RENAISSANCE DECEMBER 2021

Faith & Beliefs 23 Monthly Renaissance December 2021 human being’s inability to see them in spite of this nearness and clarity. It would be difficult to mention all of such arguments here. We shall, therefore, point out some that are mentioned in the Qur’ ā n and are very obvious. 1. The Covenant of Nature The first argument among the spiritual ones for taw ḥī d is that which we had explained in the last two chapters of the section on reality of polytheism. That is, the recognition of a true benefactor within the human soul is the most ancient and clearer of all concepts. We have earlier refuted the claim of scientific scholars that the most ancient concept within humans is one of fear that was born from observing the sights of the universe and that gave rise to the concept of worship. We have also proven through arguments that the emotion of fear requires recognition of the fact that life and the benefits of life are a blessing for a human being. As long as there is a feeling of life being a blessing, the feeling of fear and apprehension about it is totally meaningless. And, recognition of there being a blessing requires that there be recognition of the existence of a benefactor. The recognition of a benefit and a benefactor creates the feeling and the concept of gratitude within a human being. This feeling is neither due to only convention or practice nor merely the result of formalities of collective cultures. It is present even in beasts. We observe this with our own eyes in the animals who we keep as pets. Whenever we treat any cat or even an elephant with kindness, they express their gratitude and thanks to us in various ways. The same emotion, in a much more developed form, is present in humans. We term this feeling as fairness and justice. As a result, a human judges others with the same standard as the one with which he is judged. This is the feeling for justice that formed the basis of pure God worship and taw ḥī d . This is among the most important arguments for taw ḥī d . The demand of this natural justice, on the one hand, is that one accepts the rights of God fully and, on the other hand, no one else should be associated with the rights that are applicable only to God. The latter is considered in the Qur’ ā n as the greatest tyranny, i.e. the greatest injustice and violation of rights. In other words, this means that the greatest justice is taw ḥī d and the greatest injustice is shirk . The Qur’ ā n has declared this justice to be the covenant of