Al-Tawhid (book): Difference between revisions

| caption ='''Bibliographical Information'''

| title_orig = {{ia|التوحید}}

| subject = [[Monotheism]], [[Theology]]

| genre = [[Hadith]]

'''''Kitāb al-Tawḥīd''''' (Arabic: {{ia|کتاب التوحید}} ) (lit. The Book of Divine Unity) is one of the earliest and the most significant theological sources which is compiled by the reputable [[Muhaddith]] (hadith scholar) of fourth/tenth century, Muhammad b. 'Ali b. Babiwayh, known as [[al-Shaykh al-Saduq]]. This book is about [[monotheism]] in its general sense (knowing about [[Allah]]) and comprises narrations about the unity of the Divine essence, affirmation and negation attitudes in understanding Divine attributes, [[attributes of essence]] and [[attributes of action]] and their relation to the Divine essence, eternity and temporality, [[predestination]] and divine providence, [[determinism]] and absolute [[freewill]] and the related topics.

This book is a [[hadith]] collection wherein al-Shaykh al-Saduq, with the slightest degree of interference in the texts of narrations, presents theological discussions. His motive for compiling such a book was to respond to the accusations which were made against [[Shi'a]] beliefs by the enemies of Shi'a. This book has always been at the center of Shi'a scholar's attention as one of the most authentic hadith sources whose content would be cited for various theological discussions.

Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. 'Ali b. Al-Ḥusayn b. Musa al- Qummi (after [[305]]/917 — [[381]]/991), commonly known as [[al-Shaykh al-Saduq]], or Ibn Babawayh, was one of the greatest [[Shi'a]] Muhaddiths (hadith scholar) and the compiler of [[Man la yahduruh al-faqih]], one of [[Four Books| the four major books]] of Shi'a.

Al-Shaykh al-Saduq was the most prominent [[Muhaddith]] and scholar of the [[hadith school of Qom]]. Al-Saduq began teaching and narrating hadiths from a young age, and continued to do so during his travels. He had many students, and many scholars narrated hadith on his authority. His epithet, al-Saduq (the Truthful), indicates his reliability as a [[hadith transmitter]] in the eyes of Shi'a scholars.

There's no doubt that this book was compiled by [[al-Shaykh al-Saduq]] and he himself mentions this book in his other works. According to [[Al-'Allama al-Majlisi|al-Majlisi]], the reliability of attribution of all available works of al-Saduq to him, except for few, is not less than the reliability of attribution of the [[four books]] to their authors.

The title "al-Tawhid" in early centuries of [[Islam]], had been an indication of theological outlines and directions of different sects and schools; for the same reason, many theorists in different [[Islamic sects]] used such manifestos with the title al-Tawhid, to introduce the teachings of their sect. Some of such theorists are as follows:

Likewise, [[Hadith]] promoters from among [[Sunni]]s and [[Shi'a]], set forth particular books with the title al-Tawhid to present their opinions based on [[verse]]s of the [[Qur'an]] and narrations. Aside from [[al-Tawhid lil-Mufaddal]] -that is believed to have been stated under the authority of Imam al-Sadiq (a) - some individuals like: [[Ibn Abi al-Khattab]] (d.[[262]]/876) and [['Ali b. Husayn Babiwayh]] (d.[[329]]/941), the father of [[al-Shaykh al-Saduq]], have authored books about al-Tawhid too. Furthermore, within Hadith collections like [[al-Kafi]], a specific chapter titled: al-Tawhid, is dedicated to this topic. Similar situation existed among Sunnis in the late third to fourth centuries; in addition to Ibn Khuzayma, some individuals like: Ibn Minda ([[310]]/922-[[395]]/1005) in al-Tawhid wa ma'rifat asma' Allah ta'ala, and Hafiz Darqutni ([[306]]/918-[[385]]/995) in al-Tawhid wa al-sifat and each of [[Bukhari]], [[Muslim]], [[Abu Dawud]] and [[Ibn Maja]] within their Hadith collections and under titles like: Kitab al-Iman (the chapter on Faith) or al-rad ala al-jahmiyya (refuting [[Jahmiyya]]) have dealt with the issues of [[Tawhid]] and divine attributes. Historically speaking, in the fourth/tenth century, with the emergence of a gradual weakness in Mu'tazila school and the start of consolidation of [[Ash'ari]] school, the field of narrations started to play major roles in [[theological]] matters and among the theological works within this narrative-inclined movement, probably the book al-Tawhid written by Ibn Khuzayma and the chapter al-Tawhid of ''al-Kafi'' were noteworthy to al-Saduq.

Considering the background discussions about divine essence and attributes, and taking into account the narrative and theological [[Shi'a]] heritage and observing the effects of [[Sunni]] [[hadith]] movement, [[al-Shaykh al-Saduq]] started to compile al-Tawhid to deny the accusations of the belief in divine corporeality and [[predestination]] and to set forth foundations of Shi'a belief based on [[verse]]s of the [[Qur'an]] and narrations.

About the historical position and the significance of this book, in addition to what has already been said, one must take into account the status of the author as one of the three great [[jurist]]s and [[Muhaddith]]s of Shi'a [[Imamiyya]] who compiled the [[Four books|four major books]] of Shi'a hadith collections. Al-Tawhid has been at the center of Shi'a scholars' attention and is deemed as one of the most authentic Hadith sources whose content would be cited. For example, in volumes dedicated to al-Tawhid and Divine Justice from ''[[Bihar al-anwar]]'', [[al-'Allama al-Majlisi]] in numerous occasions has used the narrations of this book from its old manuscripts which were at his disposal.

The book al-Tawhid in which [[Al-Shaykh al-Saduq|al-Saduq]] has used narrations as substantive bases for proving or explaining theological concepts is in fact a well-established theological discipline founded on the bases of the texts of [[hadith]] with the least interference possible. However, in this work al-Saduq has put greater emphasis on the issue of Divine attributes from among various topics related to [[Tawhid]] and the Divine Being; this in turn shows the polemic attitude of the book towards other opposing movements or its defensive nature amid accusations against Shi'a theological structure. The main opponents in such polemic discussions are [[Mushabbiha]] (those who believe in analogous anthropomorphism of the Divine essence) and [[Mujassima]] (those who believe in divine corporeality) although this does not necessarily reflect that Shi'a and [[Mu'tazila]]s are in the same theological stances.

* [[Determinism]] and absolute [[freewill]] and the related topics with divine justice and human freewill

Latter topics in later periods of theological discussions, turned to be a subdivision of Divine actions. In later periods to this day, these issues are addressed under an independent title for Divine Justice in theological works. It seems that in the use and application of such great notion of Tawhid which comprises all related aspects to the Divine Being, al-Saduq follows the footsteps of [[al-Kulayni]] in ''[[al-Kafi]]''. This is when Ibn Khuzayma (d.[[311]]/923) the author of al-Tawhid who is contemporary with al-Kulayni, discussed such topics as divine providence and predestination, determinism and freewill in his [[al-Qadar]].

* The corporeal nature of the divine word and the corporeality of the [[Qur'an]] (along with avoiding the use of adjective "created" for Qur'an).

In addition to these, the great emphasis on the limitations of human intellect in understanding Divine essence and the knowledge of Asma' (divine attributes) and reserving the intellectual discourse to the Divine Greatness and whatever is beneath [['Arsh]] (the Throne) and generally, the insufficiency of intellectual capacity in understanding divine realities is a clear contrast to the excessive reliance of Mu'tazilite on the reason.

In this work, al-Saduq criticizes [[theology]] and theologians. Historically speaking, however, opposition to theology and equating it with [[polytheism]] and [[Bid'a]] (heresy in religion) by creating a chapter on the prohibition of theology and warning of its perishing nature and absolute rejection against theology are coexisting and correlated with certain movements such as [[Mu'tazilite]] and [[Jahmiyya]]; that's because no other theological movement existed within the period of those narrations, that is from [[Imam al-Baqir (a)]] to [[Imam al –Rida (a)]]. Nevertheless, the author's own opinions and inferences in different occasions to explain the meanings of certain narrations are presented in a complete theological design while theological concepts and methods are applied in them. In addition to this, the book al-Tawhid is a precious source for understanding early differences and schisms within [[Shi'a]] community. Like:

His concern over the accuracy of the selected narrations and their coherence between titles and contents is so considerable that even a single repeated, unrelated narration is not found in his book. However, in certain occasions, he immediately reconciles the seeming contradiction by a proper explanation. A quick comparison between this book and its equivalent in [[Sunni]] hadith circles reveals al-tawhid's incomparable level of rationality and coherence of logical structure. Distinction between the Attributes of Essence (Hearing, Seeing, Knowledge, Power etc.) and the Attributes of Action (Speech, Will, Creation etc.) is discussed in this book too. There is an objective unity between the Divine Essence and its attributes, otherwise the problem of multiplicity of the Divine Essence or that of multiple eternals would rise. Instead, the attributes of action are objectively distinct from the Divine Essence. According to the author, the Attributes of Essence are the sign of negation-originated concepts (Divine Knowledge originally means: not being ignorant) and they are the only eternal attributes. However, the attributes of action have positive denotations but they are not eternal.

In these chapters –which occupy a large proportionate of the book- plus presenting Tafsir narrations and the author's explanations, his viewpoints in [[Tafsir]] and even [[Ta'wil]] can be  found. In terms of the Divine Justice and the great foundation of rational distinction between good and evil ( al-Husn wa al-Qubh al-'aqliyyan) al-Saduq firstly excludes them from the scope of emotions and natural desires and attributes them to the faculty of reason and then, describes rationality of a given action as having a rational reason according to which human intellect adjudicates on its goodness.

There are many manuscripts of al-Tawhid in the libraries of [[Iran]]. Some researchers have mentioned about 92 copies to be available. This book was printed for several times in [[Tehran]], [[Mumby]], [[Najaf]], [[Beirut]] and [[Qom]].

* The material for this article is mainly taken from {{ia|[[:fa:کتاب التوحید|کتاب التوحید]]}}} in Farsi Wikishia.