Edited and Slides by OmarKN
19 The Mindful Acknowledgement of tawhīd
Notice, however, that the imitation discussed in jurisprudence pertains only to the Shariʿa – that is, the do’s and the don’ts that the jurists themselves have established on the basis of the scriptural sources.[18] Without such imitation people will not be able to perform Islamic rites and observe the law.
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But one cannot imitate the jurists or anyone else in the foundational article of faith – that is tawhīd, the assertion that God is one. In other words, if one believes in God’s unity in imitation of others, that is no better than not believing.
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As the theologians maintain, faith demands acknowledging the truth in the heart ( al-tasdīq bi'l-qalb ), not blind acceptance. The intellectual tradition takes this mindful acknowledgement of tawhīd as the first stage in recognizing the Real.
Related texts
Muhyiddīn Ibn ʿArabi, Presentation of 30 Texts
[18] The ‘do’s and the don’ts’ are the fiqh, the external rules, but Shari`a is way more than fiqh, it is ”also a set of values and framework for the religious life of Muslims,” (The Heart of Islam: S. H. Nasr) to rectify the inner & outer states for reaching the Divine.
