The Blessing of Tawheed
Allah has bestowed countless blessings upon mankind, such as life, children, provisions, homes and shelter, the senses, sight, hearing, intellect, health, strength, knowledge, and much more.
He has subjected everything to man and for his benefit, the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, mountains, oceans, water and all it contains of life, animals, plants, fruits, and everything else.
Allah says,
وَإِن تَعُدُّواْ نِعۡمَةَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحۡصُوهَآۗ
And if you should count the favors of Allāh, you could not enumerate them. (16:18)
However, the greatest blessing from Allah is tawheed.
Allah says,
لَقَدۡ مَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ إِذۡ بَعَثَ فِيهِمۡ رَسُولٗا مِّنۡ أَنفُسِهِمۡ يَتۡلُواْ عَلَيۡهِمۡ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ وَيُزَكِّيهِمۡ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ وَٱلۡحِكۡمَةَ وَإِن كَانُواْ مِن قَبۡلُ لَفِي ضَلَٰلٖ مُّبِينٍ
Certainly did Allāh confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book [i.e., the Qur’ān] and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error. (3:164)
Allah says,
ٱلۡيَوۡمَ أَكۡمَلۡتُ لَكُمۡ دِينَكُمۡ وَأَتۡمَمۡتُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ نِعۡمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ ٱلۡإِسۡلَٰمَ دِينٗاۚ
This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you and have approved for you Islām as religion. (5:3)
Allah created mankind to worship Him by establishing His tawheed.
Allah says,
وَمَا خَلَقۡتُ ٱلۡجِنَّ وَٱلۡإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُونِ
And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. (51:56)
In this world, tawheed is what takes a person out from the darkness of disbelief into the light of Islam.
Allah says,
ٱللَّهُ وَلِيُّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ يُخۡرِجُهُم مِّنَ ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ إِلَى ٱلنُّورِۖ
Allāh is the Ally of those who believe. He brings them out from darknesses into the light. (2:257)
And tawheed is what saves a person from eternal punishment in the fire of hell.
Allah says,
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمۡ خَيۡرُ ٱلۡبَرِيَّةِ
جَزَآؤُهُمۡ عِندَ رَبِّهِمۡ جَنَّٰتُ عَدۡنٖ تَجۡرِي مِن تَحۡتِهَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَآ أَبَدٗاۖ
Indeed, they who have believed and done righteous deeds – those are the best of creatures.
Their reward with their Lord will be gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever. (98:7,8)
So, the tawheed, the Islam is the greatest blessing from Allah.
Abu Sa’id Khudri reported that Mu’awiya went to a circle in the mosque and said:
What makes you sit here? They said: We are sitting here in order to remember Allah. He said: I adjure you by Allah (to tell me whether you are sitting here for this very purpose)? They said: By Allah, we are sitting here for this very purpose. Thereupon, he said: I have not demanded you to take an oath, because of any allegation against you and none of my rank in the eye of Allah’s Messenger is the narrator of so few ahadith as I am. The fact is that Allah’s Messenger went out to the circle of his Companions and said: What makes you sit? They said: We are sitting here in order to remember Allah and to praise Him for He guided us to the path of Islam and He conferred favours upon us. Thereupon he adjured by Allah and asked if that only was the purpose of their sitting there. They said: By Allah, we are not sitting here but for this very purpose, whereupon he (the Messenger) said: I am not asking you to take an oath because of any allegation against you but for the fact that Gabriel came to me and he informed me that Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, was talking to the angels about your magnificence. (Sahih Muslim, 2701)
The sunnah that we have maybe never done before is to gather and speak about the mercy of Allah in that he guided us to Islam when most of mankind are misguided.
Allah says in surah Yusuf about most of mankind,
Allah says,
وَمَا يُؤۡمِنُ أَكۡثَرُهُم بِٱللَّهِ إِلَّا وَهُم مُّشۡرِكُونَ
And most of them believe not in Allāh except while they associate others with Him. (12:106)
The sahabah used to sit talking about the guidance of tawheed. We talk about tawheed in some ways and contexts but not in the way of asking the question why Allah chose me and not someone else, why not your brother or your sister who is in the same house, why not your neighbour, why did Allah choose me? It’s an important question that we should ask. Maybe there is someone else performing much ibadah (worship) but he is a mushrik (polytheist), maybe an ‘alim (a person of knowledge) but he is a mushrik, etc…, but why me? Why not the parents of Muhammad, why not the son of Nuh, the father of Ibrahim, or the uncle of Muhammad? Muhammad was desperate to guide his uncle Abu Talib, say the word laa ilaha ila Allah. Why not them? Why did not Allah choose them? Why did not Allah guide them? This question is important to feel the ni’mah (blessing) of Allah, that Allah chose you among humanity. to feel how big Allah is. To feel the greatness of the true Lord who possesses the most lofty and beautiful names and attributes as only the true Lord can pick and choose and guide and misguide.
He saw in me, in my heart what he did not see in others.
Allah says,
وَلَوۡ عَلِمَ ٱللَّهُ فِيهِمۡ خَيۡرٗا لَّأَسۡمَعَهُمۡۖ
Had Allāh known any good in them, He would have made them hear. (8:23)
He would have helped them understand, meaning to follow the message.
This thing that Allah saw in your heart, you do not see it in your heart and others do not see it either. Who put it there? It was Allah. Even Allah is the One who put it there in you. We must be extremely grateful to Allah for this, that He placed this good in your heart. Also, that He chose you. He wanted khair (good) for you. You have to truly realise the ni’mah of Allah.
Now, how do I react to this ni’mah? If I do not take care of it, Allah can take it away.
Firstly, you have to be humble because just as you do not see in yourself what you have of the good that Allah put there, we do not see what is inside the hearts of other people. We should be humble and good with the people, and not unjust and hasty because we were like them before we became Muslims. We should be humble and just when giving da’wah (calling, i.e., inviting people to Islam) and in the other situations that require humility.
Allah says,
كَذَٰلِكَ كُنتُم مِّن قَبۡلُ فَمَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ
You [yourselves] were like that before; then Allāh conferred His favor [i.e., guidance] upon you. (4:94)
Allah took you out from darkness to light, from jahiliyyah (the state of ignorance) to al-sirat al-mustaqeem (the straight path), to emaan (faith), recognizing tawheed (the Oneness of Allah), away from the worship of others (trees, stones, animals, ideologies, etc.), away from hoping in others as though goodness came from them and not from Allah, away from fearing others as though they controlled what harm comes to a person or not, believing that there is nothing regarding a right path or wrong path from Allah, not believing that He is the One who creates and commands and should be obeyed. He guided us away from following our own desires in what we thought was okay or not, good or bad, thinking and believing that all kinds of disgusting sins and immoral acts were okay, from changing beliefs from one day to another, i.e., something is immoral one day then you wake up on another day and you feel and decide that it is okay, making things up, calling on other than Allah that cannot even hear you let alone bestow blessings upon you, worshipping people in graves, taking human beings as the highest and deciding authority who tell you what is right and wrong, good or bad, permissible and impermissible, having no belief about magic, so if people want to do it, they can do it, believing that a necklace or charm or a coin gives you some sort of good result or fortune for an exam or something you want to be successful in, etc.
This great blessing of tawheed is what saves a person from the hell-fire.
Being grateful in worshipping the one who gave everything as opposed to someone ungrateful who takes all of Allah’s blessings, takes and enjoys all of the blessings Allah put on the earth for Him but does not thank Him by worshipping Him.
Secondly, with regards to taking care of this ni’mah from Allah is to try to always be in connection with Allah, in connection with the tawheed of Allah. Yes, we can learn and must learn other things in the deen (religion), but tawheed must always be there, firmly anchored and maintained, in the mind and heart. Just as Allah guided a person to Islam, to tawheed, He can also take it away if you do not look after it, and the prophets were very eager and careful to maintain and look after their deen and the deen of their children.
Allah says,
فَٱعۡلَمۡ أَنَّهُۥ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ
So know, [O Muḥammad], that there is no deity except Allāh (47:19)
Ibrahim was concerned and gave attention to worshipping Allah
Allah says,
وَٱجۡنُبۡنِي وَبَنِيَّ أَن نَّعۡبُدَ ٱلۡأَصۡنَامَ
“…and keep me and my sons away from worshipping idols.” (14:35)
Allah says,
تَوَفَّنِي مُسۡلِمٗا وَأَلۡحِقۡنِي بِٱلصَّٰلِحِينَ
Cause me to die a Muslim and join me with the righteous. (12:101)
Allah says,
أَمۡ كُنتُمۡ شُهَدَآءَ إِذۡ حَضَرَ يَعۡقُوبَ ٱلۡمَوۡتُ إِذۡ قَالَ لِبَنِيهِ مَا تَعۡبُدُونَ مِنۢ بَعۡدِيۖ قَالُواْ نَعۡبُدُ إِلَٰهَكَ وَإِلَٰهَ ءَابَآئِكَ إِبۡرَٰهِـۧمَ وَإِسۡمَٰعِيلَ وَإِسۡحَٰقَ إِلَٰهٗا وَٰحِدٗا وَنَحۡنُ لَهُۥ مُسۡلِمُونَ
Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob, when he said to his sons, “What will you worship after me?” They said, “We will worship your God and the God of your fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac – one God. And we are Muslims [in submission] to Him.” (2:133)
Allah says,
Then We revealed to you, [O Muhammad], to follow the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth; and he was not of those who associate with Allah. (16: 123)
Allah says,
Then We put you, [O Muḥammad], on an ordained way concerning the matter [of religion]; so follow it and do not follow the inclinations of those who do not know. (45: 18)
Anas reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would often say, “O Turner of the hearts, keep my heart firm upon Your religion!” (Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2140)
Big sahabah (companions) were saved from Jahannam (hell-fire). What if, maybe, an earthquake had come and killed them, or maybe they died before meeting the person who had called them to tawheed, and they died before they did tawbah (repentance)? Allah says about the sahabah being on the on brink of being in the fire.
Allah says,
وَكُنتُمۡ عَلَىٰ شَفَا حُفۡرَةٖ مِّنَ ٱلنَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنۡهَاۗ
And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. (3:103)
