Monotheism in Mekkah?
In a book
that I was recently using for my research into the concept of monotheism, I ran
across an interesting statement, which I was hoping to get some comment on.
The author
was proposing that the mention of “there is no God but Allah” came into
being in the Qur’an
only in the verses revealed
at Medinah and that initially this was not mentioned in Islam. He was suggesting
that initially the notion of “Allah is
Great”, was promoted so as to lift Allah above the other gods, but not to
directly reject the other gods. He suggested that only after Muhammad
(pbuh)
gained power in Medinah did he utilize the monotheism to secure his power.
Is this true that the first part of the shahadah[1] is not mentioned till later?
Reply
The referred
contention of the author is without any basis. In fact, if we look closely at
the Surahs revealed at Mekkah, we
shall see that contrary to the contention of the author, the basic theme of
these Surahs is to convince the
addressees of the basic truth of Tawheed
(monotheism) on the one hand and to admonish them of the dire consequences of
rejecting this basic truth. One may have a look at the following Surahs as evidence of this fact:
Al-Faatihah
(1), Al-An`aam (6), Al-Aa`raaf (7), Yunus (16)
to Al-Muminoon (23), Al-Furqaan
(25) to Al-Sajadah (32), Saba (34)
to Al-Jaathiah (45), Qaaf
(50) to Al-Waaqi`ah (56) and Al-Mulk
(68) to Al-Ikhlaas (112).
I hope this helps. In case any aspect remains unclear, please feel free in writing back to me at your convenience.
Regards
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