Sublime

tawhid, which literally means “making one,” implies more than just monotheism. True, there is only one God, but that is just the beginning. Tawhid means that God is Oneness. God is Unity: wholly indivisible, entirely unique, and utterly indefinable. God resembles nothing in either essence or attributes.

“We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ismā‘īl, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: we make no difference between one and another of them: and we bow to Allah (in Islam).”

This deceptively simple statement is not only the basis for all articles of faith in Islam, it is in some ways the sum and total of Islamic theology. This is because the shahadah signifies recognition of an exceedingly complex theological doctrine known as tawhid.

Ask any sincere follower what defines Islam, and they will answer quickly. Tawhid, the glorious monotheistic truth, the heart of Islamic faith, is to the Muslim what the Trinity is to the Christian: the touchstone, the nonnegotiable, the definitional. Tawhid defines Islamic worship and proclamation. You must embrace it to enter into the faith, for

The Muslim position is clear. The Muslim does not claim to have a religion peculiar to himself. Islam is not a sect or an ethnic religion. In its view all Religion is one, for the Truth is one. It was the religion preached by all the earlier prophets. It was the truth taught by all the inspired Books. In essence it amounts to a consciousness of the

If tawhid is the foundation of Islam, then its opposite, shirk, is Islam’s greatest sin, for which some Muslims claim there can be no forgiveness (see the Quran 2:116). In its simplest definition, shirk means associating anything with God. But like tawhid, shirk is not so simple a concept. Polytheism is obviously shirk, but so is obscuring God’s

The knowledge of the secret of the heavens and the earth belongs to God alone, and to Him shall all affairs be referred. So worship Him and put your trust in Him alone. Your Lord is not unaware of what you do.q