[4] Monotheism
A series of discussions on the teachings of Imam Sadiq (sixth Imam of the Muslims), from the book Misbah ash-Sharia (The Lantern of the Path)
In His Name, the Most High
This is part four of an ongoing series of discussions on the book by Imam as-Sadiq titled ‘Misbah ash-Sharia’ (the Lantern of the Path).
It is strongly recommended that the previous parts are read, before proceeding with this one; to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding within the subject matter.
The nature of the subject matter, and the style of discourse requires that each part build upon those that came before it, so once more, I strongly recommend that the reader, read the previous parts, then continue with this one.
The previous parts, can be found here:
Video of the Majlis (Sermon/Lecture)
This write up is a companion to the video majlis (sermon/lecture) found below:
Contents
Majlis - Misbah ash-Sharia - Servitude - Part 4
Nasheed - I am Yemeni
Ziyarah: Ziyarat Aal-e-Yaseen
Recap
Over the last three sessions we have discussed the notion of giving God that which is due to Him; and in the previous session we began looking at the idea of adhering to His limits, as part of the framework provided by Imam as-Sadiq in the book, Misbah ash-Sharia (the Lantern of the Path).
When looking at the limits set by God, there is a need to first understand what our doctrine actually is - what is our belief in God, because without knowing that, without falling in love with God, without understanding what He wants from us; it is impossible to adhere to the limits that He has set for us.
Further more, to just look at the limits that He has said; without first attempting to know Him, without understanding who God is, without developing some sort of relationship with Him, is not going to be a sustainable pathway.
The reason for this as has been explained over the last three sessions is that in order for a person to respect the limits - or shall we say rules and regulations, laws, even - set for them; they need to respect and indeed have a form of love for the one who has set the laws for us.
Without that, the only way the rules and regulations will be adhered to and followed, will be either on the basis of some form of duress (or force), or people will - if they are compelled as mentioned - to look for loopholes and caveats that essentially render the rule or regulation, the law even, somewhat mute, and unable to serve the purpose for what it was created.
In looking at this; we went through some important doctrinal concepts in Islam that must be understood by the person; that help build that bond with God, such that ultimately His limits will be adhered to.
In this section; we will start looking at these doctrinal subjects - points of ideology, if you will, and as we had said, the flow of understanding that we will be using; is not the traditional one that was described, rather we will be looking at the more holistic approach; and we had a diagram that helped us to understand what that looks like:
Starting with the session today; and more than likely continuing for the next few sessions; we will cover the core elements of the ideology as shown in the diagram above.
We had spoken about the goal and destination; and the goal we discussed was Tawheed - that is the Unity or Uniqueness of God - and the destination (that will lead us to the goal) is success in Ma’ad or Qiyamah (Day of Judgement).
In this session, we will look at, and attempt to understand the concept of Tawheed, or the Uniqueness of God.
In the name of the Unique Beloved One, we begin.
Tawheed
The Existence of God
This is not a discussion on proving the existence of God. This is because the notion of the existence of God is self-evident. Even to those who reject the notion of God, deep down, they accept that there is an all-powerful entity that governs all things.
In fact in Quran, God goes through an entire series of questions that are asked for those who attempt to deny the existence of God, from verse 35 all the way to verse 46 of the Chapter of the Mountain (Surah at-Tur), this series of questions is asked by God:
أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ
أَمْ خَلَقُوا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۚ بَل لَّا يُوقِنُونَ
أَمْ عِندَهُمْ خَزَائِنُ رَبِّكَ أَمْ هُمُ الْمُصَيْطِرُونَ
أَمْ لَهُمْ سُلَّمٌ يَسْتَمِعُونَ فِيهِ ۖ فَلْيَأْتِ مُسْتَمِعُهُم بِسُلْطَانٍ مُّبِينٍ
أَمْ لَهُ الْبَنَاتُ وَلَكُمُ الْبَنُونَ
أَمْ تَسْأَلُهُمْ أَجْرًا فَهُم مِّن مَّغْرَمٍ مُّثْقَلُونَ
أَمْ عِندَهُمُ الْغَيْبُ فَهُمْ يَكْتُبُونَ
أَمْ يُرِيدُونَ كَيْدًا ۖ فَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا هُمُ الْمَكِيدُونَ
أَمْ لَهُمْ إِلَٰهٌ غَيْرُ اللَّهِ ۚ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
وَإِن يَرَوْا كِسْفًا مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ سَاقِطًا يَقُولُوا سَحَابٌ مَّرْكُومٌ
فَذَرْهُمْ حَتَّىٰ يُلَاقُوا يَوْمَهُمُ الَّذِي فِيهِ يُصْعَقُونَ
يَوْمَ لَا يُغْنِي عَنْهُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَا هُمْ يُنصَرُونَOr were they created out of nothing? Or are they the creators?
Or did they create the heavens and the earth? In fact, they are not certain.
Or do they possess the treasuries of your Lord? Or are they the controllers?
Or do they have a stairway by means of which they listen? Then let their listener produce a clear proof.
Or for Him the daughters, and for you the sons?
Or do you demand a payment from them, and they are burdened by debt?
Or do they know the future, and they are writing it down?
Or are they planning a conspiracy? The conspiracy will befall the disbelievers.
Or do they have a god besides God? God transcends what they associate.
Even if they were to see lumps of the sky falling down, they would say, “A mass of clouds.”
So leave them until they meet their Day in which they will be stunned.
The Day when their ploys will avail them nothing; and they will not be helped.- Quran, Surah at-Tur (the Chapter of the Mountain) #52, Verses 35 to 46
Therefore, as per the Quran, the emphasis is not on the existence of God, since that is self-evident, but rather on the Uniqueness of God, the Unity of God.
If a person chooses to not believe in God, especially as his creator; he must choose one of two options:
He must say that he was created from nothingness, which is impossible, since nothing cannot (without an external input - i.e. something) lead to something on its own.
He must either say that he is himself a creator, something which is also impossible. Since, for a person to create themselves, before they themselves exist is an impossibility.
Each of these are an impossibility.
Indeed, there is another verse in Quran which says:
قَالَتْ رُسُلُهُمْ أَفِي اللَّهِ شَكٌّ فَاطِرِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ يَدْعُوكُمْ لِيَغْفِرَ لَكُم مِّن ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُؤَخِّرَكُمْ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ۚ قَالُوا إِنْ أَنتُمْ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُنَا تُرِيدُونَ أَن تَصُدُّونَا عَمَّا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا فَأْتُونَا بِسُلْطَانٍ مُّبِينٍ
Their messengers said, “Is there any doubt about God, Maker of the heavens and the earth? He calls you to forgive you your sins, and to defer you until a stated term.” They said, “You are only humans like us; you want to turn us away from what our ancestors worshiped; so bring us a clear proof.”
- Quran, Surah Ibrahim (the Chapter of Abraham), #14, Verse 10
The Quran, therefore takes it as a very clear, self-evident and indeed obvious fact that there exists within the innate and core nature of every living being, the understanding and knowledge of the existence of God.
In some people it maybe somewhat ‘passive’ and therefore it is not perceived or ‘activated’ until such a person is confronted by a crisis, a catastrophe, a disaster, a danger or threat and such things; or at times when their hope of being saved by anyone other than this notion they have inside them, of God, is lost.
At that point; people become very attentive to God, to the one who can save them.
Indeed to further understand this; there is a hadeeth (tradition/narration) from Imam as-Sadiq, the sixth Imam of the Muslims, which can be found in the book al-Tawheed (Kitab at-Tawheed)
There is a portion that we will discuss here; that clears up the notion of the existence of God in one of the most beautiful and eloquent ways possible.
A man once went to Imam as-Sadiq, and asked him:
“How can I know that God exists?”
The Imam asked him:
Have you ever journeyed by ship or boat?
To which the man replied in the affirmative (yes). The Imam went on to follow up his question with another:
“Have you ever been in such a critical situation, whereby you are going to drown or your boat capsize and you know you are not going to be able to save yourself?”
Once more, the man replied in the affirmative (yes). To which the Imam then asked:
“In that particular instance, did it occur to you that there is someone who can save you?”
The man once again replied in the affirmative (yes); to which the Imam clarified by saying:
“That is God, all glory be to Him”
Therefore, we can say, that within the human being, there is an innate inclination towards believing in God.
Indeed, there are many people, who overtly have no ‘belief in God’ per-say; who, when they are in a difficult situation, something happens - God forbid - to their child, or they are about to fall - God forbid, or any other disaster; or if they hear some horrific news, or see some terrible atrocity somewhere - for example as has been the case over the past year, the terrible atrocities committed by the Zionists on the Palestinian people in Gaza - they will immediately and almost in a reflexive manner cry out:
‘Oh my God!’ or ‘Oh God!’
This is reflexive; but indicative of what is happening in their very souls; at the core of their beings; where the knowledge of the existence of God is still intact; though hidden due to a lifetime of negligence.
There are of course a number of rational and very clear arguments that have been posited that prove the existence of God. Philosophers such as Ibn Sina, Mulla Sadra, Ibn Arabi and in more contemporary times the likes of Allamah Sayyed Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai - the author of the tafseer (exegesis) of Quran titled ‘al-Mizan’ (the Scales or the Balance), have discussed these concepts at great length and to a great depth.
Without getting into a detailed philosophical discussion (as that would be extremely complicated, and would require a large amount of background and discussion on philosophical concepts); we can give a précis to provide a high level understanding of their arguments.
They argue that, from the concept of ‘being’ there must be an ‘infinite being’ this is actually a very sound and well developed argument, and this is one of the key discoveries in Islamic Philosophy, that are not present in what is deemed mainstream Western philosophy.
However, I will not further dwell on this, otherwise this will become significantly longer, and as mentioned; a lot more background will need to be provided to bring the respected reader to a place where they can appreciate such deep, detailed arguments.
In any case, we mentioned, the Quran emphasises on the Uniqueness or ‘Oneness’ of God, and that - as we have discussed - the existence of God is deemed something that is self-evident, and indeed not difficult to understand.
Understanding what or who that God is, of course, this requires study, reflection and more; but the mere existence of God as a thing - no matter what said ‘god’ is called - this can be argued as being somewhat self-evident.
Indeed, to complete this point; we can even see that the pagans of Makkah to whom the Prophet Muhammad came, did not deny the existence of a Creator. However, they worshipped idols whom they felt they could use as intermediaries to help them to get to God.
The Quran discusses this:
أَلَا لِلَّهِ الدِّينُ الْخَالِصُ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّهِ زُلْفَىٰ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَهُمْ فِي مَا هُمْ فِيهِ يَخْتَلِفُونَ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَهْدِي مَنْ هُوَ كَاذِبٌ كَفَّارٌ
Is it not to God that sincere faith is due? As for those who take guardians besides Him, “We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to God.” God will judge between them regarding their differences. God does not guide the lying blasphemer.
- Quran, Surah az-Zumur (the Chapter of the Throngs) #39, Verse 3
The pagans of Makkah, felt that by ‘worshipping’ their idols, to whom they ascribed certain attributes, powers, qualities and the like, they were getting closer to the primary ‘god’, the main deity, which is of course God.
They claimed, that somehow God had ‘delegated’ some of his ‘powers’ to these various idols, though they accepted that He was the ultimate Creator, for this reason the Quran says:
وَلَئِن سَأَلْتَهُم مَّنْ خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ لَيَقُولُنَّ اللَّهُ ۚ قُلْ أَفَرَأَيْتُم مَّا تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ أَرَادَنِيَ اللَّهُ بِضُرٍّ هَلْ هُنَّ كَاشِفَاتُ ضُرِّهِ أَوْ أَرَادَنِي بِرَحْمَةٍ هَلْ هُنَّ مُمْسِكَاتُ رَحْمَتِهِ ۚ قُلْ حَسْبِيَ اللَّهُ ۖ عَلَيْهِ يَتَوَكَّلُ الْمُتَوَكِّلُونَ
And if you asked them, “Who created the heavens and the earth?” they would say, “God.” Say, “Have you seen those you pray to instead of God? If God willed any harm for me, can they lift His harm? And if He willed a blessing for me, can they hold back His mercy?” Say, “God suffices for me. On Him the reliant rely.”
- Quran, Surah az-Zumur (the Chapter of the Throngs) #39, Verse 38
This is why; within Islamic doctrine; the notion of the ‘existence of God’ is not a tenet, but rather the subject of the Uniqueness, or Unity of God is what is discussed and studied.
Indeed, the idea of ‘Tawheed’ that we are attempting to discuss; is not something that is a discussion on the existence of God; rather it is a discussion on the Uniqueness of God and indeed His nature and what He actually is.
This is what we will proceed with.
The Uniqueness/Unity of God
There is a very famous hadeeth, from Imam ar-Ridha, the eighth Imam of the Muslims, that is actually what is known as a Hadeeth al-Qudsi, that is a narration that is directly from God; but is not part of the Quran.
This hadeeth is known as the ‘Hadeeth of the Golden Chain’ and reads as follows:
اللَّهَ جَلَّ جَلَالُهُ يَقُولُ: “لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ حِصْنِي، فَمَنْ دَخَلَ حِصْنِي أَمِنَ مِنْ عَذَابِي”. قَالَ: فَلَمَّا مَرَّتِ الرَّاحِلَةُ نَادَانَا: “بِشُرُوطِهَا، وَأَنَا مِنْ شُرُوطِهَا”.
Allah, the Glorified and Exalted, says:
“The phrase
‘There is no god but Allah’
is My fortress; whoever enters My fortress is safe from My punishment.”
As the caravan began to move, Imam Reza called out:
“With its conditions—and I am one of its conditions.”
- Kitab at-Tawheed, Uyun Akhbar al-Rida and others from the Shia sources, and from the sources of the Sunnah it can be found in the book titled Yanabi'Al-Mawadda li-Dhawi l-Qurba
Now, we will be covering the concept of Imamah (also known as Wilayah) in future parts of this series; however, from this hadeeth, which as mentioned is a Hadeeth Qudsi (meaning a hadeeth that is directly from God, but is not part of the Quran); we can see that God clearly says that belief in His Uniqueness, His Unity, His Oneness; is a fortress that protects a person from His wrath; but that, as explained by the Imam, that there are conditions; and from those conditions is the Imam - or that means belief in the Imamate (or Wilayah).
This was an aside; that we will park for now; and come back to in a later part of this series.
The Prophet Muhammad used to also say:
قُلْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ تُفْلِحْ
Say “There is no god but God” and you will be saved (or succeed).
- Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Sunni) and Bihar al-Anwar, Vol 18 (Shia)
So to this, the question might come in - if people have read the previous parts; that what about Prophethood? What about the Day of Judgement? What about praying, or fasting, hajj (pilgrimage), and such points?
Well, if a person is a sound monotheist, someone who genuinely believes in the Uniqueness of God, and you commit yourself fully to loving your Beloved, then it becomes obvious that all His other instructions; and requirements instantly fall into place. But the key is that strong and certain belief, that love for God, if you will, of God that is within the concept of Tawheed.
Now we must examine some points regarding the theoretical aspects of Uniqueness/Unity, or Tawheed. There are three headings that we will discuss; but these form an important understanding of what this Tawheed is. These concepts relate to His essence (al-dhaat), to His attributes (as-sifaat), and to His acts (al-afa’al).
These points are a little nuanced; so will perhaps require re-reading and reflection in order to fully comprehend them.
I have tried to keep the discussion as simple as possible; while ensuring that key concepts are not omitted; as their importance in understanding Him is necessary, at least in order to start to understand Him as He deserves to be understood, and as He should be understood.
Tawheed (Unity/Uniqueness) with Respect to His Essence (at-Tawheed fidh-Dhaatihi )
Put simply; this is the belief that He, God, has neither partner nor is He made up of parts. This means that He is not a compound entity made up of multiple parts that make up the ‘whole’.
Rather, He is simple in that regard, simple as opposed to compound.
There is nothing that can be compared to Him, nor is there anything that is like Him. He is a singular reality that accepts no division or multiplication.
We need to appreciate that the notion of the Uniqueness or Unity of God is different from the unity that we normally speak of with respect to ‘things’.
When we refer to something being ‘one’, we can say that it is one from a class of similar things.
As an example; we can say that ‘there is one person in the room’, with the meaning of one person being here right now; but this does not exclude the possibility of two or three, or even zero persons being in the given room.
There is ‘one person’ at this time; but in the future, there maybe ‘two’ or zero even.
With respect to God, He is One, and the notion of a ‘second’ cannot be conceived or imagined, even.
To better try to understand this; we can consider an absolute concept; such as the concept of ‘whiteness’. We may have many 'white’ things, a white shirt, a white car, a white book, a white mobile phone case, a white pearl, any number of ‘white’ things.
But the notion of ‘whiteness’ doesn’t allow for a second or third ‘whiteness’. You can only imagine one ‘whiteness’
To have more than one thing called ‘whiteness’, would require us to necessarily differentiate one from the other.
When there are more than one ‘thing’ they can have many similarities, but they will need to have at least one or more points of difference between them; and they cannot be exactly alike.
Two books, for example, that are deemed exactly the same, must necessarily have one or more points of difference that requires them to be referred to as ‘two’ and not ‘one’; even if that point of difference is that they occupy a different physical space.
If a person was to refer to one of the two books; they can at the same time not refer to the other.
In the same way, you cannot imagine two ‘whitenesses’, since ‘whiteness’ is always singular, is always only one.
Another example that might help with understanding this point is that you may have several human beings, but ‘humanity’ is an absolute, it is only one concept.
You may add certain aspects and qualities to ‘humanity’, for example, gender - and you could then say ‘male humans’ and ‘female humans’, or for example, age - ‘old humans’ and ‘young humans’, but the concept of ‘humanity’ in and of itself remains the same, remains ‘humanity’.
This is why Islamic philosophy teaches that whenever there are absolute concepts, they do not allow for a plurality, a multitude. They do not allow for a ‘secondness’ or ‘thirdness’.
This is the kind of Unity, this is the kind of Uniqueness that we need to understand about God’s Unity, His Uniqueness.
As we have mentioned previously; therefore, this is not a numeric ‘oneness’, or a numeric ‘unity’ but is indeed far, far more than that.
Tawheed (Unity/Uniqueness) with Respect to His Attributes (al-Tawheed fis-Safaatihi)
This, put simply, is the notion that the attributes of God are identical with His essence. They are not additional to His essence.
For example, His knowledge is not something which has been added to His essence. His knowledge is His power, which is His mercy, which is His will, which is His love and which are all the same as His Essence.
He is One being from which different aspects can be understood.
It is always complicated and difficult, when referring to God, or when trying to understand God, because we, as human beings, as created beings, are in and of ourselves limited. Our language is geared towards that which is limited, since by its very self, our language is limited.
For example, as soon as the word knowledge is mentioned, what comes to mind is the concept that we have of human knowledge. We might picture a student, perhaps he tries to learn something, but he forgets, someone who’s knowledge may be mixed with errors and misunderstandings, we picture someone who has a mind and uses concepts and books.
We need to refine the concept of knowledge and remove all the deficiencies and assumptions it carries so that we can get closer to God’s Supreme Knowledge.
When we talk about power, what comes to mind is the normal power that we are familiar with; such as the power of muscles, or the power of animals, or electric power, power from fossil fuels and such things. We might even think of the notion of will-power.
However, to understand God’s Absolute Power, we need to remove all of our preconceived notions of power, and indeed the notion of and means of generating said power, and just imagine the ability to do something, regardless of the means.
One is powerful, when He can do what he wants.
In the Quran, God describes himself as:
إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئًا أَن يَقُولَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ
His command, when He wills a thing, is to say to it, “Be,” and it comes to be.
- Quran, Surah Yaseen (the Chapter of Yaseen) #36, Verse 82
When discussing the the attributes of God, we must be very careful, since there are risks of falling into notions like anthropomorphism, that is the idea where we - in order to understand something - liken it to human qualities. In the case of God, this is very dangerous.
Historically, and even in current times; there are some schools of thought that have fallen prey to such issues; but we will not be discussing such confusions here - perhaps at a later stage, they can be studied if required.
Suffice it to say; there were and are some small groups that when describing God, liken Him to His creation, and indeed some have even thought or posited that God does have a ‘physical body’, and they liken Him to a human being.
This is because, when a person or group, is unable to look beyond the literal, and cannot think in philosophical terms, then since neither their mind nor language is fully equipped with the requirements it needs to understand, and therefore, they default to a condition where they attempt to describe Him by way of His creation.
Ultimately this becomes a fallacy, and an entirely farcical or absurd one at that, which leads to all manner of confusions and misguidance.
In Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 49, Imam Ali says:
لَمْ يُطْلِعِ الْعُقُولَ عَلَى تَحْدِيدِ صِفَتِهِ، وَلَمْ يَحْجُبْهَا عَنْ وَاجِبِ مَعْرِفَتِهِ.
He has not allowed the human intellects to grasp the exact nature of His attributes, nor has He prevented them from the necessary knowledge of Him.
- Nahjul Balagha, Sermon 49 (About Allah’s Greatness and Sublimity)
Unity with regard to God’s attributes means that God’s attributes, His qualities, are not different, in their existence, from Him or from each other.
They only differ from each other in their concept, not in their reality.
We only have One God, an entity that is eternally existent and was not created. His attributes are no different to God Himself, but are only different in our understanding and conceptualisation of them.
They have one reality from which we extract different concepts.
For example, this being, must necessarily have knowledge and power in order to create. It must have will, or else it would require someone else to have compelled Him to create. If He has no love, He would not be giving, and so on.
This is a very subtle and nuanced point to grasp, than the unity of a person’s various qualities or roles.
The same person can be a man, a Muslim, a doctor, a teacher, an uncle, a son, a father, a cousin, a friend and a nephew - all at the same time, and in the same person.
This can help us to understand, or bring us closer to an understanding of God’s attributes; however this too, is not enough.
In the case of humans, we are not really ‘one unit’ that is independent of all else. We are, rather, one reality with many labels, with many additions.
My knowledge, as an example, is not the same as me. In my essence, I may not have this knowledge. I have acquired this knowledge, and it may come and go.
In the same way, my power, or my strength, is not the same as me. It is subject to increase and decrease, and I may lose it all, even the power to speak.
Therefore, our qualities are not the same as us; they can come and go.
If I was to be stripped of all my qualities, I would continue to be me; but, if even one of God’s qualities was to be stripped from Him, He would cease to be God.
Some people call this reality God, some call it Allah, some call it Khoda, but all these other expressions, refer to the same reality.
Even within Islam, we have various ways that we refer to Him: God, ar-Rahman (the Merciful), ar-Raheem (the Compassionate), al-Ghafir (the Forgiving), al-Khaliq (the Creator), even though we refer to one being, one reality.
This is Tawheed (Unity/Uniqueness) with regard to God’s attributes; they are the same in their existence, but different in our understanding in that they refer to different aspects of the same reality.
We must also understand that none of God’s attributes are accidental or additional to His Essence. There was never a time when God lacked any of His attributes, or when He acquired them. They, like Him, always were, and always will be, and are truly eternal.
Tawheed (Unity/Uniqueness) in His Acts (at-Tawheed Fil-Afaalihi)
This means that whatever happens in this world, is an act of God. There is no-one who can do anything except God.
If we do anything, for example, if I am sitting here writing this, then this too is created by God. We are able to act, to do things, but this is all by virtue of the power that God has created in us.
An example, that can help to understand this, can be when you insert a key into a lock and then you turn the key to unlock the door. We may say that ‘the key unlocked the door’, but it is your hand that is turning the key in the lock.
Indeed, if we dig deeper, we can see that it is not the key in your hand that is turning in the lock, rather it is you, that is behind all these movements, the movement of your wrist, your fingers, the key and the lock.
So, it can be posited that we do have some role in our actions, but after reflection, we must conclude that it is all an act of God, and that there is nobody that can do anything, unless said action has been permitted and authorised by God, as well as having been created by God.
This is actually a very important requirement of understanding Tawheed.
Everything that happens in this world is an act of God. Whatever we do, whatever other humans do, whatever animals do, whatever happens in the environment is an act of God. This is because there is no other independent source of power or creation.
There is no other that can influence the world of God.
The only time we could have thought that there may be other ‘doers’ is if there were to be two, three or more gods, each with their own sphere of influence, action, their own territory within which they can each act.
We have only One God and one world which is very consistent, interrelated and interwoven.
This is one of the main reasons for the Unity of God, for Tawheed, for if there were two gods, there would have been chaos and endless conflict between the worlds that belonged to each of the two gods, and there could be no interaction between these worlds.
It is philosophically impossible for two eternal beings to co-exist with their own territories, their own worlds.
An example that might help to further understand this impossibility, is through the thoughts present in our mind.
The ideas present in my mind totally depend on me. If I was to imagine a car in my mind, there is no way that car in my mind can collide, with the car that you imagine in your mind, even if we were to imagine at exactly the same time. There can be no interaction between them.
Therefore, we have One God, and one world and whatever happens within it is created by Him. Even the bad things that we do, without giving them any legitimacy or endorsing them in anyway, we must still accept that they are creations of God, carried out through the human being which has been endowed with ‘free will’.
I have the freedom to do what I freely decide to do. Therefore, we must be fully responsible for what we do, and yet at the same time we should know that it is not us, independent from God, who are able to perform this task; rather it is God’s will and power that enables us to do something.
Even if we do something contrary to His pleasure, if we do something He dislikes, we must still accept, and indeed admit, that we are only able to carry out that task or activity because of the power and ability He has given us, that He has placed within us.
He has enabled us to obey or disobey, and has given us free will in this matter in order that He may distinguish between us:
إِنَّا هَدَيْنَاهُ السَّبِيلَ إِمَّا شَاكِرًا وَإِمَّا كَفُورًا
We guided him to the way, be he appreciative or unappreciative.
- Quran, Surah al-Insaan (the Chapter of Humanity) #76, Verse 3
Understanding God’s Will
We must now reflect, briefly, on God’s will. There are two types of this.
There is God’s Existential Will (al-Iradat at-Takwiniyyah) and God’s Legislative Will (al-Iradat at-Tashriyyah).
God’s Existential Will encompasses everything, anything that we do must be because of God’s Existential Will, to will said action or thing into being. He must have permitted that thing to happen.
Some things that we do, however, are preceded by His Legislative Will also, and some are not.
For example; if I do something good, God’s Legislative Will is with me, and if I disobey Him or do something bad, then I have acted against His Legislative Will, even though my action is still under the umbrella of His Existential Will.
So, no sinner can think that by sinning, he has defeated God, even though his sin has gone against God’s Legislative Will, he can only perform that sin by virtue of God’s Existential Will.
A simpler example, that might help in understanding this somewhat nuanced point, can be that of a parent.
If, I, as a parent, give my child some money to go and by some good clean food, or a good book; and I warn him to not go and buy junk food or something like that, I may then watch from a distance, to see what the child would do.
I have given him the money, to be used as he chooses, even though it is clear where my preference and pleasure in the use of that money lie, and I watch, but do not intervene.
If the child decides to buy junk food, it goes against my pleasure, my preference, but it is still within my will of putting the money at the child’s disposal.
If the child instead, decided to buy good food, or a good book, then the child will have my extra blessings, I will be happy with the child, because the child obeyed and indeed was thankful for the money I gave him, by spending it on something that pleases me.
In the same way, God permits the bad to happen in the world as a natural consequence of the free will that He has given to all of us, but this does not mean, that He endorses the bad things that happen.
More so, he allows us to continue doing bad, and this is from His very mercy, whereby He gives respite and time for remorse, reformation and repentance, for learning, for improvement.
He does not destroy or punish those who misbehave or have committed sins and caused corruption on the earth, and such things, immediately.
Therefore, everything that happens in this world, is an act of God, and this relates to the idea of creation of the world as the first act, as well as the ongoing creation process, of every single moment.
The flow of a river is never the same river, just as you are not the exact same person that you were even a single nano-second ago. There is a continuous process of creation happening, but we feel it ‘the same’ on account of its continuity.
We are always being created, and if for a moment we cease to be created, we would cease to exist.
God has no need to destroy, He just has to not want us for a second, and we would cease to exist.
This is similar - and can be understood by - reflecting on the process of thinking in our own minds.
If I was to imagine a rose in my mind, this rose is entirely dependent on me to exist.
If I replace the thought of the rose, with another thought, it will cease to exist.
There is no need for someone to come, take it and throw it away. I simply have to stop thinking about it.
As long as I pay attention to the rose, it remains.
This is the way that God creates us, and we are there, but if He were to want for us not to be there, we would have ceased to exist.
This is clearly, eloquently and beautifully expressed in the Quran:
يَسْأَلُهُ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ
Whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth implore Him; every day He is engaged in some work.
- Quran, Surah ar-Rahman (the Chapter of the Merciful) #55, Verse 29
This tells us that creation is a continuous process. God is always creating and generating.
Elsewhere, in Quran, in the well known verse of the Throne (Ayat al-Kursi), God says:
اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ
God! There is no god except He, the Living, the Everlasting. Neither slumber overtakes Him, nor sleep. To Him belongs everything in the heavens and everything on earth. Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His permission? He knows what is before them, and what is behind them; and they cannot grasp any of His knowledge, except as He wills. His Throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation does not burden Him. He is the Most High, the Great.
- Quran, Surah al-Baqarah (the Chapter of the Cow) #2, Verse 255
Over here, we are also told, that God is Everlasting, that He never sleeps, nor does He get tired, nor does he weaken, that He is the one who creates and sustains everything in the heavens and earth.
This also reinforces the notion, that God is constantly creating, that He never stops; for if He were to stop; everything would not just die, it would cease to exist.
The problem arises when expressing this in words. One may suggest, for example, that:
‘Well this implies that when I speak, it is actually God that is speaking’
Because the action - that of talking, speaking - carries the limitations of the doer, the me and the you, space and time, we cannot limit God to the act and say this is God speaking, for it may even deify the person doing the act.
However, when the act is stripped of the doer, we can say this is an act of God.
Tawheed (Unity/Uniqueness) In Servitude (at-Tawheed fil-Ubudiyyah)
The points we have discussed above, are all theoretical concepts, they are points we need to understand and believe in certainly; however there is also the need to practice, in addition to understanding the theoretical.
We worship and serve only God, this is something a person might know, however, as mentioned, this is not sufficient; and there is practice that must be done in order to gain and retain that full conviction in the Unity of God, in Tawheed.
Consider, when we say, that the only One worthy of worship is God, the same is true for obedience. The only One who deserves to be obeyed is God, as He is the one who brought us into being, and is the reason for our very existence, as we have mentioned, He is constantly creating us, and paying attention to us, and if He chose to not do that, we would not just wither away, we would cease to exist.
In terms of the practices; we will not detail them here; suffice it to say; that they fall into the areas of Furu ad-Din and Akhlaq amongst other disciplines. Disciplines that we will be discussing in future sessions in this on-going series, God willing.
It is important to reflect on this important concept.
In the Arabic language, the word Allah is a contraction, an abbreviation, if you will, of the word ‘al-ilah’, the meaning of which is ‘the one who is to be worshiped (or served)’.
The notion of Practical Tawheed, of Tawheed in Servitude, is what is the baseline in order to be considered a believer in the Unity of God, in the Uniqueness of God.
To simply believe in the theoretical concepts, without the practical application is not enough for a person to be considered a true monotheist (muwahhid).
Indeed, we can simply look at the case of Satan, who was cast out from the proximity of God for his disobedience.
Satan understood, and indeed understands the theoretical aspects of Tawheed that we have been discussing to a profound level. Indeed, he even applied the practical aspect for - according to some of the ahadeeth (narrations/traditions) we have from the Prophet Muhammad and Ahl al-Bayt (the family of Prophet Muhammad) - for more than 6,000 years, and indeed he was flawless in his worship.
However, what led to his fall, his casting out, was his lack of obedience to God, in the true sense of the word.
A person can believe in God in theory, and indeed even worship Him, but to not obey Him can be devastating. This too is a point of great reflection.
Therefore, we can conclude, that both obedience and practice upon the belief in God is the core of conviction in the Unity of God, the Uniqueness of God, in Tawheed.
We must understand, that God has created us free; this means that no one can ask us to obey them, except God. The people who have authority from God, such as the Prophets, the Aimmah (Imams) and our parents, we do obey them, but only because, God Himself, has asked us to obey them.
Even a person with children and grandchildren must still continue to obey their parents. This is the authority (Wilayah) that God has given to our parents.
In future sessions, and perhaps another series, we will study the concept of Wilayah to an advanced level (though starting at the basics), for now we can simply understand this notion as authority.
However, and this is a very important point, if, for example, your father, was to ask you to do something that is contrary to God’s commands and instructions, then immediately your father loses his authority over you.
It is both impossible and entirely invalid to obey anyone by disobeying God.
Finally, when looking at the way God works tirelessly, without any pause, to keep our existence going, that He never tires or grows weary even when we transgress all bounds, that He always is ready to embrace us, is it then any wonder that the true monotheist has no choice but to fall helplessly in love with Him?
When a person realises that they are entirely dependent on another, not just for their creation and sustenance, but for their very existence, and that even when the person constantly disobeys, is rebellious, rejects the advice given to him, but even then, this Entity that he is entirely dependent on, continues to sustain him, to pour on him unconditional love of a type that one might argue even defies description.
Is it then surprising or strange that such a person would fall entirely in love with this Entity.
Indeed, what would be strange, is for someone to not fall in love with such an Entity.
Conclusion
So now, we have a baseline understanding of the Uniqueness, the Unity of God, of Tawheed; and we can see, quite clearly that this Entity, this God, this Allah; this eternal and constant Sustainer; this is the ultimate goal for all His creation.
It should, however, be noted that what we have discussed herein, is but a tiny drop in the ocean of knowledge and studies on the subject of Tawheed. I have tried my utmost to keep the discussion simple, as I have no intention of overwhelming the reader with highly complex philosophical discourse - not at this time and not in this series.
Perhaps in a future series we can take a much deeper dive into these subjects at a more profound philosophical and even mystical (erfani) level, but for now this should suffice, and provide a starting point for the discerning reader.
A goal where we can look into the Face of the Creator (metaphorically speaking, as explained in this paper), a goal where He doesn’t turn His face from us.
But since we now understand that He has attributes; and that His attributes are not disconnected from His Essence; we can perhaps say that in order to reach Him, we have to go through Him, and this is what leads us to the subject of the next session, which is that of His attribute of Justice, the Justice that provides us - in our limited understanding of His magnificence - a means to reach His Face, and to thereby be successful in the Judgement Day (Qiyamah or Ma’ad).
And from Him alone is all ability and He has authority over all things.
To those seeking Him, that who you seek, indeed seeks you!
To the Hidden Treasure that wanted to be known, who created the Best of His creation, and blessed humanity with His light
To those who have entered into His presence, who have become annihilated into Him, who have fallen in love with the most profound of Love
To the One who if He turns from us, our existence ceases instantly, we beg you, our Lord, our Master, never turn from us, but rather, let us gaze into your beautiful Face.