An Analytical Study of the Components of Qur’anic Social Monotheism in the Exegetical Thought of Imam Khamenei

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Department of Theological Education, Education and Islamic Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/dqm.2025.22604.1198

Abstract

“Social monotheism” is regarded as one of the concepts that contemporary Qur’anic thinkers have addressed within the field of interdisciplinary studies of the Qur’an and the sciences. It has been proposed as a new orientation and an emergent concept in the subjects of Qur’anic exegesis and Qur’anic sciences. Imam Khamenei (may his authority be prolonged) is among the thinkers and scholars who have presented this topic within the framework of social theology, on the basis of Qur’anic discussions, and have articulated it in his exegetical thought. Since social monotheism is a complex concept with multiple dimensions, this article—focusing on Imam Khamenei’s exegetical ideas—extracts and explicates the concept of social monotheism through its Qur’anic components. The methodology and research findings of this article, which rely on a descriptive–analytical approach and library-based research, indicate that Imam Khamenei’s exegetical perspective pays attention to the social form of belief in divine oneness, in addition to mere mental and individual belief. They further demonstrate that lordship monotheism (tawḥīd al-rubūbiyyah) and servitude monotheism (tawḥīd al-ʿubūdiyyah) constitute the two fundamental components of social monotheism. Other components—such as purposiveness of creation, responsibility toward the realm of existence and human society, acceptance of God’s absolute sovereignty in all dimensions of individual and social life, directing actions and emotions toward God, and the social formation of the remaining elements of religion—are classified under the category of lordship monotheism. Likewise, other components—such as the negation of tyrants and their rule, the necessity of establishing a divine government and system, the rejection of monopoly and the pursuit of superiority in any form, and the negation of non-divine theories—are classified under the category of servitude monotheism. Taken together, these components present, in a comprehensive and precise manner, the meaning and nature of social monotheism.

Keywords

References

  1. The Holy Qurʾan

    1. A Group of Authors. (1397 SH / 2018). al-Tawḥīd Dawāʾ al-Ālām (1st edition). Mashhad: Youth Foundation of the Sacred Razavi Shrine.
    2. ʿĀbidī, Aḥmad. (1390 SH / 2011). Tawḥīd va Shirk dar Negāh-e Shīʿeh va Wahhābiyyat (1st edition). Qom: Mashʿar Cultural and Artistic Institute.
    3. ʿArab Ṣāliḥī, Muḥammad, & Bīshvāʾī, Farīdeh. (1401 SH / 2022). Taḥlīl-e Maʿnā-ye Tawḥīd-e Ijtimāʿī az Rahgozar-e Tabyīn-e Muʾallifihā-ye Ān dar Qurʾān. Quarterly Journal of Qurʾanic Exegetical and Semantic Studies, 8, 25–50.
    4. ʿArab Ṣāliḥī, Muḥammad, & Bīshvāʾī, Farīdeh. (1401 SH / 2022). Tawḥīd-e Ijtimāʿī: Māhiyyat, Taʿrīf, va Nisbat-e Ān bā Tawḥīd-e Iʿtiqādī. Qabasāt Quarterly, 104, 99–124.
    5. Farāhīdī, Khalīl ibn Aḥmad. (1383 AH / 1963). al-ʿAyn. Qom: Usweh Publications.
    6. Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Muḥammad Muḥsin ibn Shāh Murtaḍā. (1415 AH / 1994). Tafsīr al-Ṣāfī (2nd edition). Tehran: Maktabat al-Ṣadr.
    7. Hāshimī Rafsanjānī, Akbar. (1387 SH / 2008). Bargozīdeh-ye Farhang-e Qurʾan. Qom: Bustān-e Kitāb.
    8. Ḥusaynī Tehrānī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1403 AH / 1983). al-Tawḥīd fī al-Tawḥīd. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Wafāʾ.
    9. Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad. (1404 AH / 1984). Muʿjam Maqāyīs al-Lughah. Qom: Islamic Information Office.
    10. Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. (1414 AH / 1993). Lisān al-ʿArab. Qom: Nashr Adab al-Ḥawzeh.
    11. Jaʿfarī, Muḥammad Taqī. (1358 SH / 1979). Tarjumeh va-Tafsīr Nahj al-Balāghah. Tehran: Daftar-e Nashr-e Farhang-e Islāmī.
    12. Javadi Amoli, ʿAbdullah. (1383 SH / 2004). al-Tawḥīd fī al-Qurʾan. Qom: Markaz-e Nashr-e Isrāʾ.
    13. Jawharī, Ismāʿīl ibn Ḥammād. (1376 AH / 1956). al-Ṣiḥāḥ: Tāj al-Lughah wa-Ṣiḥāḥ al-ʿArabiyyah (1st edition). Beirut: Dār al-ʿIlm li-l-Malāyīn.
    14. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1385 SH / 2006). Speech Delivered at a Meeting with Participants of the Islamic Unity Conference.
    15. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (n.d.). Rūḥ al-Tawḥīd: Nafy al-ʿUbūdiyyah li-Ghayr Allāh. Tehran: Nashr-e Inqilāb-e Islāmī.
    16. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1356 SH / 1977). Rūḥ al-Tawḥīd: Nafy al-ʿUbūdiyyah li-Ghayr Allāh. In Muṣṭafā Īzidī & Qāsim Maskūb (eds.), Wajhat Naẓar Tawḥīdiyyah (Collected Essays) (1st edition). Tehran: Daftar-e Nashr-e Farhang-e Islāmī.
    17. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1368 SH / 1989). Speech Delivered at a Meeting with a Group of Students on the Occasion of the Day of Seminary–University Unity.
    18. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1373 SH / 1994). Speech Delivered at a Meeting with State Officials.
    19. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1384 SH / 2005). Speech Delivered at a Meeting with State Officials.
    20. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1391 SH / 2012). Speech Delivered at the Fourth Strategic Thought Conference.
    21. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1392 SH / 2013). Ṭarḥ-e Kullī-ye Andīsheh-ye Islāmī dar Qurʾan. Tehran: Nashr-e Ṣahbā.
    22. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1396 SH / 2017). Speech Delivered at a Meeting with Seminary Students of Tehran Province.
    23. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1399 SH / 2020). Speech Delivered in a Virtual Meeting with Members of the Government.
    24. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1399 SH / 2020). Tafsīr Sūrat al-Mumtaḥanah. Tehran: Nashr-e Inqilāb-e Islāmī.
    25. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1400 SH / 2021). Fikr-e Ḥaḍārī (1) (1st edition). Qom: Academic Scientific Publishing.
    26. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1401 SH / 2022a). Tafsīr Sūrat al-Baqarah. Tehran: Nashr-e Inqilāb-e Islāmī.
    27. Khamenei, Sayyid ʿAli. (1401 SH / 2022b). Tafsīr Sūrat al-Ḥamd. Tehran: Nashr-e Inqilāb-e Islāmī.
    28. Khāzin, ʿAli ibn Muḥammad. (1415 AH / 1994). Lubāb al-Taʾwīl fī Maʿānī al-Tanzīl (Tafsīr al-Khāzin) (1st edition). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
    29. Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. (1387 SH / 2008). Tafsīr-e Nemūneh. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah.
    30. Malikī Tabrīzī, Javād. (1378 SH / 1999). Asrār al-Ṣalāh. Translated and abridged by Jawād Muḥaddithī. Qom: Dar Rāh-e Ḥaqq Institute.
    31. Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Muḥammad Taqī. (1391 SH / 2012). Maʿārif-e Qurʾān: Khodāshenāsī, Kayhān-shināsī, Insān-shināsī. Qom: Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute.
    32. Mutahhari, Morteza. (1377 SH / 1998). Guftār-hā-ye Maʿnavī. Qom: Sadra Publications.
    33. Qarāʾatī, Muḥsin. (1388 SH / 2009). Tafsīr-e Nūr. Tehran: Cultural Center of “Lessons from the Qurʾān.”
    34. Qummī, ʿAbbās. (1363 SH / 1984). Safīnat al-Biḥār. Tehran: Thanāʾī Publications.
    35. Qurashī, Sayyid ʿAlī Akbar. (1371 SH / 1992). Qāmūs-e Qurʾān. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyyah.
    36. Quṭb, Sayyid. (1425 AH / 2004). Fī Ẓilāl al-Qurʾān (35th edition). Beirut: Dār al-Shurūq.
    37. Rashīd Riḍā, Muḥammad. (1414 AH / 1993). Tafsīr al-Manār (1st edition). Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah.
    38. Shinqīṭī, Muḥammad Amīn. (1427 AH / 2006). Aḍwāʾ al-Bayān fī Īḍāḥ al-Qurʾān bi-l-Qurʾān (1st edition). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah.
    39. Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. (1346 SH / 1967). Āʾīn-e Wahhābiyyat (1st edition). Qom: Muʾassasat Dār al-Qurʾān al-Karīm.
    40. Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. (1364 SH / 1985). Tafsīr Ṣaḥīḥ Āyāt Mushkilah (prepared and written by Sayyid Hādī Khosrowshāhī). Tehran: Muʾassasat Nashr wa-Tablīgh.
    41. Subḥānī, Jaʿfar. (1380 SH / 2001). Marzhā-ye Tawḥīd va-Shirk dar Qurʾan. Tehran: Nashr-e Mashʿar.
    42. Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. (1390 SH / 2011). al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt.
    43. Ṭahmāsibī, Muḥammad. (1399 SH / 2020). Islām-e Nāb bar Asās-e Andīsheh-ye Rahbar-e Muʿaẓẓam-e Inqilāb (1st edition). Tehran: Islamic Propagation Organization, International Printing and Publishing Company.
    44. Ṭāliqānī, Sayyid Maḥmūd. (1362 SH / 1983). Partavī az Qurʾān. Tehran: Intishār Publishing Company.
    45. Ṭurayḥī, Fakhr al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad. (1375 SH / 1996). Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn. Edited and revised by Aḥmad Ḥusaynī Ishkūrī. Tehran: Nashr-e Murtaḍawī.

    46. Zuḥaylī, Wahbah. (1411 AH / 1990). al-Tafsīr al-Munīr. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr al-Muʿāṣir.

Contemporary Quranic Studies
Volume 4, Issue 13
December 2025
Pages 109-136

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics