Some Thoughts on Tawhid and Partnership
- philhoraia
- Sep 11, 2024
- 13 min read
Tawhid, which Muslims like to talk about, actually means 'Unification'. It does not mean 'Oneness'. The best word for that would be Wahdaniyah'.
Without either the founder of Islam, Jibril or Allah, there is no Islam.
Unification is making that which isn't one into one. Allah is supposed to be an individual. How might an individual be unified? Now, might we speak of unification in connection with Allah? Well, in quran and non-quranic hadith we find Allah and the founder of Islam linked together in a number of places. They are mentioned together in passages such as:
S 33:36 And it was not for a believing man or a believing woman when Allah and his messenger had decided on a matter that they should have a choice in their matter. And he who disobeys Allah and his messenger has clearly strayed.
They decide/decided together, like equals.
S 9:29 Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the last day and do not forbid what Allah and his messenger have forbidden and do not submit to the religion of truth of those who were given the Book until they give the jizyah from subjection while they are abased.
What Allah and the founder of Islam have forbidden.
What about Jibril?
S 2:97 Say: He who was an enemy to Jibril, he sent it down upon your heart with Allah’s permission, confirming what is in front of it and as guidance and good news for the believers.
Jib 'sends down' quran (apparently), just like Allah is supposed to do. The permission, by the way, is irrelevant, as a number of passages indicate that Allah receives permission.
In this hadith the transmitter has Jibril on THE throne. Whose throne might that be?
Yahya reported:
I asked Abu Salama what was revealed first from the Qur'an. He said:" 0, the shrouded one." I said: Or" Recite." Jabir said: I am narrating to you what was narrated to us by the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). He said: I stayed in Hira' for one month and when my stay was completed, I come down and went into the heart of the valley. Somebody called me aloud. I looked in front of me, behind me, on the right of my side and on my left, but I did not see any body. I was again called and I looked about but saw nothing. I was called again and raised my head, and there on the Throne in the open atmosphere he, i. e. Gabriel (peace be upon him) was sitting. I began to tremble on account of fear. I came to Khadija and said: Wrap me up. They wrapped me up and threw water on me and Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, sent down this: you who are shrouded! arise and deliver warning, your Lord magnify, your clothes cleanse."
S 2:98 He who was an enemy to Lah and his angels and his messengers and Jibril and Mikal, Allah is an enemy to the kafirun.
Why are all these taken together?
From an article we read:
Qatada said, “Allah exalted his fame in this world and the Next. There is no speaker, witness nor anyone doing the prayer who fails to say, ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.’”
Abu Sa'id al-Khudri related that the Prophet said, “Jibril came to me and said, ‘My Lord and your Lord says, “Do you know how I have exalted your fame?”’ I said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘“When I am mentioned you are mentioned with Me.”’” Ibn ‘Ata quoted a hadith qudsi saying, “I completed belief with your being mentioned with Me.” And another one which says, “I have made your mention part of My mention so whoever mentions Me, mentions you.”
Ja'far ibn Muhammad as-Sadiq, “No one mentions you as the Messenger but that he mentions Me as the Lord.”
The fact that mention of the Prophet is directly connected to mention of Allah also shows that obedience to the Prophet is connected to obedience to Allah and his name to Allah's name. Allah says, “Obey Allah and His Messenger” (2:32) and “Believe in Allah and His Messenger.” (4:136) Allah joins them together using the conjunction wa WHICH IS THE CONJUNCTION OF PARTNERSHIP. IT IS NOT PERMITTED TO USE THIS CONJUNCTION IN CONNECTION WITH ALLAH IN THE CASE OF ANYONE EXCEPT THE PROPHET. Hudhayfa said that the Prophet said, “None of you should say, ‘What Allah wills and (wa) so-and-so wills.’ Rather say, ‘What Allah wills.’ Then stop and say, ‘So-and-so wills.’”
Al-Khattabi said, "The Prophet has guided you to correct behaviour in putting the will of Allah before the will of others. He chose ‘then’ (thumma) which implies sequence and deference as opposed to ‘and’ (wa) WHICH IMPLIES PARTNERSHIP.”
Something similar is mentioned in another hadith. Someone was speaking in the presence of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and said, “Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has been rightly guided, and whoever rebels against them both (joining them together by using the dual form)...” The Prophet said to him, “What a bad speaker you are! Get up! [Or he said: Get out!]”
Abu Sulayman said, “He disliked the two names being joined together in that way BECAUSE IT IMPLIES EQUALITY.” ... (Qadi Iyad Ibn Musa al-Yahsubi, Kitab Ash-shifa bi ta'rif huquq al-Mustafa (Healing by the recognition of the Rights of the Chosen One), translated by Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley [Madinah Press, Inverness, Scotland, U.K., third reprint 1991, paperback], Part One. Allah’s great estimation of the worth of his Prophet expressed in both word and action, Chapter One. Allah’s praise of him and his great esteem for him, Section 1. Concerning praise of him and his numerous excellent qualities, pp. 7-8; capital emphasis ours) At the Service of Allah and his Associate
What can we say about Isa? Although he is said to be Allah's word and spirit, he is thought to be very much an individual. This individual in quran creates, gives life, raises the dead and abrogates, all of which Allah is said to do.
What about angels? One angel is said to create various senses and even to give life.
From an article:
The Islamic narrations go so far as to even say that angels are used to create a person’s soul while still in the womb:
'Abdullah b. Mas'ud reported: Evil one is he who is evil in the womb of his mother and the good one is he who takes lesson from the (fate of) others. The narrator came to a person from amongst the Companion of Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) who was called Hudhaifa b. Usaid Ghifari and said: How can a person be an evil one without (committing an evil) deed? Thereupon the person said to him: You are surprised at this, whereas I have heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saving: When forty nights pass after the semen gets into the womb, Allah sends the angel and gives him the shape. Then he creates his sense of hearing, sense of sight, his skin, his flesh, his bones, and then says: My Lord, would he be male or female? And your Lord decides as He desires and the angel then puts down that also and then says: My Lord, what about his age? And your Lord decides as He likes it and the angel puts it down. Then he says: My Lord, what about his livelihood? And then the Lord decides as He likes and the angel writes it down, and then the angel gets out with his scroll of destiny in his hand and nothing is added to it and nothing is subtracted from it. (Sahih Muslim, Book 033, Number 6393) Abu Tufail reported: I visited Abu Sariha Hudhaifa b. Usaid al-Ghifari who said: I listened with these two ears of mine Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The semen stays in the womb for forty nights, then the angel gives it a shape. Zubair said: I think that he said: One who fashions that and decides whether he would be male or female. Then he (the angel) says: Would his limbs be full or imperfect? And then the Lord makes them full and perfect or otherwise as He desires. Then he says: My Lord, what about his livelihood, and his death and what about his disposition? And then the Lord decides about his misfortune and fortune. (Sahih Muslim, Book 033, Number 6395)
Here is another version that is translated from the Arabic:
Abdullah ibn Masud said: "The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who is the most truthful (of human beings) and his being truthful (is a fact) told us: ‘The constituents of one of you is gathered in his mother’s womb for forty days, then it becomes a clot of blood within another period of forty days. Then it becomes chewed lump of flesh, and forty days later, Allah sends His angel to it to breathe into it the spirit. The angel comes with instructions concerning four things, so the angel writes down his livelihood, his death, his deeds and whether he will doomed or blessed." (Sahih Muslim, Book 33, Number 6893 (??), text and reference are quoted as given in this Muslim article) Quran Contradiction: Can Angels take away life?
Might there be a number of creators that are members of the Unification? Certainly, quran speaks of Allah's being the best of creators, so there would have to be at least three (Arabic plural). What might these creators be? Well, we know that Isa is a creator.
Baal is potentially a creator.
S 37:125 Do you invoke Baal and leave the best of the creators,
As we have seen, an angel is also a creator.
Now, in a number of passages, we find occurrences of the pronoun 'we' followed by nouns in the plural. An example:
S 15:9 We have sent down the dhikr and we are keepers for it
Muslims will argue that 'we' is a plural of majesty. But 'we' is a pronoun and the so-called plural of majesty doesn't extend to nouns. Otherwise Margaret Thatcher could have said: 'We have become GRANDMOTHERS'. Her statement is a little odd anyway, as who uses a noun in such a construction? Furthermore, quran has a number of passages in which the words eyes and hands are in the plural with 'our' and 'us'. An example:
S 11:37 And make the ship under our eyes and our inspiration and do not address me concerning those who have wronged. They are drowned.
S 36:71 Have they not seen that we have created for them of what our hands have done, cattle, then they are owners of them?
Even if we were to accept the argument that this is figurative and that it refers to one individual, as an individual has but two eyes and two hands, this would be a grammatically incorrect construction. The dual, for two things, would be necessary. But it makes sense if we envisage three or more individuals.
Regarding eyes and hands, see: Allah the Physical Being
Muslims will argue that Allah has no partners. If so, why do Allah and the founder of Islam decide together and declare lawful together? Why is the latter even deciding and declaring? Is he a god?
I quote from an article:
Q. 48:9
That ye (mankind) may believe in Allah and His messenger, and may honour Him, and may revere Him, and may glorify Him at early dawn and at the close of day. Pickthall
Lituminoo biAllahi warasoolihi watuAAazziroohu watuwaqqiroohu watusabbihoohu bukratan waaseelan
The nearest referent in this text, the antecedent of all these pronouns is not Allah, but Muhammad. The text is written in such a way that it is Muhammad who is revered, praised, and glorified!
Note the various translations:
In order that ye (O men) may believe in God and His Apostle, that ye may assist and honour Him, and celebrate His praise morning and evening. Y. Ali
So that you, O people, may believe in Allah and His Rasool, and that you may help him and honor him and glorify Allah morning and evening. F. Malik
That you may believe in Allah and His Apostle and may aid him and revere him; and (that) you may declare His glory, morning and evening. Shakir
That you people may believe in GOD and His messenger, and reverence Him, and observe Him, and glorify Him, day and night. Khalifa
that you may believe in God and His Messenger and succour Him, and reverence Him, and that you may give Him glory at the dawn and in the evening. Arberry
that ye may believe in God and His Apostle, and may aid Him and revere Him and celebrate His praises morning and evening! Palmer
That ye may believe on God and on His Apostle; and may assist Him, and honour Him, and praise him, morning and evening. Rodwell
that ye may believe in God, and his apostle; and may assist him, and revere him, and praise him morning and evening. Sale
‘Abd al-Fadi noted the reason why this couldn’t be referring to Allah, and why there is a problem if this is actually speaking of Muhammad:
This sentence is disrupted because of a sudden shift from addressing Muhammad to addressing other people. Apart from this, the accusative pronoun in ‘succour Him, and reverence Him’ refers, beyond doubt, to Muhammad, who was mentioned earlier, not to God as the English translator understood it. But ‘give Him glory’ refers to God. The entire verse is chaotic. The reader cannot be expected to understand its true meaning from the arrangement of words. It is kufr (‘unbelief’) to say ‘succour Him, and reverence Him, and that you may give Him glory at the dawn and in the evening’ about Muhammad, since glory should be given to God alone. It is also kufr to make such a statement with reference to God, since God almighty is not in need for succour or help! (‘Abd al-Fadi, Is the Qur'an Infallible?, pp. 182-183)
‘Abd al-Fadi was correct regarding it being unbelief to claim that Allah needs help, since it is Allah who helps believers not the other way around:
And God made this promise as pure good tidings, and to assure your hearts by it: for succour cometh from God alone! Verily God is Mighty (AAazeezun), Wise. S. 8:10 Rodwell
And that Allah may help thee with strong help (AAazeezan) - S. 48:3 Pickthall
There are, in fact, passages where people were commanded to help both Muhammad and the messengers:
God took compact with the Children of Israel; and We raised up from among them twelve chieftains. And God said, 'I am with you. Surely, if you perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and believe in My Messengers and succour them (waAAazzartumoohum), and lend to God a good loan, I will acquit you of your evil deeds, and I will admit you to gardens underneath which rivers flow. So whosoever of you thereafter disbelieves, surely he has gone astray from the right way. S. 5:12 Arberry those who follow the Messenger, 'the Prophet of the common folk, whom they find written down with them in the Torah and the Gospel, bidding them to honour, and forbidding them dishonour, making lawful for them the good things and making unlawful for them the corrupt things, and relieving them of their loads, and the fetters that were upon them. Those who believe in him and succour him (waAAazzaroohu) and help him, and follow the light that has been sent down with him -- they are the prosperers.' S. 7:157 Arberry
The above examples clearly show that it is Muhammad who was to be helped according to Q. 48:9, demonstrating that all the pronouns refer to him.
Sunni Muslim writer G.F. Haddad indirectly acknowledges that the text is chaotic and even admits that some, if not many, Muslims had no hesitation in attributing all the pronouns to Muhammad:
"That ye (mankind) may believe in Allah and His messenger, and may honor h/Him, and may revere h/Him, and may glorify h/Him at early dawn and at the close of day" (48:9). Al-Nawawi said that the scholars of Qur'anic commentary have given this verse two lines of explanation, one group giving the three personal pronouns "HIM" a single referent, namely, either Allah ("Him") OR THE PROPHET ("him"); the other group distinguishing between two referents, namely, the Prophet (SAWS) for the first two ("honor and revere him"), and Allah for the last ("glorify Him"). Those of the first group that said the pronouns ALL REFER TO THE PROPHET (SAWS) explained "glorify him" (tusabbihuhu) here to mean: "declare him devoid of inappropriate attributes and pray for him." (The Prophetic Title "Best of Creation"; online edition; bold and capital emphasis ours)
Imagine! Because of the way the Arabic text was written Muslims were confused whether the above verse referred to Allah or Muhammad, or even to both. And yet a simple insertion of a word or two would have helped clarify things. By simply inserting the word Allah and/or Muhammad, depending on whether he had one or both of them in mind, the author would have spared the Muslim community all this trouble.
For instance, if the author intended to convey that believers were to help Muhammad but worship Allah, he could have written it this way:
That you may believe in Allah and His Messenger and help and reverence the Messenger, and that you may glorify Allah at the dawn and in the evening.
Or in this manner:
That you should believe in ALLAH and HIS Messenger, and may help him, and honour him, and that you may glorify ALLAH morning and evening. Sher Ali
In other words, Sher Ali "translated" not the actual text but what he thinks the author should have written. Similarly, another team of translators made use of parentheses to help out the Quran:
In order that you (O mankind) may believe in Allah and His Messenger (SAW), and that you assist and honour him (SAW), and (that you) glorify (Allah's) praises morning and afternoon. Al-Hilali & Khan
To be clear, the author of the Quran could simply have put those words into the text which Al-Hilali & Khan placed in parentheses.
If he was intending to show that Allah is the one being helped and praised, then he could have made it clear by writing it this way:
That you may believe in Allah and His Messenger and help Allah, and reverence Him, and that you may glorify Him at the dawn and in the evening.
The author probably meant to say help the messenger and glorify God, but he formulated this thought incorrectly. People constantly say things in a wrong way, and we still know what they meant, even though what they said literally was something else. This passage simply exposes the thoroughly human origin of the text. God would not have formulated it that way, but when people speak, they make such errors.
Again, this verse exposes the human nature of the text, and it is damaging to the claimed inimitable eloquence of the Quran, since clearly, one can and must improve on the formulation of this verse to make it say what was actually intended. The Quran’s many Gods and Lords: An Analysis of the Worship given to And Deification of Creatures within the Islamic Text
Further reading:
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