Tawhid
Tawhid (توحيد) is the Islamic doctrine of the absolute oneness of God — the first pillar of faith (la ilaha illa Allah). It negates all association (shirk) with God, including any ultimate claim of created things to autonomy.
Philosophical significance
In Haz Al-Din's treatment, tawhid is not merely a metaphysical proposition but a total critique of idolatry in every form:
- Political: no human institution — state, market, nation, or party — may claim absolute validity; all are relative before God. This relativizes every earthly power.
- Economic: the prohibition of riba follows from tawhid — usury makes money claim creative power that belongs to God alone.
- Dialectical: the finite world's dependence on the Absolute grounds a materialist reading of history without positivist closure — nature is God's self-unfolding order, open to rational comprehension (see Communism is Islam).
Classical divisions
Scholars distinguish tawhid al-rububiyya (oneness of lordship), tawhid al-uluhiyya (oneness of worship), and tawhid al-asma wa'l-sifat (oneness of names and attributes).