Imam Ali’s View on Monotheism

In a series of sessions, Emad Afroogh tries to introduce the thoughts of Imam Ali (AS). Here is a summary of the second session:

In this session, I decided to review the first Khutbah (sermon) of Nahj al-Balagha.

Here, Imam Ali (AS) talks of one of the best sentences about monotheism. He says: “The foremost in religion is the acknowledgment of Him, the perfection of acknowledging Him is to testify Him, the perfection of testifying Him is to believe in His Oneness, the perfection of believing in His Oneness is to regard Him Pure, and the perfection of His purity is to deny Him attributes.”

Thinking deeper about this saying, one can see different aspects of Tawhid and as a result attain pure monotheism.

Furthermore, another part of this sermon provides great help to those who are familiar with theology.

“Whoever said: ‘In what is He?’, held that He is contained; and whoever said: ‘On what is He?’, held He is not on something else. He is a Being, but not through the phenomenon of coming into being. He exists but not from non-existence. He is with everything but not in physical nearness. He is different from everything but not in physical separation. He acts but without the connotation of movements and instruments. He sees even when there is none to be looked at from among His creation. He is only One, such that there is none with whom He may keep company or whom He may miss in his absence.”

Professor Richard Swinburne, a prominent Christian philosopher, also believes in a similar notion as he says God has no physical body because if He had, He would have faced limitations. Because of this, He can be present in different places.

source: iqna