Question:
What is the definition of tawheed?
Answer:
Alhamdulillah, praise and thanks to Allah for the countless blessings He has blessed us all with. Blessings and salutations to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, his wives, his family, companions and all those that follow his teachings to the day of judgement.
We will start answering the question with بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ. Tawheed from the lexicon context of it comes from the word وَحَّدَ which means one and only or singular. Then, from the word the derivative of it is formed. Among the meaning of the word tawheed are:
According to Qamus al-Muhit, tawheed means making or considering something singular. While in Hasyiah al-Bajuri which is a syarah of the book al-Jauharah, it means knowing that something is singular.
Whereas, the term tawheed in syarak means:
Acknowledging Allah SWT as the sole Almighty god by worshipping and believing in His singularity in His essence, attributes and actions.
The other meaning of it is: Establishing the sole and singular characteristic of His essence incomparable with others, without denying all His attributes.
Al-Syeikh al-Ilji defined the knowledge of tawheed the same as the knowledge of Kalam. He said: “The knowledge of Kalam is a knowledge that enables to establish belief and faith in religion according to evidences at the same time rejecting anything uncertain or obscured.” He wrote a book on aqidah titled al-Mawaqif fi ‘Ilm al-Kalam.
Syiekh Junaid al-Baghdadi said: “Tawheed is believing the sole and singular attribute of the Qidam from the new.”
In the syarah of Jauharah al-Tauhid, it is stated: “It is a knowledge that could lead to an understanding and an explanation regarding aqidah in religion taken from credible evidences.”
In Jauharah al-Tauhid, the author stated the three basis discussed in tawheed as:
The knowledge of the divine which includes the knowledge of Uluhiyyah, Rububiyyah and the names and attributes of Allah SWT.
The knowledge of prophethood which are the obligatory attributes of the Messengers and apostles, the impossible and permissible attributes of the Messengers and apostles and everything related to it.
Sam’iyyah matters (matters of the unseen) such as the punishment of the grave, mizan (balance/scale), hisab (count/accountability in the hereafter) and others. The meaning of sam’iyyah are matters of which is impossible to be known except through the knowledge revealed in the Quran and sunnah and these matters are outside the capability of human thoughts.
To conclude, tawheed is a knowledge that establishes the belief and faith in religion and contributes to the steadfastness of belief as a result of credible and convincing evidences. The knowledge of tawheed focuses the scope of narration and discussion of the sole and singularity of Allah SWT. This knowledge is also known as the knowledge of Kalam, Aqidah and Usuluddin.