These include Unity of the Essence (Tawheed thati)...

These include Unity of the Essence (Tawheed thati), Unity of the Attributes ( Tawheed sifati ), Unity of the Actions ( Tawheed afa’ali ), Unity of worship ( Tawheed ibadi ). Unity of the Essence means that the Essence of God is one, none is like Him and no similitude can apply to Him. Everything else is created by Him and thus lower than Him in status and perfection; rather, it cannot be compared to Him.

The Qur’anic verses, “ None is like Him ” and “ And there is none like unto Him ” testify to this. Unity of the Attributes means that God’s Attributes, such as knowledge, power, life, will, perception, hearing, and vision are not distinct from His nature. In other words, any of these Attributes could qualify for His Essence. Unity of the Actions means that all actions, including those of man, are commissioned with the will of God.

Unity of worship means that there is no one besides God who is worthy of worship. Worshipping others amounts to polytheism ( shirk ) and thus causes estrangement from the domain of Islamic monotheism. Exclusively worshipping the One and Only God is different from other categories, in that the other three relate to God, whereas Unity of worship relates to man.

In other words, upholding (a) the integrity of His Essence, rendering it devoid of any peer or similitude, (b) the unity of His Attributes, and (c) the Unity of the Actions, are considered His exclusive preserve. As for the unity of worship, it means that one should worship the One and Only God. And yet, unity of worship can still be considered of His own affairs, in that it involves calling no associates with Him and that He is worthy of worship, i.e.

being the True and Only God that should be worshiped; the phrase, “ There is no god but God ” consists of all classes of monotheism. Naturally, it suggests unity of worship. Unity of the Essence and Unity of worship are the two ancient parts of fundamentals of belief in Islam. For any Muslim to experience any mix-up in these two parts, he would not be deemed Muslim. That is why Muslims are unanimous in upholding these two fundamentals.

However, the Wahhabi sect, founded by Mohammad bin Abdul Wahhab, a follower of Ibn Taymiyyah al-Hanbali ash-Shami maintains that some of Muslims’ beliefs, such as intercession, and some of their devotional works, such as pleading with the prophets and the good Muslims go against the grain of worship. And yet, the rest of Muslims do not share the Wahhabis their views.