Tajrid al-Tawhid al-Mufid
- Author died
- 845 AH
- Editions
- Islamic University
Tajrid al-Tawhid al-Mufid (The Useful Treatise on Pure Monotheism) is a concise theological treatise on Islamic creed by the Egyptian historian and scholar Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (766–845 AH / 1365–1441 CE; another report gives his death year as 854 AH). The work is dedicated to clarifying the doctrine of divine oneness (tawhid), delineating the boundaries between monotheism and polytheism (shirk), and refuting the views of various deviant sects.
Contents and Methodology
In his introduction, al-Maqrizi states that he composed the booklet as a resource rich in beneficial points for anyone seeking God and the Hereafter. Despite its brevity, the work departs from traditional theological primers by systematically outlining Islamic sects, their arguments, and their doctrinal errors.
The treatise expounds on several core theological topics:
- Degrees of Monotheism: Al-Maqrizi explains that tawhid has two outer layers: the first is verbal proclamation of the testimony of faith ( لا إله إلا الله , "there is no deity except God"), which refutes Christian trinitarianism but may also be uttered by hypocrites; the second is the inward assent of the heart, representing the faith of the general believers. The innermost core (lubab al-tawhid) entails recognizing all matters as belonging solely to God, cutting off reliance on intermediaries, and dedicating singular worship to Him.
- Divisions of Monotheism: He draws a distinction between monotheism in lordship (tawhid al-rububiyyah) and monotheism in worship (tawhid al-ilahiyyah). He asserts that the polytheists of old acknowledged God's creative lordship but associated partners with Him in love and worship, making tawhid al-ilahiyyah the decisive dividing line between believers and polytheists.
- Forms of Polytheism: The text classifies polytheism into violations of divinity—such as the veneration of idols, angels, jinn, or living and deceased righteous figures taken as intercessors—and violations of lordship, such as the tenets of the Qadariyyah regarding human actions.
- Practices and Causality: Al-Maqrizi discusses verbal expressions of shirk, prostrating to created entities, and the doctrines of theological groups such as the Qadariyyah and the Jabriyyah concerning divine wisdom and teleology (al-hikmah wa-l-ta'lil).
Manuscripts and Editions
Manuscripts of Tajrid al-Tawhid al-Mufid are preserved across several international libraries, including Cairo University Library, the Municipal Library of Alexandria, the Nuruosmaniye Library in Istanbul, the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, Princeton University Library, and Leiden University Library.
The text was printed in Cairo in 1343 AH, followed by an edition prepared by Taha al-Zayni at al-Matba'a al-Muniriyyah in 1373 AH. It has seen multiple subsequent critical editions, including publications edited by Taha Muhammad al-Zayni (Islamic University of Medina, 1409 AH), Ali ibn Muhammad al-Umran (Mecca: Dar Alam al-Fawa'id, 1417 AH), and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman Abu Sayf (Medina, 1418 AH).
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