And we believe in His oneness in that, meaning that He has no partner in His lordship, nor in His divinity, nor in His names and attributes. Allah the Exalted said:
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The Shaykh :"And we believe in His oneness in that" "in that" refers to lordship, divinity, names, and attributes.
So we believe. Yes, "in that" yes, meaning that He has no partner in His lordship, nor in His divinity, nor in His names and attributes. This is because tawhid (the oneness of Allah) is not possible except in this way. Tawhid has two pillars that are indispensable: affirming the attribute for the One who is made unique and negating it from everything else. For this reason, we say that tawhid must contain two pillars: negation and affirmation. This is because negation is pure non-existence, and affirmation does not preclude sharing. This is a matter of Arabic language.
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Negation is pure non-existence, and affirmation does not preclude sharing. If I say, "There is no one standing in the house," "There is no one standing in the house," this is pure negation. So it is non-existence, whereas the other is existence.
The student: Non-existence.
The Shaykh : There is no one standing in the house. And if I say, "So-and-so is standing in the house," here we have affirmed standing in the house, but it does not preclude sharing; there might be another person standing in the house besides so-and-so. And if I say, "There is no one standing in the house except so-and-so," here the tawhid becomes the uniqueness of so-and-so in standing. We have negated standing from others and affirmed it for him. So be aware that tawhid is not possible except through negation and affirmation. So, we make Allah (Mighty and Majestic) unique in His divinity, His lordship, His divinity, His names, and His attributes. For this reason, the scholars' statement in the issue of attributes is that we believe in them without tahrif (distortion of a text's meaning), ta'til (denial of the divine attributes), takyif (asking how an attribute is), or tamthil (comparing Allah to creation). Yes, Allah the Exalted said:[Maryam 19:65] [Ar-Ra'd 13:16] meaning the Creator of them, the Owner of them, and the Manager of them, because the Rabb (Lord) is the Creator, the Owner, and the Manager. [Al-Ma'idah 5:17] Initially, people imagined that there was nothing between the sky and the earth except things that could not be compared to the heavens and the earth in greatness and power. But after people advanced in knowledge, the science of the universe, it became clear that there are things between the sky and the earth that deserve to be counterparts to the heavens and the earth. That is, you find in the Noble Qur'an [Al-Furqan 25:59] how He specified what is between them, even though it is a void and we only see stars, a moon, and a sun. We say that between the sky and the earth are the great creations of Allah that necessitate it being a counterpart to what? The heavens and the earth. For this reason, you find that people are constantly uncovering secrets in the universe between the sky and the earth that people did not know about before. And His saying [Maryam 19:65] "Worship Him" means to humble yourself to Him by obeying His command and avoiding His prohibition. means "be patient," but "istabir" (strive to be patient) is more eloquent than "isbir" (be patient), because the original form of "istabir" is "istabar" with a taa, but the taa was changed to a taa' for a morphological reason. And "istibaar" (striving for patience) indicates the hardship of patience; it indicates the struggle, so it is more eloquent than the word "isbir." And His saying [Maryam 19:65] this is a negation in the sense of prohibition, meaning you do not know any equal or counterpart to Him, due to the perfection of His attributes. We mentioned previously that this verse contains the three categories of tawhid: lordship, divinity, and names and attributes. Lordship is clear: [Al-Anbya 21:16] Divinity is: [Maryam 19:65] because this category of tawhid is called tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) and tawhid al-'ubudiyyah (oneness of servitude). It is considered tawhid of servitude from the perspective of the human being, and tawhid of divinity from the perspective of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). As for [Maryam 19:65] this contains tawhid of the names and attributes.
So we believe. Yes, "in that" yes, meaning that He has no partner in His lordship, nor in His divinity, nor in His names and attributes. This is because tawhid (the oneness of Allah) is not possible except in this way. Tawhid has two pillars that are indispensable: affirming the attribute for the One who is made unique and negating it from everything else. For this reason, we say that tawhid must contain two pillars: negation and affirmation. This is because negation is pure non-existence, and affirmation does not preclude sharing. This is a matter of Arabic language.
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: Yes.
The Shaykh : Negation is pure non-existence, and affirmation does not preclude sharing. If I say, "There is no one standing in the house," "There is no one standing in the house," this is pure negation. So it is non-existence, whereas the other is existence.
The student: Non-existence.
The Shaykh : There is no one standing in the house. And if I say, "So-and-so is standing in the house," here we have affirmed standing in the house, but it does not preclude sharing; there might be another person standing in the house besides so-and-so. And if I say, "There is no one standing in the house except so-and-so," here the tawhid becomes the uniqueness of so-and-so in standing. We have negated standing from others and affirmed it for him. So be aware that tawhid is not possible except through negation and affirmation. So, we make Allah (Mighty and Majestic) unique in His divinity, His lordship, His divinity, His names, and His attributes. For this reason, the scholars' statement in the issue of attributes is that we believe in them without tahrif (distortion of a text's meaning), ta'til (denial of the divine attributes), takyif (asking how an attribute is), or tamthil (comparing Allah to creation). Yes, Allah the Exalted said:
