The Three Categories of Tawheed

Shakh Muhammad Nasir ud-Deen al-Albaanee on the three categories of Tawheed.

"And I say in truth that Ibn Taymiyyah did not come with something new. Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah has been textually stipulated in the Qur'an as has Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah and Tawheed as-Sifaat. All of these things are textually stipulated in the Qur'an and Sunnah.

However, Ibn Taymiyyah clarified these meanings through Tafsir of their texts from the Book (Qur'an) & the Sunnah. So, it becomes binding upon the Muslims to clarify them with this conciseness because not every Muslim is able to understand, for example where has the text about Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah come from, (or) where has the text about Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah (or al-Ibaadah) come from, (or) where has Tawheed as-Sifaat come from. The common folk are obligated to understand the testimony of Tawheed. So, they are not able to understand it except by way of the people of knowledge.

So, if we disregard the categorisation of Ibn Taymiyyah which clarifies the text of the Book and the Sunnah from which these three categories are derived; from Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah, Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah, and Tawheed as-Sifaat then what is the way that makes possible conceiving the texts to understand this reality, the reality of 'Laa ilaha illallaah'."




Translation & Audio Source:
http://www.sunnahpublishing.net/audio/tawheedalbaanee.wma

Appendix: Definition of the three categories of Tawheed:

1. Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah - Oneness of the Lordship of Allaah: To believe there is only one Lord for all that exists and He is the Creator, Organiser, Planner, Sustainer & Giver of security, and that is Allah.

2. Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah - Oneness of the Worship of Allaah: To believe that none has the right to be worshipped in truth (e.g. praying, invoking, asking for help (from the unseen), swearing, slaughtering sacrifices, giving charity, fasting, pilgrimage etc) except Allaah alone.

3. Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat - Oneness of the Names & Qualities/Attributes of Allaah: To believe that:
We must not name or qualify Allaah except with that He or His Messenger has named or Qualified Allaah.
None can be named or qualified with the Names or Attributes of Allaah, e.g. The Most-High.
We must believe in all the Qualities of Allaah which Allaah has stated in His Book (Qur'an) or mentioned through the Messenger without changing their meanings, or ignoring them completely, or twisting the meanings, or giving resemblance to any of the created things.