The Qurʾān Is Entirely Centred Around Tawḥīd
Al-ʿAllāmah Ibn Abī al-ʿIzz al-Ḥanafī
A passage displaying how every chapter of the Qurʾān relates back to tawḥīd concerning knowledge and affirmation, or tawḥīd concerning request and intent.
The tawḥīd revealed in the divine scriptures that the messengers of Allāh called to is of two types
- Tawḥīd concerning knowledge and affirmation (tawḥīd al-maʿrifah wa-al-ithbāt)
- Tawḥīd concerning request and intent (tawḥīd al-ṭalab wa-al-qaṣd)[1]
Knowledge and Affirmation
The first is to affirm the reality of Allāh’s essence, His attributes, actions, and names. Concerning which, there is nothing like unto Him, as Allāh informed us regarding Himself, as did His messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم). The Qurʾān has expressed this category in the most flawless fashion, as occurs in the beginning of [sūrah] al-Ḥadīd, Ṭā-Hā, the latter portion of al-Ḥashr, the beginning of al-Sajdah and Āl-ʿImrān, the entirety of al-Ikhlāṣ, and other chapters.
Request and Intent
The second is the tawḥīd of request and intent, like what sūrat [al-Kāfirūn] encompasses, and also Allāh’s saying:
قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَىٰ كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ
“Say (O’ Prophet): ‘O’ People of the Scripture, come to a just word between us and you…’”
[Āl-ʿImrān, 3:64],
and the beginning and ending of al-Zumar, the first, middle and latter portions of Yūnus, the beginning and final parts of al-Aʿrāf, and the entirety of sūrah al-Anʿām.
The majority of the chapters of the Qurʾān encompass both types of tawḥīd — rather, every chapter encompasses them! For the Qurʾān either
- Informs of Allāh, His names, and His attributes
- Or it calls to the worship of Allāh alone, without any partners, and the abandonment of the worship of anything besides him, and that is the tawḥīd of intent and request
- Or [it prescribes] a command, prohibition, or commandment to show obedience to Him, and that is from the rights of tawḥīd and its completion
- Or [it relays] information concerning Allāh’s honouring of the people of tawḥīd, how He aided them in this world, and how He will honour them in the hereafter — this being the reward for tawḥīd
- Or [it relays] information concerning the people of shirk, describing what Allāh afflicted them with of punishment in this worldly life, and what awaits them of torment in the hereafter — this being the recompense for not abiding by tawḥīd.
Hence, the Qurʾān in its entirety centres around tawḥīd, its rights, and its reward, and around shirk, its people, and their recompense.[2]
Endnotes
[1] Translator’s note: The first category encompasses the tawḥīd of Lordship (Rubūbiyyah) and the tawḥīd of Names and Attributes (al-Asmāʾ wa-al-Ṣifāt), while the second refers to the tawḥīd of Worship (Ulūhiyyah). Hence, there is no contradiction between the categorization of tawḥīd as mentioned by the author and the categorization which other scholars mention of tawḥīd being composed of three categories.
[2] Sharḥ al-ʿAqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah (1/42-43).
Translated by Omar ibn Bilal
