Tawheed is not a misdeed but dirtied by the extreme

The preponderant Muslim populace does not endorse terrorism; this is certainly not the teachings of the Messenger who taught a peaceful way of 

life to his companions and all mankind to follow – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

A singular and specific victim of the whole macabre incident of the 21 April Easter Sunday bombings by terrorists in Sri Lanka from a standpoint of Muslims was the maligning, tarnishing and distorting of a term indispensable, necessitous and fundamental to the faith of Islam. It’s indeed extremely troubling to the faithfuls that this is the existential coalescing reality. 

A term is essentially integral and intrinsic to Islam and all its prophets, namely Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad (peace be upon all of them). A term loved by Muslims and observed with endless devotion and invocation by billions. A term for which God Almighty created the seven heavens, the seven earths and everything within it. 

A term which terrorists and extremists misuse, abuse and misquote sans proper knowledge, proper concern, proper insight, proper understanding or wisdom. A term with which extremists deceive, distort and debase and prey on the innocent and unsuspecting. 

This term is Tawheed. A term that has become dirty, diabolical and discredited. But the irony of the matter from a mainstream standpoint is that without Tawheed there is no Islam and without Islam there is no Tawheed. This is the ultimate symbiosis in the world. There is nothing, absolutely nothing beyond this.

Tawheed is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheistic Islam. Wahid, ahad and waheed, all of it connote the same idea of one. Allah is Wahid, hence its adherents observe Tawheed – single out all worship to him exclusively. This is Tawheed. He, Allah, has no rivals or peers in any way or form. Knowing Him to be one, with none like unto Him. Whoever does not acknowledge Allah in these terms and does not describe Him as being one with no partner or associate does not believe in Tawheed. So one gets the idea. 

Tawheed is the religion’s central and single-most important concept, upon which a Muslim’s entire faith rests. The rest is built on this foundation. It unequivocally holds that Allah is one and Single; therefore, the Islamic belief in Allah is considered absolutely Unitarian, this is Tawheed.

The concept of Tawheed is divine but attaching a jamaath to it (congregation) is a religious innovation and separating the Muslim nation and possibly not conveying the message as intended “O Messenger! Convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord” (Al Quran 5:67) for good reason the congregation and the principle tenet has to be separated. This is critical. Groups call themselves many things oblivious to real consequences to the people at large.

When a group calls itself the Lord’s Army, the two have to be separated. When another group calls itself the Buddhist Force, the two have to be separated. The same way Tawheed and Jamaath have to be separated, analysed and facts elicited. If this just process is not implemented, great harm can definitely ensue and faithfuls get caught up in the crossfire. Only those with sinister motives, whether in the administration or media, would mix the two and blow it out of proportion. 

The ignorant electronic media in Sri Lanka in particular has been doing just that, causing a lot of harm to the people. It’s extremely important for the non-Muslim world and the intelligence communities to exercise caution, discretion and foresight especially in the light of the kinds of names and branding these terrorists organisations extend to their outfits. This is a very serious issue and be treated as such.

Will a sincere, practising Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or Jew be able to invalidate core teachings and still consider to be a true and sincere follower? That would be impossible. As for Tawheed there is no comparison, no comparison whatsoever. Without Tawheed there will no sun, no moon, no water, no rain, no air, no trees, no mountains, etc. Without Tawheed there will be no Donald Trump, without Tawheed there will be no Vladimir Putin, without Tawheed there will be no Xi Jingping, without Tawheed there will be no Maithripala Sirisena or no Narendra Modi. Why? Because all of this is Allah’s creation. And He says in the final revelation, “And I did not create Jinn and Mankind except for my worship” Al Quran (51:56); this is Tawheed. This is no exaggeration or spiritual condescending but the true and exact reality. This can be accepted or rejected but it wouldn’t remove the entrenched and all-embracing reality. 

Indeed Tawheed is not a misdeed. It’s a creed that transforms man with speed. The terrorists and extremists who mislead and impede will certainly not succeed. Name a country where they have done good deeds and shown eligibility to succeed? As for those who misread the message are kindly exhorted to properly read. Allah Himself decreed His Message would bleed but in the long run it will succeed. The whole universe and what it contains is one unified event which in itself has no lasting reality. Allah is the only reality, Al-Haqq. “He is God, the one, on whom all depend, He does not beget, nor is He begotten, and (there is) none like Him” AlQuran (112:1-4) this is Tawheed. 

“Your Lord has decreed that you shall serve none but Him, and show kindness to your parents” AlQuran (17:23) this is Tawheed. “And to every people we sent a prophet to convey to them that they ought to serve Allah and avoid at-Taghoot” Al Quran (16:36) this is Tawheed. “Serve Allah and do not associate aught with Him” AlQuran (4:36) this is Tawheed. 

Prophet Muhammad (may Allah exalt his mention) said: “What is due to Allah from His creatures is to serve Him alone and never to associate any other being with Him. What is due them is not to punish any person who does not associate aught with Him”; this is Tawheed.

Regardless of the disgusting, despicable, detestable acts of violence Muslim terrorists perpetrate in the name of Islam, not just what happened in Sri Lanka but globally and the Muslim world. Anyway the purity and sanctity of Islam can never be taken away. When they enact violence we also see soon after its replication, a more forceful replication for which these ignoramuses would extend an “allahuakbar” Who opened the door for all of this? It was the Muslim terrorists no doubt. No matter who does what the essence of Islam and its true meaning is deeply etched in the hearts of Muslims and they reject this totally. 

The operation in Sri Lanka was too professional for a raw, callow and rookie terrorist organisation. It’s supposed elaborate planning, keeping the political hierarchy and intelligence at bay pose many questions. One specific issue that continues to bewilder Muslims of Sri Lanka and those outside is how such colossal amounts of superior explosives were freely moved or material freely purchased. From where did they get these military grade explosives? Who actually helped them? Were foreign hands complicit in the operation? These questions have to be answered as what’s at stake is the faith of near two billion people.

In this regard kudos to the courageous and bold Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo and leader of the country’s Catholic Church. He is an intelligent man, a wise man, a man well-endowed with the geopolitical realities of the world. He emphatically and courageously rebuffed the official version. He spoke about a “jathianthara hasthiyak” – an international hand. His staunch defense of Islam was a standalone testimony for the peaceful nature of the religion of Islam.

The preponderant Muslim populace does not endorse this kind of violent methodology. This is certainly not the teachings of the Messenger who taught a peaceful way of life to his companions and all mankind to follow. Terrorists from whatever religion, group or cult have always behaved the same way and never failed to leave their landmark and destructive trail and their accredited and distinct genre of interacting with the civilised world.

[The writer holds MBA (India). Dip M (UK). Dip BA (Can), Dip CSW (Can) and can be reached via email at [email protected].]