Qur'an folio in gold Kufic, 9th c. · Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

Islam

Tradition·Founded 610 CE·est. ~2 billion worldwide

Islam → 4 branches

Branch
Core tenet of Islam

There is no god but God.

Tawhid: absolute unity — no partners, no images, no exceptions. The first half of the shahada.

Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

Tawhid — the absolute oneness of God — is Islam's center of gravity; every other doctrine is a corollary. Its negative is shirk, associating partners with God, the one offense the Quran calls unforgivable if unrepented. The shahada's first clause is a metaphysics in seven Arabic syllables.

From the sources — the passages this rests on; concise renderings, cited

Say: He is God, the One; God, the Eternal. He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none comparable to Him.

Quran 112 — Surat al-Ikhlas

A four-verse chapter said to equal a third of the Quran.

The same ground, other faiths

claims that share this one's ideas
God is one, beyond form. Sikhism Go deeper →
God's name is Jehovah, and he is one person. Jehovah's Witnesses Go deeper →
God is One, beyond every description. The Druze Faith Go deeper →
S Shiva — a point of light that is never born. The Brahma Kumaris · figure Meet them →
Shangdi is the one God, and the idols are demons. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Go deeper →

The conversation

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