Dad, what exactly is Tawhid?

One day, the Prophet ﷺ was with Mu‘âdh ibn Jabal رضي الله عنه.

Mu‘âdh was behind him on a mount.

Then the Prophet ﷺ asked him a very important question.

He asked him if he knew the right of Allah over His servants.

Mu‘âdh replied that Allah and His Messenger know best.

Then the Prophet ﷺ explained to him:

The right of Allah over His servants is that they worship Him… and that they associate nothing with Him.

And this is precisely what helps us understand a very important word in Islam.

التوحيد — Tawḥîd.

But… what exactly is Tawḥîd?

Tawḥîd is to recognize that Allah is Unique and to devote to Him what belongs to Him.

Allah alone is our Creator.

Allah alone directs everything.

Allah alone deserves our worship.

And Allah possesses the perfect names and attributes that He has made known to us.

But be careful.

Simply saying:

“I know that Allah exists”

is not enough to explain all of Tawḥîd.

Even some peoples who refused to follow the prophets recognized that Allah was their Creator.

The real problem was that they also worshipped other things with Him.

Yet Allah sent the prophets with the same message:

to worship Allah alone and to associate nothing with Him.

That is why the most important phrase in Islam is:

لا إله إلا الله

“There is no deity worthy of worship in truth except Allah.”

This phrase does not only mean that Allah exists.

It means that all our worship must be for Him alone.

When we pray, we pray to Allah.

When we make a supplication, we supplicate to Allah.

That is why Tawḥîd is so important.

Because it touches everything that the Muslim does.

But the scholars have also explained Tawḥîd in a more detailed way to help us understand it well.

They speak notably of three great categories.

The first concerns what Allah does.

Allah is the Creator.

It is He who gives life.

It is He who gives death.

It is He who provides for His creatures.

It is He who directs everything.

No creature shares with Allah His lordship.

The second concerns our worship.

And this is where we must be very attentive.

Since Allah alone created us…

Allah alone deserves to be worshipped.

When we pray, we pray to Allah alone.

When we make a supplication, we address it to Allah alone.

And the third concerns the names and attributes of Allah.

Allah has spoken to us about Himself in the Quran.

And the Prophet ﷺ taught us things about Him.

So we believe in what Allah has revealed to us about Himself.

Without inventing.

Without comparing Allah to His creatures.

And without attributing to Him what He has not attributed to Himself.

So Tawḥîd teaches us something very simple…

but very great.

Allah is our Lord.

Allah created us.

Allah gives us everything we possess.

And so it is Allah alone whom we worship.

That is why all the prophets called their peoples to Tawḥîd.

All called people to worship Allah alone.

And what you have just learned is only a beginning.

Tawḥîd is something that the Muslim learns all his life.

The more he learns to know Allah, His names, His attributes, what He loves and what He has commanded us…

the more he understands how to worship Him better.

So even if the word Tawḥîd seems simple, its knowledge is immense.

And all our life, we continue to learn it, understand it, and put it into practice.

So when you hear the word Tawḥîd,

think of this:

Allah alone is our Lord, and Allah alone deserves our worship.

This is the heart of the message of all the prophets.

And this is the meaning of this immense statement:

لا إله إلا الله

That is what, exactly…

التوحيد — Tawḥîd is.