[ In the Name of Allaah, the Lord of all the worlds, may His Salaah and Salaam be upon His final Prophet and Messenger, and upon all his family members and companions, and those who follow his way, to proceed… ]

There are some in our time who have divided towheed into four categories, saying, “Towheed is four categories: towheed ar-ruboobiyyah, towheed al-uloohiyyah, towheed al-asmaa’ was-sifaat, and towheed al-haakimiyyah.” In order to say this, they relay on the idea that dividing towheed is just a traditional way of explaining it, not something restricted. Based on this assumption, there is nothing preventing us from adding another category.

So it should be said to such a person: “This division is not a traditional explanation, rather it goes back to the Book and the Sunnah, and the Salaf took these three categories directly from the Book and the Sunnah.”

As for haakimiyyah, then it is true. It is obligatory for us to rule by the Sharee’ah of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic. However this is included in towheed al-uloohiyyah because it is obedience to Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic.

The Salaf did not leave out towheed al-haakimiyyah so that someone later could add it on, verily it was already with them within towheed al-‘ebaadah (towheed al-uloohiyyah)! That is because obeying Allaah by ruling according to His Sharee’ah is a form of worshipping Him, Mighty and Majestic, so it is not made into a separate category. Otherwise, prayer would be a separate category of towheed, paying zakaat would be another separate category, fasting another, Hajj another, and all other forms of worship would be separate categories as well, and there would be no end to the divisions of towheed! This is clearly wrong. All of the forms of worship come under one category, towheed al-uloohiyyah. This category includes it (al-haakimiyyah), and nothing else may be added to them.

There exists a group of them that adds yet another category, a fifth one. They call it itbaa’ ar-rasool (following the Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam). This is also wrong. Following the Messenger is obligatory and there is no way around it, so much that following the Messenger (sallallaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) is from the things that accompany towheed, as no testimony of “laa ilaaha illalaah” is valid without the testimony, “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah.” So this testimony about the messengership of the Messenger accompanies the very testimony of towheed. So following the Messenger is from the things that are obligatory upon the one claiming to be upontowheed, and not a separate category of towheed in itself. The one who violates towheed is called a mushrik or a kaafir, while the one who does not follow the Messenger is a mubtadi’ (innovator).

These are the ones who contradict Ahlus-Sunnah in the division of towheed, and they are either wasteful or miserly. The wasteful one adds to the three categories of towheed unnecessarily, while the miserly one holds to only one category, leaving out the other two [1]. The miserly one leaves out the most important one, the one that we are requested to fulfill, towheed al-uloohiyyah.

As for towheed ar-ruboobiyyah, every nation has agreed upon it, except some rare oddities from the Creation. They have only rejected it out of pride and stubbornness, while they inwardly affirm it. So all of the creation affirms that Allaah is the Creator, the Provider, the Bringer of Life and Death, and the Controller of Affairs, however, this is not the form of towheed that is requested from us [2].

Part 6 – The Towheed Sought From Mankind…