Only One Alone, Sole: It means One in Person and Nature.

    Direct and intimate approach in introduction continues to clarify that He is Ahad, Only One God Alone, in His Essence, Attributes and Qualities. It is an inseparable and indivisible Unique Unity of Ulluuhiyat and Rubuubiyat along with all the aspects explained in His Most Beautiful Best Names. It is in the very meaning of the word Ahad that it totally negates existence of any one else.

    A client went to his psychiatrist and said: "Doctor, I am so lonesome, couldn't you split my personality?"

    This state of mind has nothing to do with the presence or absence of other people around a person. Having company is no assurance of an absence of loneliness of a man. In fact, more than environment, it is a state of mind. Being lonesome is a human psychological condition, although so far his creation is concerned, he has been created without any split, with one mind:

    "Allah has not made for man two hearts in his body.." 33-4

    God is Alone but not lonely. He is the Most Compassionate, Kind and Merciful; and above all human feelings and states of mind and moods. God is Most High Benevolent for His all creation, and ever more than the most for man, that within human physical frame, He has made human personality in its perfection:

    "We (Allah) have indeed created man, in the best of moulds." 95-4

     Lexically, word Ahad means Who or Whom with complete negative nuance. If it is said maa fi-ddaar ahad; it means there is no one in the house: neither one, nor two nor any number, no one not at all. But if it is said maa fi-ddaar wahid; it means there is not one in the house, and it does not negate any other number being there. Ahad conveys negation, whereas wahid connotes affirmation. Wahid can have or can be conceived to have similar, dual or any multiple, but Ahad has no similar, dual, multiple, any other number, denomination, determinant, division or any progression or regression. Ahad has added connotations of absolute and continuous unity, negation of conversion or change, and absence of equals or comparables. Ahad is used in negation as explained above and only for Allah. In affirmative sense it is used in combination with some other number, e.g. ahad ashar (twenty one).

    In verse 112-4, Ahad occurs again: "And there is none co-equal, comparable, or like unto Him." (112-4). Here it is being re-emphasized that there is no 'ahad' like Him.

    In the Quran Wahid and Ahad, both have been used for Allah. But Ahad has been used once only for Allah, (112-1). It has not been used for anyone except Allah. Whereas wahid has been used many times. Prof Karar Hussain is of the view that knowledgeable (that can be known) facts repeated in the Quran, should always be kept in mind. But those which have just once been mentioned are the special points of Ma'rifah (Knowledge), which invite for special and deeper understanding and reflection. Whenever, in the Quran, the word Wahid has been used for Allah, it has been qualified e.g., as Ilaahun Wahidun (The Only One Deity), or as Allah-ul-Waahid-ul-Qahhaar (The Only One Allah, the Irresistable). Nowhere it has been used just as Wahid, for Allah. Ahad has been used for Allah, because He Alone is the Being Who Self-Exists without any part or plurality in any way, and Whose Oneness is perfect in every respect. Meaning, nuance or sense of wahid is determined by situation and context in which it is used. When used for Allah, as explained above, it has the same meaning as Ahad. These two words carry different aspects of the same Unity in negative and affirmative senses.

The word wahid is used in Arabic in the sense of the word one in English. One, any one, a collection or composition of multitude, parts or pluralities is collectively called wahid, e.g., one country, one world, etc., etc. Each of separate parts comprising the whole or forming a collection may be called wahid. It is used for a thing which may comprise different parts or pluralities in its entity. But the word Ahad has no such connotation.

What we have discussed so far, has been explained by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, in his Footnote No. 6297 to verse 112-1 in these words: "This is to negate the idea of polytheism, a system in which people believe in gods many and lords many. Such a system is opposed to our truest and profoundest conceptions of life. For, Unity in Design, Unity in the fundamental facts of existence, proclaim the Unity of the Maker."

Ikrimah reported: "When Jews said, 'We worship Uzayr, son of Allah', and Christians said, 'We worship the Messiah (Isa), the son of Allah', and the Zoroastrians said, 'We worship the sun and the moon', and the idolators said, 'We worship idols', Allah revealed to His Messenger (Peace be upon him): "Say: He is Allah, One", meaning, He is the One, the Singular, Who has no peer, no assistant, no rival, no equal and none comparable to Him. This word (Ahad) cannot be used for anyone in affirmation except Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, because He is perfect in all of His Attributes and Actions. [Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Vol-X,p.634, "Ibn Abi Hatim also recorded the above and At-Tirmidhi mentioned it as a Mursal narration. (Mursal: sent, sent out, dispatched, expedited, forwarded, transmitted - Al-Mawrid), Tuhfat Al-Ahwadhi 9-301, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Vol-X, pp.628 & 629]

All major religions hold this concept. Even all major native Indian religions, although subsequently obscured by polytheistic corruptions, are basically monotheistic, e.g. Advaita Vedanta. The Bible also bears testimony to this; it highlights Absolute Oneness of God: "Hear, therefore, O Israel, the Lord, our God is One Lord." (Deuteronomy 6-4)

"Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord, He is God: There is none else beside Him. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else." (Deuteronomy 4-35..39) "See now that, I, even, I Am He, and there is no god with Me. I kill, and I make alive, I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." (Deuteronomy 32 -39).

"For, Thou art Great, and does wondrous things, Thou art God alone." (Psalms 86-10) "Thus saith the Lord. I am the First, and I am the Last; and beside Me there is no God." (Isaiah 44-6) "For, thus saith the Lord, that created the heavens: God Himself that formed the earth, and made it; He hath established it,

He created not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited, I am the Lord; and there is none else." (Isaiah 45- 18)

"..that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I Am He,

before Me, there was no god formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, Am the Lord; and beside Me there is no saviour." (Isaiah 43-11) "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me;. . "..that there is none beside Me. I Am the Lord, and there is none else." (Isaiah 45-5,6)

"And the Lord shall be King, all over the earth : in that Day, shall there be One Lord, and His Name One" (Zachariah 14-9) "Thou shalt not prostrate before any, but the Lord, your God; and Him alone should you worship." (Mathew 4-10) "I (Allah) Am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no god beside Me; I girded thee, though thou has not known Me. That they may know from the rising of the sun; and from the West; and there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45-5,6)

"There is none other god, but One." (I, Corinthians 8-4) "For there is One God.." (I, Timothy 2-5) "..The first of all the Commandments is, hear O Israel; the Lord, our God is One Lord. And thou shalt

love the Lord, thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with mind, and with all thy strength; this is the First Commandment.." (Mark 12-29, 30)

Sacrifice for Truth
In love for truth, some are made to drink hemlock like Socrates, many are crucified, some are driven mad and abused like Cantor, others are burnt alive like Bruno, and many more are confined like Galileo and tortured. But Zola says: "The Truth is slowly on the march and at the end of ends nothing will stop it." Zoroastrians believe in triumph of good over evil, at the end. Islam believes in the triumph of the truth, ultimately, in all encounters: 42-24, 8-8, 17-81, 34-48

True love of Allah withstands all trials and tribulations. When Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) accepted monotheistic faith of Islam and believed in Allah (Laa ilaaha illallaah), his master used to torture him, so much that he used to faint when lain on sun-burnt sand with hot stone on his chest; he would still pronounce and proclaim Ahad.

"Those who believe, they love Allah more than anything else." 2-165

"If he (My slave) comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him, and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running." (Hadiith Qudsi 502, Vol-IX, Bukhari)

"And don't be like those who forgot Allah, and He made them forget their own souls! Such are the rebellious transgressors." 59-19

If man has love and goodness, he has realized important part of reality, and the purpose of his being human. The same is true for all other values or virtues, humane. Love and goodness make men great. That is why, great men have greater vision than their physical frame and sight.

More Meanings and Nuances

Coming back to meanings and nuances of the word Ahad, S.A.A.Maududi has explained its special use in 'The Meaning of the Quran', Vol-VI, p.341, as follows:

"Here, the first thing to be understood is the unusual use of Ahad in the sentence. Usually this word is either used in the possessive case, as yaum-ul-ahad (first day of the week), or to indicate total negative, as maa jaa'anii ahadun (No one has come to me), or in common questions like hal indaka ahadun (Is there anyone with you?), or in counting ahad, ahad ashar (one, eleven). Apart from these uses, there is no precedent in the pre-Quranic Arabic that the mere word ahad might have been used as an adjective for a person or thing. After the revelation of the Quran, this word (Ahad) has been used only for the Being of Allah, and for no one else. This extraordinary use by itself shows that being single, unique and matchless is a fundamental Attribute of Allah; no one else in the world is qualified with this quality: He is One, He has no equal."

Maulana Maududi goes on to explain: "..Since, they had asked the questions: Of what is your Lord made? What is His ancestry? What is His sex? From whom has he inherited the world and who will inherit it after Him? - all these questions have been answered with one word Ahad for Allah. It means: (1) He alone has been, and will be, God for ever; neither was there a God before Him, nor will there be any after Him; (in fact there is none, nothing, no after Him); (2) there is no race of gods to whom He may belong as a member, He is God, One and Single, and none is homogeneous with Him; (3) His Being is not merely One (Wahid) but Ahad, in which there is no tinge of plurality in any way: He is not a compound being, which may be analyzable or divisible, which may have a form and shape, which may be residing somewhere, or may contain or include something, which may have a colour, which may have some limbs, which may have a direction, and which may be variable or changeable in any way. Free from all kind of plurality, He Alone is a Being Who is Ahad in every respect." (The Meaning of the Quran, p.342)

Use of Ahadun after Huw-Allah emphasizes following: Absolute Oneness of Uluuhiyat Absolute Oneness of Rubuubiyat Absolute Oneness of Uluuhiyat and Rubuubiyat, both as One

Absolute Oneness of Uluuhiyat, Rubuubiyat, all Attributes, Qualities, and Characteristics, all as One Only One Absolute Unique Unity Alone

Ahad connotes that there can't be anything, physical, metaphysical or imaginary, in any computational, mathematical, philosophical or scientific estimate, conceivable beside Him. Further clarification of this statement comes in the sentences (Aayaat) which follow in Surah Ikhlaas. There is complete negation in the term Ahad that there is no existence and no likelihood of likeness in any allusion, allegory, comparison or reference unto Him. There is complete refutation of any such conjecture.

Tafsir-e-Mazhari explains construction of Aayah 112-1, logically and grammatically in detail: Queries of polytheists in this regard were neither about Oneness (Uluuhiyah) or number of God(s) nor about His Lordship-Providence (Rubuubiyah), but about His composition or constitution. Therefore reply is also in that context explaining Ahad, that in all respects of Uluuhiyah and Rubuubiyah, His Essence and Attributes, He is free from and independent of constituents, numbers, arrangement, organization, dimensions, form, figure, format, body, etc. without any partner, support, image, opposite or anti.