Tawheed – Oneness of Allah SWT
Tawheed briefly described is the Oneness of Allah SWT in Divinity, in Worship, in His Names and Attributes. Belief in the Oneness of Allah SWT is the focal point around which the religion of Islam revolves.
Submission to Allah SWT alone and the dedication of worship to Him alone, elevates the believers’ character and mind. It saves him from a heart that wanders astray, from desires that become corrupted, and from the darkness of ignorance.
The Imam referenced ayat 36 of Sura An-Nahl in which it is translated to say:
And indeed, within every community we have We raised up an apostle [entrusted with this message]: “Worship God, and shun the powers of evil!” And among those [past generations] were people whom God graced with His guidance, just as there was among them [many a one] who inevitably fell prey to grievous error: go, then, about the earth and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth!
Dear brothers and sisters, tawheed comes from loving Allah SWT and to love Allah SWT is a duty for us all. The reasons to love Allah SWT is all around us. Take time out to ponder all that He has blessed each and every one of us with. Our health, our freedom, our family and our wealth. We have so much to be thankful for and so much to love Him for.
Equally so, only Allah SWT can protect us from troubles or pain that we may be going through. Only He is worthy of our pleas.
However, we can sometimes fall into the bad habit of forgetting Allah SWT in times of hardship and instead begin to despair but this is not the correct way a Muslim should behave.
What we sometimes don’t realize is that a person may feel hardship or pain but not know the good that may come of it. Only Allah SWT is knowledgeable of this and it is vital we remember that and Him in such times.
Allah SWT has told us He will test us in life to see if the person displays patience, humility and return to Him through worship. Allah SWT has told us He wants us to constantly return to Him with sincerity in repentance and to Him alone.
The imam spoke of ayat 25 in Sura Al-Anbiya which is translated to say:
And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, “There is no deity except Me, so worship Me.”
Dear brothers and sisters. We need to sincerely testify with our hearts that it is only Allah SWT that we turn to. Nobody else is worthy of our gratitude and nobody else is worthy of our prayer.
The Oneness of Allah SWT comes by the realisation that whatever we may be experiencing in our lives comes from Him. It is the belief that only He has the power to change it and only He is the one who we must thank for it.
The imam mentioned the following hadith in which the Prophet SAWS said:
Oh people say there is no Lord expect Allah and you will succeed
With that being said, this reminder concludes with 7 conditions that need to be met in order for Tawheed to be established.
- Knowledge that ends ignorance about who is the divine. To know Allah SWT is the start of faith. Who He is. Why We were created and What we must believe. This is the first condition.
- Certainty that cures doubt about the divine and His plan for us individually and collectively. We believe that only He is in control of our lives and the future for us all.
- Acceptance of the consequences towards the belief in Allah SWT and his Messengers (peace be upon them all) and that there are divinely ordained laws of living that must be observed.
- Submission to that which you accept from certain knowledge you have about Allah SWT. You hear, obey and seek to distinuguish yourself in that.
- Truthful to the faith and the Divine. You do what Allah SWT seeks without hypocrisy or to win favour with other creations of Allah SWT. You keep your faith even when you are alone and nobody else can see or hear.
- Sincerity to Allah SWT in all acts of devotion. You remove all superstition and reliance upon all others from your life.
- Love the One the Almighty through your ritual worship that is ordained upon you and grow in love for Allah SWT through living at peace with his creation.
Dear brothers and sisters, declaring the Oneness of Allah SWT with our hearts and our minds is the most important thing for us to grasp in life. For if we learn how to trust and worship Allah SWT with sincerity, then and only then, will we escape from the slavery and captivity of this life.
May Allah SWT develop the love for Him in our hearts. May Allah SWT develop the resolute affirmation of the oneness of Allah SWT in our hearts. May Allah SWT give us the ability to demonstrate this in our actions and our worship.
