Table of Contents
Tawhid in the Islamic religion is the belief that there is only one unique God. The concept of Tawhid appeals to Islamic monotheism, which is essentially and absolutely summarized in the Shahadah (the profession of faith). Briefly, an attempt will be made to describe the Shahadah as the cornerstone of Islamic monotheism.
The Shahadah
The Shahadah is made up of two professions: “There is no
god but God” and “Muhammad is the Messenger of God” (La ilaha
illa’Llah, Muhammad-ur-Rasul-Allah). The first section of the Shahadah
centres on the oneness and indivisibility of God, and the second section is on the
prophethood of Muhammad. Nasr opined about the importance of the Shahadah:
The most fundamental formula of the
Qur’an is the Shahadah, that is, witness or testimony, La ilaha
illa’Llah, that there is only one God. “The first pillar of Islam is the
“The Shahadah” … It comes from the Arabic word “الشَهَادة” which means “The
Testimony”, the testimony that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah
(SWT) and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (SWT).”[i]
First Part
According to some Muslims, the first part of the Shahadah has no special attachment to the Islamic religion. They
tend to suggest that it is a clarion call to all humanity to acknowledge the
Oneness of God. According to Murata and Chittick:
For Muslims, the first Shahadah has no
special connection with the religion brought by Muhammad. Rather, it expresses
Islam in the widest sense – it explains why everything in the heavens and the
earth is submitted to God. It also expresses Islam in the narrower sense of the
religion of all the prophets. The most explicit Koranic verse here is, “And We
never sent a messenger before thee save that We revealed to him, saying, ‘There
is no god but I, so worship Me’” (21:25). All prophets have come with the
message of tawhid.[ii]
Norcliffe asserts that the concept of
Tawhid (oneness, unity) of God “is applied in general to the Muslim community
in the belief in one worldwide Islamic umma or community... God is one, an
indivisible unity.”[iii]
In the Qur’an, many verses reiterate
the concept of Tawhid. Surah (Al-Ikhlas 112) profusely reflects on
this oneness of God and some Islamic scholars hinge on their analyses of it.
According to Qutb, Surah (Al-Ikhlas 112) is declared as “equivalent
to one-third of the Qur’an.”[iv] Writing further on this, Qutb noted that
there is nothing out of place in saying that “He is Allah, the one and only
God...”[v] hence:
For the unity of Allah which the
Messenger was ordered to declare to the whole world is a belief to be ingrained
in our beings, an explanation of human existence, and a way of life. From this
standpoint, the surah can be said to have embraced the principal and utmost fundamental ideas of the great truth of Islam in the clearest terms.[vi]
Further, he argued that Surah (Al-Ikhlas 112)
was the reason for the call of Islam:
For the sake
of all this, the first call to Islam was devoted to the establishment of the
reality of the unity of Allah in the hearts and minds of men... It is life in
its entirety and religion in its totality and whatever results follow it are no
more than the natural fruits of its establishment in the hearts and minds of
mankind.[vii]
Second Part
The second part is the prophetic role of Muhammad to teach pagan Arabia about the oneness of Allah. Tawhid strongly opposes the polytheism that was rampant in Makkah in seventh-century Arabia.
In this writing, an effort will be made to examine different Surahs that emphasized the import of monotheism. Besides, some comparisons would be made in terms of the way different authors’ translations and understanding of the term, Tawhid. Some of these translators of the Qur’an considered here include Al-Hilali and Khan 1996;[viii] Yusuf ‘Ali 2008[ix] and Rodwell 1994.[x]
We will begin by examining the Surahs
about the warnings from the Prophets about the worship of God.
Al-A’raf 7:59
|
Al-Hilali and
Khan |
Yusuf ‘Ali |
Rodwell |
|
“Indeed, We sent Nuh (Noah) to his people and he
said: “O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other llah (God)
but Him...” |
“We sent Noah to his people. He said: ‘O my
people, worship Allah! Ye have no other god but Him....” |
“Of old, We sent Noah to his people, and he said,
‘O my people! Worship God. Ye have no God but Him:” |
The three above-mentioned translations could be communicating the same message however, they raise another problem especially when examining their syntagmatic relations. For example, Al-Hilali and Khan 1996 translated the said verse as: “You have no other llah (God) but Him”; Yusuf ‘Ali has it as: “Ye have no other god but Him”; and for Rodwell: “Ye have no God but Him.” This is a bit confusing especially when the Shahadah says: ‘There is no god but God.’ Switching god with God, that is, interchanging the upper and lower cases of the letter (g) changes the meaning of the first section of the Shahadah.
The issue of how humankind began the
worship of different gods and why God sent Noah (Nuh) as a Messenger is quite
revealing. Ibn Kathir’s commentary on Surah (Al-A‘raf 7: 59) claims
that:
‘Abdullah bin ‘Abbas and several other
scholars of Tafsir said that the first idol worship began when some righteous
people died and their people built places of worship over their graves. They
made images of them so they could remember their righteousness and devotion and thus imitate them. When time passed, they made statues of them
and later on worshipped these idols, naming them after the righteous people:
Wadd, Suwa‘, Yaghuth, Ya‘uq, and Nasr. After this practice became popular, Allah
sent Nuh as a Messenger, all thanks are due to Him. Nuh commanded his people to
worship Allah alone without partners...[xi]
An-Nahl 16:36
|
Al-Hilali and
Khan |
Yusuf ‘Ali |
Rodwell |
|
“And verily, We have sent among every Ummah
(community, nation) a Messenger (proclaiming): “Worship Allah (Alone), and
avoid (or keep away from) Taghut (all false deities, i.e. do not worship
Taghut besides Allah).” |
“For We assuredly sent amongst every People a
Messenger, (with the Command), ‘Serve Allah, and eschew Evil.’” |
“And to every people have we sent an apostle
saying: - Worship God and turn away from Taghut.” |
Examining the syntagmatic relations of the translations, it appears different meanings have been given to the above-mentioned verse.
Commenting on this same (An-Nahl 16:36),
Ibn Kathir argues that: “The legislative will of Allah is clear and cannot be
taken as an excuse by them, because He had forbidden them to do that upon the
tongue of His Messengers, but by His universal will...He allowed them to do
that as it was decreed for them.”[xii]
Adh-Dhariyat 51:56
|
Al-Hilali and
Khan |
Yusuf ‘Ali |
Rodwell |
|
“And I (Allah) created not jinn and mankind
except that they should worship Me (Alone).” |
“I have only created jinns and men, that they may
serve me.” |
“I have not created Djinn and men, but that they
should worship me.” |
The above citations and translations
directly emphasize the reason why God created mankind. According to Ibn
Kathir, the meaning of Surah (Adh-Dhariyat 51: 56) is:
Allah the Exalted, the Blessed created
the creatures so that they may worship Him alone without partners. Those who
obey Him will be rewarded with the best rewards, while those who disobey Him
will receive the worst punishment from Him. Allah stated that He does not need
creatures, but rather, they need Him in all conditions. He is alone their
Creator and Provider.[xiii]
Al-Anbiya 21:25
|
Al-Hilali and
Khan |
Yusuf ‘Ali |
Rodwell |
|
“And We did not send any Messenger before you (O
Muhammad...) but We revealed to him (saying): La ilaha illa Ana [none has the
right to be worshipped but I (Allah), so worship Me (Alone and no one else).” |
“Not a messenger did We send before thee without
this inspiration sent by Us to him: that there is no god but I; therefore,
worship and serve me.” |
“No apostle have we sent before thee to whom we
did not reveal that ‘Verily there is no God beside me: therefore, worship
me.” |
The above spell out the Islamic
unparalleled profession of the oneness and uniqueness of God. For Ibn Kathir
“Every Prophet who was sent by Allah called people to worship Allah Alone, with
no partner or associate. The natural inclination of man (Al-Fitrah) also
bears witness to that. The idolators have no proof and their dispute is of no
use before their Lord; on them is wrath, and for them will be a severe
torment.”[xiv]
Ibn Kathir explained further the
importance of divine worship to God alone by pointing readers to the narration
of Ibn ‘Abbas:
(You alone do we worship) means it is
You alone, O our Lord, whom we worship, fear and supplicate, none other than
you. (To you alone do we pray for help) means we seek your assistance in
obeying You and in the management of our daily lives. These two statements were
mentioned in this order because worship (ibadah) is the
objective we all seek and seeking assistance is our means of achieving it.[xv]
Conclusion
It is
pertinent to state that there is an unrivalled presentation of the idea of God
as one and indivisible in the Qur'an. Though we pointed out the problem about the
syntagmatic relations as a result of translations, the meanings may change, the
underpinning statement is that the Tawhid is the distinctive force of Islamic monotheism. To understand Islam is to understand the Shahadah and to
understand the Shahadah is to acknowledge its monotheism.
[i] The Shahadah: The First Pillar of Islam. In Quran Ayat
Institute. https://quranayat.com/the-shahadah-the-first-pillar-of-islam/ (accessed
30 April 2021).
[ii] Murata, S, & Chittick, WC 1996, The Vision of Islam: The
Foundations of Muslim Faith and Practice, IB Tauris, London. Pp 45-46.
[iii] Norcliffe, D 1999, Islam, Faith and Practice, Sussex Academic
Press, Brighton.
[iv] Qutb, S 1981, In the shade of the Qur’an, vol. 30, translated by
M. Adil Salahi & Ashur A. Shamis, MWH London Publishers, England. P. 350
[v] Ibid.
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Ibid. pp 352-353
[viii] The Noble Quran: Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble
Qur'an in the English Language. Muhammand Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali & Muhammad
Muhsin Khan. Dar-us-Salam Publications. 1996
[ix] The Meaning of the Holy Qur'an. Abdullah Yusuf Ali. English
Edition. 2008
[x] The Koran, translated by J.M. Rodwell. Everyman Library London.
1994
[xi] Ibn Kathir, 2000a, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, abridged vol. 4, (Surat
Al-A‘raf to the end of Surah Yunus), abridged by a group of scholars under the
supervision of Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, Darussalam Publishers &
Distributors, Riyadh. P. 87
[xii] Ibn Kathir, 2000b, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, abridged vol. 5, (Surah Hud
to Surat Al-Isra’, verse 38), abridged & supervised by Shaykh Safiur-Rahman
Al-Mubarakpuri, Darussalam Publishers & Distributors, Riyadh. P. 462
[xiii] Ibn Kathir, 2000c, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, abridged vol.9, (Surat
Al-Jathiyah to the end of Surat Al-Munafiqun), abridged & supervised by
Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, Darussalam Publishers & Distributors,
Riyadh. P. 277
[xiv] Ibn Kathir, 2000d, Tafsir Ibn Kathir, abridged vol. 6, (Surat
Al-Isra’, Verse 39 to the end of Surat Al-Mu’minun), abridged & supervised
by Shaykh Safiur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, Darussalam Publishers &
Distributors, Riyadh. P. 437
[xv] Ibn Kathir 1998, Surah Al-Fatihah Surah-Al-Baqarah, ayat 1 to 141,
Part 1, abridged by Sheikh Muhammad Nasib Ar-Rafa ‘i, Al-Firdous Ltd, London.
P. 43
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