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Nullifying the Tripartite Division of Tawheed (Islamic Monotheism)
Author : Dr. Hassan Abu_Arqoub
Date Added : 14-09-2021

Nullifying the Tripartite Division of Tawheed (Islamic Monotheism)

 

Some claim that Tawheed is divided into three categories: (i) Tawheed Ur Ruboobyah (Lordship) (ii) Tawheed Ul Uloohiyyah (Worship). (iii) Tawheed Asma Wa Sifaat  (Divine Names and Attributes). They have also claimed that the Prophets (Peace be upon them) weren`t sent save for Tawheed Ul Uloohiyyah, which is believing that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone. As for Tawheed Ur Ruboobyah, which is believing that there is only one Lord for the universe, there is no disagreement on this amongst Muslims and polytheists. They have based their view on the verse in which Allah Says (What means): "If indeed thou ask them who has created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law), they will certainly reply: "God". How are they then deluded away (from the truth)?" [Al-Ankabut/61].

 

The proponents of this division started accusing Muslims who sought intercession from the Prophets and saints with disbelief under the pretext that they turned to the latter instead of Allah. This way, they have become like the polytheists who didn`t commit disbelief on account of Tawheed Ur Ruboobyah as they believe that Allah is the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe. Rather, they left Tawheed Ul Uloohiyyah by ascribing partners to Allah in worship, as this group claimed.

 

If we reflect on the Quran, the Sunna, and the views of the Sahabah (Companions of the Prophet), the Tabiin (The Successors), and the Tab'i At-Tabi'in (Those who came after the Tabiin), we realize that there is no mention of such division either in word or meaning. Rather, it is an invented heresy that Muslims didn`t come to know until the Seventh Century of Hijrah.

 

Whoever ponders on the Quran and the Sunna of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) finds no difference between Tawheed Ul Uloohiyyah and Tawheed Ur Ruboobyah.

 

The evidence from the Quran is reflected in the following verses:

 

First: "Nor would he instruct you to take angels and prophets for Lords and patrons. What! would he bid you to unbelief after ye have bowed your will (To God in Islam)?" [Al-Imran/80].

 

Second: "O my two companions of the prison! (I ask you): are many lords differing among themselves better, or the One God, Supreme and Irresistible?" [Yousef/39].

 

Third: "Saying, "I am your Lord, Most High"." [An-Nazi`at/24]. "Pharaoh said: "O Chiefs! no god do I know for you but myself: therefore, O Haman! light me a (kiln to bake bricks) out of clay, and build me a lofty palace, that I may mount up to the god of Moses: but as far as I am concerned, I think (Moses) is a liar!" [Al-Qasas/38].

 

Fourth: "O Messenger. proclaim the (message) which hath been sent to thee from thy Lord. If thou didst not, thou wouldst not have fulfilled and proclaimed His mission. And Allah will defend thee from men (who mean mischief). For Allah guideth not those who reject Faith." [Al-Ma`idah/67].

 

The evidence from the Prophetic Sunna is reflected in the following narrations:

 

First: Narrated Anas Bin Malik:

One-day Allah's Messenger (PBUH) came out (before the people) and `Abdullah bin Hudhafa stood up and asked (him): "Who is my father?" The Prophet (Peace be upon him) replied: "Your father is Hudhafa." The Prophet (Peace be upon him) told them repeatedly (in anger) to ask him anything they liked. `Umar knelt down before the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and said thrice: "We accept Allah as (our) Lord and Islam as (our) religion and Muhammad as (our) Prophet." After that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) became silent." [Bukhari].

 

Second: Al-‘Abbas b. ‘Abd al-Muttalib (May Allah Be Pleased with him) reported God’s messenger as saying: "He who is well-pleased with God as Lord, with Islam as religion, and with Muhammad as messenger will experience the savour of faith." [Moslim].

 

Third: Abu Dawood narrated in his Sunn (Book) the following:

We went out with the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) accompanying the bier of a man of the Ansar. When we reached his grave, it was not yet dug. So the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) sat down and we also sat down around him as if birds were over our heads. He had in his hand a stick with which he was scratching the ground. He then raised his head and said: Seek refuge with Allah from the punishment in the grave. He said it twice or thrice.

The version of Jabir adds here: He hears the beat of their sandals when they go back, and at that moment, he is asked: O so and so! Who is your Lord, what is your religion, and who is your Prophet?...." [An-Nawawi explanatory].

 

Based on the aforementioned, we conclude that the polytheists believe that Allah exists but ascribe partners to Him in worship claiming that this brings them closer to Him. This led the proponents of the tripartite division to understand that the polytheists` belief is tantamount to Tawheed Ur Ruboobyah although it has nothing to do with Tawheed/Monotheism. Rather, it is believing that God exists. Associating partners with Allah Indicates that they believe that He exists but worship another God along with Him. Therefore, Allah Ordered in the following verse Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) to say (What means): "Say: "What thing is most weighty in evidence?" Say: "God is witness between me and you; This Qur’an hath been revealed to me by inspiration, that I may warn you and all whom it reaches. Can ye possibly bear witness that besides God there is another God?" Say: "Nay! I cannot bear witness!" Say: "But in truth He is the one God, and I truly am innocent of (your blasphemy of) joining others with Him." [Al-`An`am/19].

 

He The Almighty also Said: "Say: "Bring forward your witnesses to prove that God did forbid so and so." If they bring such witnesses, be not thou amongst them: Nor follow thou the vain desires of such as treat our signs as falsehoods, and such as believe not in the Hereafter: for they hold others as equal with their Guardian-Lord.

 

Conclusion:

 

First: The tripartite division of Tawheed is an invented heresy that has no basis in the Quran, the Sunna, and the views of the Sahabah, the Tabiin and the Tab'i Al-Tabi'in.

 

Second: In the Quran, the Sunna, and the views of the Sahabah, the Tabiin, and the Tab'i Al-Tabi'in, Al-Uluhiyah and Al-Rububiyah are used interchangeably.

 

Third: There is no Tawheed (Monotheism) without Tawheed. A person is either a monotheist or a polytheist, which are opposites that contradict one another.

 

Fourth: Every monotheist believes in the existence of Allah, but not every believer in the existence of Allah is necessarily a monotheist.

 

Fifth: The polytheists believed in the existence of Allah but associated partners with Him in worship, as described by Allah, so the proponents of the tripartite division of Tawheed called this Tawheed Ar-Rububiyah, which contradicts the Quranic texts.

 

Sixth: The polytheists believe in the existence of Allah, but this belief is distorted with ascribing partners to Him, denying the Messengers, the Scriptures, the hereafter, the resurrection, and describing the angels as females, and by doing so they failed to realize a single tenet of faith to be saved by before Allah. Still, someone would claim that their problem is the alleged Tawheed of Al-Uluhiyah?!

 

Seventh: The danger of this division lies in the fact that it makes the polytheists amongst the people of Tawheed Ar-Rububiyah although they definitely aren`t for they don`t have true faith. This also contradicts with the texts of the Quran and the Sunnah. In addition, the proponents of this false division have made it a basis for tagging Muslims with disbelief just because they disagreed with them over secondary issues of Islamic jurisprudence, such as seeking intercession from Prophets and saints, in addition to purely jurisprudential issues that have nothing to do with the Islamic doctrine.

 

 

The published article reflects the opinion of its author

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Summarized Fatawaa

A group of about thirty young men will go to a farm on Friday. Is it permissible for one of us to deliver the sermon (*khuṭbah*) and lead us in the Friday prayer, or is it necessary to go to the nearest mosque?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
The Friday prayer (Jumuʿah) is not obligatory upon a traveler, whether his journey is long or short, if he leaves his place of residence before the time of Fajr begins, according to the Shāfiʿī school. If, however, he sets out on his journey after the Fajr adhān, then he is obliged to perform the Friday prayer, whether in his own town or in any town where the Friday prayer is held.
It is stated in Bushrā al-Karīm (Vol.1/p.383), one of the books of the Shāfiʿī school: “[The Friday prayer] is not obligatory upon a traveler on a permissible journey, whether long or short, if he departs from his place of residence before dawn.” End quote.
Accordingly, if you set out on your journey after Fajr, you are obliged to perform the Friday prayer in the mosque. The same applies if you set out after that, since you would not have fulfilled the conditions for the validity of the Friday prayer, among them: that it be attended by forty men who are free, adult (bāligh), sane, and settled residents of the place where Friday is held. It must be held within a cluster of connected buildings, whether a city, a village, or a district (liwāʾ), for what counts is the gathering of the buildings. And Allah Almighty knows best.

What is the ruling of Islamic Law on following the actions of the imam in prayer and how this following is achieved?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
The follower (ma'mum) is required to follow his imam in the actions of the prayer. This "following" (mutaba'ah) means that the follower performs each action of the prayer after the imam has begun it but before he has finished it. For example, the follower bows (in ruku') after the imam has reached the position of bowing, then rises after the imam has risen. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "The imam is only appointed to be followed, so when he says the takbir, say the takbir; and when he bows, then bow; and when he prostrates, then prostrate" (agreed upon, i.e., reported by both al-Bukhari and Muslim).
It is stated in Mughni al-Muhtaj (1/505): "Among the conditions of valid congregational prayer (iqtida') is following the imam in the actions of the prayer... meaning that following the imam is obligatory in the physical actions of the prayer, not in its verbal utterances... Complete following (kamal al-mutaba'ah) is achieved when the follower's beginning of an action comes after the imam's beginning of that same action, while the follower's beginning of the action precedes the imam's completion of it" — end of quote, with slight paraphrasing.
And Allah, the Exalted, knows best.

The Jurisprudential Significance of the Ḥadīth: "Whoever says, at the conclusion of the Fajr Prayer, while crossing his legs, before speaking..."
"Whoever says, at the conclusion of the Fajr prayer, while crossing his legs, before speaking: 'Lā ilāha illā Allāh, waḥdahu lā sharīka lah, lahu al-mulku wa lahu al-ḥamdu yuḥyī wa yumītu wa huwa ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr' ten times — ten good deeds will be recorded for him, ten bad deeds will be erased from him, he will be raised ten levels, he will spend that day in protection from everything disliked and guarded from the devil, and no sin will be able to befall him on that day except associating partners with Allah" — does this noble ḥadīth apply to the imam, and what is meant by "extraneous speech"?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
It is recommended for both the imam and those praying behind him to recite, immediately after the final salām, the specific remembrance reported in the sunnah to be said before turning away from one's place of prayer. The imam then leaves his praying spot, and the act of "turning" is fulfilled when the imam faces the congregation — even without physically leaving his spot — by positioning his right side toward them and his left side toward the qiblah, and this applies even while he is engaged in supplication.
Al-ʿAllāmah Ibn Qāsim al-ʿAbbādī states in his Ḥāshiyah ʿalā al-Tuḥfah (Vol.2/P.105): "It is most virtuous for the imam, once he has given the salām, to rise from his place of prayer immediately afterward." He adds that an exception must be made for the remembrances that are specifically required to be recited before he turns away. He then notes, citing Sharḥ al-ʿUbāb: "Yes, an exception to this rising immediately after the salām applies to the Fajr prayer, due to the authentic report that the Prophet ﷺ, when he prayed Fajr, would remain seated until the sun rose." He further cites, from al-Khādim, the ḥadīth concerning one who recites, at the conclusion of the Fajr prayer while still in the position of crossing his leg to rise: "Lā ilāha illā Allāh, waḥdahu lā sharīka lah..." and the rest of the well-known ḥadīth. He comments that this makes explicit that this particular remembrance is to be recited before the worshipper turns his legs to leave, and the same applies to Maghrib and ʿAṣr, as reported in those contexts as well.
What is meant by "speech" in the relevant ḥadīth is extraneous worldly speech that is not called for after the prayer and for which there is no legitimate excuse. The remembrances reported to be recited upon concluding the prayer, however, do not fall under this category of extraneous speech, since they are themselves required by the sharīʿah.
Al-ʿAllāmah ʿAlī al-Shabrāmalsī states in his Ḥāshiyah ʿalā al-Nihāyah (Vol.1/P.551): "If someone greets a person with salām while he is occupied with reciting this remembrance [i.e., 'Lā ilāha illā Allāh...'], should he return the greeting — without this causing him to forfeit the promised reward, since he is engaged in an obligatory matter — or should he delay returning the greeting until he finishes, this being a legitimate excuse for the delay?" He continues: "I say: the more likely view is the former, and the prohibition on speech is to be understood as applying to extraneous speech for which there is no legitimate excuse. Based on this, should the worshipper give precedence to this remembrance ('Lā ilāha illā Allāh...') or to reciting Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ ('Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad')? This requires consideration, though it is not unlikely that the remembrance takes precedence, given that the Lawgiver urged hastening to it through his words 'while crossing his leg.' This is not considered ordinary speech, since it is not extraneous to what is required after the prayer."
Accordingly, it is recommended for both the imam and those praying behind him to recite this remembrance and to give it precedence over the other remembrances of the prayer, ensuring it is said before they move from their place. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

What should someone do if they fasted for 30 days in their country, then traveled to a place where people are still fasting?

If a person completes 30 days of fasting in their country and then travels to another country where people are still fasting, they should continue fasting with them until they observe Eid. Even if they have already completed 30 days, he/she should abstain from eating and drinking and join the people of that country because he/she has now become part of that community.

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