The importance and exaltation of Tawhied
Category: Tawhied
1 – Tawhied is the most important pillar of Islaam.
It is the most important because if this pillar perishes you have nothing to gain from the rest of the pillars.Everything is based on ‘Laa ilaaha illa-llaah’. That is why the Prophet said the following to Mu3aad ibn Jabal when he sent him to Yemen for da3wah: ” (…) the first thing you should invite them to is to testify that nothing or no one has the right to be worshipped except Allah.
Non-Muslims gain nothing if you initially call them to prayer five times a day, circumcision, the hijaab or stopping consuming alcohol. In doing so, you are making a mountain for them because the basis for performing or stopping those deeds is not yet present with him. The basis: ‘Laa ilaaha illa-llaah’, is not even present with him yet. Let alone that he will accept the other things. The Prophet called for ‘Laa ilaaha illa-llaah’ for thirteen years in Mecca, only in Medina did the other things come in. So we have to give everything its place. When we want to admonish ourselves we admonish ourselves with ‘Laa ilaaha illa-llaah’. How, like by consciously dealing with the Names of Allaah and consciously instilling faith and knowing that Allaah is the one we should worship. Being conscious of the fact that we were created to worship Allaah and if we will use ourselves for something else, we will destroy ourselves. It is not harsh to say that anyone who has a purpose other than to worship Allaah – and thereby achieve His Satisfaction – will destroy himself. It is only harsh if you actually destroy yourself. So do you want to call people to Allaah? Then first deal with the tawhied with them.
When a person enters Islaam, he changes into another person. The soul of the person changes to another person. I experienced this at one of the sister days. A sister said that before she became a Muslim she was worried about how she would dress if she converted. We said to her, “don’t worry about the clothing, just worry about being saved from hell.” After saying the shahaada, she said, “I want to start wearing the hijaab!” This was because at that moment she accepted that she is a servant of Allaah and obeys Him. Therefore, tawhied is the most important thing.
Do you see yourself weakening? Then you need to pick up the tawhied! Consider the example of the car. When the engine is polluted, then the filters need to be changed. Exactly the same thing we should do, we should cleanse our heart (the engine) with ‘Laa ilaaha illa-llaah’ and with imaan. So tawhid is therefore the most important pillar of Islaam and it is the first thing that is obligatory of the actions. The first obligation of people is to have knowledge about tawhied; the matter for which they were created. Can you act without knowledge? No! Allaah says:
“Therefore know that there is no god who has the right to be worshipped except Allaah” Muhammad 19
Allaah has established a procedure, step-by-step plan for the life of man. The first step is: amass knowledge that there is no God worthy of worship but Allaah. The second step is: ask Allaah for forgiveness for your sin. What is the greatest sin? Shirk. If you ask forgiveness for your greatest sin, you will enter Islaam. So you cannot enter Islaam anyway until you have knowledge of tawhid.
2 – Tawhied is the most important thing there is and is among the first obligatory acts.
Tawhied comes before all deeds and comes before all other important things that have been revealed. It is also the first thing that should be invited to. The Prophet told Moe3aadh when he sent him to Yemen, “You will come to a people who belong to the people of the Book: the first thing you should invite them to is to testify that nothing or no one has the right to be worshipped except Allah.” And in another tradition, “Until they make Allah one. “2
3 – The acts of worship are not accepted except when Tawhied is present.
There is a Shart Sihhah (condition for acceptance of the act) here: a basic requirement that must be present before the acts of worship. Acts of worship are not called acts of worship as long as Tawhied is not present, just as there is no question of prayer, except if there is cleanliness. If Shirk creeps into the acts of worship then these acts become invalid, just as cleanliness becomes invalid upon the occurrence of a Hadath(literally an event that occurs causing one to lose the ritual ablution), so the acts, if there is no Tawhied, turn into Shirk. This has the effect of corrupting the deeds and nullifying them. As a result, the perpetrator of these will remain in the Fire forever. Thus, acts of worship are accepted only when there is tawhied. Tawhied is a condition for worship. Where is this tawhied found in? The tawhied is supposed to be realized in the intention at that moment. That means that your intention for that worship is only directed to Allaah. When that is not done then that worship is not accepted. That is the difference between worship and general acts. Eating is a general act; you are not commanded to eat at a certain time or eat a certain dish. In this we have flexibility to eat whatever we want within the halaal matters. But worship is acts that are explicitly commanded by Allaah. So prayer is commanded by Allaah, fasting and performing da3wah is a worship that Allaah has commanded. It is not a general act that we perform daily (like eating). That is why it is said in islaam, “All worship is forbidden until Allaah commands it.” So you are not allowed to worship Allaah except when Allaah commands it, and you should therefore perform the worship in the way that Allaah commands. You cannot say “I am going to dance for a while to worship Allaah.” Allaah has not commanded us to worship Him through dance, so it is absolutely forbidden. We do not know how to worship Him until He tells us. So all worship is forbidden except when Allaah commands us to do so and in the way He commands.
Conversely, the maxim is, “All general acts are permitted except when Allaah forbids this matter.” With the general acts – eating, drinking, marrying – it is not an obligation to do so for the sake of Allaah. Many Muslims eat to satisfy their lust, in doing so they are not stepping outside Islaam. Can you say that act is accepted or not accepted? No, because performing general acts is not about acceptance. However, it is true that when one does his entire prayer for man, he can thereby step outside Islaam. This is because worship is a form of act that may only be expressed to Allaah. This is also why we have dealt with tawhied al-oeloehiyyah. This is also called tawhied al3ibada (unity in worship). Therefore, if your intention in prayer, fasting or whatever worship is not for Allaah alone, then that worship is not accepted. This is because that is the tawhid which is a condition for any worship, as stated in the book. In a nutshell: When you e.g. set your intention for someone other than Allaah, is it accepted? The answer is: no. So it is important that we know tawhied and also practice it in our lives so that our worship is accepted. Otherwise, we are worshipping all our lives without acceptance, which is not only unfortunate but also a loss because it culminates in hellfir