TAWHID

Contents 1 Allah 2 Types of Tawhid 2.1 Tawhid ad Dhati 2.2 Tawhid as Sifati 2.3 Tawhid al Afa ali 2.4 Tawhid al Ibadi 3 Shirk 4 References
Tawhid, the belief in the Oneness of God and an Unshared Divinity {1}, is the most fundamental belief of Shias and, indeed, all Muslims. It is the worshipping of Allah (SWT) as the Sole Deity worthy of worship. In Shi ite sources, a special emphasis has been placed on the incomparability of God to humans or, indeed, any entity and, therefore, Shias reject notions such as anthropomorphism. A Shia scholar explains the doctrine of Tawhid as follows: We believe that Allah is One (Wahid), Alone (Ahad), Peerless (Laysa Kamithlihu shay'), Eternal (Qadim), without Beginning or End; He is the First and the Last (Al-Awwal wa Al-Akhir). He is the AllKnowing (Al-Alim), the Wise (Al-Hakim), the Just (Al-'Adil), the Living (Al-Hayy), the Omnipotent (AlQadir), Independent of all things (Al-Ghaniy), the All-Hearing (As-Sami'), the All-Seeing (Al-Basir). He is not to be likened to His creatures, therefore He has neither body nor appearance nor substance nor form; He is neither heavy nor light, neither moving nor motionless; He has no place nor any time, and no-one can point to Him as there is no-thing like Him. Nothing is equal to Him, nor has He any opposite. He has no wife, no child, no partner and there is none comparable to Him. Vision does not perceive Him, yet He perceives everything. {2} Tawhid comprises the most pivotal part of the Muslim Shahadah (Testimony): meaning there is no God but Allah and Muhammed is His Messenger . ,

Allah
The Muslims, mostly, refer to God as Allah (SWT). In the Arabic language, the word Allah (SWT) does not have any plural or female equivalent and therefore pertains to a God who: alone is worthy of worship; cannot be classified as a male or female and does not have plurals or sub-units, in contrast to the word Ilah which also means God but has a female equivalent and also a plural form. Since the literary meaning of the word Allah is such, it is hailed as the best word to describe the One, Islamic God as the word encompasses the basic concepts of Islamic monotheism, Tawhid.

Therefore, the Shahadah (Testimony) of Islam symbolically means there is no God but The God which is One, who neither has any plurals nor can be divided, who is neither male nor female and is the Sole Being worthy of worship rather than just meaning there is no God but God .

Types of Tawhid
Tawhid can, primarily, be classified into four types, namely, Tawheed as Sifati, Tawheed al Afa ali, Tawheed ad Dhati and Tawhid al Ibadi.

Tawheed ad Dhati
This pertains to the belief that The Essence of God is One and Unique with no match or comparison. All other beings are lesser than Him and, in fact, cannot even be compared to Him. This idea is referred to by the following verses of The Quran: Nothing is like Him. (42:11) He does not have a match [whatsoever]. (112:4) This differs from, for example, the beliefs of Zoroastrians who believe that there are two forces in the Universe, one being good while the other being evil and both are equal and eternal. According to Islam, only He is eternal and, except God, neither can any other entity be eternal nor can there be more than one Ever-Existing Being since this would entail that the two beings possess an Attribute which can only be possessed by God and, therefore, would be against the Islamic concept of Monotheism.

Tawhid as Sifaati
This concerns the belief that The Attributes of Allah (SWT) are not apart from His Essence and neither are the individual Attributes so as can be seen by the following saying of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib: The perfection of His purity is to deny Him attributes, because every attribute is a proof that it is different from that to which it is attributed, and everything to which something is attributed is different from the attribute. Thus, whoever attaches attributes to Allah recognises His like, and whoever recognises His like regards Him as two, and whoever regards Him as two recognises parts for Him, and whoever recognises parts for Him has mistaken Him. {3}

Tawhid al Afa ali

He has no partner in His sovereignty, nor has He a helper to help Him out of weakness. Therefore glorify Him a great deal. (Surah Bani Isra'il, 17:111)

This refers to the belief that all actions (including human actions) exist by The Will of God; He is the cause of all phenomena, perceptible or imperceptible. In simpler terms, neither any action nor any phenomenon is self-existent and everything depends on Him and His Will. This, in turn, means that just as He is One is Essence, He is also peerless in His Works.

Tawhid al Ibadi
And worship Allah and do not associate anything with Him. (Surah an-Nis 4:36) This refers to the doctrine that none but Allah (SWT) is worthy of worship. This is a belief that Muslims profess everyday in their prayers by pronouncing the following words of the Holy Quran: "You alone We worship, and only Your aid We seek." (Surah al Fatiha: 5)

Shirk
Shirk - the antonym of Tawhid is, commonly, defined as associating partners to Allah (SWT) and worshipping deities other than Allah. Just as Tawhid is of four types, Shirk can also be as a result of breaching the four types of Tawhid divided into different types: believing in two or more sources which are eternal and yet independent of each other; giving His Attributes to another; considering any phenomenon or action to have its source in anything other than Him or to be independent of His Will; belief in any entity, other than Allah, to have created; belief in the plurality of the Divine Attributes; a belief that His Attributes are either external to Him or are separate from one another; believing that He is a compound of His Attributes and the worship of any entity other than Allah. The spiritual elite of Islam have taken it a step further, including the obedience of another being over Allah s and, therefore, His representatives orders as Shirk. Polytheism (Shirk) is the greatest of the major sins and is unforgiveable in Islam, as can be seen by the following verses of the Quran and the traditions of the Imams of the Ahlulbayt: y y Imam Ja far as-Sadiq (a.s.) says: The greatest of the Greater Sins is to attribute partners to Allah. (Wasa il ul-Shia) Surely Allah does not forgive that anything should be associated with him, and forgives what is besides that to whomsoever He pleases, and whoever associates anything with Allah, he devises indeed a great sin. (Surah an-Nis 4:48) Surely whoever associates (others) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden to him the garden, and his abode is the fire; and there shall be no helpers for the unjust. (Surah al-M ida 5:72) Do not associate aught with Allah; most surely polytheism is a grievous inequity. (Surah Luqm n 31:13) And whoever associates anything with Allah, he devises indeed a great sin. (Surah an-Nis 4:48)

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References
{1} Al Tawhid and its Social Implications by Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamene i, under the chapter The Essence of Tawhid {2} The Faith of Shia Islam by Muhammad Ridha al Muzaffar {3} Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 1