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What does “God is One” mean in Islamic thought? How has the idea of tawḥīd (divine unity) been interpreted across centuries, schools of thought, and religious encounters? Islamic Perspectives on God and (Other) Monotheism(s), edited by Wahid M. Amin, Aaron W. Hughes, and Sajjad H. Rizvi, explores this foundational concept from multiple angles—Sunni, Shīʿī, philosophical, and contemporary—and places it in dialogue with Christianity and Judaism.
Whether you’re a student, researcher, or curious reader, this volume provides accessible, insightful perspectives on how Muslims have understood and defended the unity of God across history.
🔍 Look Inside
The chapters are grouped into five thematic sections:
Part 1: Contesting Monotheisms – A Judeo-Christian-Muslim Encounter
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Aaron W. Hughes explores how early Muslim thinkers constructed orthodoxy by defining themselves against Christians and Jews, using “religious others” as literary and theological foils to clarify Islamic monotheism.
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Romain Louge examines how Christian doctrines—especially the Trinity—shaped early Muslim theological responses, showing how kalām (theological) thinkers like the Muʿtazila developed tawḥīd partly in reaction to Christian theological language.
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Sajjad H. Rizvi analyses a 19th-century Muslim philosophical response to the Christian missionary Henry Martyn, showing how Ṣadrian metaphysics was used by ʿAlī Nūrī to defend Islam and reassert tawḥīd as “Islam’s argument” against Christian doctrine.
Part 2: Sunni Theological Perspectives
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Jon Hoover dives into Ibn Taymiyya’s twofold conception of tawḥīd: the oneness of God’s lordship (rubūbiyya) and His right to be worshipped alone (ulūhiyya), arguing that Ibn Taymiyya reformulated classical theology to emphasise direct devotion to God without intermediaries.
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Syamsuddin Arif revisits the Qurʾanic verse 21:22 (“Had there been other gods… the heavens and the earth would have collapsed”) and the intense theological debates it sparked—especially between al-Taftāzānī and later scholars—about whether this verse offers a rational proof of monotheism.
Part 3: Shīʿī Theological Perspectives
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Zoheir Esmail focuses on a phrase in Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya that refers to “numerical oneness,” exploring how Shīʿī scholars like Sayyid ʿAbdullāh Shubbar reconciled it with the broader theological view that God’s oneness is non-numerical and beyond counting.
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Khalil Andani presents an Ismāʿīlī framework of “apophatic tawḥīd,” arguing that true unity is affirmed by stripping God of all attributes and descriptions. He explains how salvation in Ismāʿīlī theology involves recognising this radical divine transcendence through the guidance of the Imām.
Part 4: Philosophical Perspectives
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Wahid M. Amin investigates how Muslim philosophers—particularly in the Shīʿī tradition—responded to Ibn Kammūna’s critique of the Avicennian proof for divine unity. He shows how thinkers like Mullā Ṣadrā combined metaphysical analysis with scriptural insight to reaffirm tawḥīd.
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Yusuf Daşdemir compares three scholars—al-Rāzī, al-Ījī, and al-Kūrānī—in their logical and linguistic readings of the kalimat al-tawḥīd (“There is no god but God”), revealing the rich interplay of grammar, logic, and theology in affirming monotheism.
Part 5: Contemporary Perspectives
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Celene Ibrahim explores how the “Beautiful Names of God” can offer a powerful resource for interfaith dialogue, emphasising shared moral and spiritual themes between Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
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Abolghasem Fanaei considers whether God can be viewed as a moral agent—one who acts with intention, wisdom, and goodness—and what this means for how we understand divine justice and human morality in modern theology.
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S. Yaser Mirdamadi proposes a model of “friendly (a)theism,” arguing that theists and atheists can disagree without dismissing each other as irrational. Drawing on Islamic ideas of faith, he reframes īmān and kufr as moral postures rather than purely intellectual beliefs.
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Javad Taheri engages with the thought of ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī, suggesting that his use of the “principle of focal meaning” offers a grammatical and philosophical method for thinking about God’s unity in a way that’s both rational and rooted in revelation.
This volume shows that tawḥīd is not a static idea—it has been debated, refined, and expressed differently across centuries and traditions. It also opens space for rich interfaith discussion and contemporary reflection. Each chapter stands on its own, yet together they offer a sweeping view of how Muslims have thought about God—and how those thoughts continue to evolve.
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