An Argument for Unity of Lordship according to Shiite and Sunni Exegetes

Unity of Lordship (tawḥīd al-rubūbī) is one of the most important levels of monotheism in the path of servitude because most human polytheism is concerning Lordship. Thus, the Quran has used different methods to explain the Unity of Lordship among which the argument for “God’s creatorship”  - since it is believed by all – as well as “divine general guidance” are the most used and most important. Verse fifty of the al-Ṭāhā Chapter is the most comprehensive verse in this regard. Relying on that, the present article has compared the views of exegetes through a descriptive-analytic method with the aim to discover and explain the different types of arguments for Unity of Lordship and has arrived at findings that indicate four systems govern the world in proving divine Lordship, especially existential Lordship: the “agent system” based on the word rabbanā (our Lord); the “internal system” and “external system” based on the phrase “…He who gave everything its creation…” [20: 50] (Qarai translation), and the “teleological system” derived from “… and then guided it.” [20: 50]. These systems are based on proofs that are extracted from the context of the verse. These proofs are the following: three arguments for creatorship: Unity of Creatorship, the correlation between creatorship and lordship, the accompaniment of creation and management due to the harmony in the creation system; two arguments for guidance: the correlation between guidance and lordship, and the correlation between creatorship, guidance, and lordship. Thus, the context of the verse denotes generality, that is, that creation is for all creations and includes their existential guidance and there is no reason to limit the verse to meanings cited in some exegeses. The result of these comprehensive arguments is that the rabb (the managing owner) is only someone who has bestowed a specific existence to each thing according to its interests, benefits, and perfection and has guided it toward the purpose of its creation.