Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Bāz (d. 1420 AH/1999 CE) ؒ
Question: You call to tawḥīd; what is your evidence for the term ‘tawḥīd’, and from where has it been derived?
Answer
There are numerous evidences for this term within the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger . The meaning of tawḥīd is to single Allah out alone, affirming His Oneness and Uniqueness, without any partner.
Among the Qurʾānic verses that indicate this meaning is the statement of Allah :
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
“And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me alone.” [Q 51:56]
And His statement :
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِ
“And We did not send before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that none has the right to be worshipped except Me, so worship Me alone.” [Q 21:25]
There are many other verses which carry this same meaning.
As for the aḥādīth, among them is what has been authentically reported in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī on the authority of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68 AH/687 CE) , that the Prophet said to Muʿādh ibn Jabal (d. 18 AH/639 CE) when he sent him to Yemen:
ادعهم إلى أن يوحدوا الله
“Call them to affirm Allah’s Oneness.” Wording cited by Ibn Bāz; compare Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, no. 7372.
Likewise, it is authentically reported in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim on the authority of Ṭāriq ibn Ashīm al-Ashjaʿī ؓ, that the Messenger of Allah said:
من وحد الله وكفر بما يعبد من دون الله حرم ماله ودمه وحسابه على الله
“Whoever affirms Allah’s Oneness and disbelieves in whatever is worshipped besides Allah, his wealth and his blood are inviolable, and his reckoning is with Allah.” Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, nos. 23a–23b; wording cited by Ibn Bāz.
Here, the Messenger explicitly mentioned ‘affirms Allah’s Oneness’, which clearly indicates the meaning of the statement Lā ilāha illā Allah.
It is also authentically reported in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim on the authority of ʿAbdAllah ibn ʿUmar (d. 73 AH/693 CE) ؓ, that the Prophet said:
بني الإسلام على خمس على أن يوحد الله
“Islam is built upon five: that Allah’s Oneness be affirmed…” Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 16a (excerpt).
to the end of the ḥadīth.
This narration serves as an explanation of his statement in another authentic report:
بني الإسلام على خمس شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمدا رسول الله
“Islam is built upon five: the testimony that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah and that Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah…” Wording cited by Ibn Bāz; compare Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 16c (excerpt).
to the end of the narration.
The narrations conveying this meaning are numerous. And Allah is the Granter of success.
Translator’s Note
[TN]: Other narrations in which the term tawḥīd is explicitly mentioned include the following:
Imām Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā at-Tirmidhī (d. 279 AH / 892 CE) recorded in al-Jāmiʿ (ḥadīth no. 2597) that the Messenger of Allah said:
يُعَذَّبُ نَاسٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ التَّوْحِيدِ فِي النَّارِ حَتَّى يَكُونُوا فِيهَا حُمَمًا ثُمَّ تُدْرِكُهُمُ الرَّحْمَةُ فَيُخْرَجُونَ وَيُطْرَحُونَ عَلَى أَبْوَابِ الْجَنَّةِ قَالَ فَيَرُشُّ عَلَيْهِمْ أَهْلُ الْجَنَّةِ الْمَاءَ فَيَنْبُتُونَ كَمَا يَنْبُتُ الْغُثَاءُ فِي حِمَالَةِ السَّيْلِ ثُمَّ يَدْخُلُونَ الْجَنَّةَ
“Some of the people of tawḥīd will be punished in the Fire until they become like charcoal. Then the Mercy of Allah will reach them, and they will be taken out and cast before the gates of Paradise. The people of Paradise will then pour water over them, and they will sprout as debris carried by a flood sprouts; thereafter, they will enter Paradise.” Al-Jāmiʿ, no. 2597.
Imām Muḥammad ibn Yazīd Ibn Mājah (d. 273 AH / 887 CE) recorded in his Sunan (ḥadīth no. 3122), on the authority of ʿĀʾishah and Abū Hurayrah, that when the Messenger of Allah wished to offer a sacrifice, he purchased two large, fat, horned, black-and-white castrated rams. He slaughtered one on behalf of his nation, for those who testified to Allah with tawḥīd. The quoted portion reads:
فَذَبَحَ أَحَدَهُمَا عَنْ أُمَّتِهِ لِمَنْ شَهِدَ لِلَّهِ بِالتَّوْحِيدِ
“He slaughtered one of them on behalf of his nation, for those who testified to Allah with tawḥīd.” Sunan Ibn Mājah, no. 3122 (excerpt).
References
Al-Qurʾān, 21:25; 51:56.
ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Bāz, Majmūʿ Fatāwā wa Maqālāt Mutanawwiʿah, vol. 3, p. 140, confirmed by his official website, “Evidence for the Word Tawḥīd”.
At-Tirmidhī, Al-Jāmiʿ, no. 2597.
Al-Bukhārī, Aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, no. 7372.
Ibn Mājah, As-Sunan, no. 3122.
Muslim, Aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ, nos. 16a, 16c, 23a–23b.
