Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim
The conceptual significance of ''tauhid'' within the Islamic world has implications which extend far beyond its fundamental definition as a religious/philosophical idea limited in its essence to the statement of the Qur''anic principle that God is One. The unity of the Divine provides the touchstone, the underpinning upon which a wider view of tauhid as a general current coursing through the connecting conduits of the Islamic world is based. To limit the understanding of this central pillar of the Faith to its narrowest connotation(ie:God is One) is to fail to see it as it actually exists; and to inaccurately confine it to the realm of theological speculation would result in the isolation of an idea which, in fact, permeates Muslim ideology on a universal level and is incorporated into historical, philosophical, sociological and mystical dimensions of Islamic thought and attitudes.
Tauhid exists as a core concept, as the pivotal hub of a wheel whose outer rim marks the widely divergent circumference of the Islamic world and whose spokes form the supporting connections which link these varying manifestations of Islam to a common axis, to a common point of reference. To examine tauhid as merely a single variable in the vast and complex equation that is Islam is to fail to fathom the conceptual weight of an idea which exists, not as an isolated factor relevant to only one sphere of perception(ie:theological/philosophical), but as a general principle which forms the underlying basis of the entire equation and, to a large degree, determines its very structure.
Tauhid , reduced to its most basic definition, is a word which points with commanding emphasis to the Qur''anic essential of the Oneness of God. It stands forth as a word which underlines and highlights the primary theme of the unity of the Divine which threads its way through the verses of the Qur''an, infusing the entire Book with its forceful accents and an insistent rhythm. It was inevitable that this concept of Unity which pervades every Sura with its essence would come to gain a special status within the overall framework of Islam. It is sufficient to merely glance through the Qur''an to obtain a powerful impression of this repeated and absolute insistence that, in effect, acts as the uniting theme of this Book. Thus it is immediately evident, to even the casual reader, that the material for the inclusion of tauhid as a fundamental concept existed from the time of the Prophet (s.a.).
Muslims would eventually weave a fabric of ideas and images that touch on every area and aspect of life, from the personal to the political, and from the purely theological to the sociological and psychological, in an attempt to infuse each area with the uniting force of tauhid. The Qur''an says: "And your God
Is One God:
There is no God
But He,
Most Gracious,
Most Merciful." (Qur''an 2:163)
This expression of Divine unity flows naturally into verses indicative of a duty on the part of men to reflect this oneness among themselves. "And hold fast
All together, by the Rope
Of God, and be not divided
Among yourselves...
He joined your hearts
In love, so that by His Grace,
Ye became brethern...." (Qur''an 3:103)
And this indicator of an intimate connection between divine unity and social unity paved the way for the development of the conviction that the Qur''anic imperative of tauhid applied directly to the community (ummah) of Islam and pointed towards an eventual linkage of all mankind under the auspices of the ''house'' of Islam.
This leap from unity of community to unity of mankind is a natural interpretation of the historical processes at work in early Islam and their link to the absoluteness of the Qur''an. The Prophet''s (s.a.) efforts at forming a community based on faith-allegiance which superseded the tribal, blood-bonded groups of the period of Jahiliyyah can be seen as a sign pointing to a still greater unity that has yet to emerge. The elimination of tribal-fealty and its replacement by faith-loyalty under Muhammad''s (s.a.) leadership was the first step on a path destined to lead to the eventual gathering of mankind into a brotherhood of faith that takes God as the source of its unity. The mental connection between tribes and nations is easily made and if the Prophet created a "supratribal" community then perhaps Islam''s goal is to achieve a supranational community - such a conclusion is often implicit in the writings of many contemporary Muslim authors.
It was this desire to rise above the divisions, conflicts, and tensions apparent in the territoriality and sectarianism of so many supposedly Islamic nations (and not any desire for conquest) that led Iqbal to proclaim: "China and Arabia are ours, India is ours,/Muslims we are, the whole world is ours."(See A. Schimmel''s Gabriel''s Wing,A Study into the Religious Ideas of Sir Muhammed Iqbal). Iqbal saw the erasing of borders and destruction of partitions as a central purpose and a part of the destiny of Islam. This societal tauhid was necessary if mankind was to mirror the unity of the Divine. Iqbal wrote that... "It was Islam and Islam alone which, for the first time, gave the message to mankind that religion was neither national and racial, nor individual and private, but purely human and that its purpose was to organize mankind despite all its natural distinctions." (Iqbal in "Gabriel''s Wing")
Tauhid as a social force, as a concept encouraging an evolution towards a united mankind (not a uniform mankind) and discouraging divisiveness is a constantly recurring theme in Muslim writings of the current era. This sociological view of tauhid has manifested itself many times in the history of Islamic thought but always in a diluted form. It has been an idea implied within the theological connotations of the word and as a background concept lacking real form and definition. It is only recently (ie:the past century) that this unfocused idea has been sharpened and refined into a more distinct ideology deriving its validity from a fresh interpretation of Islam''s historical heritage combined with a new global awareness that has impinged itself upon the modern conciousness.
The sermons of Ali (a.s.) (the Prophet''s son-in-law) strongly hint at a conception of social tauhid designed to grow out of Divine Tauhid . But his concern was with the already fractured unity of the expanding muslim community and a more encompassing tauhid is a percept more implied than openly stated.(see Nahjul Balagha).
Sociological tauhid is primarily a natural outgrowth of an understanding of Islam''s role in a rapidly shrinking and increasingly interconnected world. It is an understanding Muslims are forced to acquire in a world where a vast number of conflicting ideologies and loyalties war with one another for dominance or for an ideological niche. In the midst of all this confusion there exists for Muslims the same Qur''anic injunction that came down to the first community of believers in Medina: "Let there be one nation of you, calling to good,
and bidding to honour, and forbidding dishonour...
Be not as those who scattered and fell into variance
after the clear signs came to them.... (Qur''an 3:100)"
The purpose of a din (religion, way) which calls for an underlying unity bound by a set of principles that are actively incorporated into the economic,legal, social, political, and personal spheres of life, is to transform ideals into reality - to ground a powerful concept by applying it in the material and social world. It is only in this way that the principle of tauhid may be brought down from the "Divine" plane to the earthly plane and that an earthly unity can be approached. It is the realization that movement towards such a goal is now (more than ever before) necessary that has caused the explosion of intellectual interest in tauhid as a principle which provides a solution to many problems.
Whether in the Qur''an or in the Nahjul Balagha, the call to unity is made to individuals and groups as something which they should aspire to and struggle towards - so the struggle for social unity begins among the individual members of the ummah (in all their varied diversity) and should not be an exercise left for governments to carry through. Like the hajj, this unity should flow from the actions and intentions of individuals desiring to draw near to God by manifesting in their earthly lives and actions the most all-encompassing and overwhelming of Divine traits - Tauhid.
To assume that the notion of tauhid is assimilated on a purely intellectual level by Muslims is to misjudge the deep significance of the concept. It derives its impact, its emotional/intellectual force from the joining of the Divine(unity) with the earthly(unity). Pure Tauhid (Oneness of God) and social tauhid are inextricably intertwined, so that tauhid as a social force takes on the aspect of an idea backed by the Divine Will.
Irshaad Hussain