Tawheed

What is Tawheed?

the testimony to the Oneness of Allah

What are the types of Tawheed?

What we learned previously?

Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyah means belief that Allah as the Lord of all creatures

Allah has no partner in His Sovereignty

Allah is the

Owner of everything

Creator of everything

Provider of everything

Causer of harm

Giver of benefit

What we learned previously?

Tawheed al-Uloohiyah means belief that Allah alone is worthy of worship

we are not allowed to worship other being no matter how honorable the other being is

3 essential matters

al-Ikhlas

Sincerity

al-Mutaaba’ah

Adherence

as-Sidq

Excellence in worship

Ibaadah is defined as

any action, speech or expression that Allah loves and is pleased with whether it is done openly (seen) or secretly (unseen)

What is it?

belief that Allah has the Most Beautiful Names and the Most Perfect Attributes

without distortion

Tahreef

we should believe in the Names without distorting the meaning

e.g. changing the meaning of Istiwaa (rising) to mean Istawlaa (conquering)

without denying

Ta’teel

we should not deny or question the Names/Attributes of Allah

e.g. التَّوَابُ

meaning "The Acceptor of Repentance"

it is wrong to believe that Allah will not forgive us for our sins

without likening

Tashbeeh

we should believe that Allah's Attributes is not at all similar to His creations.

e.g. the way Allah hears is different from how a human or animal hears

without denying the knowledge of the meaning

Tafweed

it means to accept the words but are ignorant of their meaning

e.g. (الرَّحِيمُ) Allah the Merciful

meaning : AR-RAHEEM

we accept that AR-RAHEEM is one of Allah's Names but we keep complaining when will Allah grant our wishes

without asking how

Takyeef

we should not have any doubt in the Names and Attributes of Allah such as asking how

e.g. “He is the First (nothing is before Him) and the Last (nothing is after Him), the Most High (nothing is above Him) and the Most Near (nothing is nearer than Him).” [57:3]

we should not question how it is possible for Allah to be so High yet so Near to us. This is because human minds is unable to comprehend the Might and Majesty of Allah's Names and Attributes

What are the rules regarding Allah's Names?

All the Names are the best of Names

Allah has the best Names and the Description are Perfect

“وَلِلَّهِ الأسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَى فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا”

“The most beautiful Names belong to Allah: so call on Him by them” - Al-A’raf ayah 180

Names of Allah are all Tawqifiyah

Tawqeef here refers to something that is fix, that we cannot change the meaning according to our will/desire

the Names of Allah and Descriptions comes straight from the Noble Quran and the authentic hadith

we do not know how many Names and Attributes Allah have except those that He made known to us

also, there is no limit to Allah's Name

(الْغَفَّارُ) e.g. Allah the Great Forgiver

AL-GHAFFAR

humans can forgive one another up to a certain limit BUT Allah's forgiveness knows no limits.

Forbidden to confirm a Name to Allah by likening

Allah the All Hearing (السَّمِيعُ)

AS-SAMEE’

it is forbidden to say something/someone has the ability of hearing similar like Allah

Allah the All Mighty (الْعَزِيزُ)

AL-AZIZ

it is forbidden to say there is something/someone having the same might as Allah

The meanings of Allah’s Names are well known but no one knows their manner of action except Allâh

Allah the All Seeing (الْبَصِيرُ)

AL-BASEER

we believe that Allah can see whatever we do, in public and in private, BUT we do not know how of this Seeing occurs

Similarity of names does not mean the similarity of the named

Allah The Provider (الرَّزَّاقُ)

AR-RAZZAAQ

Just because someone's name is Abd Razak does not mean it has the same meaning to AR-RAZZAAQ

Reference

Islamic Studies Grade 8 by Molvi Abdul Aziz; Pg. 6-14.

Minhaj Al-Muslim Vol.1 by Abu Bakr Jabir Al-Jaza’iry