Divine Singularity: The Oneness of God

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis

Imagine you are an explorer who took a spaceship to another planet to visit human-like creatures. Once you land on the planet, you meet your guide. He tells you that your spaceship landed on Sphinga, the planet’s borderless country. You are confused and ask your guide if there are any other countries on the planet. He laughs and replies, “Yes, there are two.” You retort, “Well, how do you know when you’re in another country if there’s nothing to differentiate them?” Your guide sighs and says, “Yeah, we have the same problem. There are no borders and the features of one country are the same as the other.” You finally end the discussion by saying, “You should have just made them into one country then, because that is what it looks like to me.”

You both continue your journey to meet a group of officials for lunch. During the meal one of the officials praises the kings of the country. Upon hearing this, you politely ask, “You mean, there is more than one king?” The official replies, “Yes, we have two kings.” You seem perplexed and ask how the country can function with two kings. “How do you have harmony in your laws, and order in your society?” The official replies, “Well, they always agree. Their wills are one.” You cannot hold yourself back and you respond, “Well, you do not really have two kings, then. Because they are acting in accordance with one will.”

This story contains three of the five arguments I will present for the fact that there can only be one God . The first part of the story summarises an argument that I call ‘conceptual differentiation’. It postulates that in order for multiplicity to exist, there must be some concepts that differentiate one thing from another. For example, if I said that there are two bananas on the table, you would be able to verify that statement by observing them. The reason you can see two bananas is because there exist concepts that differentiate them; for example, their size, shape, and location on the table. However, if there was nothing to differentiate them you could not distinguish between them. Similarly, since this book so far has argued that there is a necessary uncreated creator who is powerful, knowing, All-Aware and transcendent, then to claim that there are two would require a concept that differentiates them. But in order for the Creator to be a creator, He must have these attributes, so saying there are two without one being different from another is basically saying that there is only one creator. If whatever is true of one creator is true of another, then we have just defined one creator and not two.

The second part of the story summarises both the argument from exclusion and the argument from definition. The argument from exclusion maintains that there can only be one Divine will. If there were two creators and one wanted to create a tree, only three options would be possible. The first is that they both cancel each other out; this is not a rational possibility since creation exists, and if they cancelled each other out, there would be no creation at all. The second is that one creator overpowers the other by ensuring his tree is created. The third option is that they both agree to create the same tree in the same way. Both of these options imply that there is only one will, and one will in the context of our discussions means one creator.

The argument from definition asserts that there cannot be more than one creator. If there were more than one creator the cosmos would not display the harmony that it does. As well presenting arguments for a creator, this book has also warranted the traditional conception of God has having an imposing will that cannot be limited by anything external to Him, then it logically follows there cannot be two unlimited Divine wills.

This essay will elaborate on these arguments and present another two to show that this creator must be one:

  • The argument from exclusion;
  • Conceptual differentiation;
  • Occam’s razor;
  • The argument from definition;
  • The argument from revelation.

Argument from exclusion



  3. They both move the rock in the same direction.



Conceptual differentiation





Occam’s razor




The argument from definition


The Qur’an has a similar argument


The Qur’an, Chapter 21, Verse 22







The argument from revelation

A simpler way of providing evidence for God’s oneness is to refer to revelation. This argument postulates that if God has announced himself to humanity, and this revelation can be proven to be from Him, then what He says about Himself is true. However, a sceptic may question some of the assumptions behind this argument. These assumptions include that God has announced Himself to humankind and that the revelation is in the form of a book.

Let’s first tackle the last assumption. If God has announced Himself to humankind, there are only two possible ways to find out: internally and externally. What I mean by ‘internally’ is that you can find out who God is solely by introspection and internalisation, and what I mean by ‘externally’ is that you can find out who God is via communication from outside of yourself; in other words, it is instantiated in the real world. Finding out about God internally is implausible for the following reasons:

  1. Human beings are different; they have what psychologists call ‘individual differences’. These include DNA, experiences, social contexts, intellectual and emotional capacities, gender differences, and many more. These differences play a role in our ability to internalise via introspection or intuition. Therefore, the results of thinking will differ. If these processes were solely used to find out about God, inevitably differences in our conception of Him would arise. This is true from a historical point of view. From the ancient world of 6000 BCE to the present, there are records of approximately 3,700 different names and concepts for God.
  1. Since the method used to conclude that God does exist is a ‘commonsense’ method, or what philosophers call rational thought and what Muslim theologians call innate thinking, then trying to find out about who God is, rather than just affirm His existence, would be fallacious. There are limits to our reasoning. Abstract thinking and reflections on the physical world can only lead us to the conclusion that a creator exists, and He is powerful, knowing, etc. To go beyond those conclusions would be speculative.

    The Qur’an aptly asks

    Do you say about God that which you do not know

    The Qur’an, Chapter 7, Verse 28.

    Trying to find out who God is via introspection would be like a mouse trying to conceptualise a galaxy. The human being is not eternal, unique and powerful. Therefore the human being cannot conceptualise who God is. God would have to tell you via external revelation.

Take the following example into consideration. Your knowledge that God exists is like the knocking of the door; you safely assume that something is there, but do you know who it is? You weren’t expecting anyone, so the only way to find who is behind the door is if the person tells you. Therefore you can conclude that if God has said or announced anything, it must be external to the human being. Anything else would be mere speculation.

From an Islamic perspective this external communication is the Qur’an, as it is the only text to claim to have come from God that fits the criteria for a Divine text. These criteria include:

  1. It must be consistent with the rational and intuitive conclusion of God existence. For example, if a book says God is an elephant with 40 legs, you could safely assume that this book is not from God, as God must be external to the universe and independent. An elephant, regardless of form, is a dependent being. This is because it has limited physical qualities, such size, shape and colour. All things with limited physical qualities are dependent because there are external factors that gave rise to their limitations. God is not ‘physical’ and is independent. Therefore, nothing with limited physical qualities can be God.
  2. It must be internally and externally consistent. In other words, if it says on page 20 that God is one and then on page 340 its says God is three, that would be an internal, irreconcilable inconsistency. Additionally, if the book says that the universe is only 6,000 years old, then that would be an external inconsistency as reality as we know it affirms that the universe is older than that.
  3. It must have signposts to the transcendent. The revelation must contain material that indicates it is from the Divine and that it cannot be adequately explained naturalistically. In simple terms, it must have evidence to show that it is from God.

The Qur’an has signposts that indicate it is a Divine text. The book cannot be explained naturalistically; therefore, supernatural explanations are the best explanation. Some of these signposts include:

  1. The Qur’an’s linguistic and literary inimitability;
  2. Some of the historical accounts in the
  3. Its unique arrangement and structure.[3]

To conclude, since the only way to know what God has announced to humankind is via external revelation, and this revelation can be proven to be the Qur’an—then what is says about God is true. The Qur’an is explicitly clear concerning His oneness: “And do not argue with the people of the Scripture except in a way that is best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say,


The Qur’an, Chapter 29, Verse 46


the Prophet Muhammad said


Narrated by Tirmidhi

Last updated 16 January 2017. Taken and adapted from my book “The Divine Reality: God, Islam & The Mirage of Atheism”. You can purchase the book here.


  3.  For more on the Divine nature of the Qur’an please read: Khan, N. A. and Randhawa, S. (2016) Divine Speech: Exploring the Qur’an as Literature. Texas: Bayyinah Institute and  Zakariya, A. (2015) The Eternal Challenge: A Journey Through The Miraculous Qur’an. London: One Reason.

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