The Arabic word tawhid means literally 'one-ness.' In Islamic theology it expresses the cardinal belief that there is no god but God, a conviction expressed in the proclamation of faith, "La ilaha illa Allah."
The absolute unity of God in Islam is reflected in the fact that one of the most prominent sins in Islam is shirk, the sin of associating partners with God. No human, no animal and no object should be considered God’s equal according to Islamic doctrine. Traditionally this conviction has been made manifest in the prohibition—common to all three major Abrahamic faiths—placed upon representations of God.
The principle of tawhid also informs some of the most important aspects of Islamic ethics. Belief in one god of the kind expressed in Islam is intended to transcend tribal ties, taking into consideration the whole of humanity. The life of Muhammad (pbuh) is seen by the vast majority of Muslims as an exemplar of this, with all of the tribes of Mecca and Medina eventually being brought together during the Prophet’s (pbuh) lifetime. This same principle has been expressed more recently by Usama Hasan. "Labels often obscure realities; and religion is certainly about realities not labels. Wahabi, Sufi, even the Christian, Jewish or Muslim labels—they can become very tribal. But Islam is not supposed to signify a particular tribe; Islam is an ideal of human behaviour."
Creative Commons licensed photo "Perfection" by jjjohn, Flickr
