Short answer
In places, yes. Hindu scripture, the Svetasvatara Upanishad, says no one is seen like God (﷾) or better, and he has neither parent nor lord. The Rig Veda, ancient hymns, says sages give many names to what is One. But the same books say more. In the Chandogya Upanishad, the One thought "may I be many" and sent forth fire. A father tells his son, "thou, O Svetaketu, art it". The Svetasvatara names its God Rudra and says, "Thou art woman, thou art man". The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad names the gods as fire, the sun and the months, and counts them down to one god, breath, which it calls Brahman. The Rig Veda says the gods came after the world, yet most of its hymns address them. So the same books that call God one also teach that the One became many, and give the name of God (﷾) to created things. The Qur'an teaches what the lines of pure oneness teach, and calls no creature God (﷾). It asks that the one God (﷾) be worshipped alone.
Full explanation
The Hindu case: one God (﷾), called by many names
Hindus often answer that their scriptures have always taught one God (﷾). The Chandogya Upanishad says that in the beginning there was only Being, "one only, without a second" (ekam evadvitiyam). An Upanishad is a Hindu scripture of deep teaching. In the same passage, the father rejects the view that Being was born of non-being. The Svetasvatara Upanishad says there is "one Rudra only", with no second. Rudra is a god of the Vedas whom Shaivas, the followers of Shiva, worship as Shiva. The Svetasvatara calls him "the one God, hidden in all beings" (eko devah). The Rig Veda says the sages give many names to what is One (ekam sat). In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the sage Yajnavalkya is asked how many gods there are. He counts down from 3,306 to one, and says the many are "only the various powers" of thirty-three. At the World's Parliament of Religions in 1893, Swami Vivekananda, a Hindu monk, spoke about polytheism (belief in many gods). He told his hearers there is none in India. In every temple, he said, the worshippers give the images all the attributes of God (﷾).
“'In the beginning,' my dear, 'there was that only which is (τὸ ὄν), one only, without a second. Others say, in the beginning there was that only which is not (τὸ μὴ ὄν), one only, without a second; and from that which is not, that which is was born.”
“'But how could it be thus, my dear?' the father continued. 'How could that which is, be born of that which is not? No, my dear, only that which is, was in the beginning, one only, without a second.”
“For there is one Rudra only, they do not allow a second, who rules all the worlds by his powers. He stands behind all persons, and after having created all worlds he, the protector, rolls it up at the end of time.”
“He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the self within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only one, free from qualities.”
“They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmân. To what is One, sages give many a title: they call it Agni, Yama, Mâtariṣvan.”
“Then Vidagdha Sâkalya asked him: 'How many gods are there, O Yâgñavalkya?' He replied with this very Nivid: 'As many as are mentioned in the Nivid of the hymn of praise addressed to the Visvedevas, viz. three and three hundred, three and three thousand.' 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Thirty-three,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Six,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Three,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Two,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'One and a half (adhyardha),' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'One,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked: 'Who are these three and three hundred, three and three thousand?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'They are only the various powers of them, in reality there are only thirty-three gods.' He asked: 'Who are those thirty-three?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Âdityas. They make thirty-one, and Indra and Pragâpati make the thirty-three.'”
“Descend we now from the aspirations of philosophy to the religion of the ignorant? On the very outset, I may tell you that there is no polytheism in India. In every temple, if one stands by and listens, he will find the worshipers applying all the attributes of God, including omnipresence, to these images. It is not polytheism, neither would the name henotheism answer our question.”
The lines of pure oneness
The clearest one-God (﷾) lines are in the Svetasvatara. It belongs to the shruti, the writings Hindus hold to be revealed. Of God (﷾) it says that no one is seen like him or better (na tat-samas cabhyadhikas ca drsyate). It says he has no master or ruler, and there is of him "neither parent nor lord" (na casya kascij janita na cadhipah). It says "There is no image of him" (na tasya pratima asti). Pratima can mean an image or a likeness, and the point stands either way. It says that no one perceives him with the eye. Two of these lines match the end of the Qur'an's chapter 112, Surat al-Ikhlas: "nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him". The Qur'an says there never was a people without a warner. Whatever in India's scriptures agrees with that one message may echo a messenger's teaching.
“There is no effect and no cause known of him, no one is seen like unto him or better; his high power is revealed as manifold, as inherent, acting as force and knowledge.”
“There is no master of his in the world, no ruler of his, not even a sign of him. He is the cause, the lord of the lords of the organs, and there is of him neither parent nor lord.”
“No one has grasped him above, or across, or in the middle. There is no image of him whose name is Great Glory. His form cannot be seen, no one perceives him with the eye. Those who through heart and mind know him thus abiding in the heart, become immortal.”
“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.”
“Verily We have sent thee in truth, as a bearer of glad tidings, and as a warner: and there never was a people, without a warner having lived among them (in the past).”
A Muslim witness, a thousand years ago
About 1030, the Muslim scholar al-Biruni wrote a long study of India's religion and learning. He opened his chapter on the Hindus' belief in God (﷾) by noting that in every nation the educated and the uneducated believe differently. He then reported that the Hindus hold God (﷾) to be one, eternal, almighty, all-wise and living. In their belief, God (﷾) is "beyond all likeness and unlikeness", resembling nothing, with nothing resembling him. He quoted their own books, he said, so that no reader would take his account for hearsay. A Muslim scholar recognised this belief a thousand years ago, and recorded it with care and respect.
“The belief of educated and uneducated people differs in every nation; for the former strive to conceive abstract ideas and to define general principles, whilst the latter do not pass beyond the apprehension of the senses, and are content with derived rules, without caring for details, especially in questions of religion and law, regarding which opinions and interests are divided. The Hindus believe with regard to God that he is one, eternal, without beginning and end, acting by free-will, almighty, all-wise, living, giving life, ruling, preserving; one who in his sovereignty is unique, beyond all likeness and unlikeness, and that he does not resemble anything nor does anything resemble him. In order to illustrate this we shall produce some extracts from their literature, lest the reader should think that our account is nothing but hearsay.”
What the same books say beside them
The same books say more. In the Chandogya, the One "thought, may I be many, may I grow forth" (bahu syam prajayeya) and sent forth fire. Fire in turn sent forth water. Later in the chapter, a father tells his son again and again: "It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it" (tat tvam asi). Here the father calls the root of all that exists "the Self". The Svetasvatara names its God Rudra. It says the Self is fire, the sun, the wind and the moon. It says to God (﷾), "Thou art woman, thou art man", and "thou art born with thy face turned everywhere". Yet it also says there is of him neither parent nor lord. Hindu teachers read these lines in different ways. Shankara, a teacher of Advaita (the school that says only the One is real), lived about the eighth century. Ramanuja, a teacher of devotion to a Lord, taught in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The Perspectives section below gives each reading, and the replies answer them.
“'It thought, may I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth fire. 'That fire thought, may I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth water. 'And therefore whenever anybody anywhere is hot and perspires, water is produced on him from fire alone.”
“'Now that which is that subtile essence (the root of all), in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.' 'Please, Sir, inform me still more,' said the son. 'Be it so, my child,' the father replied.”
“That (Self) indeed is Agni (fire), it is Âditya (sun), it is Vâyu (wind), it is Kandramas (moon); the same also is the starry firmament, it is Brahman (Hiranyagarbha), it is water, it is Pragâpati (Virâg).”
“Thou art woman, thou art man; thou art youth, thou art maiden; thou, as an old man, totterest along on thy staff; thou art born with thy face turned everywhere.”
The gods, by the scriptures' own account
The same scriptures also say what the gods are. In the Brihadaranyaka, Yajnavalkya is asked who the thirty-three gods are, and he names them. The eight Vasus are fire, earth, air, sky, sun, heaven, moon and stars. The eleven Rudras are the ten vital breaths, that is the senses, with the self as the eleventh. The note of F. Max Müller, the nineteenth-century scholar who translated the Upanishad, says the self is here explained as manas, "the common sensory" (the mind). The twelve Adityas are the months of the year. Indra is thunder, and Prajapati the sacrifice. The one god is breath, "and he is Brahman". So the Upanishad reduces the many gods to one, and names them as parts of the world. The Rig Veda's hymn of creation says "The Gods are later than this world's production" (arvag deva asya visarjanena). Its hymn of the cosmic Man says the moon was born from his mind and the sun from his eye. Indra and Agni (fire) were born from his mouth. By their own account, then, the gods belong to the world and came after it. This holds whether they are these things or the gods set over them. Yet the hymns of the Rig Veda are addressed to them: more than a quarter of it is given to the praise of Indra.
“Then Vidagdha Sâkalya asked him: 'How many gods are there, O Yâgñavalkya?' He replied with this very Nivid: 'As many as are mentioned in the Nivid of the hymn of praise addressed to the Visvedevas, viz. three and three hundred, three and three thousand.' 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Thirty-three,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Six,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Three,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Two,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'One and a half (adhyardha),' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'One,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked: 'Who are these three and three hundred, three and three thousand?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'They are only the various powers of them, in reality there are only thirty-three gods.' He asked: 'Who are those thirty-three?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Âdityas. They make thirty-one, and Indra and Pragâpati make the thirty-three.'”
“He asked: 'Who are the Vasus.' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Agni (fire), Prithivî (earth), Vâyu (air), Antariksha (sky), Âditya (sun), Dyu (heaven), Kandramas (moon), the Nakshatras (stars), these are the Vasus, for in them all that dwells (this world) rests; and therefore they are called Vasus.' He asked: 'Who are the Rudras?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'These ten vital breaths (prânas, the senses, i. e. the five gñânendriyas, and the five karmendriyas), and Âtman, as the eleventh. When they depart from this mortal body, they make us cry (rodayanti), and because they make us cry, they are called Rudras.' He asked: 'Who are the Âdityas?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The twelve months of the year, and they are Âdityas, because they move along (yanti), taking up everything (âdadânâh). Because they move along, taking up everything, therefore they are called Âdityas.' He asked: 'And who is Indra, and who is Pragâpati?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Indra is thunder, Pragâpati is the sacrifice.' He asked: 'And what is the thunder?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The thunderbolt.' He asked: 'And what is the sacrifice?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The (sacrificial) animals.' He asked: 'Who are the six?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Agni (fire), Prithivî (earth), Vâyu (air), Antariksha (sky), Âditya (sun), Dyu (heaven), they are the six, for they are all this, the six.' He asked: 'Who are the three gods?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'These three worlds, for in them all these gods exist.' He asked: 'Who are the two gods?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Food and breath.' He asked: 'Who is the one god and a half?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'He that blows.' Here they say: 'How is it that he who blows like one only, should be called one and a half (adhyardha)?' And the answer is: 'Because, when the wind was blowing, everything grew (adhyardhnot).' He asked: 'Who is the one god?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'Breath (prâna), and he is Brahman (the Sûtrâtman), and they call him That (tyad).'”
“Âtman is here explained as manas, the common sensory.”
“Who verily knows and who can here declare it, whence it was born and whence comes this creation? The Gods are later than this world's production. Who knows then whence it first came into being?”
“The Moon was gendered from his mind, and from his eye the Sun had birth; Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Vâyu from his breath.”
Says the tenth book of the Rig Veda represents a definitely later layer of the collection, that more than a quarter of the Rig Veda is devoted to the praise of Indra, and that hardly more than thirty of its hymns are not addressed to the gods or deified objects. The idea that the various gods are forms of one divine being, he writes, is found in the later hymns, such as the recent hymn 1.164; such utterances show that by the end of the Rigvedic period the polytheism of the seers had taken on a monotheistic tinge. Occasionally the hymns even shadow forth a deity who is all the gods and nature as well; this germ of pantheism grew through the later Vedic literature into the Vedanta. Max Müller's theory of henotheism arose from the poets' habit of invoking each god as if he were supreme. In Macdonell's view the habit hardly amounts to more than a singer's natural exaggeration of the god he is invoking, since the seers knew each god's exact place in the Soma ritual. The Vedic poets, he adds, held that the gods had a beginning.
The one God (﷾), and no creature called God
The Qur'an teaches the one God (﷾) those lines describe, and never calls a creature God (﷾). He is One; He begets not, nor is He begotten, and none is like Him. Nothing whatever is like Him, and He hears and sees. No vision grasps Him. He is the First and the Last. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that Allah (﷾) was, and there was nothing other than Him, and that He created the heavens and the earth. He created them; He did not become them. So every being in the heavens and the earth comes to Him as a servant, and none is Him.
“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.”
“(He is) the Creator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs among cattle: by this means does He multiply you: there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things).”
“No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision: He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things.”
“He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent: and He has full knowledge of all things.”
Imran ibn Husayn reports that people from Yemen told the Prophet (ﷺ) they had come to ask him about this matter. He said: Allah was, and there was nothing other than Him. His Throne was over the water, He wrote everything in the Record, and He created the heavens and the earth.
“Not one of the beings in the heavens and the earth but must come to (Allah) Most Gracious as a servant.”
The sun, the moon and the stars bow to their Maker
The Qur'an does not belittle the sun, the moon or the stars. It says they bow down to Allah (﷾), with the hills, the trees and the animals. Ibn Kathir is a Muslim commentator on the Qur'an. He explains that the sun, the moon and the stars are named there because they were worshipped besides Allah (﷾). The Qur'an also says: do not prostrate to the sun and the moon, but to Allah (﷾) who created them. Abraham used the sky to reason with his people. When the star, the moon and the sun set, he turned to Him who created the heavens and the earth. Of all that people call on besides Allah (﷾), the Qur'an says they create nothing and are themselves created. The Upanishad's own list of the gods, and the Rig Veda's hymn of creation, also place them inside the world. The Svetasvatara says the Self is the sun and the moon; the Qur'an calls them His signs, which bow to Him.
“Seest thou not that to Allah bow down in worship all things that are in the heavens and on earth,- the sun, the moon, the stars; the hills, the trees, the animals; and a great number among mankind? But a great number are (also) such as are fit for Punishment: and such as Allah shall disgrace,- None can raise to honour: for Allah carries out all that He wills.”
Explains that God alone deserves worship, since everything prostrates to His greatness, willingly or unwillingly, and the prostration of each thing is of the kind proper to it. The sun, the moon and the stars are named because they were worshipped besides God. So the verse shows that they prostrate to their Creator and are ruled by Him and made subservient, as 41:37 forbids prostrating to the sun and the moon. He then quotes the hadith of Abu Dharr on the sun prostrating beneath the Throne. The prostration of mountains and trees, he says, is the turning of their shadows to the right and the left.
“Among His Signs are the Night and the Day, and the Sun and the Moon. Do not prostrate to the sun and the moon, but prostrate to Allah, Who created them, if it is Him ye wish to serve.”
“When the night covered him over, He saw a star: He said: "This is my Lord." But when it set, He said: "I love not those that set." When he saw the moon rising in splendour, he said: "This is my Lord." But when the moon set, He said: "unless my Lord guide me, I shall surely be among those who go astray." When he saw the sun rising in splendour, he said: "This is my Lord; this is the greatest (of all)." But when the sun set, he said: "O my people! I am indeed free from your (guilt) of giving partners to Allah. "For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah."”
“That was the reasoning about Us, which We gave to Abraham (to use) against his people: We raise whom We will, degree after degree: for thy Lord is full of wisdom and knowledge.”
“Those whom they invoke besides Allah create nothing and are themselves created.”
“Yet have they taken, besides him, gods that can create nothing but are themselves created; that have no control of hurt or good to themselves; nor can they control death nor life nor resurrection.”
“That (Self) indeed is Agni (fire), it is Âditya (sun), it is Vâyu (wind), it is Kandramas (moon); the same also is the starry firmament, it is Brahman (Hiranyagarbha), it is water, it is Pragâpati (Virâg).”
The replies, answered
Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.11 — chapter 6, verse 11
“He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the self within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only one, free from qualities.”
Cited for
The highest Brahman is "the only one, free from qualities" (nirguna), beyond personhood. A Lord who speaks, commands and judges is Brahman as seen from within the world of many things, a lower level of the truth. Allah is such a Lord, so Islam stops at the lower level. To set the Upanishads' Brahman beside Allah is to confuse two different things.
The response
This page does not say that Brahman is Allah (﷾). It says that the Upanishads' highest descriptions are descriptions the Qur'an also gives: one, without parent or lord, without likeness, unseen by the eye. It asks the reader to follow them consistently. The very verse that says "free from qualities" also calls him "the one God", "watching over all works". It does not set the One against a Lord. A personal Lord is also thoroughly Hindu. The same chapter calls God "the lord of the world, the adorable". Ramanuja, the best-known teacher of the Sri Vaishnavas (worshippers of Vishnu), writes that scripture teaches one supreme cause, "the Lord of all Lords, all-knowing, all-powerful". He adds that there is no "pure Being" above the Lord. In the Gita, Krishna speaks as the Lord: he commands, and he promises: "I will release you from all sins." The Qur'an puts both truths in one verse: there is nothing whatever like Him, and He is the One that hears and sees.
Where it lands — Hindu teachers differ on whether anything stands above the Lord, and Ramanuja says nothing does. The page asks only that the one God (﷾) those lines describe be worshipped alone.
Chandogya Upanishad 6.8.7 — chapter 6, section 8, verse 7
“'Now that which is that subtile essence (the root of all), in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.' 'Please, Sir, inform me still more,' said the son. 'Be it so, my child,' the father replied.”
Cited for
Tat tvam asi: the Self in you is the one Being. Shankara teaches that "Thou art that" shows Brahman to be the Self of all. For him, unity is the one true existence, and manifoldness comes from wrong knowledge. Worship of a Lord who is other than oneself belongs to that world of many things.
The response
The line is in the Upanishad, and this page quotes it. Islam agrees with the chapter's first claim, that One was before all things. He is the First and the Last, and the Prophet (ﷺ) said that Allah (﷾) was, and there was nothing other than Him. Islam rejects the rest: "Not one of the beings in the heavens and the earth but must come to (Allah) Most Gracious as a servant." Hindu teachers are themselves divided over what this line means. Ramanuja read it to mean that souls and matter are the Lord's body, and that their attributes do not touch Him. A fourteenth-century survey of the Hindu schools reports the teaching of Madhva's school, a school of devotion to the Lord. It says that those who call the Lord's supreme excellence a mirage, in their thirst to be one with Him, offend Him. Such people, it says, must enter "the hell of blind darkness". Nor do the Upanishads leave worship behind. The Kena says of Brahman, "He is to be worshipped by the name Tadvanam." The texts do not settle the dispute; the Qur'an does.
Where it lands — Hindu teachers dispute "Thou art that" among themselves. The Qur'an keeps One before all things, and says every creature comes to God (﷾) as a servant.
Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.3 — chapter 6, section 2, verse 3
“'It thought, may I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth fire. 'That fire thought, may I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth water. 'And therefore whenever anybody anywhere is hot and perspires, water is produced on him from fire alone.”
Cited for
The One thought "may I be many" and sent forth fire, and fire sent forth water. The world is the One's own going forth, so God may be met and worshipped in fire, water, the sun or an image alike.
The response
Islam agrees that there was One before all things, and that everything comes from Him. It does not agree that He became them. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that Allah (﷾) was, and there was nothing other than Him, and that He created the heavens and the earth. He made them; He did not turn into them. The Qur'an keeps Maker and made apart: "He begetteth not". He is "the Creator of the heavens and the earth", and "there is nothing whatever like unto Him". The Svetasvatara Upanishad's own line points the same way: "no one is seen like unto him or better". Ramanuja calls souls and matter the Lord's body. He counts rites offered to Indra and the other gods as worship of the Lord, who is "the real Object of that worship". Those who do not understand this, he says, "possess the character to fall". If the Lord is the real Object, He can be worshipped directly, and He hears every caller Himself. The Qur'an says as much: "Is it not to Allah that sincere devotion is due?"
Where it lands — Islam keeps the first line, One before all things, and rejects the second. The Creator did not become His creation, and worship goes to Him, not to what He made.
Svetasvatara Upanishad 4.3 — chapter 4, verse 3
“Thou art woman, thou art man; thou art youth, thou art maiden; thou, as an old man, totterest along on thy staff; thou art born with thy face turned everywhere.”
Cited for
The Svetasvatara's one God is Rudra, that is Shiva: "there is one Rudra only, they do not allow a second". "Thou art woman, thou art man" is not pantheism (the belief that everything is God). It is praise of the Lord who dwells in every being, as the same Upanishad says: "the one God, hidden in all beings". God is beyond all things and within them all. The Qur'an itself calls God "the Evident and the Immanent".
The response
Islam, too, says God (﷾) is near, but not by being in things. He is "firmly established on the Throne", yet with you by His knowledge, for "Allah sees well all that ye do". The verse after "the Evident and the Immanent" says, "He is with you wheresoever ye may be". Another says, "We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein". But the Qur'an never says to God (﷾), "Thou art woman, thou art man", or that He is born. Every being in the heavens and the earth "must come to (Allah) Most Gracious as a servant". The Svetasvatara says more than nearness. It says "thou art born with thy face turned everywhere", and also that there is of him "neither parent nor lord". It says "Thou art woman", and also that "no one is seen like unto him". Hindu teachers hold these together with rival theories. For Shankara the many come from wrong knowledge; for Ramanuja, souls and matter are the Lord's body. The Qur'an needs neither theory: "He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him".
Where it lands — Islam, too, says God (﷾) is near. It never says that He is born, or that a woman or a man is He.
Swami Vivekananda, paper on Hinduism, World's Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 19 September 1893
“Descend we now from the aspirations of philosophy to the religion of the ignorant? On the very outset, I may tell you that there is no polytheism in India. In every temple, if one stands by and listens, he will find the worshipers applying all the attributes of God, including omnipresence, to these images. It is not polytheism, neither would the name henotheism answer our question.”
Cited for
There is no polytheism in India. In the hymns each god is praised in turn as the highest. In every temple the worshippers give the image all the attributes of God, even omnipresence. The Upanishads themselves make the gods forms of the One: the Self is fire, the sun, the wind and the moon. Call it henotheism (worship of one god while others are honoured) or anything else: it is worship of the One.
The response
The Qur'an denies that any created thing is God, or a form of God (﷾). It calls the sun and the moon His signs, yet forbids prostrating to them. Prostrate to Allah (﷾), it says, "Who created them, if it is Him ye wish to serve". Every being in the heavens and the earth "must come to (Allah) Most Gracious as a servant". The Upanishads, by contrast, make the gods forms of the One. Yajnavalkya counts the gods down to one god, breath, and says "he is Brahman". The Svetasvatara says the Self "is Agni (fire), it is Âditya (sun)". But fire, the sun and breath are parts of the world, and the Rig Veda says the gods came after the world. Praising each god in turn as the highest still gives worship to many. The Gita itself ranks highest the man "whose worship is (addressed) to one (Being) only". Every Muslim prayer declares that worship: "Thee do we worship".
Where it lands — The Upanishads make the gods forms of the One, and the Qur'an denies exactly that. Fire, the sun and breath are created, and worship belongs to Him who created them.
Rig Veda 1.164.46 — Mandala 1, Hymn 164, verse 46
“They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutmân. To what is One, sages give many a title: they call it Agni, Yama, Mâtariṣvan.”
Cited for
Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti: truth is one, and the wise call it by many names. So Allah, Krishna, Shiva and the God of the Bible are one God under different names, and every religion worships Him.
The response
The verse gives its own list: Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, the heavenly, nobly-winged Garutman, Yama and Matarisvan. These are gods of the Vedic hymns, called names of the One; the verse says nothing about the religions of the world. Islam agrees that God (﷾) may be called by any of His most beautiful names. But the same Veda says that Indra and Agni were born from the cosmic Man's mouth, and that the gods came after the world. Of God (﷾) the Upanishad says there is "neither parent nor lord". Names that belong to beings who were born, with hymns and offerings of their own, are not names of that God (﷾). The Qur'an rejects gods that are only names people have devised, for which Allah (﷾) has sent down no authority.
Where it lands — The verse makes the Vedic gods names of the One. It says nothing of other religions, and it does not make the worship of many gods right.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 3.9.1-2 — chapter 3, section 9, verses 1-2
“Then Vidagdha Sâkalya asked him: 'How many gods are there, O Yâgñavalkya?' He replied with this very Nivid: 'As many as are mentioned in the Nivid of the hymn of praise addressed to the Visvedevas, viz. three and three hundred, three and three thousand.' 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Thirty-three,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Six,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Three,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'Two,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'One and a half (adhyardha),' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yâgñavalkya?' 'One,' he said. 'Yes,' he said, and asked: 'Who are these three and three hundred, three and three thousand?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'They are only the various powers of them, in reality there are only thirty-three gods.' He asked: 'Who are those thirty-three?' Yâgñavalkya replied: 'The eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Âdityas. They make thirty-one, and Indra and Pragâpati make the thirty-three.'”
Cited for
Yajnavalkya counts the gods down to one: the many are only the powers of a few, and in the end there is one god. The devas (the gods of the Vedas) are not rival gods. They are the One's powers and servants, as angels are in Islam. Agni is not the fire in the hearth but the god who presides over fire. Honouring the devas is honouring God's servants.
The response
Islam's objection is not that Hindus take the devas for rival creators. The Meccans, the Prophet's (ﷺ) own people, did not think that of theirs either. They held that Allah (﷾) created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon. Yet they served others "in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah". Angels in the Qur'an take no worship. They are "servants raised to honour" who "speak not before He speaks", and on the Day of Judgement they will disown those who worshipped them. No prophet would tell people "to take angels and prophets for Lords and patrons". Islam, too, has angels set over parts of creation: the Qur'an speaks of "The Angel of Death, put in charge of you". Muslims believe in him, and Islam gives him no prayer or offering. But the hymns and offerings of the Veda go to the devas. The Upanishad names the devas as fire, earth, the sun and the months. Whether they are these or the deities who preside over them, they came after the world. The Qur'an says to prostrate not to the sun and the moon but to Allah (﷾), who created them.
Where it lands — Angels receive no worship, and the devas do. Whether the devas are parts of the world or the deities who preside over them, worship belongs to their Maker.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2736 — Kitab al-Shurut (Conditions), hadith 2736
Abu Hurayra reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: Allah has ninety-nine names, one hundred less one, and whoever knows them will enter Paradise.
Cited for
Muslims call on God by ninety-nine names. Hindus call on the same God as Vishnu, Shiva, the Goddess, Agni or Surya. It is the same thing: many names, one God.
The response
A name of God (﷾) describes the one God (﷾); no image of Him is made, and He was never born. The ninety-nine names are of that kind: the Creator, the Holy One, the Most Merciful, the Irresistible. Many Hindu names are of another kind. Agni and Surya are fire and the sun, which the Rig Veda says were born. The sun was born from the cosmic Man's eye, and Agni from his mouth. Vishnu, Shiva and the Goddess also have names with meanings. But each is also worshipped in images of his or her own. Of all that people call on besides Allah (﷾), the Qur'an says they "create nothing and are themselves created". A name given to a being worshipped in its own image names that being. It does not name the God (﷾) of whom the Upanishad says "There is no image of him".
Where it lands — Islam, too, has many names for one God (﷾). What it refuses is giving God's (﷾) worship to beings worshipped in images of their own.
Kena Upanishad 1.5-9 — part 1, verses 5-9 (verses 4-8 in the on-site translation)
“That which speech does not illumine, but which illumines speech: know that alone to be the Brahman (the Supreme Being), not this which people worship here. That which cannot be thought by mind, but by which, they say, mind is able to think: know that alone to be the Brahman, not this which people worship here. That which is not seen by the eye, but by which the eye is able to see: know that alone to be the Brahman, not this which people worship here. That which cannot be heard by the ear, but by which the ear is able to hear: know that alone to be Brahman, not this which people worship here. That which none breathes with the breath, but by which breath is in-breathed: know that alone to be the Brahman, not this which people worship here.”
Cited for
God is beyond definition. The Kena Upanishad calls Brahman "That which speech does not illumine". Hindu teachers describe Brahman by negation, in the Brihadaranyaka's words: neti neti, not this, not this. To define God, as Muslims do, is to make Him small.
The response
The Qur'an says, "No vision can grasp Him", and "there is nothing whatever like unto Him". But a God beyond full knowing can still say who He is. He has named Himself: "Say: He is Allah, the One and Only". He gives His names, among them "the Sovereign, the Holy One". To call Him by the names He gave Himself does not make Him small. It is His own word about Himself. Not grasping Him fully is no reason to worship anything besides Him.
Where it lands — No one grasps God (﷾) fully, but He has said enough of Himself to be worshipped alone.
Shankara, commentary on Brahma Sutra 2.1.36 — Sacred Books of the East 34, p. 360
“The beginninglessness of the world recommends itself to reason. For if it had a beginning it would follow that, the world springing into existence without a cause, the released souls also would again enter into the circle of transmigratory existence; and further, as then there would exist no determining cause of the unequal dispensation of pleasure and pain, we should have to acquiesce in the doctrine of rewards and punishments being allotted, without reference to previous good or bad actions.”
Cited for
There was never a time when only God existed. Nature (prakriti) and souls are eternal, though they depend on Him. The world is sent forth and drawn back in endless cycles. Shankara says the beginninglessness of the world "recommends itself to reason".
The response
The Qur'an says otherwise. "To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth". "Allah is the Creator of all things". The Prophet (ﷺ) said that Allah (﷾) was, and there was nothing other than Him. So in Islam nothing stood beside God (﷾) from eternity, however dependent. Shankara gives his reasons in the same passage. One is that, without a beginningless world, pleasure and pain would be dealt out "without reference to previous good or bad actions". So karma, as he teaches it, needs a world without a beginning. The page on karma shows why an endless chain does not make it just.
Where it lands — In Islam, everything besides God (﷾) was brought into being by Him, and nothing was with Him before He created.
Perspectives
One without a second: the Self of all (Advaita)
Brahman alone is real. In the beginning there was only Being, one only, without a second. The Upanishad tells the pupil that the Self is that Being: "thou, O Svetaketu, art it". For the one who sees that everything has its Self in Brahman, the world of many things, with its actions and agents, is non-existent. The many things come from wrong knowledge.
Shankara and the Advaita Vedanta school
The Chandogya says that in the beginning there was only Being, one only, without a second.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that One was before all things, and that nothing was beside Him. Islam goes further: He created a real world that is not Him, and every being in it comes to Him as a servant.
The same chapter tells the pupil that the subtle essence of all things is the Self. It says, "thou, O Svetaketu, art it".
Rebuttal
Grant that the line is in the Upanishad. Hindu teachers dispute what it means: Shankara reads it one way, Ramanuja another. The Qur'an settles it: every being in the heavens and the earth comes to God (﷾) as a servant. People are the ones in need of God (﷾), and He is free of all needs.
Shankara teaches that "Thou art that" shows Brahman to be the Self of all. For him, unity is the one true existence, and manifoldness comes from wrong knowledge.
Rebuttal
This is Shankara's reading, and other Hindu teachers reject it. Ramanuja answers from the same scriptures that there is no "pure Being" above the Lord. He holds that souls and matter are the Lord's body. The Qur'an needs neither theory: nothing whatever is like Him, and every creature is His servant.
One Lord of all lords (Ramanuja and the theistic schools)
The one supreme cause is a Lord: all-knowing, all-powerful, the Lord of all lords, with nothing above Him. Souls and gods are real, and they are ruled by Him. For Ramanuja, souls and matter are His body, and their attributes do not touch Him. The highest worship is devotion to Him alone. Ramanuja names Him Narayana, that is Vishnu. The Svetasvatara names Him Rudra, and Shaivas worship Him as Shiva.
Ramanuja, Madhva and the devotional (bhakti) schools
The Svetasvatara calls God the highest great lord of lords and the highest deity of deities. It calls Him the lord of the world, the adorable.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that God (﷾) is Lord over all lords, with none above Him. It asks only that He alone be worshipped. The verse itself calls Him "the adorable".
Ramanuja writes that scripture teaches one supreme cause, Brahman, the Lord of all Lords, all-knowing and all-powerful. He adds that there is no "pure Being" above the Lord.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that nothing stands above the Lord. Ramanuja counts rites offered to Indra and the other gods as worship of the Lord, who is "the real Object of that worship". If so, Islam goes one step further: He can be worshipped directly, and He hears every caller Himself.
Ramanuja reads "Thou art that" another way. Souls and matter, he says, are the highest Self's body, and their qualities do not touch Him.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that the Lord is far above souls, and that their attributes do not touch Him. The Qur'an goes further and keeps Maker and made apart. Nothing whatever is like Him, and every creature comes to Him as a servant.
In the Gita, Krishna ranks highest the man of knowledge whose worship is addressed to one Being only.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that the highest worship is addressed to one Being only. The Qur'an names Him plainly: He begets not, nor is He begotten, and none is like Him. It says every messenger called people to this worship.
Many names of the One (Vivekananda)
Truth is one, and the sages call it by many names. The gods are the powers and forms of the One: the Upanishad itself says the Self is fire, the sun, the wind and the moon. Even in popular worship, the worshippers give their images all the attributes of God. So Hinduism is not polytheism.
Swami Vivekananda and much modern Hindu teaching
The Rig Veda says the sages give many names to what is One. They call it Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, Yama and Matarisvan.
Rebuttal
Islam agrees that God (﷾) may be called by any of His most beautiful names. But the verse's own list is Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, Yama and Matarisvan. The same Veda says Indra and Agni were born from the cosmic Man's mouth. Of God (﷾) the Upanishad says there is "neither parent nor lord". So these are names of beings who were born, not names of that God (﷾).
Yajnavalkya counts the gods down to one, and says the many are only the various powers of thirty-three.
Rebuttal
Grant that he counts the gods down to one. But he names them as fire, earth, air, the sun, the moon, the months and thunder, which are parts of the world. The Rig Veda says the gods came after the world. The Qur'an says to prostrate not to the sun and the moon, but to Allah (﷾) who created them.
The Svetasvatara says the Self is fire, the sun, the wind and the moon.
Rebuttal
Grant that the Upanishad says it. Fire, the sun, the wind and the moon are parts of the world. The Qur'an denies that any created thing is God or a form of God (﷾). It calls the sun and the moon His signs, and forbids prostrating to them.
Vivekananda told the Parliament of Religions in 1893 that there is no polytheism in India. In every temple, he said, the worshippers give the images all the attributes of God.
Rebuttal
The Qur'an asks that worship go to the One alone: "Thee do we worship". Meaning to honour the One is not the same as worshipping Him alone. The Rig Veda says the gods came after the world. And the Gita ranks highest the man "whose worship is (addressed) to one (Being) only".
Where the academy stands
Status: Consensus
Scholars of the Veda agree that its tenth book is a later layer of the collection. They place hymns such as 1.164 among the later ones. The older hymns praise many gods; more than a quarter of the Rig Veda praises Indra. The idea that the gods are forms of one divine being appears in the later hymns. Macdonell (1900) adds that these hint at the pantheism (the belief that everything is God). In his view it grew through the later Vedic literature into the Vedanta. So the one-God lines quoted here are not the Veda's oldest layer, and this page does not claim they are.
The Islamic perspective
God (﷾) is One: without parent or lord, without likeness, beyond the sight of the eye. He was, and nothing else was, and He created all things; He did not become them. Every creature, the sun, the moon and the angels included, is His servant, and worship belongs to Him alone. The highest lines of the Hindu scriptures describe this God (﷾). The Qur'an teaches Him plainly, and never calls a creature God (﷾).
Surat al-Ikhlas ends by saying that God (﷾) is not begotten, and none is like Him. Two lines of the Svetasvatara say the same.
The Qur'an teaches that nothing at all is like God (﷾). No vision grasps Him, and He hears and sees.
Allah (﷾) was, and nothing else was; He created the heavens and the earth, and did not become them.
Every being in the heavens and the earth comes to God (﷾) as a servant; none is God.
One Upanishad names the thirty-three gods, among them fire, earth, the sun, the moon, the months and thunder. The Rig Veda says the gods came after the world.
The Qur'an forbids prostrating to the sun and the moon, and commands prostration to Allah (﷾) who created them.
Angels take no worship: they are honoured servants, and they will disown those who worshipped them.
God's (﷾) names are His own attributes, and He may be called by any of them. The names people give to created things are not His names.