Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Let the first thing to which you will invite them, be the Tawheed of Allah." (Bukhari 7372)
Understanding Lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh
3 categories of Tawheed
#TAWHEED is to single out Allah in His Actions
, in His Attributes
, and to single out Allah in our actions/worship (dua, prayer, sacrifice etc)
towards Him Alone (His Rights) - and not to share any of these with anyone else.
1 - Tawheed ar Rububiyyah
(maintaining unity in Allah's actions, the divine Lordship of Allah)
He alone is the Creator & Sustainer, and controller of the universe (etc).. and not attributing any of this to anyone else
2 - Tawheed al Ibaadah(Uluhiyyah)
(maintaining the unity of worship)
This means to single out Allah as the focus of all worship (‘ibaadah). Allah alone has the right to be supplicated to & prayed to, and sacrificed for and worshiped... directly, and without any intermediaries.
A person can believe in Allah(One God) and still be committing
#SHIRK (polytheist)
Allah says..
“And if you were to ask them: ‘Who has created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon?’ they will surely reply: ‘Allaah.’ How then are they deviating (as polytheists and disbelievers)?” - [Quran 29:61]
In this verse Allaah states that such people accept that He is the Creator, Sovereign and Controller(Tawheed ar rububiyyah), but despite that they supplicate to others(intercessors/saints/idols/prophets) for help i.e they do not make dua/worship Him alone (they deny Tawheed of worship/ibaadah).
So they believe that Allah is the only true God, but they are still committing
#shirk by seeking help & making dua to prophets/dead saints/idols by contradicting the Tawhid al uluhiyyah
"They worship others beside Allah that neither profits them nor benefits them. They say: "These are our
#intercessors with Allah." Exalted is He above all that which they
#associate as partners with Him!" -(
#Quran 10:18)
which points to the graveness of their wrongdoing and lies, and the weakness of their reasoning.
Prophetﷺ said,
“Du‘aa’ is worship.”
(Then he recited the verse)
“And your
#Lord says, ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you.’ Indeed, those who
#disdain My worship (by calling upon anyone else) will enter Hell in humiliation.” [40:60]
"None has the right to be worshipped but He, so call upon (invoke) Him (Alone) making your worship pure for Him Alone." (
#Ghafir 40:65)
If you ask them: "Who created the heavens and the earth?" Surely, they will say: "Allah". Say: "Tell me then, the things that you invoke (call upon)
#besides Allah, if Allah intended some harm for me, could they remove His harm, or if He (Allah) intended some mercy for me, could they withhold His Mercy?" Say: "Sufficient for me is Allah; upon Him (Alone) rely the (wise) reliers."
Say(O Muhammad), "I only
#invoke(call upon) my Lord(Allah Alone), and I do not make any partners with Him" [
#Quran 72:20)
Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah(ibaadah) means devoting all acts of worship, both inward and outward, in word and deed, to Allaah Alone
and such that a person does not take anything or anyone else besides Allah as an object of worship nor do acts of devotion as he does for Allah. Neither prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, total obedience, complete trust, absolute love or hope is to be given to other than Allah because He alone is the true deity (ilaah).
3 - Tawheed al-Asma’ wa’l-Sifaat
(Oneness of the Divine Names and Attributes)
this means affirming the names and attributes of Allaah and believing that there is none like unto Allaah in His names and attributes.
For example:
Allah alone is "ALL-HEARING",
So believing that someone else can hear everything or hear everyone at the same time or someone has the ability to hear without being physically present is making equal/likeness(
#shirk) with Allah by assigning an exclusive divine attribute of Allah to another being.
This Tawheed is based on two principles:
1 – Affirmation: i.e., affirming that which Allaah has affirmed for Himself in His Book or that His Prophet (ﷺ) has affirmed of His beautiful names and sublime attributes in a manner that suits the Majesty and Greatness of Allaah, without distorting them, twisting their meanings, denying their reality or discussing how they are.
2 – Denial: i.e., denying that Allaah has any faults and denying any shortcomings that He has denied Himself. The evidence for that is the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meaning):
“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All‑Hearer, the All‑Seer” -[Quran 42:11]
So He has denied that He bears any resemblance to His creation, and affirmed that He has attributes of perfection in a manner that befits Him, may He be glorified
