RENAISSANCE NOVEMBER 2020

42 Monthly Renaissance November 2020 Faith & Beliefs Essence of Polytheism (5) Amin Ahsan Islahi Summary of Previous Discussion The purpose of this whole long debate and detail was to demonstrate that while it is easy to deny another deity and accept God as the only god verbally, when its requirements emerge in daily life, no aspect of the latter can remain without its implication. This reality has been shown with clarity in the previous three chapters phase wise. The People of Makkah were believers in the being of God and all His attributes, but the Qur’ ā n did not give this any importance. Going one step forward, People of the Book accepted taw ḥī d , His books, His angels and His messengers, but even this proved to be weightless according to the standard of the Qur’ ā n. Hypocrites came at the end and they thought that there was nothing in the demands of taw ḥī d which they had not fulfilled and there was no stain of shirk which they had not washed away. But the Qur’ ā n exposed their internal shirk and informed everyone that none amongst them was sincere to God, or a follower of taw ḥī d . Everyone had made others partners in their worship and God did not value the service that was adulterated with association of others. Consider the charge sheet for the above three groups. The Ishmaelites were informed thus: they believed that angels were worthy of service; considered them daughters of God; worshipped them; believed that this worship would bring them closer to God; declared that their wealth and children, prosperity in this world and happiness was a result of their blessings; thought that their intervention in front of God would redeem them; loved them as much as God and believed that they had knowledge of the unknown.