When Junayd was asked about the tawhid (the oneness of God) of the khawāṣṣ (the elect), he replied as follows: The servant is like a ḥayāl (phantasm, image) in the presence of Allah Most High, under the flow of divine qudra (power) decrees, with Allah's management and governance prevailing over him. In this state, he is drowned in the waves of the ocean of tawhid, so that, at the maqām (spiritual station) of nearness to the Real, he loses his sensations and movements within the ḥaqīqa (inner reality) of Allah's oneness and wujūd (existence). Thus, he becomes annihilated from himself, from the calls of creation (khalq) to him, and from responding to them. What Allah desires from the servant is then fulfilled directly by the servant himself. That is, the servant's final state returns to his initial state, becoming as he was before he existed (just as before existence he had no will, power, or movement, so now it is the same). (Qushayrī, 147)
When Abū Bakr Tāmistānī was asked: What is tawhid? he replied: Tawhid is three things: the muwahhid (the one who affirms God's oneness), the muwahhad (the One affirmed, i.e., Allah), and the act of tawhid itself.
Ruwaim said: Tawhid is to efface human traces and manifest only divinity (ulūhiyya). (Qushayrī, 148)
There are three kinds of tawhid. The first is the tawhid of the Real for the Real. This is Allah's knowledge of His own waḥdāniyya (oneness).
The second is the tawhid of the Real for creation. This is Allah's decree, as in al-Baqara 2:5, that His servant is a muwahhid (one who affirms tawhid), and His creation of tawhid in the servant's qalb (heart).
The third is the tawhid of creation for the Real. This is the knowledge by the servants of Allah's waḥdāniyya. Only when the servant attains maʿrifa (gnosis, experiential knowledge of God) of the Real can he judge that Allah Most High is One who admits neither union nor separation, and that He cannot be two. (Hujwīrī, 332)
It is narrated that Junayd said: Tawhid is to distinguish the pre-eternal (qadīm) from the originated (ḥādith). That is, when you are of the people of tawhid, you do not see the Pre-eternal (Allah, the eternal being) as the locus of the originated things, nor the originated as the locus of the Pre-eternal. You know that Allah Most High is pre-eternal, and you yourself are necessarily originated. Nothing of your kind can ever be joined with Him, nor can any of His attributes be mingled with you. This is because it is impossible for the Pre-eternal and the originated to be of the same kind, for the Pre-eternal existed before originated things. (Hujwīrī, 334)
Ḥusayn Manṣūr Ḥallāj said: The first step of tawhid is the fanāʾ (annihilation) of tafrīd (singularity). Tafrīd means separating oneself from afflictions, while tawhid requires that nothing remains except the One. In tafrīd, it is permissible to affirm other than Him, but not to describe them with this attribute. Such a description is not appropriate for any but the Real. Tafrīd implies partnership, while tawhid abolishes partnership. The first step in tawhid is the abolition of partnership and the removal of temperament from the path, for to set out on the path with temperament is like setting out without light.
Khusrī said: Our method in tawhid consists of five things: removing the originated, affirming the pre-eternal, abandoning homelands, separating from friends, and forgetting everything known and unknown.
Removing the originated means denying that originated things can coexist with tawhid, and deeming it impossible for originated beings to be present in the sacred Essence of Allah Most High.
Affirming the pre-eternal means believing in the perpetual existence of Allah Most High.
By abandoning homelands is meant severing oneself from everything the nafs (lower self) is familiar and accustomed to, detaching from every place where the qalb (heart) finds comfort, and leaving every place where human nature settles. The hijra (emigration) of the murīd (aspirant, disciple) from all forms of the dunya (world) is only possible through lofty maqāms (spiritual stations), priceless ḥāls (spiritual states), and exalted karāmas (saintly wonders).
By separating from friends is meant turning away from the company of people and turning toward the company of the Real. For every thought that is visited by the dhikr (remembrance) of others (than Allah) becomes, in proportion to its presence in the muwahhid's qalb, a veil and affliction. For by the consensus of all communities, tawhid is to gather one's himma (spiritual aspiration). Finding comfort with others is a sign of scattered himma.
Forgetting everything known and unknown means this: The knowledge of creation is always by time, manner, genus, or nature. Whatever the knowledge of creation affirms about the tawhid of the Real, tawhid rejects. Whatever their ignorance accepts and affirms is the opposite of their knowledge. For ignorance is not tawhid. Unless human management is negated, knowledge of the reality of tawhid is not sound. What is in knowledge and ignorance is nothing but management. This management is based either on baṣīra (spiritual insight) or heedlessness. (Hujwīrī, 335)
Allah Most High has said: "Allah witnesses that there is no deity except Him." (Āl ʿImrān 3:18)
Tawhid is to declare Allah Most High free from ḥadath (origination, createdness). On this path, scholars have spoken what they have to correct understandings of tawhid, and the verifiers have indicated what they have to indicate. Tawhid has three aspects: The first is the tawhid of the common people (ʿawām), which is valid through witnesses. The second is the tawhid of the elect (khawāṣṣ), which is established through realities. The third is the tawhid that subsists with pre-eternity, which is the tawhid of the elect of the elect (akhāṣṣ al-khawāṣṣ).
The first tawhid is to bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, that He has no partner, that He is Aḥad (One), that He neither begets nor is begotten, that He is Ṣamad (absolutely self-sufficient), and that nothing is comparable to Him. This tawhid abolishes the greatest shirk (associating partners with God); upon it the qibla is established, it is necessary to protect it, blood and wealth are spared by it, and the abode of Islam is distinguished from the abode of kufr (disbelief). Even if the common people do not possess the right of inference, they can attain salvation only through this tawhid, after their qalb accepts it with sincerity in testimony, free from all doubt, confusion, and suspicion. This is the tawhid of the common people, which is valid through witnesses. The witnesses are the acts that necessitate risāla (prophethood) and hearing the report, which are obtained through Allah Most High's demonstration (the commands in the revealed texts), and can develop through the observation of the witnesses.
The second type of tawhid is the tawhid of the elect, established through realities. This is the apparent...