The Difference Between Dividing Tawhid into Three Types or Two Types

Question:
Look at the Shaykh and may Allah bless you, and I pray that it be so. This questioner says: Is there a difference between the one who divided al-Dar'i into three types and the one who divided it into two?

Answer:
There is no difference, because the detailed division is three, and the general division is two, because tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes) is included in tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship). However, because of the objections that arose among the later scholars, and the return of old ideas, and the coming of ta'wil (figurative interpretation) and tahrif (distortion of a text's meaning), and the ascribing of names, and so on, the scholars separated it and made it an independent category.