Information AboutTawhid |
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Tawḥīd (also '''Tawheed''' and other spellings) () is the Islam ic concept of Monotheism , derived from the root word Ahad . In Arabic, Tawhīd means 'unification', i.e. to unify or to keep something unified. In Islam, Tawhīd means to assert the unity of God. The opposite of Tawhīd is '' Shirk '', which means "division" in Arabic. Muslims view Polytheism and Idolatry as ''shirk''. DEFINITION Muslim s believe that Allah cannot be held equal in any way to other beings or concepts. He is unique and supreme. 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 which are considered to be one and separate. Muslims consider this belief to be Shirk . Verses from the Qur'ān Many passages of the Muslim sacred text, the Qur'an , refer to Tawhīd. Passages such as: "In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficient, the Most Merciful, Say: He is Allah, the One, Allah is He on whom all depend, He does not beget, nor is He begotten, And (there is) none like Him." This passage is commonly recited as part of the five daily prayers or Salat . Nullification of Tawheed The nullification of Tawhīd is Shirk , which means "division" in Arabic. Acts of shirk can be classified as major and minor. Acts of shirk vary depending on methodology. MUSLIM VIEW 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 god except God'') is an expression of Tawhīd. Sunni View ''). Seeing God Sunni believe that God can not be seen in the life of this world, nor can He be heard, smelled, felt, imagined, or any other sense that we have. However, they believe that Muslims will see God on Judgment Day [http://www.geocities.com/faizee/ihsan3.htm . In a hadith, Abu Huraira reports: The people said to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him): Messenger of Allah, shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection? The Messenger of Allah (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 Allah, 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 Allah. no. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Qur'an and Tawhid Sunnis believe that the Qur'an is uncreated, and that this view is fully compatible with Tawhid. The Hanbal ites 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. Abu Hanifa expressed: :''We confess that the Quran is the speech of Allah, 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:''
Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah 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 Allaah 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. Allaahs unique Sovereignty of everything, and His arrangement and execution, and His arrangement and execution of all affairs are evidence of His Lordship over everthing. 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, Allaah and Allaah alone. 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." "No creature is there crawling on the earth, but its provision rests on God. He knows its lodging place and it repository."
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."
"Do you worship what you have carved yourself?" "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?" For some Muslims, such as the Salafi s, the following acts may be considered as shirk:
Following (Throne), and His Feet are upon the Kursi (Footstool). {Link without Title} . 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 Qu'ran that seem to ascribe God body parts, for example verse (28:88) of which says: "Every thing is mortal except His face", Shi'a interprit as meaning "except His person". Shi'a argue that the verse is not to be take litteraly, arguing that it cant 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 Allah 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 vers 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 Allah, and 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 without Title} 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 Allah recognises His like, and who recognises His like 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 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'' stong and wise. The thought of God ''having'' body parts is totaly rejected and seen as shirk. Shaykh Saduq , one of the most distinguished of Shi'a scholars expresed: "Verily, Allah 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." List of attributes Shi'a list some positive attributes to God {Link without Title} : # 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 is all affairs. He does not do anything out of compulsion. # Mudrik : God is all-perceiving. He is all-hearing, all-seeing, and is omnipresent. Alláh 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. Alláh 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. Alláh is not deficient, so he does not have any needs. # Sifate Zayed : God does not have added qualifications. The attributes of Alláh 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 Allah 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 Allah was doing all these actions from eternity. The reason for this distinction is obvious. Actions need an object. For example, if we say that Allah 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 without Title} 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) Allah 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 prophets. MUSLIM CRITIQUES OF SOME TAWHīD VIEWS 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 '') , rather, that they are misstaken. Attaching Attributes Shi'a critizice the Sunni for regarding as authentic , and another by Abu Huraira where God is said to move: ...Allah 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?... 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 Allah will put His Foot on it, and it will say 'Qati! Qati! (Enough! Enough!)." 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 Shi'a breach Tawhīd by Deifying Ali , while it is the Alawi s that do so. Tawassul Salafis also claim that the Shi'a and traditional Sunni muslims breach Tawhīd and are polytheist (Arabic '''') with expresion as Ya Muhammad , Ya Ali and such {Link without Title} . 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 Allah!” 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 Allah the Omniscient is ipso facto worshipping other than Him ansar.org , allaahuakbar . Shi'a answer martyrs (Arabic: '' Shahid '') should not be called dead according to Qur'an. Shi'a also view it is as illogical to be accused of polytheism on the meer 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 living but deaf person for help. Further, they claim that Salfis outright lie 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 celebrating the birthday of the Prophet (saws) was not practised by the Prophet Muhammad (saws), nor His Companions, and conclude that it is a Bid'ah . NON-MUSLIM USES Refer to Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church . SEE ALSO
EXTERNAL LINKS Sunni links: Shi'a links: Other links: |
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