In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
All praise be to Allah, the Sustainer of All the Worlds,
and peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, the Chief of His Messengers, and on all his Family and Companions
Two Sublime Proofs of the Affirmation of Divine Unity
In its entirety the universe is a supreme proof; it declares Allah’s glory and unity with both its manifest and its unseen tongues. Yes, it recites the unity of the Most Merciful in resounding voice, saying: “There is no god but He!”
All its particles and cells, all its parts and members, are tongues mentioning Allah the Most High. Together they declare in that resounding voice: “There is no god but He!”
The tongues are various, the voices of differing pitch, but they are united on one point: the mentioning of Him, saying: “There is no god but He!”
It is the macroanthropos; it mentions Allah the Most High in high‑sounding voice, while all its parts and particles join their tiny voices to its mighty voice. In unison they declare: “There is no god but He!”
The world recites the Qur’an’s verses within its circle for Allah the Most High’s remembrance, the Qur’anic dawn spills forth its light. All beings with spirits express this idea: “There is no god but He!”
The Glorious Criterion of Truth and Falsehood, articulate proof of divine unity, all of whose verses are truthful tongues, all its rays are flashes of belief. All together they declare: “There is no god but He!”
If you lay your ear on the breast of that Criterion, in its profoundest depths you will hear clearly a heavenly voice which recites: “There is no god but He!”
Its voice is utterly exalted, utterly serious, truly sincere, most familiar; it is utterly convincing, decked out with proofs. Repeatedly it declares: “There is no god but He!”
All six aspects are transparent in this enlightened proof: upon it is the shining stamp of miraculousness; in this shines the light of guidance, which says: “There is no god but He!”
Yes, beneath it is interwoven logic and elegant proof; on its right is its questioning the intelligence; the mind affirms it on its every side, saying: “There is no god but He!”
On its left is its calling on the conscience to testify; before it is pure good; its aim is happiness and prosperity. Its key is every instant: “There is no god but He!”
Its support beyond it is heavenly: unadulterated divine revelation. All these six aspects are luminous, manifested in its constellations, “There is no god but He!”
Can any thieving suspicion, any stealthy doubt, any renegade delusion steal in on that resplendent castle with its walls of lofty suras, every word of which is an angel uttering: “There is no god but He!”
The Qur’an of Mighty Stature is an ocean affirming divine unity. To take a single drop as an example, a single sura: Sura al‑Ikhlas. Only a single, slight allusion out of innumerable allusions:
its six phrases, three negative, three positive, refute all kinds of ascription of partners to Allah the Most High, and prove seven aspects of the affirmation of divine unity:
The First Phrase: Say, He is is unassociated. That is, it is defined as absolute. But within that definition is a specification: “There is no ‘He’ but He!”
This is an allusion to the experiential (shuhūd) affirmation of divine unity. If the reality‑perceiving gaze becomes immersed in the affirmation of divine unity, it says: “There is nothing observed save He!”
The Second Phrase: Allah, The One is an explicit affirmation of the unity of the Godhead. Reality declares in the tongue of truth: “There is nothing fit to be worshipped save He!”
The Third Phrase: Allah, the Eternally Besought One. This is the shell of two pearls of the affirmation of divine unity. The first is the affirmation of the unity of divine dominicality. Yes, it declares with the tongue of the order of the universe: “There is no creator save He!”
The second pearl is the affirmation of the unity of divine self‑subsistence. Yes, the universe in its entirety declares through the tongue of need for an effectual power, both for its coming into being and its continued existence: “There is no self‑subsistent save He!”
The Fourth Phrase: He begets not. This conceals the affirmation of the unity of divine glory, rejecting every sort of ascription of partners to Allah the Most High. It decisively refutes disbelief.
That is, one who is subject to change or division, or who reproduces, can be neither god, nor creator, nor self‑subsistent.
The negation, lam (not), refutes the idea of offspring, or the blasphemy of paternity, and rejects them.
The greater part of man’s misguidance has arisen from this association of partners with Allah the Most High at various times, in the form of the ten intellects, or the angels, or Jesus (UWP) or Uzayr being divine offspring.
The Fifth Phrase: And neither is He begotten indicates the affirmation of divine pre‑eternity and unity. Thus: one whose existence is not necessary or pre-eternal cannot be Allah.
That is, one created in time, or born of physical matter, or descended from a progenitor, cannot be the universe’s protector.
Causality, the worship of stars, idolatry, and naturalism: these are all varieties of the association of partners with Allah the Most High, all stages of misguidance.
The Sixth: And there is none like unto Him. This is a comprehensive affirmation of divine unity. That is, the negating lam infers that He has no like, partner, or peer either in His essence, or in His attributes, or in His actions.
In meaning, each of these six phrases is the result of the others, and the proof of the others; proofs in sequence, set in order in the fortress of this sura.
That is to say, included in Sura al‑Ikhlas appropriately to its stature are thirty suras in sequence and order, a source of their effulgent dawn.
None knows the Unseen save Allah (May His glory be exalted!)