Monotheism is the belief that there is only one god. Modern monotheistic religions include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
In Judaism, the first verse of the Shema declares “Hear, O Israel, the L-rd is our G‑d, the L-rd is One”.
The Nicene Creed, a statement of Christian teachings from the year 325 CE, begins “We believe in one God”. The teaching of the Trinity says that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three aspects of one God.
In Islam the concept of tawhid says that Allah (God) is unique and has no equal. It also says that God is whole and not made up of different parts. The Shahadah, a statement of Islamic faith, begins (in English translation) “There is no god but Allah”.
This photo shows calligraphy of the Shahadah from early 20th century Turkey.
Text adapted from English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
Object shown from the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art CAL 0320
