The Concept of Tauhid [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim

The conceptual significance of ''tauhid'' within the Islamic world
has implications which extend far beyond its fundamental definition as a
religious/philosophical idea limited in its essence to the statement of
the Qur''anic principle that God is One. The unity of the Divine provides
the touchstone, the underpinning upon which a wider view of tauhid
as a general current coursing through the connecting conduits of the
Islamic world is based. To limit the understanding of this central pillar
of the Faith to its narrowest connotation(ie:God is One) is to fail to see
it as it actually exists; and to inaccurately confine it to the realm of
theological speculation would result in the isolation of an idea which, in
fact, permeates Muslim ideology on a universal level and is incorporated
into historical, philosophical, sociological and mystical dimensions of
Islamic thought and attitudes.

Tauhid exists as a core
concept, as the pivotal hub of a wheel whose outer rim marks the widely
divergent circumference of the Islamic world and whose spokes form the
supporting connections which link these varying manifestations of Islam to
a common axis, to a common point of reference. To examine tauhid as
merely a single variable in the vast and complex equation that is Islam is
to fail to fathom the conceptual weight of an idea which exists, not as an
isolated factor relevant to only one sphere of
perception(ie:theological/philosophical), but as a general principle which
forms the underlying basis of the entire equation and, to a large degree,
determines its very structure.

Tauhid , reduced to its most
basic definition, is a word which points with commanding emphasis to the
Qur''anic essential of the Oneness of God. It stands forth as a word which
underlines and highlights the primary theme of the unity of the Divine
which threads its way through the verses of the Qur''an, infusing the
entire Book with its forceful accents and an insistent rhythm. It was
inevitable that this concept of Unity which pervades every Sura with its
essence would come to gain a special status within the overall framework
of Islam. It is sufficient to merely glance through the Qur''an to obtain a
powerful impression of this repeated and absolute insistence that, in
effect, acts as the uniting theme of this Book. Thus it is immediately
evident, to even the casual reader, that the material for the inclusion of
tauhid as a fundamental concept existed from the time of the
Prophet (s.a.).

Muslims would eventually weave a fabric of ideas
and images that touch on every area and aspect of life, from the personal
to the political, and from the purely theological to the sociological and
psychological, in an attempt to infuse each area with the uniting force of
tauhid. The Qur''an says:
"And your God

Is One God:

There is no God

But He,

Most
Gracious,

Most Merciful." (Qur''an 2:163)

This expression of Divine unity flows naturally into verses indicative
of a duty on the part of men to reflect this oneness among themselves.
"And hold fast

All together, by the Rope

Of God, and be not
divided

Among yourselves...

He joined your hearts

In love, so
that by His Grace,

Ye became brethern...." (Qur''an 3:103)

And this indicator of an intimate connection between divine unity and
social unity paved the way for the development of the conviction that the
Qur''anic imperative of tauhid applied directly to the community
(ummah) of Islam and pointed towards an eventual linkage of all mankind
under the auspices of the ''house'' of Islam.

This leap from unity of
community to unity of mankind is a natural interpretation of the
historical processes at work in early Islam and their link to the
absoluteness of the Qur''an. The Prophet''s (s.a.) efforts at forming a
community based on faith-allegiance which superseded the tribal,
blood-bonded groups of the period of Jahiliyyah can be seen as a sign
pointing to a still greater unity that has yet to emerge. The elimination
of tribal-fealty and its replacement by faith-loyalty under Muhammad''s
(s.a.) leadership was the first step on a path destined to lead to the
eventual gathering of mankind into a brotherhood of faith that takes God
as the source of its unity. The mental connection between tribes and
nations is easily made and if the Prophet created a "supratribal"
community then perhaps Islam''s goal is to achieve a supranational
community - such a conclusion is often implicit in the writings of many
contemporary Muslim authors.

It was this desire to rise above the
divisions, conflicts, and tensions apparent in the territoriality and
sectarianism of so many supposedly Islamic nations (and not any desire for
conquest) that led Iqbal to proclaim: "China and Arabia are ours, India is
ours,/Muslims we are, the whole world is ours."(See A. Schimmel''s
Gabriel''s Wing,A Study into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammed Iqbal).
Iqbal saw the erasing of borders and destruction of partitions as a
central purpose and a part of the destiny of Islam. This societal
tauhid was necessary if mankind was to mirror the unity of the
Divine. Iqbal wrote that...
"It was Islam and Islam alone which, for the first time, gave the
message to mankind that religion was neither national and racial, nor
individual and private, but purely human and that its purpose was to
organize mankind despite all its natural distinctions." (Iqbal in
"Gabriel''s Wing")

Tauhid as a social force, as a concept encouraging an evolution
towards a united mankind (not a uniform mankind) and discouraging
divisiveness is a constantly recurring theme in Muslim writings of the
current era. This sociological view of tauhid has manifested itself
many times in the history of Islamic thought but always in a diluted form.
It has been an idea implied within the theological connotations of the
word and as a background concept lacking real form and definition. It is
only recently (ie:the past century) that this unfocused idea has been
sharpened and refined into a more distinct ideology deriving its validity
from a fresh interpretation of Islam''s historical heritage combined with a
new global awareness that has impinged itself upon the modern
conciousness.

The sermons of Ali (a.s.) (the Prophet''s son-in-law)
strongly hint at a conception of social tauhid designed to grow out
of Divine Tauhid . But his concern was with the already fractured
unity of the expanding muslim community and a more encompassing
tauhid is a percept more implied than openly stated.(see Nahjul
Balagha).

Sociological tauhid is primarily a natural
outgrowth of an understanding of Islam''s role in a rapidly shrinking and
increasingly interconnected world. It is an understanding Muslims are
forced to acquire in a world where a vast number of conflicting ideologies
and loyalties war with one another for dominance or for an ideological
niche. In the midst of all this confusion there exists for Muslims the
same Qur''anic injunction that came down to the first community of
believers in Medina:
"Let there be one nation of you, calling to good,

and bidding to
honour, and forbidding dishonour...

Be not as those who scattered and
fell into variance

after the clear signs came to them.... (Qur''an
3:100)"

The purpose of a din (religion, way) which calls for an underlying
unity bound by a set of principles that are actively incorporated into the
economic,legal, social, political, and personal spheres of life, is to
transform ideals into reality - to ground a powerful concept by applying
it in the material and social world. It is only in this way that the
principle of tauhid may be brought down from the "Divine" plane to
the earthly plane and that an earthly unity can be approached. It is the
realization that movement towards such a goal is now (more than ever
before) necessary that has caused the explosion of intellectual interest
in tauhid as a principle which provides a solution to many
problems.

Whether in the Qur''an or in the Nahjul Balagha, the call
to unity is made to individuals and groups as something which they
should aspire to and struggle towards - so the struggle for social unity
begins among the individual members of the ummah (in all their varied
diversity) and should not be an exercise left for governments to carry
through. Like the hajj, this unity should flow from the actions and
intentions of individuals desiring to draw near to God by manifesting in
their earthly lives and actions the most all-encompassing and overwhelming
of Divine traits - Tauhid.

To assume that the notion of
tauhid is assimilated on a purely intellectual level by Muslims is
to misjudge the deep significance of the concept. It derives its impact,
its emotional/intellectual force from the joining of the Divine(unity)
with the earthly(unity). Pure Tauhid (Oneness of God) and social
tauhid are inextricably intertwined, so that tauhid as a
social force takes on the aspect of an idea backed by the Divine Will.

Irshaad Hussain