Polytheism

The One and Unique God is the creator of the world and all the beings that reside in it. He is deserving of our worship and adoration, and in fact embedded deep within the fabric of our spiritual being is the inclination to worship and obey Him. As demonstrated in the foregoing discussions, it is impossible that there should be deities other than the One God. The doctrine of Divine Unity is one that the mind readily comprehends. Polytheism- the belief that there are other deities on par with God is due to the level of belief and theology and that of practice.

Theological polytheism consists of three distinct-but often coinciding-strains: polytheism in creatorship, polytheism in lordship, and polytheism in worship. Polytheism in creatorship is the belief that there are multiple, independent creators such that none of them is in any way subject to the jurisdiction of the other. A prevalent form of polytheism in creatorship is the false belief that good and evil derive from two distinct creators. According to this dualistic conception, God is the creator of the good things in the world and Satan or a similar evil force-say. Ahriman-is the creator of all wicked and vile creatures.

Polytheism in lordship is the belief that there are multiple deities who exercise autonomous authority in governing the world. This strain of polytheism is prevalent in many ancient and even contemporary cultures. Those who subscribe to this belief take the stars, the sun, the moon, and occasionally even certain saints as partaking of autonomous authority in ruling over the world and the forces of nature. This is the type of polytheism that has led many religions astray, as they acknowledge God as the Creator but assume that there are lesser deities to whom He has given unrestricted and independent power and as a result they can manipulate phenomena without having to answer to God. This goes against the Islamic view of Divine Unity, which affirms that all powers and forces, even the greatest of God’s creatures (Prophet Muhammad and his sacred household), are subject to the all-encompassing power of God and thus are incapable of undertaking anything against His Will.

The last form of theological polytheism is polytheism as regards worship that something or someone other than God is possessed of such lofty merits as to deserve to be worshipped. In Islam, worship is the exclusive prerogative of God. Theological polytheism is technically referred to as explicit polytheism. Practical polytheism is called implicit polytheism. Implicit polytheism is much harder to detect, and so even many devout Muslims may be affected by it while assuming to be true monotheists. Practical or implicit polytheism designates the impurity of intention and the reliance on other than God that so often affect our actions. Obviously in point of belief, we are monotheists, as we believe that there is only one ultimate source of power, and that is God. But we often neglect this belief and strive to acquire worldly wealth, power, and fame or we rely on the assistance of fellow human beings when we should rely solely on God. This is symptomatic of the weakness of our faith. The stronger one’s faith is, the greater is one’s reliance on God and the less is one’s attention to worldly powers.

One of the forms in which one’s impurity of intention manifests itself is the vice that in Islamic literature is referred to as al-riya’, which can be translated as affected piety, pretension, hypocrisy, or disingenuity. Al-riya’ is to perform a religious devotion with the intention of displaying it to others to prove one’s piety rather than with the intention of pleasing God or gaining spiritual perfection. Any deed performed with this invalid intention lacks the most basic requirements of acceptability in the eyes of God and to repeat to act with this intention will entrench hypocrisy in one’s character.

Concerning implicit polytheism the Noble Prophet says, “Polytheism is harder to descry than the light footsteps of tiny ants on a hard rock in a pitch-dark night. The slightest degree of polytheism is to be happy with some injustice and to be unhappy with some justice. Is religion anything but love and hate for the sake of God? God says, ‘If you love God, so obey me [the Prophe] , and God will love you’ (Qur’an 3:31).” (Al-Jami’al-Saghir, vol. 2, p. 85)

A Misunderstanding of Polytheism

Although, polytheism is found in many forms, the definition is fairly straightforward to view someone or something as an independent power on par with God. This parity with God may pertain to the Divine Essence (in which case the polytheist believes in two autonomous sources of existence), to Divine Creatorship (in which case the polytheist believes in two distinct creators for the world), or Divine Activity (in which case the polytheist assumes the authority of multiple gods in the management and maintenance of the affairs of the world).

The constitutive element of polytheism is expressed by the term, independence.
The main factor that renders the adoration of other persons or things besides God is the ascription of independence to them. To practice polytheism is to hold someone or something as yielding divine power or authority without having to answer to the One God. Monotheistic belief, however, holds that all beings are created by the One God and are in need of Him to remain in existence, and their power, authority, and activity arc determined by the Divine Will, and whatever they do is dependent on His Power and Will. Where one phenomenon impacts or influences another, the ultimate source of this impact and influence is God. so that all causality hinges on Divine Power and Will. It is impossible that a being should exercise some form of activity without deriving the power and authority for it from God. It is this utter dependence on God that renders all beings His “creatures”.

Thus, to attribute power, authority, or causation to a being viewed as utterly dependent on God is true and wholly consistent with monotheism. Should a gardener watering plants view water as the independent cause in preserving the life of the plants, he harbors a polytheistic view. But if he holds that God has endowed water with the capacity to accomplish this end, he adheres to monotheistic belief. In the same vein, when someone who has fallen ill asks a person he considers to be more spiritually elevated than himself to pray for his health, he is not in fact diverging from true monotheism, for in his view God is the One who grants health and the person praying is only interceding on his behalf without possessing independent power or authority. However, should the ill person beseech another with the view- that the latter is truly and independently capable of granting health, he is practicing polytheism.

To visit the graves of deceased believers and to beseech them to intercede with God on one’s behalf is no different from going to live believers and asking them for a favor. When we visit the graves of the Ahlulbayt, for instance, and ask them to be our intercessors, we are only acknowledging that they are more spiritually elevated and thus more dear to God, and so God is more likely to grant our wish if they present it to Him. We do not view the intercessors as possessed of independent authority or such a position as to force God to accept their prayers. They are merely the vessel of God’s Grace.

Those who accuse Shias of polytheistic tendencies on account of upholding the concept of intercession are ignorant of the true meaning of polytheism and of intercession. They malign Shias without any legitimate grounds. As all of God’s creatures deserve respect, it is entirely inappropriate to level such accusations against fellow human beings. Why should a group of people consider themselves justified in so denigrating another people? Islam teaches us to show love and kindness to others, even if they are from a different religion. Thus, there should be no doubt that vilifying Shias with such false accusations and causing discord among fellow monotheists is a reprehensible wrong whether viewed from the perspective of reason or of religion.