Clearing a Misconception
Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (died 728H) said: "The Tawheed with which the
Messengers came with comprises of affirming that Divinity and worship belong to Almighty
God alone, such that a person witnesses that none has the right to be worshipped except
Almighty God, and that none is worshipped except Him, nor depended upon other than Him,
nor are alliances or enemies made except for Him, nor is an action done except for Him.
This affirmation also covers those Names and Attributes which Almighty God affirms for
Himself, as God - the Most High - says: "And the God to be worshipped is only
one God. None has the right to be worshipped except Him, the Most Merciful, the Bestower
of Mercy."38 And God - the Most High - says: "Do not
take two objects of worship. Indeed, Almighty God is the only Deity to be worshipped, so
fear Him."30. And He - the Most High - says: "Whosoever
calls upon (i.e. supplicates or prays to) other than God, for which he has no proof, then
his reckoning is only with his Lord. Indeed the disbelievers will not be successful."40
Almighty God - the Most High - also says: "And ask those of our Messengers whom
we sent before you: 'Did We ever appoint objects of worship besides the Most
Merciful?'"41
And Almighty God informed us about every Prophet from amongst the Prophets that they
called the people to the worship of God alone, having no partner, as He said: "Indeed
there is an excellent example for you in Abraham and those with him, when they said to
their people: 'Indeed we are free from you and whatever you worship besides Almighty God.
We have rejected you, and there has arisen between us and you, hostility and hatred
forever - until you believe in God alone."42 And God said about
the mushriks (pagan idolaters): "When it is said to them: 'None has the
right to be worshipped except Almighty God', they become arrogant. And they say: 'Are we
to abandon those deities that we worship because of a mad poet?"43
And this occurs a lot in the Qur'aan.
And what is meant by Tawheed is not merely Tawheed ar-Roobubiyyah - the
belief that Almighty God alone is the Creator - which is what some of the people of Kalaam
(speculative theology) and the Sufis think! So they think that if they affirm this type of
Tawheed, along with its proofs, then they have affirmed the utmost limits of Tawheed
and that if they bear witness to this and become absorbed in it, then they have absorbed
themselves in the limits of Tawheed! However, this is not the case. Since even if a
person agreed to those attributes which are befitting to the Lord, and declared Him free
from everything He should be declared free from and affirmed that He alone is the creator
of everything - then still such a person would not be a muwahid (a person of Tawheed)
until along with this, he witnesses that the only Ilaah (i.e. object of worship) is
Almighty God (Allah) - (i.e. none has the right to he worshipped except God alone)
- affirming that Almighty God alone is the Ilaah deserving off all worship,
adhering to this worship and associating no partners with Him. Also affirming that this Ilaah
(object of worship) is He who is deified and worshipped and who deserves worship and it is
not that Ilaah merely with the meaning: "The One who has the power to
create and originate."44
So if an explainer (of the Qur'aan) explains Ilaah to mean: "The One
who has the power to create and originate" and believes that this is the most
particular description of Ilaah and affirms this to be the limits of Tawheed - as is done by the people of Kalaam (speculative theology), and it is what they
say from Abul-Hasan al-Ash'aree45 and his followers - then they do not
know the true reality of the Tawheed with which Almighty God sent His Messengers,
since the Arab mushriks (pagan idolaters) used to agree that Almighty God alone is
the Creator of everything. Yet despite this, they were still mushriks, as God - the
Most High - says: "Most people do not believe in God except that they commit shirk
(i.e. associate others with Him in belief and worship).''46
A group from amongst the Salaf (the first three generations of Muslims) said: "If
you ask them who created the Heavens and the earth, they will say: 'God' - yet along with
this, they worshipped others besides Him."47