Tawhid in Theological Mode1

Despite their differences, all Muslim theologians, be they Sunni, Shi‘i or Sufi, have listed Tawhid as the first pillar of Islam. Consequently, the theological mode of Tawhid is the one which is most familiar to the majority of Muslims. For most Muslims, however, Tawhid is the simple profession that “There is no god but Allah,” which is the lowest level of faith. However, the theological mode of Tawhid is far deeper than most Muslims imagine.

The profession of faith, La ilaha illa Allah or “There is no god but Allah,” is not a single statement. In actuality, it contains two clauses La ilaha, “There is no god,” which is followed by illa Allah or “but Allah.” The first part of the profession is the proclamation that there is no God. There is no God as “God” can be capitalized, it can be written in small caps, it can be made plural as in “gods” and it can be made feminine as in “goddesses.” The first part of the proclamation of faith, then, is a negation of God. In other words, before one can believe, one must disbelieve, disbelieve in gods and goddesses, in all shapes in form, spiritual or material. The first part of the Shahadah is atheism, in the Western philosophical sense of the destruction of man-made deism that stands in opposition to the Divine.

The second part of the proclamation of faith, illa Allah or “but Allah,” is an affirmation. Since the second clause is dependent on the first clause, one cannot reach the second unless one has accepted the first. In a spiritual sense, one cannot truly believe in Allah until one has detached oneself from all false deities. These imaginary gods are not only deified cultural heroes, both mythological and historical. These imaginary gods are not merely material wealth, women, and children. As far as Muslim mystics are concerned, anything other than Allah is a false god that must be rejected before one can truly accept the Oneness of Allah.

The belief that “There is no god but Allah,” as important as it may be to Muslims, is not sufficient for salvation. If that were so, Iblis or Satan, who was once one of the closest of the Jinns to Allah, would be considered the Best of Believers since he refused to bow to anyone other than Allah. No. In order to be a Believer, one must submit to Allah, something which Satan refused to do out of arrogance and insolence. This obedience towards Allah is specified in the second section of the Shahadah, “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” In order for one to truly believe, one must believe in three things: 1) There is no God, 2) There is only Allah, and 3) Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. The first part of the Shahadah, La ilaha illa Allah, represents negative energy, while the second part of the Shahadah, Muhammadan Rasul Allah, represents positive energy, without which there would be no light of faith. The union of both is a symbol of Tawhid, of unity, of oneness, between Allah and His Messenger.

As part of their propaganda, the Salafis have attempted to minimize the spiritual might of Muhammad, insisting that he was mere man through whom Allah sent a message. They claim that it is shirk or polytheism to place the name of the Prophet next to the name of Allah “as if they were equal.” Some have even gone so far as to refuse to recite the salutations to the Prophet in their prayers and the blessings upon the Prophet and his Holy Household, both of which are obligatory according to every school of Islamic jurisprudence. As the Qur’an commands:

“Allah and His Angels send blessings on the Prophet, O you who believe! Send your blessings on him, and salute him a thorough salutation” (33:56).

The Qur’an is emphatic regarding the obligation to obey both Allah and His Messenger:

“O you who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger and render not vain your deeds” (47:33)

and

“He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah” (4:80).

For Sunni Muslims, there are three, and sometimes four, types of Tawhid: Tawhid al-Rububiyyah, Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah, Tawhid al-Asma’ wa al-Sifat, and Tawhid al-Hakimiyyah. Tawhid al-Rububiyyah or the Unity of Lordship means that God is One, the Sole Source of Existence, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe. Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah, also known as ‘Ibadah, means that all acts of worship belong to Allah alone; and Tawhid al-Asma wa al-Sifat is an affirmation of the attributes of Allah as mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah and an assertion that Allah is without similitude. The final form of Tawhid, Tawhid al-Hakimiyyah or the Unity of Law is called into question by some Sunnis and some Salafis who claim that it is an innovation. In essence, it means that Allah is All-Law, the sole source of Shari‘ah or legal legislation.

For Twelver Shi‘ites, Tawhid is of three types: Tawhid al-Dhat or the Unity of the Essence, Tawhid al-Sifat or the Unity of Attributes, and Tawhid al-Af’al or the Unity of Action. The Names of the Essence refer to eternal attributes which are specific to Allah alone. The Names of Attributes refer to names whose opposites cannot be applied to God. For example, Alive, Knowing, Powerful, Hearing, and Seeing. The Names of Action refers to names whose opposites can be applied to Allah: Merciful/Wrathful, Gentle/Severe, Beautiful/Majestic, Guider/Misguider, Forgiver/Avenger, Exalter/ Abaser, Beneficent/Harmer, Life Giver/Slayer, and Expander/Contractor. One can only become aware of the Unity of Essence if one becomes aware of the Unity of Attributes and the Unity of Action, both of which derive from the Essence from which everything emanates. The Unity of Attributes is manifested prior to creation while the Unity of Action is manifested after creation. Allah is the Name of the Essence clothed in all its Attributes. Individual Attributes of Allah, such as al-Rabb, represent merely one Aspect of the Essence.

In order to better understand Allah, the Twelver Shi‘ite theologians have described the Divine by means of positive and negative attributes. Just like the first phrase of the profession of faith is composed of both a negative and a positive clause, Allah is represented by both negative and positive attributes. The positive attributes of Allah are known as Sifat Subutiyyah while the negative attributes of Allah are known as Sifat Salbiyyah. The positive attributes of Allah are eight in number and include:

1. Qadim: Allah is Eternal.

2. Qadir:Allah is Omnipotent.

3. ‘Alim:Allah is Omniscient.

4. Hayy:Allah is Alive.

5. Murid:Allah is Independent in Action.

6. Mudrik:Allah is Aware.

7. Mutakallim:Allah Speaks.

8. Sadiq:Allah is Truth.

The negative attributes of Allah are eight in number. They include:

1. Murakkab:Allah is not made of material.

2. Jism:Allah does not have a body.

3. Makan:Allah is not subject to place.

4. Muhtaj: Allah is not dependent.

5. Mar’i:Allah cannot be seen.

6. Mahal hawadith:Allah is not subject to change.

7. Sharik:Allah has no partners.

8. Hulul:Allah does not incarnate into anything or anybody.

In the place of Sharik, some scholars list Sifat Za’idah which means that Allah does not have added qualities. In other words, the attributes of Allah are not separate from His Being.

Since it is impossible to understand the essence of Allah - since none knows God but God - the Almighty has revealed attributes through which we may get to know Him. Known as the Ninety-Nine Names or the Most Beautiful Names of Allah, these attributes have been divided into both masculine and feminine attributes by Muslim theologians. The terms “masculine” and “feminine” must not be understood in the sense of male or female as Allah does not have gender. While neither male nor female, Allah unites both the Sacred Masculine and the Sacred Feminine as part of His Perfect Tawhid. It is for this reason that Ibn al-‘Arabi says that Allah can be referred to as both Huwa (He) and Hiya (She). This is also possible because Allah is a genderless noun.

The Masculine Attributes of Allah, known as the Attributes of Might and Power or Jalal, include al-Malik, the King; al-Muhaymin, the Protector; al-Jabbar, the Compeller; al-Mutakabbir, the Majestic; al-Qahhar, the Subduer; al-Hasib, the Reckoner; al-Qawiyy, the Strong; al-Muntaqim, the Avenger, among many others. Even the Feminine Attributes of Allah are employed in their masculine form.

The Feminine Attributes of Allah, known as the Attributes of Beauty or Jamal, include al-Hakim, or the Wise, derived from hikmah, the Arabic word for wisdom, and the equivalent of the Greek Sophia. The attributes of al-Rahman and al-Rahim are also Feminine Attributes, and derive from rahmah as does rahim, the Arabic word for womb, matrix or uterus: rahim. Most remarkable of all, the word for the Divine Essence itself, al-Dhat, is equally feminine. This Divine Essence has been described by Sufi Master Najm al-Din Kubra as “the Mother of Divine Attributes.” Although most Muslims employ a masculine pronoun when invoking Allah, following a grammatical tradition in which the masculine takes precedence over the feminine, Ibn al-‘Arabi would sometimes employ the feminine pronoun in addressing Allah, keeping in view the Essence. Since Almighty Allah Himself says that “My Mercy prevails over my Wrath” (Rahmati sabaqat ghadabi) (Bukhari) the Greatest of Masters is justified in giving precedence to the feminine (rahmah) over the masculine (ghadab).

The Feminine and Masculine attributes of Allah exist in opposition to one another, much like the Taoist yin and yang. For example, Allah is the Avenger (Muntaqim), the Judge (Hakam), and the Just (‘Adil), but He is also the Gentle (Halim), the Oft-Forgiving (Rahman), and the Most Merciful (Rahim). He is the First (‘Awwal), but He is also the Last (‘Akhir). He is the Creator (Khaliq), but He is also the Destroyer (Mumit). He is the Giver of Life (Muhyi) but He is also the Giver of Death (Mumit). He is the Light (Nur), but He is also the Hidden One (Batin). He is the Abaser (Khafid) but He is also Exalter (Rafi’). He is the Provider (Mu’ti), but He is also the Withholder (Mani’).

Although Islam does not allow Muslims to invoke God as Father or Mother - categorically rejecting the notion that human beings are the children of God - the Feminine and Masculine Attributes of Allah can also be conceived of in terms of the Eternal Paternal and the Eternal Maternal. In a tradition not found in traditional sources, Ibn al-‘Arabi cites the Prophet as saying: “The creatures are Allah’s family” (Ibn al-‘Arabi. Futuhat IV 228.3).

On one occasion, the Prophet and his Companions came upon a group of women and children. One woman had lost her child and was looking for him, her breasts flowing with milk. When she found her child, she joyfully placed him in her bosom, and started to nurse him. The Prophet asked his Companions: “Do you think that this woman could throw her son in the fire?” They answered “No.” He then said: “Allah is more merciful to His Servants than this woman to her son” (Bukhari and Muslim).

On another occasion, the Prophet saw a woman running in the hot sun searching for her son. When she found him, she clutched him to her breast saying: “My son! My son!” The Companions of the Prophet witnessed this touching scene and wept. Delighted to see their mercy, the Prophet said: “Do you wonder at this woman’s mercy (rahmah) for her child? By Him in Whose hand is my soul, on the Day of Judgment, Allah shall show more mercy (rahmah) toward His believing servant than this woman has shown to her son” (Bukhari).

On yet another occasion, the Prophet said that: “On the day that He created the heavens and the earth, God created a hundred rahmahs, each of which is as great as the space which lies between heaven and earth. And He sent one rahmah down to Earth, by which a mother has rahmah for her child” (Muslim).

There are also several sayings stressing the symbolism of the womb such as: “I am Allah and I am the All-Merciful. I created the womb and I gave it a name derived from My own name” (Ahmad); “The womb is attached to the Throne” (Muslim), and “The womb is a branch of the All-Merciful” (Bukhari).

Besides the Qur’an and the Sunnah, which offer ample examples of Paternal and Maternal Attributes, images of Allah as both Mother and Father abound in Islamic literature. As Jalal al-Din al-Rumi says: “Even if the mother is all mercy, observe God’s mercy in the father’s severity” (Rumi. Diwan 12409; cf. Schimmel, Triumphal Sun 128).

Twelver Shi‘ite theologians have also divided the names of Allah into eternal names and non-eternal names, that is, in attributes which existed prior to the Creation, and attributed which manifested themselves after Creation. While Allah was always and will ever be One, He was not always an active Creator. And while Allah was always Merciful, His Mercy could only manifest itself after creation; otherwise, there was nothing towards which He could be merciful. As Shaykh al-Saduq explains:

For example, we say that God was forever 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.

The division of attributes between eternal and non-eternal names is also a symbol of Tawhid.

Muslim theologians, both Sunni and Shi‘i, have traditionally divided the Most Beautiful Names of Allah into Attributes of Incomparability, and Attributes of Comparability. All Divine Attributes can be understood in terms of Allah’s Incomparability. As the Holy Qur’an states: “Nothing is like Him” (42:11). As such, every Attribute of Allah can be used in this sense while professing the Shahadah: “There is no real but the Real”; “There is no truth but the Truth”; “There is no light but the Light” and so forth.

Historically, Muslim theologians have been divided into those who believe in transcendence and those who believe in immanence. The proponents of immanence hold that Allah is present in all things while the proponents of transcendence believe that Allah is above His Creation. Rather than seeing these positions as contradictory, they can readily be reconciled in the realm of Tawhid.

The proponents of transcendence or incomparability point to the following verses in their support:

“Nothing is like Him” (42:11),

and

“No vision can grasp Him, but His Grasp is over all vision” (6:103).

The proponents of immanence or similarity cite the following verses in their support:

“And to Allah belong the East and the West. And in whichever direction you turn, there is the Face of Allah. Truly Allah is Vast, All-Knowing” (2:115);

“We are nearer to him than the jugular vein” (50:16);

“with you where you are” (57:4);

“It is not you who slew; it was Allah. When you threw, it was not your act, but Allah’s” (8:17).

The idea of transcendence is clearly conveyed in the following sacred sayings:

God the All-Mighty says: “O man! I was ill, but you did not visit me.” Man says, “My Lord! You are the Lord of all the realms, how can I visit You?” God says, “Do you not know that so-and-so of my servants got ill, but you did not visit him. If you had visited him, you would have found Me with him. (Muslim)

God the All-Mighty says: “My Servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties that I have imposed upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, his foot with which he walks… (Bukhari)

The belief in transcendence is espoused by the followers of exoteric Islam while the belief in immanence is espoused by the followers of esoteric Islam. Although these theological differences have divided Muslims since the dawn of Islam, neither position can be exclusive. The first is associated with Allah’s Right Hand, which symbolizes mercy, and the second is associated with his Left Hand which symbolizes wrath. According to Murata, “God is similar in His Incomparability and Incomparable in His Similarity. Both positions must be maintained if perfect knowledge is to be achieved” (Murata, Sachiko. The Tao of Islam. Albany: SUNY P, 1992: 51-52).

Consequently, His Transcendence is certainly not in conflict with His Immanence. The balance between both positions is what is endorsed by spiritual masters such as Ibn al-‘Arabi. As the latter explains in chapter three of his Fusus al-hikam: “If you speak of incomparability, you delimit. / And if you speak of similarity, you define. / If you speak of both, you have hit the mark. / You are a leader and a lord in the Gnostic sciences” (Ibn al-‘Arabi, Fusus al-hikam).

In trying to articulate the purest form of Tawhid possible, Isma‘ili theologians use the dialect of double negation. They say, for example: He is Merciful, yet He is also not Merciful. He exists, but He also does not exist. The first positive statement affirms that God possesses the attribute while the second negative statement keeps from limiting Him to that particular attribute. For the Isma‘ili, unity expresses duality, and duality expresses unity.

The Attributes of Almighty Allah are further subdivided into various categories. Individual names like Rahman and Rahim express a duality of degree. Rahman refers to the fundamental mercy which permeates all things while Rahim refers to the secondary mercy which may be held back. Rahman, which is stronger than Rahim, applies to all of existence. Rahim is the mercy which is manifested in Heaven and whose opposite, Wrath, is manifested in Hell. But the Rahman overrides them all. As Allah said: “My Mercy prevails over my Wrath” (Bukhari).

For many Muslim mystics, the concept of Divine Unity embraces a Divine Duality: Ahadiyyat al-Ahad, the Unity of One, and Ahadiyyat al-kathrah, the Unity of Many. As Murata explains: “In respect to His Self, God possesses the Unity of the One, but in respect of His names, He possesses the Unity of Manyness” (Murata, Sachiko. The Tao of Islam. Albany: SUNY P, 1992: 58-59). This why Ibn al-‘Arabi used to refer to Allah as al-Wahid al-Kathir or the One/Many. Allah is One in Essence, but many in the relationships He has with the cosmos. Muslim mystics also speak of Ahadiyyah, Allah’s Exclusive Unity and Wahidiyyah or Allah’s Inclusive Unity. The Exclusive Unity applies to Allah Himself while the Inclusive Unity or University envisages Allah as the Source of Creation. The Names of Almighty Allah are also divided into Differentiated Names or Tafsil and Undifferentiated Names or Ijmal.

For Twelver Shi‘ites and Isma‘ilis, the concept of Tawhid is the solution to many theological debates. Take, for example, the question of free will, Qadr, and predestination, Jabr, which have divided the majority of the Muslim world. According to the Mu‘tazilites, Allah had given guidance to humanity; however, their ultimate destiny depended on themselves. In other words, they had the choice to be guided or misguided, good or bad. According to the Sunni traditionalists, however, the final fate of humanity has been predetermined by Almighty Allah. The solution to the problem was to be found among the Twelver and Sevener Shi‘ites who argued in favor of an “intermediate” solution between the absolute predestination of the Ash’ari and the Mu’tazili doctrine of freedom or Tafwid. Both the Imami and the Isma‘ili base their arguments on a famous tradition from Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq which says: “la jabra wa la tafwida bal amrun bayna amrayn: Neither Jabr nor Tafwid; but something intermediate between the two [extreme] alternatives” (Mutahhari, Murtaza. “An Introduction to ‘ilm al-kalam.” al-Tawhid 2: 2 (Jan.1985). Internet: http://www.al-islam.org/al-tawhid/kalam.htm). This is just one of many examples in which Shi‘ite theologians follow the “middle path” (2:143) of Tawhid or Divine Unity in finding solutions to doctrinal differences.

Although Tawhid is typically translated as “oneness,” the term derives from the Arabic root wahhada which means “to unite, to join, to combine, and to gather.” Although Allah is absolutely and utterly One, and Islam adheres to the strictest and purest form of monotheism possible, Tawhid literally means “unity” which means “to bring together.” As Murata explains, “As soon as we accept the principle of singularity, duality is demanded by Unity and Unity by duality” (The Tao of Islam. Albany: SUNY P, 1992: 58). As the Ikhwan al-Safa’ expressed: “God is truly one in every respect and meaning, so it is not permissible that any created and originated thing be truly one. On the contrary, it is necessary that it be a one that is multiple, dual, and paired” (Rasa’il III 201-2). Although Allah is One in Essence, He is Dual in Divine Names, and Multiple in His Manifestations. Allah is that Irresistible Primal Principle to which everything and everyone is drawn. He was the First for He is Allah. He is the Last for He is Allah. Since everything is derived from Allah, and everything will return to Allah, there is truly none other than Allah.

• 1. This article, which is the sole work of John Andrew Morrow, was previously published as the preface to the English translation of the Kitab al-Tawhid by Shaykh Saduq. See: Saduq, Shaykh. Kitab al-Tawhid / The Book of Divine Unity. Trans. Sayyid ‘Ali Rizvi. Ed. John Andrew Morrow, Barbara Castleton, and Sayyid ‘Ali Rizvi. London and Qum: The Saviour Foundation, 2010.