Tawhid, this is an Arabic term literally meaning 'making one' or 'unifying'. However Muslims use Tawhid to describe the oneness of Allah.

Authors Avatar

Tawhid, this is an Arabic term literally meaning ‘making one’ or ‘unifying’. However Muslims use Tawhid to describe the oneness of Allah. It is the main part of Iman (faith). Although there is no direct reference of the term in the Quran, Ismail al Faruqi claims that tawhid is the ‘core of all Islamic religion’. Tawhid is the most important Islamic belief and it implies that Allah, who is the Sustained of the universe and the sole Source of its Guidance, creates everything on this earth. Although He gave these human believers free will, Allah sent down guidelines and examples in the form of prophets and revolutions to indicate Muslims in the correct pathway. However, with His Divine Quality of For-knowing He and only he can pre-destine the future He knows what we are going to choose the right or the wrong. Humanity will be judged on the choices we make on the day of judgement (Akhirah).

  The implications of Tawhid are the essential Muslim belief in the oneness of god this means a belief in the oneness of creation. God has created everything so there must be unity. Muslims should believe Tawhid not only in the sense of the oneness of God but also the unity of humanity and the oneness of humanity with nature.

  Muslims apply their belief of Tawhid in their everyday life by following the five pillars of Islam, from which Shahadah is the first central belief. This pillar allows the believer to declare their faith and submit to their creator. To make this submission the believer should say and strongly believe that “there is no god but Allah: Muhammad is Allah’s messenger”. This declaration of faith should be made first thing in the morning and the last thing before going to sleep, this will allow the believer to remember the oneness of Allah therefore keep focused on God. Shirk is the opposite of tawhid and is believe to be a major sin for which a Muslim is no longer seen as a Muslim.

God’s grace is highly portrayed throughout His creation, in respects to this Muslims are taught to share the wonderful gifts God has given them, with the less fortunate community around them. The Muslims are ordered to pay Zakat (3rd pillar of Islam, the Compulsory charity giving) this is 2.5% of their annual income to the Poor people through out the world.

God has been graceful to the humans by first creating them, then the universe that surrounds them. The people didn’t ask to be created but with Allah’s Foreknowledge He knew that his creations will need it. Therefore with Muslims paying Zakat they are reflecting Gods generosity with each other.

   God orders humans to look after their fellow brothers around them however in order to do this they need to concentrate on changing themselves in-order to understand other. They need to build stronger relationships between themselves and their creator, Allah.  The Muslims can do this during the 9th month of the Islamic calendar (Ramadan) when they take up fasting for a month. The fast begins at sunrise and ends during or after sun set in the evening.

  Whilst the Muslims are going without food during the day they focus on God and His creation around them. This period of time helps individuals to strengthen their belief of Allah, and his uniqueness.

  Tawhid can also be seen not only as the oneness but also the unity of God. Muslims portray this by praying five times a day also known as Salah (2nd pillar of Islam). This is done firstly to remind themselves of their only true creator, God and secondly to unity themselves with their fellow Muslim brothers around them. All Muslims carry out the ritual washing (Wudu) before they begin to prayer. Every Muslim prayer near enough at the same time and in the same way.

The sense of unity is also seen through the pilgrimage of Mekah where thousands of Muslims gather to fulfil the requirements of the 5th Pillar of Islam.  They all unite together to perform the activities completed by their true guider, Muhammad PBUH.

    Muhammad (CE. 570 – 632) was a messenger of Allah who was sent to earth by Allah to spread the word of Allah. His duty was to bring the people back to the roots of their religion and warn them of the consequences of not believing in the oneness of Allah. He gave a focus point to the beliefs of Muslims.

Join now!

 During Pre-Islamic Arabia, many people would worship idols, which in the Islamic sense is the biggest sin of all. This is because God is transcendent and nothing is like Him. Muhammad the "Seal of Prophets" disapproved this and invited the worshippers to accept Islam however many rejected it. However know tawhid is seen as highly crucial in term of pre-Islamic Arabia at it proves that there is only one true creator therefore proves that the earlier Muslims were correct both in literal and spiritual sense.

 Muslims believe in God as being unique and exceptional. They believe God is like ...

This is a preview of the whole essay