Witnesses to the Oneness of Allah

Allah (swt) says:

Your God is only one; there is none worthy of worship except Him, who is merciful and most compassionate. Again, He opens Sūrat Āli ʿImrān with the same declaration of oneness:

Alif, Lām, Mīm. Allah — there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, al-Ḥayy, the All-Sustaining, al-Qayyūm. A little further in the same sūrah, Allah (swt) states this truth as a matter to which He Himself bears witness, together with the angels and those given true, beneficial knowledge, ʿilm nāfiʿ:

The commentators give the occasion on which this āyah was revealed. Two Jewish scholars, rabbis, having heard of this Prophet, travelled all the way to Madīnah, saying to each other that they had long awaited such a prophet, and resolved to question him about the three witnesses: if he answered correctly, he was the true Prophet of Allah (swt); if he tried to make something up, he was an impostor. They came and asked him directly what he said about the three witnesses, and he said nothing at first. He waited, and Jibrīl (peace be upon him) came down with this very āyah — Allah (swt), the angels, and the scholars who truly know Allah all bearing witness to the greatest of words, lā ilāha illallāh. Three witnesses. On hearing it, the two men accepted Islam and departed.

The same truth is stated again, plainly, in Sūrat Muḥammad, at its nineteenth āyah:

Thawbān (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from the Prophet (peace be upon him): afḍal al-dhikr lā ilāha illallāh — the best remembrance is to say there is no god but Allah. This was the most constant dhikr of every prophet Allah (swt) ever sent, the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) among them; all of them were commanded to make this remembrance of Allah (swt). Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the keys to Paradise are the testimony that there is no god but Allah, mafātīḥ al-jannah shahādatu an lā ilāha illallāh — and there are hundreds upon hundreds of hadith to the same effect.

Anas ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates a further hadith from the Prophet (peace be upon him): that Jibrīl (peace be upon him) came to him one day bringing the forty-eighth āyah of Sūrat Ibrāhīm:

The day the earth on which people live is changed into something else entirely, and the heavens likewise, and every human being stands before Allah, al-Wāḥid al-Qahhār, the One, the All-Dominant: the Hereafter itself, when all will stand before their Lord. The Prophet (peace be upon him) then began to question Jibrīl (peace be upon him): tell me about the human race on the Day of Judgment — how will they be, and in what condition? Jibrīl (peace be upon him) answered that Allah (swt) will create a place for them on which not a single sin has ever been committed — some earth, some ground of Allah's own making, on which no sin was ever done — and everyone will be resurrected upon it, and the sand, the soil of that particular planet, whatever it is that Allah (swt) creates, will be entirely white in colour. Hellfire will be brought, roaring with fire — Jahannam being a living thing created by Allah (swt), and it roars on the Day of Judgment — and when it roars, all the angels will grab hold of the Throne of Allah (swt), clinging to it and pleading, my Lord, my Lord, help us: even the angels. Just before this, the mountains will be turned into ʿihn manfūsh — as Sūrat al-Qāriʿah describes what will become of the mountains — reduced to small particles. ʿIhn manfūsh, by the classical definition, is what is seen when wool is shorn from the sheep and sifted, tossed into the air to be aired, dried and separated: the mountains will be like those tufts, and the planets, the earth, the sun, everything visible; the stars will begin to explode beyond all imagining. The Prophet (peace be upon him) asked Jibrīl (peace be upon him) what ʿihn manfūsh was, and Jibrīl explained it in that same manner, and said that even the mountains of that day will tremble with fear when they see Jahannam — even the mountains. Seventy thousand of the strongest angels will hold the chains of Jahannam as it is brought into the presence of Allah (swt).

Then Allah (swt) will speak to Jahannam and command it: speak, O Jahannam, O Hellfire. And Jahannam will begin to speak, and will say: lā ilāha illallāh; might, ʿizzah, and greatness, ʿaẓamah, majesty, all belong to You, Lord of the worlds, and I swear by them, by You, against those people, Your creation, Your servants, who ate from Your provision, rizq, all their lives and yet worshipped someone else — their desires, their temptations. Any worship of other than Allah (swt) is worship of Shayṭān and his ways, for Islam is a binary system: a person is either within it or outside it; either worshipping Allah or not worshipping Allah — worshipping himself instead, or his husband or wife, his children, his family, his money, his job. Whatever the heart is occupied with is that heart's real god. Allah (swt) has commandments and Allah (swt) has prohibitions, and Islam means submission of one's will to Allah (swt), pursuing His pleasure in every aspect of life: abstinence from what He has forbidden and obedience to what He has commanded. That is what the word means. So Jahannam says: I am prepared, I am waiting for all those servants of Yours who received sustenance from You, provision You gave them without asking anything in return, and yet worshipped something other than You — and I am going to take Your revenge, Lord of the worlds — except those who have jawāz. Those with jawāz I will not touch.

On hearing this the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked what jawāz would be on the Day of Judgment, and Jibrīl (peace be upon him) said: glad tidings to you, O Muḥammad — your Ummah shall be upon jawāz. And note it clearly: whoever believes in Allah, that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that you, Muḥammad, are His final Messenger, and who lived according to your teachings, shall have the greatest jawāz, the greatest permission — they shall pass over the Ṣirāṭ; this is the permission to pass over the Ṣirāṭ, the bridge over Jahannam. Then Jibrīl (peace be upon him) said, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) said the same: praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, who has given me jawāz, and given my Ummah jawāz on the Day of Judgment.