Day: September 2, 2022

*The Belief of Divine Oneness*

The doctrine of Tawhid forms the foundation of the Din.It ensures the existence,development and survival of the Muslim Ummah.It was nothing but Tawhid that instilled unity in the Muslim Ummah and made them an unstoppable power.It manifested itself in the splendour of kings and the awe of saints.Without unwavering belief in the Divine oneness,we merit neither Allah’s mercy nor the intercession of Prophetﷺ.Tawhid is the root of all other beliefs,and righteous deeds are its branches.Indeed, a tree grows when it is rooted,while an uprooted tree does not;the branches and leaves alone cannot sustain the tree.Using the human body as an analogy we see that to sustain life the heart and the brain are its essential organs.The eyes,ears,nose,tongue are important ,yet the body can survive without them.In like manner, the doctrine of Divine oneness forms the root of the religion,and righteous deeds are its branches.

*The Lexical Meaning of Tawhid:*
Tawhid has been derieved from Al-Wahada.It means to adjudge something as one.The oneness of Allah(al-Tawhid) implies the belief that Allah is one and unique in His essence ,attributes and actions. No one shares with Him in any of these , nor does anyone resemble Him in them.

*Technical Meaning of Tawhid:*
As a technical term of the Shariah, tawhid is to believe that Allah is matchless and peerless , having no like , in His essence and attributes , and that He has no partner or equal.

*Hujjat al-Islam Imam Gazali(RA)[d. 505 AH]* elucidates the doctrine of tawhid as following:
He is One in His Being without partner,unique without peer ,ultimate without opposite,Pre-Eternal without a first,beginningless without a beginning,reverlatingly abiding,unceasingly existent,eternally limitless ,the ever self-subsisting through Whom all else subsists ,ever enduring without end.He is the first and the Last,the Outward and the Inward, and He has knowledge of everything.

He is not a body with a form, or a limited quantitative substance.He doesn’t resemble corporeal bodies and does not accept divisibility.He does not resemble anything that exists,nor does anything that exists resemble Him.He is not limited by size ,contained by place ,encompassed by directionor bound by heavens or earth.He is nearer to the servant than his jugular vein,and is witness to everything.His nearness does not resemble the nearness of bodies to one another just as His entity does not resemble the entities of bodies.He is exalted above containment in space and He is transcendent above confinement in time.He was before creating time and space , and is now as He was.He is exalted beyond change and motion: contingent events neither occur within Him nor do changes befall Him.He remains in His attributes of majesty exalted above change, and in the attributes of His perfection beyond needing any increase in perfection.

*Question: WHAT ARE THE ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAH?*
*Answer:* The attributes of Allah are numerous-beyond counting.They are limitless just as Allah’s entity knows no boundaries or limits.His attributes,excellence and perfection are beyond comprehension,thought and speech.

Below we mention some of these:
1.He knows all those(things)which are ahead of them and which are behind them,and they cannot encompass His(knowledge) with (their) knowledge.
2.There is nothing like Him and He alone is All Hearing,All-Seeing.
3.No vision can grasp His sight but He has encompassed all vision and sight.He is the All-Penetrating Viewer,All-Aware.
4.He is the First-meaning that he has no beginning-and the last-meaning that He does not have an end.He is the Evident and the Concealed.
5.Any and every thing other than His divine self has been created by Him.He is the one who annihilates every being and will raise everybody from the dead on the Day of Judgement .
6.He does not need anybody or anything whereas everybody and everything needs His favour.
7.He is not confined to a body or body-like thing and is free of all the qualities that a body can or may have such as eating,drinking,sleeping,etc.
8.He holds control over every being and executes what He pleases.
9.Only He gives life and causes death.Only He inflicts illness and bestows health.
10.Only He confers honour and dignity or brings disgrace and humiliation.Only He inflicts harm or confers benefit and provides with sustenance.
11.No action that He executes is without wisdom.(Our understanding may well fall short of its conception)
12.He is the Owner and Custodian of all and the King of kings.
13.Only He deserves worship.