and his companions—indeed, every speculative theologian (1) is, in their view, counted among the people of deviant desires (2), whether he be an Ashʿarī or otherwise.
The third (3) sense of tawḥīd, according to these Ashʿarīs—such as Qāḍī Abū Bakr (4) and others—is that the Exalted has no partner in sovereignty; rather, He is the Lord of everything. This is a sound and true meaning, and it is the finest point to which they have held fast in the fundamentals of their religion, for herein they acknowledge that Allah is the Creator, Nurturer (5), and Disposer of all things. The Muʿtazila and others dissent from this, claiming that some created entities were neither created nor brought into existence by Allah. Yet the Ashʿarīs rebutted that claim with innovations in which they went to extremes: they denied the causal relationships Allah has established, and they rejected the explicit statements of the Quran and the Sunnah that Allah brings things into being through other things—together with other issues whose discussion is not appropriate here.
These, then, are the three meanings that they maintain constitute the import of the Divine Name al-Wāḥid, “the One.”
(1) In the original it reads “fakulla.” This reading is supported by manuscript t and by Dar’ ta’arudh al-‘aql wa’l-naql (Refutation of the Contradiction between Reason and Revelation).
(2) The text between the parentheses is omitted in manuscript s.
(3) In at-Tadmuriyya (p. 62), the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) observes that most scholars of speculative theology (mutakallimun), who address tawḥīd (monotheism) in the works of kalām and rational inquiry, aim to divide tawḥīd into three types: oneness in the Divine Essence (with no partner); oneness in the Divine Names and Attributes (with no equal); and oneness in the Divine actions (with no associate). The third type—known as tawḥīd al-af‘āl (monotheism of actions)—is the most prevalent. It asserts that the Creator of the universe is one, relying on arguments such as the principle of tanāmu‘ (mutual exclusivity) and others. They regard this as the true form of tawḥīd and the meaning of the declaration lā ilāha illā-llāh (“there is no god but Allah”), to the point of equating divinity (ilāhiyya) with creative power. See the chapter “Taqsīm al-Ṭawā’if li’l-Tawḥīd wa Tasmiyat Kulli Ṭā’ifa Bāṭilahā Tawḥīdan” in Madārij al-Sālikīn by Ibn al-Qayyim, vol. 3, pp. 447–449.
(4) In the original it reads “aw” (“or”), a reading confirmed by manuscripts s and t.
(5) In manuscript t it reads “wa murabbi-hi.”