Proofs for Unity of Essence in Peripatetic philosophy and transcendent Theosophy

The term "tawhid lit. Unity" is used in various ways in theology, philosophy and mysticism. The most well-known usages are: Unity of Divine Essence, Unity of Divine Attributes, Unity of Divine Acts and Unity of God as only object of worship. Of these the first and foremost is the Unity of Divine Essence since it underlies all degrees of Unity. By this philosophers and theologians mean the Oneness of Holy Essence of God and that he is essentially wholly other than things and there is no partner whatsoever for Him. All sorts of multiplicity and combination are negated of His Essence. In other words the oneness of Essence consists of both Unity and Unicity of Essence for which philosophers and theologians offered various proofs. The present article is to examine the most important of these proofs that is concerned with essential unity of God as demonstrated by Islamic philosophers showing the development of Islamic philosophy in discussing the issue of "Unity of the Essence".