Question(8):

What are the Types of Tawheed? Please Clarify and Give Examples.

Answer:

The types of Tawheed as regard to Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, all fall under a general definition and that is to single Allaah, the One free of all imperfection, out with all that is  articular to Him. And they are three types:

(1) Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah which is to single out Allaah with Creation, Sovereignty, and Control of affairs. Since Allaah Alone is the Creator, there is no creator besides Him.
Allaah, the Most High, Says:

And Allaah, the Most High, Said, exposing the futility of the deities of the unbelievers:

So He, Allaah, is the Sole Creator. He created everything and gave everything its due and decreed measure. His Creating includes whatever occurs due to His Actions as well as all that which occurs as a result of the actions of His Creation. For this reason it is from the complete belief in al-Qadar (Allaah’s Pre-decree) that you believe that Allaah, The Most High, Creates the actions of creation, as He, The Most High, Says:

One way to direct this is that the action of the ‘abd is from his attributes, and he is Created by Allaah, and that the creator of something is a creator of its attributes.
Another angle to this is that action of the ‘abd is caused by a determined will and complete ability, both of which are Created by Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic. Indeed, the creator of the complete cause is the creator of the effect. But then if you say: “How is that we say that He, The Most High, is singled out with creation even though creation may be affirmed to other than Him as evident in the saying of Allaah, the Most High,

and also in the saying of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم ), regarding picturemakers, “It will be said to them [on the Day of Resurrection], ‘Put life in that which you have created’.”¹⁷?

The answer to this is that, “someone other than Allaah, The Most High, does not create like Allaah’s Creation. Indeed, [anyone other than Allaah], cannot bring into existence something non-existent nor can he bring life to the dead. Rather, the creation by other than Allaah, The One free from all imperfection and The Most High, takes place by means of changing and transforming of a thing from one condition into another; yet, the thing itself is a Creation by Allaah. The picture-maker, for example, when he makes a picture, he does not create anything. In reality, all that he did is that he transformed something into something else just as one transforms clay into the form of a bird or that of a camel, and as (he) one transforms a white sheet into a colored picture by means of coloring. All the ink as well as the white paper is from the Creation of Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic. So, this is the difference between the affirmation of creation with regard to Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic, and its affirmation with regard to the created being. Accordingly, Allaah, The Most High, is singled out with Creation, which is particular to Him.

The Second Pillar of Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah is that Allaah, The Most High, is singled out with Sovereignty, meaning that Allaah, The Exalted, is The Sole Owner, as He,The Most High, Said:

And He, The Exalted, also Said:

So the One to whom belongs the absolute and all comprehensive sovereignty is Allaah alone, and attributing sovereignty to other than Him is only a relative matter. In fact, Allaah, The Exalted, affirmed ownership to other than Him, as in His, The Exalted, Saying:

And also, in His, The Most High, Saying:

And the like from the above texts which prove that other than Allaah may have a dominion, but this sovereignty is unlike the Sovereignty of Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic. Rather it is an inadequate, restricted, and incomprehensive dominion. And so, Zayed’s house does not belong to ‘Amr and vice versa. Moreover, this dominion is limited, in the sense that the person is unable to dispose freely what he possesses except in the way he is permitted to do so. That is why the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم ) forbade the wasting of wealth. and Allaah, The Most High, Said:

And this is a proof that man’s dominion is inadequate and limited, unlike the Sovereignty and Dominion of Allaah, The One free from all imperfection and The Most High, which is a general, all-comprehensive, and absolute Sovereignty. He (صلى الله عليه وسلم) does whatever He wants and He cannot be questioned as to what He does, while they (mankind) will be questioned.

The Third Pillar of Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah is that Allaah is singled out with Tadbeer (control of all affairs). So Allaah, The One free of all imperfection, is The One who controls the affairs of the creation; He disposes the affairs of the heavens and the earth as He, The Most High, Says:

This control is comprehensive, nothing can prevent or oppose it. The disposal of affairs by some creatures, like man’s control of the disposal of his wealth, children, servants, and so forth, is a narrow, limited, and restricted, not absolute, kind of control. So this stands to prove that our statement that, “Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah is to single out Allaah with Creation, Sovereignty, and Control of Affairs,” is true. This is the meaning of Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah.

As for the Second Type of Tawheed, which is Tawheed al- Uloohiyyah, then it is to single Allaah out with all worship such that a person does not take anyone else besides Allaah and worships him, and or do acts of devotion for him as he worships Allaah and does acts of devotion for Him. And it is with regard to this type of Tawheed that the Mushriks went astray; those whom the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) fought, and whose wealth, land, and homes he made lawful to be taken; and whose womenfolk and children he took as captives. And it is this type which the Messengers were sent with and with which the Books were brought down, together with its two fellow types, Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah and Tawheed al-Asmaa’-was Sifaat. However, most of the striving of the Messengers with their people was with regard to this type of Tawheed, Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah, such that a person does not direct anything of worship to other than Allaah, neither to a close angel, nor to any Prophet sent as a Messenger, nor to a righteous Wali (true friend of Allaah), nor to anyone from the creation. Because worship is not correct except for Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic. Whoever violates this type of Tawheed is a Mushrik, an unbeliever, even if he affirms Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah and Tawheed al-Asmaa’-was-Sifaat. So, if a man believes that Allaah, The One free of all imperfection and The Most High, is The Creator, The Owner, The One Who controls all affairs, and that He (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is The One who is worthy of all that which He deserves from (the) His Names and Attributes, but he worships besides Allaah other than Him, then his affirmation of Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah and Tawheed al-Asmaa’-was-Sifaat is of no avail to him. So, if it were to be the case that a man totally affirmed the Tawheed of ar-Ruboobiyyah and al- Asmaa’-was-Sifaat, but he went to a grave and worshipped its occupant, or he vowed to offer him a sacrifice in order to draw near to him, then he would be a Mushrik, an unbeliever, an inhabitant of the Hell-Fire forever. Allaah, The Most High, Says:

And it is a matter known to everyone who recites the Book of Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic, that the Mushriks whom the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) fought, and whose blood he deemed lawful to seek, and whose wealth he made lawful to take; and whose womenfolk and children he took as captives; and whose land he took as booty, used to be in agreement that Allaah, The Most High, alone, is The Rabb and The Creator; they had no doubt concerning this. But since they used to worship others along with Him, they, as a result, became Mushriks whose blood were made allowable to seek, and whose wealth were made lawful to take. 

As for the Third Type of Tawheed, which is Tawheed al- Asmaa’-was-Sifaat, then it is to single out Allaah, The One free of all imperfections and The Most High, with whatever Names and Attributes He has, respectively, named or described Himself with in His Book or on the tongue of His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم). This is established by affirming whatever Allaah has affirmed for Himself, without Tahreef (changing or twisting their wording and meanings), without Ta’teel (denying or divesting Allaah of His Attributes), without Takyeef (asserting how they are), and without Tamtheel (likening them to those of the creation). It is inevitable that we have faith in whatever Names and Attribute which Allaah has affirmed for Himself, based upon al-Haqeeqah (their real and true meanings), but without Takyeef and without Tamtheel, and not according to al-Majaaz (metaphoric interpretations). It is with regard to this type of Tawheed that many groups from this Ummaah who have the same Qiblah and who follow, but in different ways, the religion of Islaam has gone astray. Some of them exaggerated in the aspects of an-Nafiyy ¹⁸ and Tanzeeh ¹⁹ to the point that would take the exaggerator out of Islaam. Some took a moderate stand, while others were closer to the creed of ahl-us-Sunnah. But the way of the Salaf with regard to this type of Tawheed is that Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic, is to be Named and qualified with whatever He Names and qualifies Himself with and in accordance with their real and true meanings without Tahreef (changing or twisting their wording or meaning), without Ta’teel (denial of them), without Takyeef (specifying how they are) and without Tamtheel (likening them to those of the creation). As an example, Allaah, The One free of all imperfections, Named Himself (بالحي): Al-Hayy (The Ever-Living), Al-Qayyoum (القيوم). ²⁰ So, we must believe in Al-Hayy as a Name of the Names of Allaah and in the Attribute implied by this Name and that is the perfect Life which is neither preceded by ‘adam (non-existence) nor coming to naught. And Allaah, The One free of all imperfections and The Most High, Named Himself: "لسميع " As-Samee’, "العليم" Al-’Aleem. Therefore, we must believe in As-Samee’ [The One who is All-Hearer] as a Name of the Names of Allaah, and that Hearing is one of His Attributes; and believe that He Hears, which is the ruling necessitated by this Name and this Attribute. Because an All- Hearer without Hearing or without understanding what is heard, is something impossible. Likewise, one must deal with the rest of the Names and Attributes. Another example: Allaah, The Supremely Exalted, Said:

Here Allaah, The Most High, Said:

So He affirmed for Himself Two Hands described by al-Bast (لبسط) which is the bountiful giving.²¹ So it is binding upon us to believe that Allaah, The Most High, has Two Hands stretched forth with bountiful giving and favours. And we must not try to assert how these Hands are, neither by our hearts nor by our imagination or by our tongues, and that we must not liken them to the hands of the creatures because Allaah, The One free of all imperfections, Says:

And also Allaah, The Exalted, Says: 

And also Allaah, The Mighty and Magnificent, Says:

So whoever resembles the Hands [of Allaah] to the hands of the creatures then he has rejected the saying of Allaah, The Mighty and Majestic,

And furthermore he has disobeyed Allaah, The Exalted’s, Saying:           

And whoever assigns a specification (Kayf) to the Hands of Allaah and says that they are of a particular manner, any manner, then he has said about Allaah of which he has no knowledge and followed that of which he has no knowledge.

 

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¹⁷ Reported by al-Bukhaaree and Muslim. See Saheeh al-Bukhaaree,vol.3, no.318.

¹⁸ Nafiyy: Denying specific and general imperfection.
¹⁹ Tanzeeh: Elevating Allaah above all forms of imperfection. Under the pretext of affirming the Tanzeeh and denying imperfection, the extremists denied Allaah’s Attributes or some of them or divested them of their meaning. They were under the same delusion that their affirmation necessitated resemblance of Allaah to His creation.
²⁰ Al-Qayyoum means the One Who is established on His Own, Self- Subsisting, by Whom all things subsist; He sustains, protects, prepares, and runs the affairs of all things as He wills in accordance with His knowledge, Wisdom, and Justice.

²¹ This is the obviously understood meaning and therefore it is true and real meaning as determined from the context itself.