The Value of Tawheed

Tawheed is the most emphasised topic in Islaam. In fact, the Qur’aan was revealed because of it and every single Aayah is linked to it in one way or another. There are many virtues and points to magnify the importance of Tawheed and we have tried to mention some of these here.

And we will start off by mentioning the Hadeeth of the Messenger Muhammad [pbuh] which talks about the conversation between Allaah [swt] and the Messenger Moosa [as]:

‘Moses [as] said: O Lord! Teach me something that I can remember You with and I can supplicate You with.

Allah said: Say La ilaaha illAllaah, O Moosa.

He [Moosa] said: All of your servants say this.

He [Allaah] said: If the seven Heavens and those who reside in them other than Me and the seven Earths are put into one pan of the scale and the statement La ilaaha illAllaah [statement of Tawheed] is put into the other, La ilaaha illAllaah would be heavier.’ [Ibn Hibbaan and Haakim]

So from this we can see how Allaah [swt] values this Tawheed. And below are thirteen other points which we can contemplate about and should help us understand the value of Tawheed furthermore Insha`Allaah.

1.       It Is Part of Human Fitrah

The Fitrah is the natural state of every human being; the nature of human beings. This means that Allaah [swt] created us with certain ‘built-in features’

In relation to the subject matter at hand, the Tawheed is also part of the nature of human beings. We were all created to recognize, by instinct, that we have One Creator and that we should not worship anything besides Him. The Fitrah is mentioned in this Hadeeth:

‘Every new-born child is born in a state of Fitrah. Then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian or a fire worshipper’ [Muslim]

And it is well known amongst the Scholars of Islaam that this Fitrah is the Tawheed.

2.       Mankind Were Created For This Reason

Allaah [swt] condemns the Kuffaar for thinking that there is no purpose of life:

“And We created not the heaven and the earth and all that is between them without purpose. That is the consideration of those who disbelieve. Then curse those who disbelieve from the Fire” [38:27]

Human beings, being people of wisdom, do not do or create things for no reason. In fact, one would be labelled as being foolish if he did things for no reason whatsoever. For example, no intelligent person would ever fit expensive speeding cameras and traffic lights with a zebra crossing in the middle of a jungle where no human community would ever live. Thus, we can say that it is not befitting for people of wisdom to do things for no reason at all. And so with this principle in mind, can we say that Allaah [swt] created us human beings for no reason? How can we claim this while Allaah [swt] is All-Hakeem; the All-Wise. In fact, Allaah [swt] is the Owner of wisdom and even the Creator of this very wisdom. Hence, it is understandable when Allaah [swt] condemns the Disbelievers who think Allaah [swt] created them for no purpose as it could imply lack of wisdom from our Creator – but Allaah [swt] is completely free from their evil thoughts, implications and conjectures.

Having said this, it is important for us Muslims to know exactly why Allaah [swt] created us so that we may accomplish our purpose on this earth and be different from those Disbelievers whom Allaah [swt] curses in the above Aayah. And, in relation to what our purpose is, we can guess all day, but the reality is that the only way we can truly find out the answer is when Allaah [swt] tells us Himself – as the creator of something knows exactly why he made that thing. Allaah [swt] has clearly mentioned this:

“And I did not create the Jinns and the humans except that they give ‘Ibaadah to Me.” [51:56]

The word which is used here is ‘Ibaadah. When one hears this word, he may think that it is only talking about worship/sets of rituals. However, ‘Ibaadah is more comprehensive than this and worship is just a part of it – and it is a very crucial part in fact. ‘Ibaadah includes both worshipping Allaah [swt] by following the rituals He asked us to follow, and also obedience in all other aspects of our life. This means that one needs to refer to Allaah [swt] for guidance in their social life, marriage life, economic life, personal mannerism and others and obey the commands of Allaah [swt] in all of these affairs. And we quote the Aayah:

“Say: Verily my Salaah, my sacrifice [i.e. worship], my living [i.e. all other affairs] and my dying are for Allaah; the Lord of all that exists. He has no partner...” [6:162]

This Verse mentions what we have already mentioned with the addition that we should even die in obedience to Allaah [swt]. All of this ‘Ibaadah, both worship and obedience, is to be done in exclusivity [solely to Allaah [swt]] as Shirk is condemned throughout the Qur’aan and even in the above quote. And this exclusive ‘Ibaadah is the very meaning of Tawheed.

3.       It Is The Haqq [Right] Of Allaah

Justice, injustice, fairness, oppression, subjugation and similar words all emanates from how a person deals with rights, hence the concept of rights are a very crucial matter in human life. We can all agree that when a person’s rights are taken away from him or given to someone else instead of him, he would feel oppressed. And many a times mankind is worried about his own rights or his families rights and although this is not something condemnable, we want to draw our attentions to the fact that our Creator has also got Rights; did we ever think about what the rights of Allaah [swt] are? In relation to this, Mu’aazh bin Jabal [ra] narrated that the Messenger Muhammad [pbuh] said to him: ‘O Mu’aazh! Do you know what Allaah’s Right is over His servants and what their right is over Him?’

I said: ‘Allaah and His Messenger know best.’

He [saw] said: ‘Allaah’s Right over His servants is that they give ‘Ibaadah to Him without joining any partners with Him in this ‘Ibaadah [i.e. Tawheed], and their right over Him is that He does not punish anyone who gives ‘Ibaadah to Him without associating any partner with Him in this ‘Ibaadah.’ [Bukhaaree and Muslim]

So from this we learn that the Right of Allaah [swt] is to give our ‘Ibaadah to Him, with no partners [no Shirk], and this is our purpose of life – as we have already mentioned.

4.       Blood Was Given And Also Taken For The Tawheed

Ibraaheem [as] was catapulted into a furnace of fire; Companions of ‘Eesa [as] were sawn in half and brushed with metal combs until their skin was exposed; thousands of Believers from the People of The Ditch [Ashaab ul-Ukhdood] were forced to jump into a blazing fire; Sumayya [ra] was killed to be first Martyr in Islaam while her son ‘Ammaar bin Yaasir [ra] was tortured so much that he was forced to utter a word of Kufr [and this was a permit in such situations] - and many other Believers in the past shed bled.

The true Believers understood that the Rights of their Lord was more valuable than their own safety and life, hence they were willing to go through the harshness of the Disbelievers. The Disbelievers were always harsh and hostile towards the Believers because the Believers either invited them to Tawheed or simply just believed in Tawheed and so torture was their way of showing their rejection.

However, having said all of that, it should also be noted that it was not always the Believers who were on the receiving end. Blood was given and also taken for this Tawheed. The Messenger Muhammad [pbuh] said:

‘I have been ordered to fight the people until they say their Shahaadah in Laa ilaaha illAllaah [Tawheed].’ [Bukhaaree]

And so from this we know that the Messenger [pbuh] engaged in 20-odd battles during his Prophethood [it should be strongly noted that this Hadeeth does not mean we are allowed to kill any Disbeliever]. After he passed away, the Muslims always engaged and won many battles with those who rejected Tawheed. In fact the Hadeeth states that this would always be the case until the Day of Judgement:

‘There will never cease to remain a group from my Ummah fighting upon the command of Allaah, subjugating their enemies. They are not harmed by those who oppose them, until the Hour arrives and they are upon that.’

So from all this we can see how Allaah [swt] and the Muslims in the past viewed and valued the Tawheed, to the extent that even blood was overlooked.


5.      Tawheed Makes Us Mu`minoon [Believers]

Many people claim to have belief in Allaah [saw], even though they may call the All-Mighty with a different name. In fact, a very few people in history have denied the fact that there is a Creator; hence we can say that the majority of mankind have always been believers in God. But people believe in God in many different ways and this is where the ultimate problem lies. For example a Christian claims to believe in God, but he joins partners with God by worshipping ‘Eesa [as] and Jibreel [as] – Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

The fact is that Allaah [swt] would never accept the belief of any human being unless it is by Tawheed i.e. that he believes and acts upon the statement that none has the rights to be worshipped except Allaah [swt]. Hence only the person with Tawheed would be classed as a true Believer [Mu`min] of Allaah [swt] and all others would be Disbelievers [Kaafireen] no matter how much they may think they believe.

6.       No Action Would Ever Be Accepted Without Tawheed

No matter what good a person may do, it would never be accepted from him if he does not have Tawheed. This is because when a person violates the right of Allaah [swt], all other deeds become meaningless and invalid in the Sight of Allaah [swt].

“And if they do Shirk with Allaah [i.e. do not have Tawheed], whatever they have done is nullified.” [6:88]

“And whosoever rejects Eemaan, then fruitless is his work; and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers” [5:5]

Thus from this we can see that Tawheed is a prerequisite condition for any action of a person to be accepted by Allaah [swt] and that any kind of rejection of Allaah [swt], violation of His Rights or mistreatment of His Deen would cancel out any other good deed. This is the reason why all of the Disbelievers would be in Hell-Fire, no matter how good his character may have been or how good he may have been to others. We can also see from this how clearly important it is to uphold our Tawheed and making sure we do not fall into KufrShirk to destroy it.

7.       Key To Jannah If One Accepts Tawheed

And from the above, we can say that no person would ever enter Jannah unless he believed in Tawheed as the Tawheed is the key to Jannah. This has been clearly mentioned by the Salaf. We find this from a report of a man who once came to Wahb bin Munabbih [an advisor of ‘Umar bin Al-Khattaab [ra]] and asked: ‘Is not the statement of laa ilaaha illAllaah [i.e. the Tawheed] the key to paradise?’

Wahb bin Munabbih replied: ‘Indeed, it is the key to paradise and every key has teeth to open the right lock”

So we can say that the key to open the gates of the eternal Jannah is Tawheed and no one can enter it unless one owns this key.

8.       Key To Jahannam If One Rejects Tawheed

And this point is in conjunction with the previous point because if a person is not admitted into Jannah on the Day of Judgment, there is only one other place for such a person – the Jahannam.

Another crucial point to magnify the importance of Tawheed is the Hadeeth Qudsi which talks beautifully about the salvation and forgiveness of a person. The Messenger [pbuh] said that Allaah [swt] said:

'Oh son of Aadam, so long as you call upon Me, and hope in Me, I shall forgive you for what you have done, and I shall not mind. O son of Aadam, were your sins to reach the clouds in the sky and were you then to ask forgiveness of Me, I shall forgive you. O son of Aadam, were you to come to Me with an earth full of sins and were you then to face Me, without having done Shirk with Me, I shall grant you an earth full of pardon.' [Tirmizhi]

Tawheed is the ultimate means of forgiveness for any human being. The other ways Allaah [swt] forgives our sins is when we go through tests, suffering loss and also by making Du’aa of sincere repentance [Tawbah]. However, these two means would have no value if a person did not have Tawheed as his deeds would not mean anything - like we have already mentioned. Thus Tawheed is the ultimate way of being saved from entering the Hell-Fire on the Day of Judgement.

9.       Tawheed Would Allow The Sinful Muslims To Come Out Of Jahannam

There would be two types of people in Jahannam: the Disbelievers and the sinful Muslims. As for the Disbelievers, they would remain in there forever. But as for the Muslims, Allaah [swt] would still show Mercy as He would bring them out of Jahannam after they have been punished. And the only reason for that is because they had belief in the Tawheed – even if it were the weight of a mustard seed as the Messenger Muhammad [saw] said:

‘When the people of Jannah will enter Jannah and the people of Jahannam will go to Jahannam, Allaah will command the Angels to take out the people from Jahannam who have had Eemaan equal to the weight of a grain of mustard seed. So they will be taken out...’ [Bukhaaree]

10.   It Is The Very Reason Why Messengers And Books Were Sent

Throughout history, Allaah [swt] sent thousands of Prophets. The Message of Allaah [swt] used to always get contaminated by the addition of superstitious ideas and alteration of the Message due to the desires of the elite. Thus the need for so many Prophets arose as they were the ones who were entrusted to revive the Message of Allaah [swt].  And the Message of Allaah [swt] was the Tawheed:

“And We have indeed sent a Messenger to every nation [saying]: Worship Allaah and stay far away from anything else that is worshipped” [16:36]

And we have already mentioned in brief how the Prophets and their followers struggled for the sake of this Tawheed.

11.   Nations Were Destroyed For Rejecting Tawheed

 “So their Lord destroyed them because of their sin and made them equal in destruction [i.e. the poor and rich, strong and weak etc]. And He feared not the consequences thereof” [91:15]

“And how many a generation before them have We destroyed! Can you find a single one of them or hear even a whisper of them” [19:98]

 “Do you see any remnants of them?” [69:8]

Allaah [swt] informs us that He destroyed and completely wiped out some from the previous nations. Some were completely drowned by floods; the earth was flipped upside down on others; some transformed into monkeys and pigs; others with exceedingly violent winds which lasted for days; others were swallowed by earthquakes and other means.

Allaah [swt] says that He does not punish a nation before a Messenger reaches them [with warning]:

“And We never punish until We have sent a Messenger” [17:15]

So what was the cause and need for all this terrifying and disastrous destruction on these nations? It was because they rejected the Tawheed as we have mentioned above that the Tawheed was the Message of the Messengers.

12.   Tawheed Would Unite The Muslims

We all understand the importance of Unity in Islaam. But did we realise that it is the Tawheed itself which obliges us to unite and have affection amongst the Muslims? Indeed it is the Tawheed which unites us and we would never be bonded together with the Disbelievers who reject Tawheed – neither in this life nor in the next life in Jahannam, Inshaa`Allaah. Allaah [swt] said:

“Indeed, the Mu`minoon are a Brotherhood” [49:10]

We have already explained that the Tawheed is the only thing that makes one a true Mu`min [Believers]. So the above verse, in other words, means that those who have Tawheed are a single Brotherhood.

 
13.   Tawheed Is A Pre-requisite Condition For The Authority In This Life

The victory of the Ummah is conditional upon how much Eemaan we have, and we have mentioned that the Eemaan of a person would never be accepted until he has Tawheed. Allaah [swt] promises:

“Allah has promised those among you who have Eemaan and do righteous deeds, that He will certainly grant them authority in the land...” [24:55]

So this promise is a conditional promise and the condition is to have Eemaan with Tawheed along with submission to the commands of Allaah [swt].

We could have mentioned others such as the fact that Allaah [swt] changed the dimensions of the parts in the Universe [i.e. allowed Prophets to perform Miracles] and maybe others, but we would finish it here. We hope that these points would help us understand the weightiness of this topic and motivate us to give it its due importance through our actions Insha`Allaah. which are part and parcel of human beings when we are born. Some of these dispositions are the instincts of eating and drinking; socializing and procreating; being hygienic and clothing ourselves amongst others. [Muslim] or