Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah & the Divisions of Tawheed

Response by Abu Qataadah al-Philisteeni 

Question:

Asalaamu Alaykum Warahmatullah Wabarakatuh,

I hope that you can clarify for me the meaning of Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah and is it part of Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah?

I heard that Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Ibraheem said that Shaykh Bin Baz use to teach the knowledge of 'Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah' but the 'Saudi Salafis' rejected it and considered it an innovation, is that true? Are there any books or articles in Arabic or English with regards to this issue? Can you please guide me?
 
Answer:
In the Name of Allaah, Most Merciful, and Most Kind.

And with Him we seek assistance,

Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah is part of Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah, which is the Tawheed of seeking and intention, and this is from the point of view that the slave of Allaah [al-Ubudiyyah] is agreeing to His worthiness of worship and abiding by that.

And it is also from Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah, which is the Tawheed of knowing and establishment of His existence and lordship, and this is from the point of view that the Lord does, i.e. that Allaah is the judge and legislator for his creation and legislates for them the regulations and laws.

And this Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah, a Muslim will not reject it as a subject, but some have differed in matters of terminology, via different methods, such as:

They say that this Tawheed was not mentioned by the righteous Salaf and the Salaf only had two views:

1. Either they believed in the splitting of Tawheed into two, which was the Tawheed of establishing His existence and attributes and the Tawheed of intention and purpose.
   
2. Or they believed in splitting the categories of Tawheed into three, which was Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah, Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah and Tawheed Asmaa wa Sifaat.

And the reply to that is straight forward and simple, which is that these two categories are based on categorization based on analysis and it is not categorization based on solid proof [i.e., proof from QuranSunnah that dividing the Tawheed into such categories], rather it is only an matter of ijtihaad and not a textual issue, so it can not be said that addition of categories is an innovation.

Then it is also said to them: Why do we need to mention Tawheed Asmaa wa Sifaat as it is already from Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah?

And if they say; it is a necessity to make it a subcategory in order to facilitate refuting the one who differs in this issue.

We reply to them: And that is the very same reason for which we make mention of Tawheed al-Haakimiyyah, for it is mentioned only due to this reason, to facilitate the refutation of those who differ in this issue.

And they also have other excuses which are in their saying.

Also their other proof to reject this type of Tawheed: That this type of Tawheed [al-Haakimiyyah] has stages in it and not every stage, which if differed in will nullify the Tawheed.

It is replied to them: And similarly with those who differ in the issue of Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah and Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah that does not necessarily nullify their core of Tawheed, for example, showing off [riyaa] is differing towards Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah, yet that does not nullify the core of Tawheed for the perpetrator of such act.

The point is that this type of Tawheed, the Shariah has come with it along with the Quran and Sunnah,which is evident with very clear proof, only an ignorant person will reject it.

As for its subject and its meaning, it is basically to establish that ruling and legislation is only for Allaah, the lord of the universe and removing that right of ruling and legislation from other than Him [negating all false deities by the sword].

This is what is suitable for this stance, and I have delivered a long lecture on this issue previously. I ask that Allaah make it easy for it to be distributed for benefit.