Criticism and Examination of the Arguments for Legitimacy of the Triple Division of Monotheism

The division of monotheism from the viewpoint of Salafism is different of that of other Islamic sects. According to the Salafis, “monotheism in the Names and Attributes”, “monotheism in Lordship (al-rubūbiyyah)” and “monotheism in Divinity or Worship” are the types of Monotheism. Since neither Qur’anic verses or narrations of the Prophet (SAWA) nor narrations of the companions confirm this division, this group used this division through induction of the Qur’anic verse or finding some evidences of the speeches of some of the Muslim scholars in the early Islamic centuries. They believe that every verse in the Qur’an which spoke of monotheism, it will refer to one of the three. But this induction is faulty; because there are some other verses in the Qur’an that prove other types like “monotheism in Government” or “monotheism in Intercession (Shafā’ah)”. Additionally, some other divisions of monotheism referring to the Qur’an are offered by the Muslim scholars even by some of the Salafis that contradict their induction. The second argument is the evidences of the Salaf (predecessors) works. These evidences are not belonged to the Salaf or are not authentic on the basis of the Salafism or are literally distorted or it has been documented to places that the logical rules of division are not observed.