Part III: Tawheed (The Oneness of Allah)
Q. What is meant by tawheed?
A. Heartily believing in the
oneness of Allah and proclaiming it verbally is called tawheed.
Q. How do human beings know that
Allah is One?
A. First of all, the human wisdom
(if it is true wisdom) believes that Allah is One and Omnipresent. That is why
the great, wise and learned men and philosophers believe in the oneness of God.
Secondly, all the prophets unanimously taught tawheed to human
beings and said that there was none like Allah.
Q. Does the Noble Qur’aan
teach tawheed?
A. Yes, the Noble Qur’aan
teaches tawheed in a most perfect and excellent way. The Noble
Qur’aan is today the only Book which teaches the oneness of Allah. Though the
previous heavenly books also taught tawheed, people made
alterations in all those books and entered things against tawheed and
have changed Allah’s bestowed Divine Law. To reform this and to preach the
real tawheed Allah sent Hazrat Muhammad (
)
and revealed to him His Book, the Noble Qur’aan.
Q. Which aayaat (verses)
of the Noble Qur’aan prove tawheed?
A. The Noble Qur’aan is full of
lessons of tawheed from beginning to end. For instance:
And your god is One god; There is no god except Him, the Beneficent, the
Merciful.
(Surah 2, Aayat 163)
Another verse is:
Allah (Himself) is witness that there is no god except Him- And the angels and
men of learning (too, are witness)- maintaining His creation in justice: There
is no god except Him, the Almighty, the Wise.
(Surah 3, Aayat 18)
And:
Say: He is Allah, the One.
(112: 1)
Q. What is the personal name of
Allah?
A. “Allah.” This is called Ism
dhaat or ism dhaati.
Q. What are Allah’s other
names, such as al-Khaaliq (The Creator), ar-Raaziq (The
Provider), etc. called?
A. These names of Allah are called
Ism Sifaati.
Q. What is meant by Ism Sifaati?
A. Sifaati means
qualitative. Allah has many qualities. For instance: Qaadim (Existing
from eternity, to eternity), ‘Aalim (All-Knowing), Qaadir
(All-Powerful), Hayy (Living), etc. Any name which tells of the
qualities of Allah is a Sifaati name. To make it clear, here is an
example. There is a man whose name is Jameel. This name has been given to him
for identity but it does not show his quality. If he is learned and has learnt
the Glorious Qur’aan by heart, he is called ‘aalim (learned) and haafiz
(memorizer) also. These are his Sifaati names. Jameel is his
personal name. His qualitative names are given to him because he is learned and
he has learnt the Holy Qur’aan by heart. In the same way, Allah is a personal
name and Khaaliq, Qaadir, ‘Aalim and Maalik
are His qualitative names.
Q. If Allah has only one
personal name, “Allah,” then how many qualitative names has He?
A. In the Holy Qur’aan, Allah
says:
Allah’s are the fairest names. Invoke Him by them.
(7: 180)
One of the hadeeth says:
Doubtless Allah has 99 names: 100 less one.
(Bukhari)
