suit the conjecture of mystics and worshipers.
(Ref: http://vimeo.com/25484491)
conjecture of mystics? were all prophets not mystics? is it the right english term to refer to auliya karaam? I have great respect for Muslim saints. Their writings have been great source of learning and relate to.
From Ikram:
@Amna: the concept of “pillars of Islam” is no more than Cliff Notes, i.e. summation of teaching. Sunni note takers have their version and Shias theirs, and so on. It is a common knowledge that weak students only try to cram up theirs or others notes for their exam rather than referring to the original textbook. Muslims did it similarly. and in the process summarized Islam to mere rituals of “pillars”. In doing so they saved the body, but killed the soul. Welcome to Judaism. Re-read Surah Baqarah by replacing Jews with Muslims or spend a month in New York. You will find living similarities of decay of a religion.
To rectify this decay, yes we need Mujaddids! Thank you Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.