Ask a Hindu how many gods there are and the answer may be three, or thirty-three, or thirty-three crore. Ask a Hindu who knows the Vedas and the answer is one. This article is addressed to both, and it rests on a point of grammar. The popular saying is that everything is God. The Quran's saying is that everything is GOD's. The difference is an apostrophe, and the oldest Hindu scriptures stand on the Quran's side of it.
Everything is GOD's
The Isha Upanishad, which is also the fortieth chapter of the Yajurveda, opens:
"All this entire universe belongs to God: who lives in it, in every smallest bit of it… Whatever there may be to claim, to whom, in truth, does it belong?" (Isha Upanishad 1, Ananda Wood)
The Sanskrit is īśā vāsyam idaṁ sarvam: all this is to be enveloped by the Lord. Beside it the Quran says: "To Him belongs everything in the heavens and everything on earth." (2:255)
One caution at once. Ananda Wood is a translator in the Advaita tradition, and his own answer to the Upanishad's closing question is "the real self", the identity of the soul with GOD. We quote the verse, not the commentary.
One only, without a second
The best-known monotheist sentence in Hindu scripture is three words long. In the Chandogya Upanishad, Uddalaka teaches his son Shvetaketu what there was before creation:
"Ekam evādvitīyam" — "He is One only without a second." (Chandogya Upanishad 6:2:1, Radhakrishnan)
In Devanagari it is एकमेवाद्वितीयम्. The Quran's creed begins the same way: "He is the One and only GOD." (112:1)
One remark is owed. In context the phrase describes Sat, Being, before anything existed; the passage is about the one source of all things as much as the one object of worship. The wording is exactly Radhakrishnan's, and a Hindu reader will recognise it at once.
The Shvetashvatara Upanishad fills out the three remaining lines of the Quran's creed. On equality:
"Nor is there anything that is its equal or superior." (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6:8, Ananda Wood)
The classical Sanskrit is na tat-samaś cābhyadhikaś ca dṛśyate, "nothing is seen equal to or greater than Him". The Quran's fourth line is: "None equals Him." (112:4)
On parentage:
"Of him there is no master in the world, no ruler, nor is there any mark of him. He is the cause, the lord of the lords of the sense organs; of him there is neither progenitor nor lord." (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6:9, Radhakrishnan)
Radhakrishnan and Wood, working independently, agree on the sense: no one begot Him and no one rules Him. The Quran's third line is: "Never did He beget. Nor was He begotten." (112:3) We note that "not begotten" is in the Upanishad's words and "begets not" is an inference; the verse does not speak of offspring.
On what He is in Himself, the Yajurveda says:
"He hath attained unto the Bright, Bodiless, Woundless, Sinewless, the Pure which evil hath not pierced. Far-sighted, wise, encompassing, he self-existent hath prescribed aims, as propriety demands, unto the Everlasting Years." (Yajurveda 40:8, Griffith)
The Sanskrit words are akāyam, bodiless; śuddham, pure; apāpaviddham, untouched by evil; svayambhū, self-existent. The Quran's second line is: "The Absolute GOD." (112:2)
Now read the four lines together, as a Hindu who has just read the Upanishads would hear them. There is nothing in them that the Upanishads and the Yajurveda have not already said.
No likeness, and no eye sees Him
A formula occurs twice in the Vedic literature, once in the Yajurveda and once in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad:
"Na tasya pratima asti yasya nama mahad yasah" — "There is no likeness of Him whose name is great glory." (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4:19, Radhakrishnan)
"There is no image of Him whose glory verily is great… As He is unborn, He deserves our worship." (Yajurveda 32:3, Devi Chand)
Pratimā means a likeness, an image, a counterpart; Devi Chand, an Arya Samaj scholar, and Radhakrishnan, a Vedantin, render it the same way. Aja, unborn, is in the Sanskrit; "deserves our worship" is Devi Chand's gloss. The Quran: "There is nothing that equals Him. He is the Hearer, the Seer." (42:11)
The next verse of the Shvetashvatara says why no image is possible:
"Na samdrse tisthati rupam asya, na caksusa pasyati kas canainam" — "His form is not to be seen; no one sees Him with the eye." (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4:20, Radhakrishnan)
The Quran: "No visions can encompass Him, but He encompasses all visions. He is the Compassionate, the Cognizant." (6:103) The second half of the Upanishad's verse, that those who know Him in the heart become immortal, belongs to the Upanishad's own teaching about liberation, and we do not claim it as common ground.
What the eye cannot see is nonetheless the source of all seeing:
"The sun does not shine here, nor do the moon and stars, nor lightning from the sky, nor any alien fire. It shines alone, by its own light… All shines reflecting after it." (Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6:14, Ananda Wood)
The Quran: "GOD is the light of the heavens and the earth." (24:35) The Quran's verse calls itself an allegory and should be read whole.
The Isha Upanishad draws the practical conclusion in the verse that follows Yajurveda 40:8:
"Deep into shade of blinding gloom fall asambhuti's worshippers. They sink to darkness deeper yet who on sambhuti are intent." (Yajurveda 40:9, Griffith)
Here the reading must be stated. Arya Samaj teachers take asambhūti as the natural elements and sambhūti as manufactured things, including idols; Shankara read the two words as the unmanifest and the manifest. The verse plainly says that both kinds of worshipper enter darkness; the application to images is an interpretation, and we present it as one. The Quran's question is the one Abraham put to his people: "Do you then worship besides GOD what possesses no power to benefit you or harm you?" (21:66)
One, called by many names
The Shvetashvatara verse that denies GOD any likeness gives Him, in the same breath, a name of great glory. No image, but a glorious name: that is the Rigveda's own answer to the question every Hindu reader is asking by now. What, then, of Indra, Agni, Varuna and the rest?
"They have styled (Him, God or the sun) indra (the resplendent), mitra (the surveyor), varuna (the venerable), agni (the adorable)… for learned priests call one by many names as they speak of the adorable as yama (ordainer) and matarisvan (cosmic breath)." (Rigveda 1:164:46)
The Sanskrit, ekaṁ sad viprā bahudhā vadanti, is the line Hindus themselves quote most often for their monotheism. The Quran says the same thing about names in two places:
"Call Him GOD, or call Him Most Gracious; whichever name you use, to Him belongs the best names." (17:110)
"To GOD belongs the most beautiful names; call upon Him therewith, and disregard those who distort His names." (7:180)
Nobody is being asked to give up the word they use for GOD. "Creator" and "Sustainer" are among the Quran's own names for Him: "He is the One GOD; the Creator, the Initiator, the Designer. To Him belong the most beautiful names." (59:24) What the Vedas and the Quran together refuse is the body and the image, because the Yajurveda has said akāyam, bodiless, and na tasya pratimā asti, there is no image of Him.
Three further Rigvedic lines are often quoted, and each needs its reading stated. "O friends, do not worship anybody but Him, the Divine One. Let no grief perturb you. Praise Him alone, the radiant, the showerer of benefits." (Rigveda 8:1:1, Satyaprakash and Vidyalankar) The hymn names Indra; "Him, the Divine One" is the Arya Samaj reading of the deva-names as attributes of the One. Still, mā cid anyad vi śaṁsata, "praise nothing else", is a real formula of exclusive worship, and the Quran's opening prayer says: "You alone we worship. You alone we ask for help." (1:5) Two more lines, "Praise him who is alone the One, the lord of men" (Rigveda 6:45:16, Griffith, to Indra) and "Verily, great is the glory of the Divine Creator" (Rigveda 5:81:1, Satyaprakash and Vidyalankar, to Savitar), carry the same sentiment under the same caveat, and match "Praise be to GOD, Lord of the universe." (1:2)
The Gita adds a verse: "Those whose intelligence has been stolen by material desires surrender unto demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship according to their own natures." (Bhagavad Gita 7:20, Prabhupada) The Quran describes the same person: "When the human being is afflicted, he implores his Lord, sincerely devoted to Him. But as soon as He blesses him, he forgets his previous imploring, sets up idols to rank with GOD and to divert others from His path." (39:8) The caveat: in the Gita Krishna speaks these words as the Supreme, and "demigods" is one translator's choice for devatā. The verse disparages the worship of lesser powers; it does not settle who is speaking.
Seeing, they see not
One thread runs through three scriptures in three languages. The Rigveda, in a hymn about sacred speech, says:
"There may be someone who sees the words and yet indeed does not see them; may be another one who hears these words but indeed does not hear them." (Rigveda 10:71:4)
Jesus, quoting Isaiah, says of those who will not receive the message: "Seeing they see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." (Matthew 13:13, KJV)
And the Quran: "Deaf, dumb, and blind; they fail to return." (2:18)
The contexts differ; the parallel is verbal, and that is its value: the same proverb about the same condition in Sanskrit, Greek and Arabic. That is what a thread binding communities looks like when it is found rather than forced.
Other witnesses from the East
Two more witnesses, from Tamil India and from China, belong beside the Vedas here.
The Tirukkural of Thiruvalluvar opens with a chapter called Praise of God. In the project's edition it begins: "As the letter A is the first of all letters, so God, the Primal One, is the First of the world." (Tirukkural 1, Quran-aligned edition) The chapter continues: "Except for those who hold fast to God, who has no equal, it is hard to drive away the anxieties of the mind." (Tirukkural 7) The Quran says of GOD: "He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Outermost and the Innermost. He is fully aware of all things." (57:3)
Mozi, in the chapters the edition titles The Will of God, argues that the One above the emperor is the only standard: "Who, then, is honoured and who is wise? God alone is honoured; God alone is wise. Righteousness, then, truly comes from God." (Mozi 27.1, Quran-aligned edition) Nothing is hidden from Him: "For from God nothing can be hidden: not in forests and valleys, not in dark and secluded places where no one is; His clear sight surely sees it." (Mozi 26.1) The Quran: "Not a leaf falls without His knowledge." (6:59)
Two labels are owed. The Tirukkural is an ethical work of the early centuries CE, not a Vedic text, and "God, the Primal One" renders the Tamil Ādi Bhagavan. Mozi's word is Tian, Heaven; the edition reads it as GOD under the project's rule, and Mei Yi-Pao's literal translation is kept unaltered in the library. These are witnesses, not proofs.
What to show first
Begin with the apostrophe: everything is GOD's, and let Isha 1 say it. Then read Chandogya 6:2:1 and Shvetashvatara 6:8–9 in Radhakrishnan, a Hindu's translation, so the listener notices that no Muslim chose the words. Then Rigveda 1:164:46, so the listener hears that the many names were never the problem. Only then read the four lines of Sura 112, and pause. Close with 17:110: no one has asked the listener to change the word they use for GOD, only to give Him no image and no partner.
Where the evidence is strong, and where it is not
The strong texts are the ones this article leads with: Chandogya 6:2:1; Shvetashvatara 4:19, 4:20, 6:8, 6:9 and 6:14; Yajurveda 32:3 and 40:8; Isha 1; Rigveda 1:164:46; and the proverb shared by Rigveda 10:71:4, Matthew 13:13 and 2:18. In each case the Sanskrit says what the translation says, and the translators are Hindus and orientalists. The moderate texts are Rigveda 8:1:1, 6:45:16 and 5:81:1, which name Indra or Savitar; Yajurveda 40:9, whose application to images is an interpretation; and Gita 7:20, where Krishna speaks as the Supreme. We have used them only with those readings stated.
Three claims that circulate widely are not used here. "Ekam Brahm, dvitiya naste neh na naste kinchan" is quoted everywhere as the creed of the "Brahma Sutra"; it is not in Badarayana's Brahma Sutras but a Vedantic maxim stitched from the Chandogya and the Katha Upanishad, and we cite only its sources. "Dev maha osi", "God is verily great", from Atharvaveda 20:58:3, addresses Surya, the sun; the full verse says so, and the Quran says: "Do not prostrate before the sun, nor the moon; you shall fall prostrate before the GOD who created them, if you truly worship Him alone." (41:37) And Rigveda 2:1:3 is cited for "Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Sustainer"; it is a hymn to Agni, and "Brahmā" there most likely means the priest. The attributes are good, and we take them from 59:24, not from that hymn.
One larger caution governs the whole. The common ground shown here is with the scriptures of Hinduism, not always with its practice; learned pandits agree that the Vedas forbid images and defend them as aids for beginners. That concession must never be used to mock anyone. The Quran forbids it: "Do not curse the idols they set up beside GOD, lest they blaspheme and curse GOD, out of ignorance." (6:108) Nor does the project pronounce on Rama or Krishna, because the Quran leaves most messengers unnamed (4:164). Finally, the Advaita reading of these Upanishads, in which the self is GOD, is not common ground; "None equals Him." (112:4) excludes it, and we have quoted the verses without it.
The same creed that the Upanishads carry in Sanskrit, Moses carried in Hebrew; the next article, Hear, O Israel, reads the Shema, Isaiah and the words of Jesus beside the same four lines.
Sources
- The Final Testament, Authorized English Version (Rashad Khalifa): every Quran quotation is verbatim; "God" is printed GOD as in the printed edition.
- Upanishads: S. Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanishads; Ananda Wood, "'God' in the Upanishads" (free verse).
- Yajurveda: R. T. H. Griffith, Yajurveda Samhita; Devi Chand, The Yajurveda.
- Rigveda: Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda; Satyaprakash Sarasvati and Satyakam Vidyalankar, Rigveda Samhita; 1:164:46 and 10:71:4 as given in the project's notes.
- Bhagavad Gita 7:20: Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita As It Is. Matthew 13:13: King James Version.
- The Tirukkural (chapter 1) and The Mozi (chapters 26–28), Quran-aligned editions, Theory of Everything project, from G. U. Pope (1886) and Mei Yi-Pao (1929).
- The project's master document, One Message, Many Witnesses: Strand 1 rows 1.1–1.17, Strand 2 rows 2.1–2.3 and 2.5, ledger §11, corrections C1 and C20.
- Popular presentations consulted: Zakir Naik (IRF) on the concept of God in Hinduism; Ahmed Deedat, What is His Name?