Tawḥīd — the Oneness of God

Tawḥīd is the affirmation of the absolute oneness and uniqueness of God (Allāh) — the doctrine from which the whole of Islam proceeds.

At a glance

At the heart of Islam stands a single, uncompromising claim: that God is one, without partner, equal or likeness. The Arabic word tawḥīd — literally “making one” — names both this truth and the act of professing it. God is understood as the sole creator, sustainer and final judge of all things; He is eternal, self-subsisting, and utterly beyond the created order, yet nearer to a person, in the Qur'an's image, than their own jugular vein.

Scholars traditionally distinguish several dimensions of tawḥīd: the oneness of God's lordship (that He alone creates and governs), the oneness of His worship (that He alone is to be worshipped), and the oneness of His names and attributes (that His qualities are His own and share nothing with creation). The gravest sin in Islam is its violation — shirk, the association of any partner or rival with God.

Tawḥīd shaped Islamic art, law and theology alike: the reluctance to depict living forms in sacred settings, the insistence that no intermediary is needed between the worshipper and God, and the long theological debates over how God's attributes relate to His essence all flow from this one principle.

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Curated reference on Islamic belief and thought. On matters where traditions differ, positions are attributed rather than adjudicated; verify points of doctrine with qualified scholars.