Abstract:

The most important and fundamental concept in Islamic thought is undisputedly the concept of Unity (Tawhid). The aforementioned concept has been subject to different evaluations thorughout its historical proccess. There are great differences between the notion of Unity asserted by Muslim apologists (mutakallimun) who seek to conceive and defend the principles of Islamic belief; and that of the Fundamentalist movement (Ahl al-Hadith) started by ibn al-Taymiyyah. The basic difference between these views lies within the partition of the concept of Unity into Ontological Unity (Tawhid al-Rububiyyah) and Divine Unity (Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah). This article focuses especially o n Divine Unity, the main reason for this division; and will assert that this concept does not have any tradition as claimed, and that the idea that it has been put forward through inductive reasoning from the Quran and Prophetic Tradition (Sunnah) is not true. For this purpose, the views of Muslim apologists have been set forth and the main doctrines used by this view have been inquired. We have tried to show that these concepts have been made up later on, and are not fit to shape the idea of Unity in Islam

Keywords: