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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The Categories of Tawhid and Their Presence in the Qur'an Before the Shaykh al-Islam

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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, some people say that the categories of tawhid did not exist before Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah with these specific names.

Answer:
The questioner : By the glory of Allah, the Qur'an is full of the categories of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). The Qur'an is full of all the categories of tawhid. But these people do not understand it, or they are being deceived. They have not derived the types of tawhid from their own opinions, nor are they technical terms; rather, they took them from the Qur'an. But these people do not understand the Qur'an, or they are being deceived. For example, in the beginning of Surat al-Fatihah, there are types of tawhid.
[All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds -الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
[Al-Fatihah 1:2]
.
(3) The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful, (4) Sovereign of the Day of Recompense.الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
[Al-Fatihah 1:3-4]
These are types of tawhid:
It is You we worship and Youإِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ
[Al-Fatihah 1:5]
"We worship" is tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship); "Lord of the worlds" is tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship); "The Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy" is tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes). Likewise, at the end of the Qur'an, in Surat al-Nas,
(1) Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, (2) The Sovereign of mankind. (3) The God of mankind,أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ مَلِكِ النَّاسِ إِلَٰهِ النَّاسِ
[An-Nas 114:1-3]
these are types of tawhid.
The Shaykh : Ibn Sa'di, in his tafsir (exegesis) of the saying of Allah the Exalted,
(65) Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them - so worship Him and have patience for His worship. Do you know of any similarity to Him?" (66) Andرَّبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فَاعْبُدْهُ وَاصْطَبِرْ لِعِبَادَتِهِ هَلْ تَعْلَمُ لَهُ سَمِيًّا وَيَقُولُ
[Maryam 19:65-66]
this verse contains types of tawhid.
Lord of the heavens and the earthرَّبُّ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
[Maryam 19:65]
"Lord of the heavens and the earth" is tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship),
so worship Himفَاعْبُدْهُ
[Maryam 19:65]
"We worship" is tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship),
Do you know of any similarity to Him?"هَلْ تَعْلَمُ لَهُ سَمِيًّا
[Maryam 19:65]
"Do you know of any who is like Him?" is tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes). But Allah has blinded the insight of these people, so they do not reflect upon the Qur'an, may Allah protect us from that. Yes.
Source شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، بداية من قول المُصَنِّف : الوجه الثاني : أن الله - سبحانه وتعالى - خلق الخلق لعبادته — islamhouse.com (56:51)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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