250616P - TAWHID, SCIENCE AND CIVILIZATION

Presented at the Summer School on June 16, 2025 11.00am Indian time by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)

THE ESSENCE OF TAUHID

• The essence of Allah is one. As humans, we cannot reach or understand the essence of Allah. We can only deal with the names (asmaa) and attributes (sifaat). 
• Part of the creed is belief in the names and attributes of God. They testify to and help humans understand the power and majesty of the creator. 
• The human should, however, not delve into the details of the mechanisms, kaifa, because those are above human intellect and understanding.
• The names of Allah are to be used for Him and Him alone. Humans cannot attribute any of the names to themselves. This includes prophets and the righteous. 
• The sifaat are for Allah alone, and no human or any other creation can have the same attributes. It is a crime to think that Allah’s attributes are similar to human attributes. 

2.0 TAUHID AL RUBUBIYYAT

• The concept of rubuubiyyat is the assertion that there is a creator and sustainer for the universe and all its contents. 
• The creator cannot be created and has neither beginning nor end. 
• The concept of auto-creation, existence without a creator, is untenable because it leads to the logical absurdity of an object 'existing' before it existed. 
• Belief in the oneness of the creator-God, tauhid al rubuubiyyat, is inborn. Any normal human being will innately and instinctively know that there is one creator for the universe. 
• Tauhid al rubuubiyyat is a logical imperative. The harmonious and well-coordinated universe can't have more than one creator. No two creators could agree so perfectly without any contradiction – Surat Anbiya:22. 

• لَوْ كَانَ فِيهِمَا آلِهَةٌ إِلَّا اللَّهُ لَفَسَدَتَا ۚ فَسُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ

• Tauhid al rubuubiyat also explains the harmonious interactions in the ecosystem, the food chains, and the food webs. 

3.0 TAUHID AL ULUHIYYAT

• Tauhid al uluuhiyyat implies worship of one God alone. Nothing else can be associated with Him in worship. 
• Tauhid al uluhiyyat is a logical consequence of tauhid al rubuubiyyat
• The purpose of the creation of the universe is worship of God that is an expression of gratitude to the creator. 

• وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنْسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ. الذاريات: 56.

• All creations involuntarily worship God; it is only humans who sometimes disobey because they were given free will that is misused. 

• {أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالطَّيْرُ صَافَّاتٍ كُلٌّ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُ وَتَسْبِيحَهُ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَفْعَلُونَ} [النور: 41].
• تُسَبِّحُ لَهُ السَّمَاوَاتُ السَّبْعُ وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَّ وَإِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَكِنْ لَا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا} [الإسراء: 44]

• Kufr, denial of God, is ungratefulness of Allah’s great gift of life and all that supports it. 

•  لَئِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَئِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ. إبراهيم ٧ 

• Shirk, associating God with anything else in worship, is an unforgivable sin.
• Shirk is the cause of religious and social anarchy. Shirk arises from not following the dictates of tauhid al uluhiyyat and following other ‘gods’, which leads to social chaos because these ‘gods’ do not have a uniform social law.

TAUHID AL RUBUUBIYYAT IS THE BASIS FOR FIXED PHYSICS AND SOCIAL 

• Tauhid al rubuubiyyat is the basis for fixed and constant laws (sunan) that make the world predictable and enable the development of science and technology
• The laws or sunan are signs of Allah in the universe because they are constant and universal
• The sunan may be physical

•  الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ . الرحمن ٤
• وَآيَةٌ لَّهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُم مُّظْلِمُونَ (37) وَالشَّمْسُ تَجْرِي لِمُسْتَقَرٍّ لَّهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ تَقْدِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ (38) وَالْقَمَرَ قَدَّرْنَاهُ مَنَازِلَ حَتَّىٰ عَادَ كَالْعُرْجُونِ الْقَدِيمِ (39) لَا الشَّمْسُ يَنبَغِي لَهَا أَن تُدْرِكَ الْقَمَرَ وَلَا اللَّيْلُ سَابِقُ النَّهَارِ ۚ وَكُلٌّ فِي فَلَكٍ يَسْبَحُونَ . ياسين ٣٧-٤٠

• The sunan may be social.

• سُنَّةَ ٱللَّهِ فِى ٱلَّذِينَ خَلَوْاْ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ ٱللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا. أحزاب ٦٢
• سُنَّةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلُ ۖ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّةِ اللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا. فتح ٢٣
• سُنَّةَ مَن قَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا قَبْلَكَ مِن رُّسُلِنَا ۖ وَلَا تَجِدُ لِسُنَّتِنَا تَحْوِيلًا. الاسراء ٧٧

• Humans obey the physical laws involuntarily but they can disobey the social laws because Allah gave them the intellectual ability to make choices and that is why they are rewarded and punished.

‘AQIDAT AL TAUHID IS THE ISLAMIC WORLD-VIEW, TASAWWUR ISLAMI, THAT UNDRLIES ISLAMIC CIVILISATION - 1

• Tauhid is the oneness of the creator-God that implies the oneness of the created universe.
• The testament of tauhid is 'there is no god but one God, la ilaha illa al llaahu, which consists of a negation followed by an affirmation. 
• Tauhid encapsulates the Islamic worldview and is the basis of Islamic culture and civilization. 
• Tauhid is an intellectual challenge since the concept of one God above and beyond human and the whole universe is an intellectual and abstract reality that can be only grasped at the highest levels of intellectual competence. 
• Tauhid provides an integrating framework for the whole universe, in whose absence there would be irreconcilable contradictions. 

AQIDAT AL TAUHID IS THE ISLAMIC WORLD-VIEW, TASAWWUR ISLAMI, THAT UNDRLIES ISLAMIC CIVILISATION - 2

• Tauhid is the basis for physical and social laws that govern science, technology, and society. The perfection, order, and harmony of the universe and the human body are empirical proof of the oneness of the creator. 
• Tauhid, as belief in one creator and sustainer, gives purpose and a sense of direction to human civilization. 
• Belief in tauhid guarantees eventual entry into paradise with a short stay in hell as punishment for unforgiven major sins. 
• Tauhid has implications for our daily life based on issuing from one creator: brotherhood and equality, physical laws of science and technology, social laws, economic organization, and political organization.