TAWHEED: What it consists of

TAWHEED
What it consists of
(part 2 of 2)

Prepared by: Um Abdullah al-Misawi
for as-salaf.com

The Article in Arabic

PART 1: Tawheed: Its Meaning and Importance


We have explained previously that the wisdom behind creation is to worship only Allaah and denounce all deities besides Him. This is the meaning of Tawheed which is the foundation of the call of all Messengers.

The call to Tawheed of worship includes other things as well, all of them are included in the concept of Tawheed, from amongst these things is having faith in the complete Lordship of Allaah, as He has established the proof of His sole right of being worshipped by being the only Creator, Owner, and Sustainer/Controller (of the Universe). Numerous verses in the Holy Qur'an bear witness to this, and from amongst them is His saying: {O mankind, remember what Allaah has blessed you with. Is there any creator other than Allaah who provides you from the sky and the earth? There is no true deity but Allah, so how come do you turn away?} [35:3], and {Such is Allah Your lord. There is no true deity but Him, the Creator or everything, so worship Him.} [6:102]

Allaah has proven false the claim of the existance of other rightly worshipped deities by establishing the falsehood of there being other creators other than Him. He said -translation of the meaning-: {Had there been therein (in the heavens and the earth) âlihah (gods) besides Allâh, then verily both would have been ruined}[21:22]. This is because of the fact that were there other deities worthy of worship they would also be partners in creating things: {(If there had been many gods), then each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would have tried to overcome others! Glorified be Allah above all that they attribute to Him} [23:91] There are many other similar Qur'anic verses, and we will dedicate a seperate article just for them, if Allaah so wills.

So we know now that believing in Allaah's sole right to be worshipped includes believing in His existence and that He alone is the Lord and the Creator. After all, a person who doesn't believe in this will not worship Allaah due to not believing in His existence in the first place.

Belief in the oneness of His lordship necessitates believing that He is One and that nothing is like Him. Just as there are no creators but Him, there are no deities worthy of worship but Him. Based on this, we conclude that everything besides Him is created and under His lordship and He is One without any partners. And it becomes clear that all of the aforementioned things are intertwined.

We know that the Arab polytheists used to affirm the basis of Allaah's Lordship and say that He is the Creator, the Owner, the Provider and the Disposer of everything. Knowing this, Allaah established the proof on them to worship Him alone by that belief of theirs. From amongst the proofs that the Arab polytheists indeed affirmed Allah’s Lordship in general is Allah’s saying: {Were you to ask them who created the heavens and the earth and who subjected the sun and the moon, they would surely say 'Allaah’. So what makes them turn away?} [29:61] The following has also been narrated about them: ”The polytheists would make talbiya and say: 'Here I am! No partners do You have except a partner belonging to You. Him and all that he owns You Own.' They would say this while going around the House (Ka'bah).“ [Sahih Muslim]

Qatada, one of the successors of the Prophet's companions (Tabi`ee), has said: «His saying: {And most of them believe not in Allâh except that they attribute partners unto Him} [12:106] is in this belief of theirs, y ou will not meet any one of them except that he tells you that Allaah is His Lord, and that He is the one who created him and provided for him, and yet still associates partners with Him in worship.» (1)

Ibn Jarir at-Tabari (d. 310 H.) said: ”Allaah rebuked these polytheists who make deities of things He created and worship them along with Him, while affirming that these things (that they worship) are His creation and that they (the polytheists) are His slaves.” (2)

It should be noted that even though the Arab polytheists used to affirm the fundamentals of Allah’s Lordship, which includes creating, owning and providing ... etc, they still committed polytheism in some individual issues in Allah’s Lordship. They would, for example, believe that some shootingstars caused rain to fall or played a role in it, and that some of their idols had the power to benefit and harm and so forth. 

The fact, however, remains that they affirmed Allaah's Lordship in general and believed that He is the Creator and Owner of everything including the deities they used to worship, and this was a proof against them regarding worshipping Him alone. The Lord of The Worlds who created all things and owns that which they worship besides Him is the one who truly deserves to be worshipped. After all, how can something created, owned, and is under His Lordship be worshipped with the Him, the One Who Created him and Owns him?


Allaah said -translation of the meaning-: {“… Or do they assign to Allâh partners who created the like of His creation, so that the creation seemed alike to them?" Say: "Allâh is the Creator of all things...}[13:16] 
The meaning of this verse is that they did not set up partners thinking that they are creators like Him to the point that the creation would all seem similar to them and they would say: ”These things have created just as Allaah has, so they deserve to be worshipped just as He does.” They did not do this, but instead set up partners incapable of even doing things the creation themselves can do, not to mention things that their Creator can do.

Ibn Jarir at-Tabari said: ”The meaning of His saying: {Say: 'Allaah is the Creator of everything} is as follows: Allaah is saying to His Prophet Muhammad: 'Say to these polytheists when they affirm to you that their idols which they associate with Allaah do not create a thing: Allaah is your Creator, the Creator of your idols and the Creator of all things, so on what basis do you associate with Him something that cannot create or cause harm?'.” (3)

Ibn Kathir (d. 774 H.) said: ”These polytheists only worshipped along with Him idols whom they admit were created things and slaves of His, as is evident from their talbiya: 'Here I am! No partners do You have except a partner belonging to You. Him and all that he owns You own.' Allaah also said the following about them: {We only worship them so that they may bring us closer to Allaah.} [39:3] So, He rebuked them because of this as this was what they believed, while the fact is that nobody can intercede with Him without His permission. Allaah says: {Intercession with Him is of no benefit except for those whom He permits to do so.} [34:23] and: {How many indeed are the angels in the heavens whose intercession is of no avail except after Allaah has given leave for whom He wills and is pleased with} [53:26], and:{Everything in the heavens and the earth only come to the Most Merciful as a slave. He knows every one of them and has counted them fully. Each one of them will come to Him on the day of resurrection alone} [19:93-95] . Since everyone is a slave (of Allaah), why do they worship one another without having any proof to bring forth for it except their reliance on mere opinion and invention? After knowing this, we also know that He sent every single one of His messengers to rebuke them because of this polytheism, forbidding them from worshipping anything other than Him. Their reaction was denial and contradiction so punishment became their inevitable faith.” (4)


After mentioning the wonders of His creation and His arrangement of things Allaah says: {Is then He who creates like the one who does not create? Will you not remember? Were you to count the blessings of Allaah you would not be able to do so. Truly, Allaah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.} [16:17-18] 
Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310 H.) said: ”Allaah says to the idol worshippers: Is He who creates these amazing things that we have pointed out to you and He who gives you these great blessings like the one who doesn't create anything at all and doesn't bless you with anything – not with anything big or anything small either? He is saying: Do you associate this (i.e. idols) in the worship of this (Allah) ? “
Then at-Tabari said: “He (Allah) rebuked them saying: {Will you not remember?} O people. Meaning: Do you not remember the blessings Allaah has given you, and His mighty power and ability to do whatever He wishes, and the inability, weakness and worthlessness of your idols? Would you just remember their inability to even benefit themselves or harm anybody, so that you may know the error in your ways of worshipping them and affirming the right of being worshipped for them?'” (5)

This is how Musa (Moses) established his proof and argued his case with the Pharaoh. Allaah tells us what took place between them when Musa called Pharaoh and his people to worship none but Him: {The Pharaoh said: 'And what is The Lord of The Worlds?' He (Musa) said: 'Lord of the heavens and the earth and that which is between them, if you seek to be certain' He (Pharaoh) said to those around him: 'Are you not listening?' He (Musa) said: 'Your lord and the lord of your forefathers.' He (Pharaoh) said: 'Truly the messenger who has been sent to you is a madman!' He (Musa) said: 'Lord of east and west and what is between them, if you did but understand.' He (Pharaoh) said: 'If you take a deity besides me I will surely throw you in prison.} [26:23-29] 
The Pharaoh was an extremely rebellious tyrant, so much so that he claimed lordship, ridiculing the intellect of his people and calling them to misguidance. Despite this his people obeyed him and denied Musa. The Pharaoh kept the children of Israel weak and lowly, enslaving them, so none of them had the courage to denounce his claim or oppose it publicly in any way. After all, this kind of behavior was bound to lead to a harsh punishment and a brutal killing. Due to this, among his people there were some who really believed in his claim and others who disbelieved in it and rejected it in their hearts, unable to announce the truth publicly. 

When Musa called them to worship only Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds, their Lord and their fathers' Lord, the Pharaoh told his people that Musa, who claims to carry a message from Allaah, is a madman due to his saying things that they are not aware of and things they cannot comprehend. This was because his people, the Copts, had been brought up believing that the Pharaoh, who was their king, was also their lord. Their fathers had held this belief concerning their kings and held that nobody in his right mind could believe anything contrary to that. (6) 
But Musa replied to them and clarified who exactly the Lord of The Worlds really is, describing Him in a way nobody else can be described: {Lord of the heavens and the earth and that which is between them, if you seek to be certain} and {Lord of east and west and what is between them, if you did but understand.} This means that He is the Creator and Owner of the heavens and the earth and everything in between them, and the Creator and the owner of the east and the west and everything in between them. (7) In another verse:{He (Pharaoh) said: ’Who then, O Mûsâ, is the Lord of you two?’ He (Musa) said: 'Our lord is He who gave everything its created form and then guided.} [20:49-50].

Ibn Jarir al-Tabari said: ”When He informed them of that which they knew to be the evident truth - since the kingdom of the Pharaoh and the kings before him did not reach beyond Egypt, and it had become clear to the Pharaoh and the people around him that He who Musa is calling them to worship is the King who owns all other kings - the Pharaoh was too proud to accept the truth and said in his utter misguidance to Musa: {If you take a deity besides me I will surely throw you in prison.}” (8)

By this, it is evident that anybody who claims lordship and enslaves people based on this will be proven a liar by his own deficiency in lordship and the absolute Lordship of Allaah. This will also be proven by the fact that He is the lord of each and everything that exists including the claimants of lordship, and from this, His sole right to be worshipped is concluded.


In addition to this, the verses that Allah refuted the polytheists with are evidence for His existence due to them (the verses) mentioning the orderly conduct of the universe, the design of the creation and other such things. So they are a proof against the Dahriyya (i.e. Athiests) and everyone who denies Allaah's existence and position as the Creator. 

After all this, whoever contemplates the speech of Allaah will find that all that has been mentioned is connected with each other.



Everything that we have mentioned concerning Tawheed and what it consists of, is mentioned in one verse of the Qur'an, namely, the ayah of Al-Kursi: {Allaah. There is no true deity but Him, The Ever-Living, The Sustainer and Protector. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. His is that which is in the heavens and the earth. Who is he that will intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what lies ahead of them and what is behind them. They cannot compass anything of His knowledge except what He wills. His footstool reaches over the heavens and the earth and He feels no fatigue in preserving them. He is The High, The Great.} [2:255]

This is the greatest ayah in the Book of Allaah, containing information on His Lordship, His worthiness of worship alone, and Oneness in His Names and Attributes. Allaah has combined negation and affirmation in it, negating that He has any flaws and affirming perfection for Him, Exalted and Most High.
To keep it brief, here are some parts of this verse that talk about the definition of Tawheed:
Tawheed of worship: {Allaah. There is no deity worthy of worship but Him (La ilaha illa Huwa)}
Tawheed of lordship: {His is that which is in the heavens and the earth},
Tawheed of names and attributes: {The Ever-Living, The Sustainer and Protector} and {He is The High, The Great}

All of Tawheed is covered also in the following verse: {Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, so worship Him and be constant and patient in that. Do you know anything similar to Him?} [19:65]
Lordship: {Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them}
Worship: {so worship Him and be constant and patient in that}
Names and Attributes: {Do you know anything similar to Him?}


It is also contained in the first surah/chapter of the Quran, Al-Fatihah : 
{Praise be to Allaah, The Lord of The Worlds} This affirms His lordship over the whole creation.
{The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful} This mentions His Names/Attributes,
{You alone do we worship and from You alone we seek aid} This means singling Him out in worship.

Also, in the last surah of the Quran, An-Nas :
{Say: 'I see refuge from the lord of mankind} Lordship,
{The king of mankind} Attributes,
{The deity of mankind} Worship.

And many more other verses and chapters of the Quran. 


As for the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition), the issues of Tawheed are combined in the test of the Prophet, which he put forward to a number of female slaves. There are a number of Hadiths where a need to free a believing slave occurs. In these Hadiths, the questions our Prophet asks the slaves vary, and from amongst them are the following:

1. ”Do you bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allaah (La Ilaha Illa Allaah)?” 
`Ubaid Allah ibn `Abd Allah ibn `Utba ibn Mas'ud narrated: 
A man from the Ansar came to the Messenger of Allaah with a black female slave of his, saying: “Allaah's Messenger, I have to free a believing slave, so if you deem this one a believer I shall set her free.” The Messenger of Allaah said to her: ”Do yo bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allaah?“ She said: ”Yes.”
He said: ”Do you bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah?“ She said: ”Yes.” He said: ”Are you certain of resurrection after death?“ She said: ”Yes.”
So the Messenger of Allaah said: ”Set her free.“ (9)

2. ”Who is your lord?”
Al-Shuraid ibn Suwaid al-Thaqafi narrated that His mother bequested him to free a believing slave for her, so he asked Allaah's Messenger (saws) about it, saying: “I have a black Nubian female slave should I free her?”
He (The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: ”Bring her here“ so I called her and she came. 
He said to her: ”Who is your lord?“ She said: ”Allaah.”
He said: ”Who am I?“ She said: ”You are the Messenger of Allaah.” 
He said: ”Set her free for she is indeed a believer.“ [Musnad of Imam Ahmad] (10)

3. "Where is Allah?”
Mu'awiya ibn al-Hakam narrated: “I had a female slave who used to look after my sheep at the direction of Uhud and Jawwaniyyah. One day I noticed that a wolf had snatched a sheep from her flock, and I'm just a man from the sons of Adam so I regret things as they do, but the case remains that I slapped her due to what happened. I went to Allaah's Messenger, and he informed me of the gravity of what I had done, so I said: “O Messenger of Allaah, should I not free her?” 
He said: ”Bring her.“ So I brought her to him, and he said to her:”Where is Allaah?“ She said: ”Above the heaven (fi as-sama).”
He said: ”Who am I?“ She said: ”You are the Messenger of Allaah.”
He said: ”Set her free for she indeed is a believer.“ [Sahih Muslim]

The first Hadeeth mentions a question about the belief of the slave concerning Allaah's Oneness in worship, the second one has a question about the slave’s Lord, and the third one has a question about one of His attributes, namely, His elevation above His creation.


What we have mentioned here has been mentioned by some of the Pious Predecessors as well in their sayings about Tawheed. Some of these statements are as follows:

- Imam Al-Bukhari (d. 256 H.) said in his Sahih: «Chapter: What has been narrated about the Prophet's call of his nation to the Tawheed of Allaah”
In this chapter he brings the saying of the Prophet: ”Mu'adh, do you know what is the right of Allaah from His slaves?“ He said: ”Allaah and His Messenger know best.” He (the Prophet –sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: «That they worship Him and do not associate anything with Him».
What is mentioned here is tawheed of Allaah in worship.
He also quoted the hadith: ”The Prophet once sent a man to lead a group of soldiers. When he would lead his companions in prayer he would always finish with {Say: He, Allaah, is One.} When they returned they informed the Prophet about this so he said: ”Ask him about his reason for doing that“ They asked him and he replied: ”It is adescription of the Most Merciful and I love to read it.” The Prophet said: ”Tell him that Allaah loves him.“ This hadith is talking about lordship and names and attributes as is evident from the Surah of al-Ikhlaas and it being a description of the Most Merciful Allaah.

- Muhammad bin Nasr al-Marwazi (d. 294 H.) said in the intro of his book "Ta`dhim Qadr As-Salat": «Praise be to Allaah whose believing slaves should be grateful to Him for granting them knowledge of Him, directing them towards it, and opened their hearts to believe in Him have sincerity by singling Him out in Lordship and abandoning everything that is worshipped besides Him.»
In another place he said, while discussing Islam and Iman: «However, it has a foundation and branch. It’s foundation is affirming the knowledge with the heart, which means submitting to Allaah's right of being worshipped and to His lordship. Submitting by the tongue is also necessary, which happens by affirming His right for worship and testifying with sincerity of heart that He is One, without any associates. Branches of these two is submiting to Him by performing all obligatory acts of worship.» (11)

- Ibn Jarir at-Tabari (d. 310 H.) said: ”He is saying: 'Worship Allaah who is described in this way. Direct all worship to Him alone and single Him out in deserving worship (Uloohiyah) and having the attributes of Lordship (Ruboobiyyah). Do this submissively to Him, not to your idols and others you associate with Him in worship.” (12)
He also said: ”As for His saying: {There is no other true deity but Him}, it is a statement from Him that there is no Lord of the Worlds but Him and that He does not obligate His servants to worship anything else but Him.” (13)
- Abu Ja'far at-Tahawi (d. 321 H.) said in his famous work ”Al-Aqidah At-Tahawiyyah”: ”We say about Allaah's Tawheed with conviction - by Him making it possible -: That Allaah is One and has no partners, nothing is like Him [This is tawheed in Names & Attributes], nothing incapacitates him [Lordship] and there is no true deity but Him [tawheed of worship].”
- Abu Mansur al-Azhari (d. 370 H.) said: ” Al-Wahid (i.e. The One) as an attribute of Allaah has two meanings
The first one is that He is One, nothing is similar to Him and nothing is like Him. The Arabs say: 'So and so is the waahid (literally: one) of his people” when nobody is equal to him.
The second meaning is that He is the One deity and One lord and has no associates in His right of being worshipped or in His Lordship.” (14)

- Ibn Battah al-'Ukbari (d. 387 H.) said: ”This is because the core belief in Allaah that everyone must have conviction of when affirming belief in Him, has three parts:
1. That the slave believes in His existence, and this is in order to contradict the people of ta'til, or negation, who don't affirm a creator for this existence,
2. That the slave believes in His Oneness, and this is in order to contradict the polytheists who affirmed the Creator and associated partners with Him in worship,
3. That the slave believes that He (Allah) is described with attributes that He absolutely must be described with such as knowledge, ability, wisdom and the rest of the attributes He has mentioned in His book. This is because we know that many of those who affirm His existence, and completely single Him out in worship by their tongues have actually deviated from the correct belief in His attributes, and this harms their tawheed.
We also find that Allaah has addressed His servants by calling them to believe in all three. (15)

Abu Bakr al-Baqillani (d. 403 H.) said: “Tawheed of Him meansaffirming that He is affirmed and existent: One diety that is worshipped, nothing is like Him.”
He also said: ”Similarly our saying 'He is One' and 'the unique one in existence': All we want to say by this is that nothing resembles Him and nothing is like Him. What we intend by this is that there is nothing that deserves to be worshipped except Him. Allaah said:{Allaah is but one deity} and it means: la ilaha illAllaah means (i.e. None is worthy of worship but Allah).” (16)

And there is more, but what me mentioned is sufficient.

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(1) Tafsir At-Tabari (Jami` Al-Bayan) 13/375
(2) Tafsir At-Tabari (20/ 96) - Tahqiq Shakir
(3) Tafsir At-Tabari (13/496)
(4) Tafsir Ibn Kathir (Tafsir Al-Quran Al-Adheem) 4/446-447
(5) Tafsir At-Tabari (14/195)
(6) Tafsir At-Tabari (19/344), and Tafsir Al-Baghawi (Ma`alim At-Tanzil) 6/111
(7) Tafsir At-Tabari (17/564), and Tafsir Al-Baghawi (6/111)
(8) Tafsir At-Tabari (17/564)
(9) Muwatta Malik (5/1129-1130); Musnad al-Imam Ahmad (25/19)
(10) Musnad Imam Ahmad (29/465) Tahqiq Shu`aib Arnaut, and he (Arnaut) said: "The chain is hasan".
(11) Ta`dheem Qadar As-salat by Muhammad Al-Marwazi (1/85) & (2/702)
(12) Tafsir At-Tabari (12/114)
(13) Ibid (2/746)
(14) Sharh Aqidat Ahl Assunnah wal Jama`ah (sharh Tahawiyyah) by Al-Babrti - Tahqiq `Arif Ayetken (pg. 29)
(15) Al-Ibanah 'an Shari`at Al-Firqa An-Najiyah by Ibn Battah Al-`Ukbari, Book # 3 "Rad `Ala Al-Jahmiyyah" (2/172-173)
(16) Al-Insaf by Al-Baqillani (pg 22 & 33)

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