Quran and Social Sciences

Quran and Social Sciences

Strategies Employed by the Opponents of Social Tawḥīd and Prophetic Methods of Countering Them: A Qur’an-Based Study

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
MohAmad Arabsalehei 1
farideh pishvaei 2
1 Professor, Department of the Logic of Religious Understanding, Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought, Tehran, Iran
2 Level 4, Comparative Exegesis, Masoumiyeh Seminary Higher Education Institute for Women, Qom, Iran (Corresponding Author)
10.22034/arq.2026.247833
Abstract
According to Qur’anic verses and historical accounts, all prophets began their missions by calling people to monotheism and rejecting every form of idolatry. This monotheistic call had an inherently social dimension and directly opposed the dominant creed—the ideological foundation of the ruling order—thereby challenging the legitimacy of the prevailing systems of government. Consequently, the rulers and elites of the prophets’ societies responded to the call to monotheism with hostility. This study seeks to identify and analyze the strategies employed by opponents of social monotheism (Tawḥīd) and the methods adopted by the prophets to confront them, with particular emphasis on the Qur’an. The significance of the study lies in the fact that contemporary hegemonic systems employ similar strategies to distance people from servitude to God and subject them to their own domination. Effective resistance to such systems therefore requires a comprehensive understanding of these strategies. Employing a library-based method and an exploratory approach, the study finds that the opponents of social monotheism (Tawḥīd) commonly employed such strategies as exploiting misguided popular sentiments and cultural deprivation, claiming lordship, humiliating people to suppress protest, enlisting deviant religious scholars, promoting monopolistic practices and social stratification, obstructing rational thought, issuing threats, making accusations, and resorting to violence. In response, the prophets consistently emphasized rational reflection and the reform of people’s perceptions, confronted social systems founded on polytheism and arrogance, affirmed human equality, and sought to establish monotheistic societies by institutionalizing divine values within social structures. Through these measures, they upheld the fundamental principles and requirements of monotheism as a comprehensive theory of social governance. These prophetic methods may be rearticulated and operationalized as Qur’anic strategies for liberating contemporary societies from exploitation and domination within a world governed by Pharaonic systems
Keywords
Social monotheism
Opponents
Strategy
Prophets
Qur&‌‌‌rsquo
an
Subjects
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  • Receive Date 19 February 2026
  • Revise Date 20 May 2026
  • Accept Date 25 May 2026