Categories
of Tawheed
TAWHEED literally means ‘unification’ (making
something one), or ‘asserting oneness’ – and comes from the Arabic word ‘wahhada’
(to unite, unify or consolidate).
Technically, when used in Tawheedullah,
it means ‘realizing and maintaining of Allah’s unity in all of man’s actions
which directly or indirectly relate to Him’. The belief that Allah is One,
without partner in His dominion (Rububiyyah), One without similitude in
His essence and attributes (Asma’ was-Sifat), and One without rival in
His divinity and in worship (Uluhiyyah/Ibadah).
These 3 aspects is the basis for the categories
which the science of Tawheed has been traditionally divided – overlapping and
inseparable – to the degree that omitting one will break the requirements of
Tawheed. The omission of any is referred to as Shirk – the association
of partners to Allah – in other words, idolatry.
The word Tawheed does not actually occur in
either the Quran or Hadiths. However, when Rasulullah sent Mu’adz Ibn Jabal as
governor of Yemen, he told him;
“You will be going to Christians and Jews (Ahl
al-Kitab), so the first thing you should invite them to is the assertation of
the oneness of Allah (Yuwahhidu Allah).”
The 3 categories are commonly referred to as;
1.
Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah (Unity of Lordship): Affirming that
Allah is one, without partners in His sovereignty.
2.
Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat (Unity of Allah’s Names and
Atributes): Affirming that they are incomparable and unique.
3.
Tawheed al-Ibadah (Unity of Allah’s worship): Affirming
that Allah is alone in His right to be worshipped.
This division was not done by Rasulullah or the
Sahabah as there was no necessity to analyze such a basic principle in
this fashion – however the foundations of each are all implied in the verses of
the Quran and its explanations.
The requirements arose after Islam spread outside of
Arabia, and absorbed their culture. When these new Muslims wrote or discussed
their various philosophical concepts of God, confusion arose. There were others
who secretly worked from within to destroy the Deen actively propagate
distorted ideas among the masses to tear down the first pillar of Iman.
The early Khalifahs and Governors were
closer to Islamic principles, and the consciousness of the masses was higher
due to the presence of Sahabah and their students. So, demand for
elimination of open heretics received immediate response from the rulers. But,
later Ummayyad Khalifahs were more corrupt and cared little about
such religious issues, the masses also were less Islamically conscious and more
susceptible to deviant ideas. And as greater number entered Islam, and the
learning of more conquered nation were absorbed, execution of apostates and
heretics was no longer used to stem the rising tide of heretics.
So the Muslim Scholars of this period rose to
meet the challenge intellectually. They systematically opposed the various
philosophies and creeds by categorizing and countering them with principles
derived from the Quran and Sunnah. And thus the Science of Tawheed emerged with
its precisely defined categories and components.
The process of specialization occurs
simultaneously in all of the other areas of Islamic Knowledge too. So, although
these are studied separately and in more depth, it must not be forgotten that
they are all part of the systemic and organic whole – Islam itself.
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