Tawhid: the oneness of God

Tawhid: the oneness of God: the cards as text

Aqidah. Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review.

  1. Card 1

    One idea, in four short lines. Everything else in Islam grows from it.

  2. Card 2

    Four lines: one, and unlike anything

    How do you say who God is in four lines? Surah al-Ikhlas does it: God is One, the Eternal Refuge, He neither begets nor is born, and nothing is comparable to Him. Muslims call this oneness tawhid.

  3. Card 3

    Qur'an 112:1-4

    قُلۡ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ۝١ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ ۝٢ لَمۡ يَلِدۡ وَلَمۡ يُولَدۡ ۝٣ وَلَمۡ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدُۢ ۝٤

    1 Say: “He is Allah, the One; 2 Allah, the Eternal Refuge. 3 He neither begets nor is He begotten, 4 and there is none comparable to Him.”

  4. Card 4

    Lesson: In surah al-Ikhlas, everything depends on God, and He depends on nothing.

  5. Card 5

    Three sides of one idea

    Saying God is one takes a sentence. Unpacking it takes longer. Many scholars, following Ibn Taymiyyah, explain tawhid in three parts: God alone creates and runs the universe; God alone is worshipped; and God's names and qualities are His alone, unlike any creature's.

  6. Card 6

    Qur'an 42:11

    فَاطِرُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِۚ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنۡ أَنفُسِكُمۡ أَزۡوَٰجࣱا وَمِنَ ٱلۡأَنۡعَٰمِ أَزۡوَٰجࣱا يَذۡرَؤُكُمۡ فِيهِۚ لَيۡسَ كَمِثۡلِهِۦ شَيۡءࣰۖ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡبَصِيرُ ۝١١

    11 the Originator of the heavens and earth. He has given you spouses of your own kind, and pairs of livestock; by which He causes you to multiply. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.

  7. Card 7

    Lesson: God hears and sees, but not as people do.

  8. Card 8

    And its opposite: shirk

    The opposite of tawhid is shirk: associating partners with God, treating anything else as divine or worshipping it. The Qur'an calls it the one sin God does not forgive if a person dies upon it, though all sins are forgiven by repentance.

  9. Card 9

    Qur'an 4:48

    إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَغۡفِرُ أَن يُشۡرَكَ بِهِۦ وَيَغۡفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُۚ وَمَن يُشۡرِكۡ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدِ ٱفۡتَرَىٰٓ إِثۡمًا عَظِيمًا ۝٤٨

    48 Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him, but forgives anything less than that for whom He wills. Whoever associates partners with Allah has indeed committed a grave sin.

  10. Card 10

    Lesson: Even shirk, the gravest wrong, is wiped out by sincere repentance in life.

  11. Card 11

    Reflect: What does surah al-Ikhlas say about God?

    Answer: He is One and nothing is comparable to Him. He is One, the Eternal Refuge, and nothing is comparable to Him.

  12. Card 12

    The end of Tawhid: the oneness of God.

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