CONCEPT OF POLYTHEISM

The human beings today are found to be divided into 2 groups. First are those people who believe in the existence of God, and they are called as THEIST. The second are those people who don’t believe in the existence of God, and they are called as ATHEIST.

Theistcan be further classified as MONOTHEIST and POLYTHEIST. Monotheists are those people who belief in only one God and Polytheists are those people who belief in more than one God.

Polytheism

Some people believe that there is more than one Creator or God for this world OR at the very least they argue that there is One God along with several other demi-gods (Devataas). This philosophy is called “Polytheism”. Now let us do a careful examination of this particular belief system.

3 cases if there are 2 Gods or more

Let us take the simplest case of Polytheism where there will be 2 gods. So if these gods are to decide on a particular issue, then, one of the following three cases will arise.

Case 1: The two gods “agree” on the issue.

If the 2 gods agree on an issue, then why do we need 2 gods? For instance, if there are 2 principals for a college who ‘always’ take the ‘same decision’, then why do we need 2 of them? A single principal will be sufficient. In other words, why should we have 2 or more persons doing a work that can be easily done by a single person?

Generalizing this case, we will get millions of gods executing a single task which can easily be done by just one God. So, mutually agreeing gods cannot exist as one God is sufficient to execute the task. This in philosophy is termed as Occam’s razor which says that “    Objects or things should not be multiplied beyond necessity”.

Case 2: The two gods “disagree” on the issue.

When the two gods disagree on an issue, then that particular task will NEVER be executed.

If there was a disagreement between these gods regarding creating the Universe, then this universe would never have come into existence. Similarly, if two people go to an interview where only one individual can get a job and both pray to their respective gods for the same, then which god shall give the job and to whom? In case of a disagreement no one can get a job at all!

When we generalize this case, we will get millions of gods disagreeing on several issues ranging from creation of Universe to rainfall on a particular day, on languages, colours etc. If there were really so many gods, then this Universe would never have existed in such a perfect order as it does today.

Allah (Glory be to Him) says in the glorious Qur’an: Had there been within the heavens and earth godsbesidesAllah, there would have been chaos and confusion therein.So exalted is Allah,Lord of the Throne, above what they describe.Qur’an.Surah Anbiya 21: 22

Case 3: The two gods disagree and one of them “submits” to the other’s choice.

The farthest the Polytheist can go on this issue is to claim that all the other gods will submit to or accept the choice or will of One God. If this is the case, then naturally all those several “so called gods” are NOT gods as they DO NOT possess their own choice but they in fact submit to the will of the One True supreme God. Hence, they all are not gods but servants of the One True God!

Qur’an

“And your god is one God. There is no deity [worthy of worship] except Him, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason.”Quran.Surah Baqrah 2: 163,164.