Where do we draw the line between atheism and monotheism?

I've heard "Hanif" translated as "agnostic", or "apostate" rather than "monotheist". For example, Zaid bin 'Amr bin Naufal (Waraqa bin Naufal's nephew?)'s rejection of Christianity and Judaism for the faith of Ibraheem, Haneefan. I thought this was interesting.

I thought this was neat, pertaining to the subject.

Taken from Chabad.org (Run if you fear jews):

Maimonides, the great 12th century (codifier of what-we-believe- and-what-we-don't- just-so-everybody- can-argue-about-it- for-the-next-thousand-years) writes that G‑d cannot be called an existence. An existence has some sort of definition, as in "exist as what?" If G‑d would exist, Rabbi M says, then something would have had to existify Him--which means He wouldn't be G‑d. So G‑d, by definition, does not exist.

Neat fact: Did you know that when the Romans would sentence a person to death for becoming a Jew, the crime was called, "atheism"? Since the Jewish G‑d cannot be seen or described, they considered this person to be without any god at all. Turns out that Judaism is closer to atheism than most people's theism. As Rabbi Sholom Dovber of Lubavitch once put it, "The G‑d the atheist doesn't believe in, I don't believe in either."

lol @ thesideeffect's analogy!  Lets look at it this way, the atheists already believe in the first part of the Shahadah - 'La Ilaha' - that there is no God, we must just show them the 'Illalla', but Allah! Today what we have is the people turning away from religion, since they see that as the intelligent thing to do.  Do you know what the scholars of religion (or an atheist) label God as?  They label God as an 'unexplainable'.  Therefore, since God's existant can't be proven (they say), that God must be an 'unexplainable'.  Though indeed, Allah can't be emcompassed by the human mind.  As Surah Ikhlas says, 'There is non like unto Him' (112:4).  Therefore we cant really go into who or what God is, since He is our Creator and Sustainer, and we cant see Him.  Coming to your point.  Though I believe the modern atheists are mirroing their religious counterparts (in that they try to 'convert' followers of religion, into their 'religion').  In this instance, atheism too becomes a religion, or in my wording a non-religion. So, are monotheists and atheists the same?  I disagree.  A true atheist doesnt believe in any God, whereas the monotheist do believe in God.  Its an intelligent point regarding Prophet Ibrahim (SAW), though the atheists call for an end to religion - as most of them see it as a means of human corruption.  If you look back at my first point, 'La Ilaha' - it might seem a small difference, though its implications are huge.  Religion is all about God, atheism isnt.  The true monotheist and true atheist are distinct, though they may seem closer.

talibislam-- you can accept the lordship of Allah without thinking of Him in the same way the polytheists think of their idols (because Allah is much greater). that is what i am saying here. though i have also considered your point about atheists being prideful in their own importance in the world (which may not even be true of all atheists). so even though you make some fair points, i do not think you are really addressing the topic of the blog.

nicely put, thesideeffect, interesting way to explain the dividing line.

thank you tom feroze. i look forward to reading your blog.

A monotheist believes in only One God, and an atheist believes there is NO God. At all. They believe that this is all there is, nothing else. They believe that people are the masters of the universe, and such, in a sense, worship themselves and their desires. There is a difference between calling people to stop worshipping all false gods, which is the call of tawhid, and calling all gods false, which is shirk. The pagans take away the power of Allah, swt, and place that power in some created thing. The athiests just take the power away and refuse to acknowledge their creator. They blaspheme Allah. Period. Furthermore it is a religion. The Prophet, saws, said that all people are born Muslims, but their parents make them into jews, christians, or athiests. See how he, saws, grouped them together?There is a HUGE line between us and them. The question should be "where do you draw the line between atheism and paganism." "have you not seen those who take their desires as their gods?"See? Those people don't worship an actual God, they worship themselves. They say "I am God" (audhoo billah min dhalik).Part of Laa ilaha ill Allah, muhammadur Rasoolullah, is recognizing the Lordship of Allah, and saying only He makes the rules for our lives, sent down through His Prophet. ilah us related to the word "uluhiyya" which means 'authority, sovereignty'. There is no authority, sovereignty, being worthy of worship EXCEPT Allah. He is the only one. Attributing the power to make rules in our lives to any other than Allah is shirk. The Qur'an speaks about the jews and christian worshipping their rabbis and priests. The Rasoolullah, saws, stated that this meant they followed their rules instead of Allah's, and thus worshipped them. If an atheist does the same with himself, wouldn't it be the same thing?

I appreciate you bringing this up. My position on this matter is a very controversial opinion among theists. I realize that to some, this is a very sensitive issue, but it is one that needs to be disscussed openly. As soon as I read this blog, I thought to myself that this blog will soon be cluttered with hate against the "non-believers", "western culture" and pretty much be overwhelmed with ad-hominum fallacies and not mention among many other fallcy arguments. So in order to avoid fighting through all the soon to come broad range of arguments, I'm going to post a response to your question(s) in a separate blog of my own. That way, you can fully understand where I'm coming from instead of having to be potentially confused with other people's comments.