Tawhid and the Attributes of Allah

Al-Aqeedah al-Tahawiyyah, composed by Imam Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tahawi (239–321 AH / 853–933 CE), is one of the most celebrated and universally accepted concise statements of Sunni Islamic belief. Al-Tahawi was a distinguished scholar of the Hanafi school of law — a student of al-Muzani, himself a student of al-Shafi'i — yet his creed is accepted across all four major legal schools of Ahl al-Sunnah as a faithful summary of the mainstream theological position.

The text opens with a characteristically precise declaration: 'We say about the Tawhid of Allah — believing in Allah's assistance — that Allah is One, without any partner. There is nothing like Him. Nothing can incapacitate Him. There is no god other than Him. He is eternal without beginning (qadim), everlasting without end (da'im). He does not perish or come to an end. Nothing happens except what He wills.'

This opening paragraph accomplishes several major theological tasks simultaneously. The statement 'nothing like Him' (la shay'a mithluhu) establishes divine incomparability (tanzih) as the primary framework for all subsequent discussion of divine attributes. The declaration that He is 'eternal without beginning' (qadim) addresses the question of whether Allah's existence preceded creation — He did, and His existence is not contingent on any prior cause. The statement that He is 'everlasting without end' (da'im) affirms that Allah's existence will never terminate. And the clause 'nothing happens except what He wills' establishes comprehensive divine sovereignty over all events.

Al-Tahawi continues: 'Imagination cannot conceive of Him, and understanding cannot comprehend Him. He is unlike anything that exists among created things, and nothing that exists among created things is like Him.' This is a careful formulation: it does not deny that humans can know things about Allah — the Quran and Sunnah tell us many things about Him — but it asserts that the human mind cannot form a comprehensive mental image of Allah, because His reality exceeds every category of creaturely existence.

On the divine attributes, al-Tahawi affirms that Allah is Living (Hayy), Knowing (Alim), Powerful (Qadir), Willing (Murid), Speaking (Mutakallim), Hearing (Sami'), and Seeing (Basir) — and that all of these attributes are real, not metaphorical or empty designations. He does not engage in the philosophical elaboration that later kalam (theological dialectic) would develop, but simply affirms what the Quran and Sunnah affirm, in the spirit of the early Salaf who accepted the texts of revelation about Allah without asking 'how' (bila kayf) and without likening them to anything in creation (bila tashbih).

The opening chapter also affirms divine uniqueness (wahdaniyyah) in all its dimensions: there is only one God in reality; He has no partners in His lordship, His names and attributes, or His right to be worshipped; and He has no children, consort, or peer. This comprehensive Tawhid is both the starting point of the Tahawiyyah and the thread that runs through its entirety.