Tawhīd

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Tawḥīd (also Tawheed,Tauheed and other spellings; Arabic: توحيد‎ ; Turkish: Tevhid) is the Islamic concept of monotheism In Islam, Tawhīd means to assert the unity of God. The opposite of Tawhīd is shirk, which means "division" in Arabic, referring to idolatry.

Contents

Etymology

Tawhid is derived from the root word A-H-D.

Ahad — one
Tawhid — The "T" part means "To make", so "Tawhid" means literally to "To make one". Or, if i "Tahwid" God, then i Make/regard God as one.
Wahdat — oneness
Wahad — is one
Wahid — first

In Arabic, Tawhīd means 'unification', i.e. to unify or to keep something unified.

In other words, Tawhid is the act of the Muslim, while God itself is Al-Wahid, one of the 99 Names of God.

Definition

Muslims believe that God cannot be held equal in any way to other beings or concepts. This monotheism is absolute, not relative or pluralistic in any sense of the word. It is for this reason that Muslims reject the concept of the Trinity held by most Christians, which describes God as three persons.

Verses from the Qur'ān

Many passages of the Qur'an refer to Tawhīd. Passages such as:

"In the Name of God, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful,

Say: He is God, the One,

God is He on whom all depend,

He does not beget, nor is He begotten,

And (there is) none like Him." (Qur'an, 112:1-4)

This passage is commonly recited as part of the five daily prayers, known as salat.

Nullification (shirk)

The nullification of Tawhīd is shirk, which means "division" in Arabic. Acts of shirk can be classified as major and minor, varying depending on methodology.

Muslim view

Part of a series on Basic Muslim Beliefs
Sunni Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama'ah Five Pillars of Islam
Shahādah - Profession of faith Salah - Prayer Zakât - Paying of alms Sawm - Fasting during Ramadan Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca
Sunni Six articles of belief
Tawhīd - Oneness Nabi and Rusul - Prophets and Messengers Kutub - Divinely Revealed Books. Malā'ikah - Angels Qiyâmah - Judgment Day Qadar - Fate
Shia Twelvers Roots of Religion
Tawhīd - Oneness Adalah - Justice Nubuwwah - Prophethood Imamah - Leadership Qiyâmah - Judgment day
Shia Twelvers Branches of Religion
Salah - Prayer Sawm - Fasting during Ramadan Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca Zakât - Poor-rate Khums - One-fifth tax Jihad - Struggle Amr-Bil-Ma'rūf - Commanding good Nahi-Anil-Munkar - Forbidding evil Tawalla - Loving the Ahl al-Bayt Tabarra - Disassociating from Ahl al-Bayt's enemies
Shia Ismaili 7 pillars
Walayah - Guardianship Taharah - Purity & cleanliness Salah - Prayers Zakât - Purifying religious dues Sawm - Fasting during Ramadan Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca Jihad - Struggle
Shia Druze 7 pillars
Shahadah - Profession of faith Salah - Prayer Zakât - Paying of alms Sawm - Fasting during Ramadan Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca Walayah - Guardianship Jihad - Struggle
Others
Salafi/Kharijite Sixth pillar of Islam. This box: [ view] • [ talk] • [ edit]

Both Shi'a and Sunni Muslims agree that the most fundamental aspect of Islam revolves around the total acceptance of the Absolute and Perfect Creator. The Muslim profession of faith, or Shahadah (Lā 'ilāha 'illā lāh -- There is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah) is an expression of Tawhīd.

Sunni View

Sunni Muslims regard Tawhīd as one of seven major aspects of the Islamic creed (Arabic: Aqidah).

Seeing God

Sunni Muslims believe that God cannot be seen, imagined or perceived in any way in the present life of this world. Rather, they believe that only the righteous believers will see God on Judgment Day (after they have died). [link] [link].

The Qur'an says:

"Some faces that Day shall be Nâdirah (shining and radiant). Looking at their Lord (God)." (Qur'an 75:22-23)

"Nay! Surely, they (evil-doers) will be veiled from seeing their Lord that Day." (Qur'an 83:15)

In a hadith, Abu Huraira reports:

The people said to the Messenger of God (may peace be upon him): Messenger of God, shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection? The Messenger of God (may peace be upon him) said: Do you feel any trouble in seeing the moon on the night when it is full? They said: Messenger of God, no. He (the Messenger) further said: Do you feel any trouble in seeing the sun, when there is no cloud over it? They said: Messenger of God. no. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Verily you would see Him like this (as you see the sun and the moon).^{Sahih Muslim [001.0349]}

Qur'an and Tawhid

Sunnis believe that the Qur'an is uncreated, and that this view is fully compatible with Tawhid. The Hanbalis hold the view that

"Not only were the words and sounds of the Quran eternal, so that even its recital was uncreated, but its parchment and binding shared the same qualities''#redirect .

Abu Hanifa expressed:

''We confess that the Quran is the speech of God, uncreated, His inspiration, and revelation, not He, yet not other than He, but His real quality, written in the copies, recited by the tongues. The ink, the paper, the writing are created, for they are the work of man" ^{Revelation and Reason in Islam by A.J. Arberry, [pp 26-27]}.

Sunni Salafi view

Tauhid (Islamic Monothesism) has three aspects:

Oneness of the Lordship of God: To believe that there is only one Lord for all the universe, Who is its Creator, Organizer, Planner, Sustainer, and Giver of security.

God alone created all things. No one dares to claim having the ability to create even a single hair on a man's body, a feather in a bird's wing, a leaf on a branch of a tree; not to speak of creating a complete living body either small or big. It is God alone who provides sustenance. There is not a single creature roaming free on the earth, swimming in the water, or deep in its den, but God the Almighty creates its provisions and guides it to recognize the benefits of those provisions and how to acquire them, and the results of doing so. Human instinct clearly testifies to His Lordship. Men Of sound and pure nature feel their weakness and disability before God the Almighty, they feel their subjugation to Him in all their deeds, and accept whatever He allots them, clearly realizing that this comes from Allaah. his Lord and Lord of all else. God's unique Sovereignty of everything, and His arrangement and execution, and His arrangement and execution of all affairs are evidence of His Lordship over everything. It is granted that man, like all other creatures, does not possess anything in reality. He enters life bare-foot and naked. Then he leaves it accompanied by nothing except two sheets wound around his body. How is it to be said then that man is really a possessor of any property? The owner is, without argument, God and God alone.

This belief is very similar to the beliefs held by several sects of Christianity, including the Calvinists of Protestant Europe and the Puritans who settled in the British North American colonies of New England in the early 1600s. Those groups also regarded mankind as being totally dependent on God for all things.

This aspect of Tawheed is expressed in the following verses from the Quran.

"God is the Creator of everything. He is the guardian over everything. Unto Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth." (Qur'an, 39:62-63).

"No creature is there crawling on the earth, but its provision rests on God. He knows its lodging place and it repository." (Qur'an 11:6).

Oneness of the Worship of God: To believe that none has the right to be worshipped in truth except God. This aspect of Tawhid is expressed in the following verses from the Qur'an.

22) "He is God; there is no god but He, He is the Knower of the unseen and the visible; He is the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.

''23) He is God, there is no god but He. He is the King, the All-Holy, the All-Peace, the Guardian of Faith, the All-Preserver, the All-Mighty, the All-Compeller, the All-Sublime. Glory be to God, above that which they associate!

24) He is God the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him belong the Names Most Beautiful. All that is in the heavens and the earth magnifies Him; He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise." (The Holy Qur'an, 59:22-24).

Oneness of the Names and Qualities of God: We must not name or qualify God except with what He or His Messenger (Muhammad, may peace and blessing be upon him) has named or qualified Him. None can be named or qualified with the Names or Qualifications of God, The Most Honorable. We Must Believe in all qualities of God which God has stated in His Book (The Quran) or mentioned through His Messenger (Muhammad, may peace and blessing be upon him) without changing their meaning or ignoring them completely or twisting the meanings or likening them (giving resemblance) to any of the created things. This aspect of Tawhid is expressed in the following verses from the Qur'an.

"Do you worship what you have carved yourself?" (Qur'an 37:95).

"Or have you taken unto you others beside Him to be your protectors, even such as have no power either for good or for harm to themselves?" (Qur'an 13:16).

For some Muslims, such as the Salafis, the following acts may be considered as shirk:

Sufi pilgrimage , such as pilgrimage to the tombs of revered early Muslims and Sufi saints.
Praying or seeking help from the dead
And many other practices.

Following Qur'anic literalism, Ibn Taymiya taught that God does not have body parts, but that He has the following attributes that the Qur'an and Hadeeth nonetheless: "Hands", "Eyes", "a Face", but that they are unlike anything we know of, as they are in a manner that befits God's majesty. Just like God Hears, and humans hear, God has a Hand, and humans have a hand, but they are different from each other as much as God is different from humans. Salafis believe that God is above the Heavens, upon the Arsh (Throne), and His Feet are at the level of the Kursi (Footstool).[link].

Shi'a view

Tawhīd is among the five Shia Roots of Religion.

Attaching Attributes

Shi'a do not believe that God can or will ever be seen, and also reject the notion of Him having body parts, or any parts whatsoever.

Some verses of the Qur'an that seem to ascribe God body parts, for example verse (28:88) of which says: "Every thing is mortal except His face", Shi'a interpret as meaning "except His person". Shi'a argue that the verse is not to be take literally, arguing that it can't be said that only the face of God will remain, while His other so-called limbs (either physical or not) will die. Similarly, Shi'a argue that God has used the word "Hand" (Arabic: Yad) in several places in the Qur'an, where it means His power and His Mercy, as in the verse (5:64): "But His hands are outspread".

Shi'a quote verse 3.7 in support of the verses being allegorical:

''He it is Who has revealed the Book to you; some of its verses are decisive, they are the basis of the Book, and others are allegorical; then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity they follow the part of it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation. but none knows its interpretation except God, and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge say: We believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having understanding.

Shi'a believe that "those who are firmly rooted" are the Ahl al-Bayt, meaning that they are the ones need to consulted for detailed information. [link]

One of the most respected Shi'a collection, the Nahj al-Balagha, contains a sermon where Ali is quoted as giving a long and detailed account of Tawhid, part of it being:

Whoever attaches attributes to God recognises His like, and who recognises His like regards Him two; and who regards Him two recognises parts for Him; and who recognises parts for Him mistook Him; and who mistook Him pointed at Him; and who pointed at Him admitted limitations for Him; and who admitted limitations for Him numbered Him. ^{Nahj al-Balagha [sermon 1]}

The sermon is one of the most complicated description of God, it maintains attributes should not be attached to God, since it would creat a duality. However, Shi'a do not understand this as the notion that God lacks attributes. A modern similitude to energy would be that attributes can not be attached to energy, for example saying that energy has redness, creating a duality bettween energy and the color red; rather it should be said that energy can be red. In the same way, Shi'a maintain that it should not be said that God has strength or wisdom, creating a duality and nullifying Tawhid. Rather, it can be said that God is strong and wise. The thought of God having body parts is completely rejected and seen as shirk.

Shaykh Saduq, one of the most distinguished of Shi'a scholars expresed:

"Verily, God is One, Unique, nothing is like Him, He is Eternal; Hearing, Seeing, Omniscient, Living, Omnipotent, above every need. He cannot be described in terms of substance, nor body, nor form, nor accident, nor line, nor surface, nor heaviness, nor lightness, nor color, nor movement, nor rest, nor time, nor space. He is above all the descriptions which can be applied to His creatures. He is away from both extremes: Neither He is just a non-entity (as atheists and in a lesser degree Mutazilites implied), nor He is just like other things. He is Existent, not like other existing things." ^{Shi'ite Creed (al-Itqadat al-Imamiyyah), by Shaykh Saduq [link]}

List of attributes

Shi'a list some positive attributes to God [link]:

Qadím: God is eternal. He has neither a beginning nor an end.
Qadir: God is omnipotent. He has power over all things.
'Alim: God is omniscient. He is all-knowing.
Hai: God is living. He is alive and will remain alive forever
Muríd: God has his own discretion in all affairs. He does not do anything out of compulsion.
Mudrik: God is all-perceiving. He is all-hearing, all-seeing, and is omnipresent. God sees and hears everything though He has neither eyes nor ears.
Mutakalim: God is the Lord of the Worlds. He can create speech in anything: the burning bush for Musa and the curtain of light for Muhammad.
Sadiq: God is truthful. His words and promises are true.

And some negative attributes:

Sharík: God has no partners.
Murakab: God is neither made, nor composed, of any material.
Makán: God is not confined to any place and has no body.
Hulúl: God does not incarnate into anything or anybody.
Mahale hawadith: God is not subject to changes. God cannot change.
Marí: God is not visible. He has not been seen, is not seen, and will never be seen, because he has no form or body.
Ihtiyaj: God is not dependent. God is not deficient, so he does not have any needs.
Sifate zayed: God does not have added qualifications. The attributes of God are not separate from His being.

Non-eternal actions

Shi'a distinct between eternal and non-eternal attributes of God: first those attributes which denote His person, and second, those attributes which denote His actions. Shaykh Saduq says:

''"For example, we say that God was from ever Hearing, Seeing, Omniscient, Wise, Omnipotent, Having power, Living, Self-existent, One and Eternal. And these are His personal attributes. and we do not say that He was from ever Creating, Doing, Intending, pleased, displeased, Giving sustenance, Speaking; because these virtues describe His actions; and they are not eternal; it is not allowed to say that God was doing all these actions from eternity. The reason for this distinction is obvious. Actions need an object. For example, if we say that God was giving sustenance from ever, then we will have to admit the existence of sustained thing from ever. In other words, we will have to admit that the world was from ever. but it is against our belief that nothing except God is Eternal." ^{Shi'ite Creed (al-Itqadat al-Imamiyyah), by Shaykh Saduq [link]}

Qur'an and Tawhid

Shi'a further say that God creating and sending the Qur'an is of the non-eternal acts of God, hence Shi'a believe the Qur'an to be a creation, in contrast to Sunnis. Shi'a quote a Hadith where Muhammad is quoted as:

''"(There was a time when) God existed, and there was nothing beside Him".

Even so, Shi'a believe the Qur'an to be perfect, in the same way that they believe God created other perfect objects, for example, the angels and the Prophets.

Muslim critiques of some views of Tawhid

Critique of the Sunni view

Shi'a view some Sunni beliefs as deviation from the truth, occurring due to acceptance of the teaching of other than the Ahl al-Bayt. However, Shi'a do not go as far as saying Sunnis are polytheist (Arabic: mushrik) , rather, that they are mistaken.

Attaching Attributes

Shi'a critizice the Sunni for regarding as authentic hadith where God is given body parts such as a body, face, hands, fingers, and legs [link]. some of this hadith include the Hadith of seeing God as the clear as the sun, and another by Abu Huraira where God is said to move:

...God waits till when one-third of the first part of the night is over; He descends to the lowest heaven and says: It there any supplicator of forgiveness?... ^{Sahih Muslim [004.1657-004.1660]}

In this hadith, also narrated by Abu Huraira, God compressed Hell with "His Foot" to accommodate for more inhabitants:

''... (that the Prophet said) "It will be said to the Hell, 'Are you filled?' It will say, 'Are there any more (to come)?' On that God will put His Foot on it, and it will say 'Qati! Qati! (Enough! Enough!)." ^{Sahih Bukhari [006.060.371], [006.060.372], [006.060.373], [008.078.654], [009.093.481], [009.093.541], Sahih Muslim [40.6819], [040.6821], [040.6823], [040.6825]}

Uncreated Qur'an

While Sunnis believe the Qur'an is the uncreated word of God, Shi'a view this as claiming the Qur'an co-existed with God, in other words as shirk. Shi'a claim that this confusion steems from Sunni scholars not differentiation between non-eternal actions of God and Gods eternal attributes [al-islam.org].

Critique of the Shi'a view

deifying Ali

Among the Misconceptions about the Shi'a, there is the claim that the Shi'a breach Tawhīd by deifying Ali, while it is the Alawis that do so. (The Alawis believe that God incarnated as their imams, starting with Ali.)

Tawassul

Salafis claim that the Shi'a and traditional Sunni Muslims breach Tawhīd in other ways. For example, there is the claim that Shi'a and traditional Sunnis are polytheists (Arabic mushrik) when they pray through an intermediary (Arabic: Tawassul) with expressions such as Ya Muhammad and Ya Ali [link]. They equate asking Ali for help with worshiping Ali:

''As far as the Sunni Muslims are concerned, when they are in distress, they only call : “O God!” They do turn to Him only in their quest for help as they appeal for aid from Him only to remove their agony. They do that with clear perception that supplication to the Only One God is one of the aspects of worship as the Messenger of God (Peace be upon him) prescribed for them. In this respect, supplication to other than God the Omniscient is ipso facto worshipping other than Him ^{[ansar.org], [allaahuakbar]}.

Shi'a answer that martyrs (Arabic: Shahid) should not be called dead according to the Qur'an. Shi'a also consider it illogical to be accused of polytheism on the mere account of asking Muhammad or Ali for help, arguing that it is at worst a call that will not be heard, not worse than asking a deaf person (who is alive) for help. Further, they claim that Salifis utter outright lies when they claim that Sunnis condemn this practice ^{[answering-ansar.org]}.

Critique of the Sunni Salafi view

Some, Shi'a in particular, are known to accuse Salafis to have abandoned many parts of Islam, and using threats of Shirk as motivation. For example, Shi'a use the Mawlid as a great festivity, used to commemorate what they perceive as the greatest prophet of God, and believe that the Salafi ban of the festivity for fear of deifying Muhammad is not only exaggerated, but also robs people of an occasion to bond with Muhammad.

Salafis claim that Muhammad didn't celebrate his own birthday, nor did Muhammad's companions celebrate Muhammad's birtday, and conclude that celebrating the Birthday of the Prophet is a Bid'ah.

Non-Muslim uses

Refer to Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

External links

Sunni links:

Shi'a links: