What is the real meaning of Tawheed al-Ruboobiyyah?.
Praise be to Allaah, and blessings and peace be upon the
Messenger of Allaah.
Tawheed al-ruboobiyyah means affirming that Allaah is One and
Unique in His actions, such as creation, sovereignty, controlling affairs,
provision, giving life and death, sending down the rain, and so on. A
person’s Tawheed is not complete unless he affirms that Allaah is the Lord,
Sovereign, Creator and Provider of all things, that He is the Giver of life
and death, the One Who brings benefit and causes harm, the only One Who
answers prayers, the One Who is in control of all things, in Whose hand is
all goodness, the One Who is able to do whatever He wills – which also
includes believing in the divine will and decree (al-qadar), both good and
bad.
The mushrikeen among whom the Messenger (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) was sent did not disagree with this aspect
of Tawheed, rather they affirmed it in general terms, as Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“And indeed if you ask them: ‘Who has created the heavens
and the earth?’ They will surely say: ‘The All-Mighty, the All-Knower
created them’”
[al-Zukhruf 43:9]
And they affirmed that
Allaah is in control of all things and that in His hand is sovereignty of
the heavens and the earth. Thus it is known that affirming the Lordship of
Allaah is not sufficient for a person to be a true Muslim, rather he must
also affirm that which is implied by that, namely the oneness of the
divinity of Allaah and he must devote his worship to Allaah alone.
This Tawheed – i.e., Tawheed al-Ruboobiyyah – is not denied
by anyone of the sons of Adam. No one says that the world has two creators
who are equal. No one argued with the idea of Tawheed al-Ruboobiyyah except
Pharaoh, who denied it out of arrogance and stubbornness and even claimed –
may Allaah curse him – to be the Lord. Allaah says of him (interpretation of
the meaning):
“Saying: ‘I am your lord, most high”
[al-Naazi’aat 79:24]
“ ‘I know not that you have an ilaah (a god) other than
me’”
[al-Qasas 28:38]
This was arrogance on his
part because he knew that the Lord was someone other than him. As Allaah
says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And they belied them (those signs) wrongfully and
arrogantly, though their ownselves were convinced thereof”
[al-Naml 16:14]
And Allaah tells us of Moosa when he was debating with him:
“[Moosa (Moses)] said: Verily, you know that these signs
have been sent down by none but the Lord of the heavens and the earth”
[al-Isra’ 17:102]
So he himself recognized that the only Lord is Allaah.
Similarly the Magians (Zoroastrians) rejected the idea of
Tawheed al-ruboobiyyah when they said that the world has two creators,
darkness and light. However they did not regard these two creators as equal,
rather they said that the light is better than the darkness, because it
creates good, and darkness creates evil, and that which creates good is
better than that which creates evil. Moreover darkness is non-existent and
does not shine, whereas light exists and shines so it is more perfect in
and of itself.
The fact that the
mushrikeen affirmed Tawheed al-ruboobiyyah does not mean that they did so in
a complete sense. Rather they used to affirm it in a general sense, as
Allaah tells us in the verses quoted above. But they had some faults in
their beliefs that undermined this concept, such as attributing rain to the
stars, and their belief that soothsayers and fortunetellers had knowledge of
the unseen, and other forms of shirk concerning the divine Lordship. But
these faults are limited compared to their incorrect beliefs with regard to
the oneness of the divine nature (Tawheed al-uloohiyyah) and worshipping
Allaah alone (Tawheed al-‘ibaadah).
We ask Allaah to make us steadfast in adhering to His
religion until we meet Him. And Allaah knows best.
See Tayseer al-‘Azeez al-Hameed, 33; al-Qawl al-Mufeed, 1/14.
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