TAUHEED
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The primal purpose of the message of Islam is to know, practice and propagate the worship of the One and Only God of the Universe, Allah the Almighty and Majestic, the One God of all the Prophets and Messengers: this is also called “Tauheed” [Oneness, Monotheism, Unity and Totality]:
Therefore we call all humanity to:
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Unity and Totality in Worshiping Allah the Almighty and Majestic who is One, alone without partner, worshiping Him with full sincerity in religion, and with obedient submission as a way of life;
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Unity and Totality in Following Muhammad the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, His last and final Prophet and Messenger;
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Unification and Consolidation of the Ranks of the Muslims upon sincere Worship and sincere Following;
By Knowledge, Action, Truth and Patience.
Tauheed – Islamic Monotheism and other matters
On primacy of worshipping Allah alone without partner, calling to Tauheed
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
(In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent in Mercy, the Most Merciful)
إن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا ومن سيئات أعمالنا ، من يهده الله فلا مضلَّ له، ومن يضلل فلا هادي له ، وأشهد أن لا إله الا الله وحده لا شريك له ، وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله
أما بعد :
Indeed, all praise belongs to Allah. We praise Him, seek His Aid and His Forgiveness and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil of our actions. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever Allah leaves in unguided none can guide thereafter. I bear witness that there is no god (nothing has the right to be worshiped) except Allah, who is alone without partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. Proceeding …
On TAUHEED (“التوحيد “)
“Making Allah One”
“Oneness of Allah”
“Monotheism”
The word Tauheed (توحيد )[transliterated Tawheed, Tuhid etc] is from the Arabic word
(وحّد – يوحّد – توحيداً ) which means to make one, to unify. Thus to say ( يوحّد الله ) yuwahidu-llah, means to make Allah one in belief, in faith and in worship. It is also called Tauheed-ullah ( توحيد الله ) the oneness of Allah. Allah is of course only one but the important thing for us is to understand this basic truth and to make Him as He really is and to worship as He deserves to be worshiped. The Pagan Arabs were amazed that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, denied their many gods and idols, and they made fun of him about worshiping only One God saying: ( أجعل الآلهة إلها واحدا إن هذا لشيء عجاب ) “Has he made the gods to be only one God? Indeed, this is an amazing thing.”(38:5)
They recognized that only Allah was the Creator and Sustainer and Lord of the universe yet they worshiped other gods along with Allah saying these lesser gods will be mediators between us and Allah, or fearing them and depending on them as if they had power to harm or benefit them. This is the greatest sin of “Shirk” (شرك): associating partners with Allah.
We find the word of Tawheed in its various forms like (وحّد – يوحّد – توحيد) in the Sunnah Literature, for instance we find an inclination of the word in the famous hadeeth (narration) of Imam Muslim when he reports in the Book of Prayer in the Chapter on the “Islam of Amr ibn Abasah” wherein he asks the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) ,
….فقلت: ما أنت؟ قال: أنا نبي. فقلت: و ما نبي؟ قال: أرسلني الله. فقلت: بأي شيء أرسلك ؟
قال أرسلني بصلة الأرحام وكسر الأوثان وأن يوحّد الله ولا يُشرك به شئ.…
“….Who are you? He said: I am a Prophet (of Allah). I asked: Who is a Prophet? He said: I have been sent by Allah (as a Messenger). I asked: What is that with which you have been sent? He said: I have been sent with joining ties of relationship, breaking the idols, making Allah One (yuwahhidu = tauheed), and not associating with Him any other partners (shirk)….”
In a version of the famous hadeeth of Ibn Abbaas, may Allah be pleased with them, when the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, sent Mu’adh ibn Jabal may Allah be pleased with him, to Yemen., he commended him saying:
(إِنَّكَ تَأْتِي قَوْمَاً مِنْ أَهْلِ الكِتَابِ ، فَلْيَكُنْ أَوَّلُ مَا تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَيْهِ شَهَادَةَ أَنْ لاَ إِلهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوكَ لِذَلِكَ، فَأَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ خَمْسَ صَلَواتٍ فِي كُلِّ يَوْمٍ وَلَيْلَةٍ، فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوكَ لِذَلِكَ: فَأَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُؤْخَذُ مِنْ أَغْنِيَائِهِمْ فَتُرَدُّ عَلَى فُقَرَائِهِمْ، فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوكَ لِذَلِكَ فَإِيَّاكَ وَكَرَائِمَ أَمْوَالِهِمْ ، وَاتَّقِ دَعْوَةَ المَظْلُومِ، فَإِنَّهُ لَيْسَ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَ اللهِ حِجَابٌ) [أَخْرِجَاهُ. ]
وفي روايات اخرى نجد الفاظ متقاربة المعنى:
1… فليكن أول ما تدعوهم إلى أن يوحدوا الله تعالى، فإذا عرفوا ذلك… 2…فليكن أول ما تدعوهم إليه عبادة الله عز وجل فإذا عرفوا الله فأخبرهم…3 …فادعهم إلى شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله وأني رسول الله، فإن هم أطاعوا لذلك فأعلمنهم…4 …فليكن أول ما تدعوهم إليه عبادة الله عز وجل، فإذا عرفوا الله فأخبرهم … 5…إلى أن يعبدوا الله….
[رواه البخارى (1395)، ومسـلم (31)، والنسائى (5/3)، وإبن ماجة (1783)، (1/568)، والدارمى (1662)، (1/318)، وأحمد (233/1)، و رواية التوحيد في البخارى (7372) و مسلم 79 ]
“When the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him, sent Mu`adth to Yemen, he commended him: ‘You will come upon people of the Scripture, so let your first act be to call them to witness that there is no god except Allah if they obey you in this, inform them that Allah has made it a duty for them to offer prayer (Salat) five times a day. If they obey you in this, then inform them that Allah has laid upon them the duty of charity (Zakat) to be levied from their rich and distributed to their poor. If they obey you in this, then by careful not to take the best of their properties (as payment of Zakat), and safeguard yourself against the supplication of who has suffered injustice because there is no veil between his supplication and Allah.” [Related by al-Bukhari and Muslim and many others]
In other versions of this tradition we find significant variations which all carry the same general meaning but in other terms: 1) “to actualize ‘Tauheed’ of Allah or make Allah one;” 2) “to believe in Allah;” 3) “to know Allah;” 4) “to worship Allah;” 5) “to testify that ‘LA ILAHA ILLA-ALLAH.’”
Thus we see that the word Tauheed is used for one version says
…فليكن أول ما تدعوهم إلى أن يوحدوا الله تعالى…
“…so let your first thing that you call them to is make Allah One…” (i.e. to actualize the ‘Tauheed’ of Allah in faith and worship). And in a version of al–Darqutni in his Sunan 5/316 it is reported
فَلْيَكُنْ أَوَّلَ مَا تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَيْهِ تَوْحِيدُ اللَّهِ
“…so let your first thing that you call them to is the Monotheism of Allah
(Tauheed-ullah).”
And in the famous hadeeth of Imam Muslim, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, said:
من وحد الله تعالى و كفر بما يعبد من دونه حرم ماله و دمه و حسابه على الله عز وجل
“Whoever makes Allah the Exalted to be One (wahhada Allah) and disbelieves in what is worshiped other than Him, will protect his blood and property, and his account will be with Allah.”
And in the hadeeth of Imam Ahmad and at-Tirmidthi, verified as authentic, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, said:
يعذب ناس من أهل التوحيد فيطرحون في النار حتى يكونوا فيها حمما ثم تدركهم الرحمة فيخرجون و يطرحون على أبواب الجنة فيرش عليهم أهل الجنة الماء فينبتون كما ينبت الغثاء في حمالة السيل ثم يدخلون الجنة
“Some people of the people of monotheism (Ahl-at-Tauheed) will be punished, being placed in the hellfire until they are like burnt coal, then they will have the mercy reach them, then they will be taken out and placed at the doors of Paradise. The people of Paradise will (come and) spray upon them some water and they will sprout up like the seeds of sprouts after the rushing water of the rainfall, then they will enter Paradise.”
And in a narration reported by at-Tabarani, Ibn Abi Asim, and Abu Nuaim al-Asfahani, on al-Harith ibn al-Harith al-Ghamadi:
الحارث بن الحارث الغامدي ، قال : قلت لأبي : ما هذه الجماعة ؟ قال : هؤلاء قوم اجتمعوا على صابئ لهم قال : فتشرفنا فإذا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يدعو الناس إلى توحيد الله عز وجل والإيمان به حتى ارتفع النهار فتصدع عنه الناس ، وأقبلت امرأة قد بدا نحرها تبكي تحمل قدحا ومنديلا فناولته منها فشرب وتوضأ ثم رفع رأسه إليها فقال : « يا بنية خمري عليك نحرك ولا تخافي على أبيك غلبة ولا ذلا » فقلت : من هذه ؟ قالوا : هذه زينب ابنته
“I said to my father, who are these people? He said, they are gathered against a Saba’i (one who has left the religion of his fathers) from among them. Then we looked and verily it was the Messenger of Allah calling people to the Monotheism of Allah the Almighty and Majestic (Tauheed Allah Azz wa Jall), and to faith, until the noontime of the day came, and then the people left him, and a women came crying with her neck open carrying a cup and a cloth, and she gave him it and he drank and performed ablution and raised his head and he said to her, O my daughter cover your neck and do not worry about your father to be overcome or humiliated.”
The Muslim scholars have used the word Tauheed as the subject of calling to believing and worshiping Allah with full sincerity as One God without partners, or peers. For instance, Ibn Khuzaimah and Ibn Mandah have books by this name, and Imam al-Bukhari has a chapter in his famous book on Hadeeth called:
بَاب مَا جَاءَ فِي دُعَاءِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أُمَّتَهُ إِلَى تَوْحِيد اللَّهِ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى
“Chapter of what has been reported about the Prophet, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, calling to the Oneness of Allah the Blessed and Exalted.”
Imam at-Tahawi starts his famous Aqeedah (faith and creed) book on saying
…نقول في توحيد الله معتقدين بتوفيق الله إن الله واحد لا شريك له
“We say in the Oneness of Allah (Tauheed Allah), believing, by the guidance of Allah to what is right, that Allah is one without any partner….”
The Scholars of Islam have noted by their intensive study of the Quran and Sunnah that Tauheed is the basis of Islam. Those who demote or belittle the importance of Tauheed are extremely deviant or have fallen into disbelief and idolatry in one form or another. Unfortunately some have thought that this word of “Tauheed” is not found in the Quran and Sunnah and have devalued the primary place of Tauheed for this reason and consequently fallen into many misunderstandings about Islamic creed and practice.
On Tauheed
We find in the Hadith of Abdullah ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, when the Messenger of Allah, may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, sent Mu’adh ibn Jabal may Allah be pleased with him, to Yemen. Ibn Abbaas, may Allah be pleased with them, narrates:
وَعَنِ ابنِ عَبَّاسٍ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُمَا، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم لَمَّا بَعَثَ مُعَاذَاً إِلَى اليَمَنِ قَالَ لَهُ: (إِنَّكَ تَأْتِي قَوْمَاً مِنْ أَهْلِ الكِتَابِ ، فَلْيَكُنْ أَوَّلُ مَا تَدْعُوهُمْ إِلَيْهِ شَهَادَةَ أَنْ لاَ إِلهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوكَ لِذَلِكَ، فَأَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ خَمْسَ صَلَواتٍ فِي كُلِّ يَوْمٍ وَلَيْلَةٍ، فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوكَ لِذَلِكَ: فَأَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُؤْخَذُ مِنْ أَغْنِيَائِهِمْ فَتُرَدُّ عَلَى فُقَرَائِهِمْ، فَإِنْ هُمْ أَطَاعُوكَ لِذَلِكَ فَإِيَّاكَ وَكَرَائِمَ أَمْوَالِهِمْ ، وَاتَّقِ دَعْوَةَ المَظْلُومِ، فَإِنَّهُ لَيْسَ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَ اللهِ حِجَابٌ) [أَخْرِجَاهُ. ]
وفي روايات اخرى نجد الفاظ متقاربة المعنى:
1… فليكن أول ما تدعوهم إلى أن يوحدوا الله تعالى، فإذا عرفوا ذلك… 2…فليكن أول ما تدعوهم إليه عبادة الله عز وجل فإذا عرفوا الله فأخبرهم…3 …فادعهم إلى شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله وأني رسول الله، فإن هم أطاعوا لذلك فأعلمنهم…4 …فليكن أول ما تدعوهم إليه عبادة الله عز وجل، فإذا عرفوا الله فأخبرهم … 5…إلى أن يعبدوا الله….
[رواه البخارى (1395)، ومسـلم (31)، والنسائى (5/3)، وإبن ماجة (1783)، (1/568)، والدارمى (1662)، (1/318)، وأحمد (233/1)، و رواية التوحيد في البخارى (7372) و مسلم 79 ]
“When the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him, sent Mu`adth to Yemen, he commended him: ‘You will come upon people of the Scripture, so let your first act be to call them to witness that there is no god except Allah if they obey you in this, inform them that Allah has made it a duty for them to offer prayer (Salat) five times a day. If they obey you in this, then inform them that Allah has laid upon them the duty of charity (Zakat) to be levied from their rich and distributed to their poor. If they obey you in this, then by careful not to take the best of their properties (as payment of Zakat), and safeguard yourself against the supplication of who has suffered injustice because there is no veil between his supplication and Allah.” [Related by al-Bukhari and Muslim and many others]
In other versions of this tradition we find significant variations which all carry the same general meaning: 1) “to actualize ‘Tauheed’ of Allah;” 2) “to believe in Allah;” 3) “to know Allah;” 4) “to worship Allah;” 5) “to testify that ‘LA ILAHA ILLA-ALLAH.’”
<> More forthcoming – inshallah
Abu Salman (أبو سـلمان) Deya ud-Deen (ضياء الدين) Eberle (ابرلي) 