The Oneness of God

When I made my shahadah, or conversion to Islam, I stated these words in front of God and the Muslim community at the Islamic Center in Ann Arbor:

I believe that there is no God but God and Muhammad is His Messenger.

It was that simple. I became a Muslim in that moment with all of the rights and responsibilities associated thereto. It’s been over 25 years but I take that statement very seriously.

It means that I do not associate any person or being with God. That I do not believe He shares his power with anyone or anything. And that Muhammad was a prophet of God.

I don’t have anything extraordinary to offer to God. I’m a very ordinary person with ordinary weaknesses and an ordinary checkered past. I’ve grown rather staid as I’ve entered middle age (maturity works wonders on prospects of checkerdness). Age has made me more cautious and more conservative on a number of fronts, but it has not made me reflexively more conservative when it comes to religion. And while I take religion seriously, I am not overly devout. Praying once a day is plenty for me. I would not even consider planning a trip to Mecca for the hajj although it is in within my means. I’m quietly religious.

But what I am not casual about is the shahadah. I feel like it’s the least I can offer to God. It is a promise of belief that I made to God and I feel that it is expected of me. That of all the practices of Islam, this central concept is something that I should not compromise on. That God has said, “This matters and I don’t want you to stray from this.”

This is one of the things that drew me to Unitarian Universalism. When I was reading about the faith, one of the ministers who authored the book I read about church history outlined how a founding principal of Unitarianism was a belief in the Oneness of God and a rejection of the Trinity. Unfortunately, I don’t think that long-ago principal has much impact on modern, day-to-day UU thinking.

I’ve been considering attending other religious services but my belief in the Oneness of God holds me back. Christian congregations tend to be either mushy on this concept, or forthrightly opposed to it.  Phrases like “the Son of God” or “the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit” or talk of asking Jesus for forgiveness or salvation. I keep hearing good things about Methodists, and about the People’s Church, an interdenominational Protestant church in East Lansing. But I’m wary. I don’t want to betray my shehadah and as much as I am looking for a faith community where I am comfortable as a woman, I don’t know whether I am actually interested in converting to another religion. I guess that’s what this time period is for. To determine what things are most important to me and what I’m willing to compromise on to get other needs met in the realm of religion.