In this profound lecture, Ousama Alshurafa explains how a deep understanding of Tawheed can radically transform your life. The core idea is that everything revolves around Tawheed.

The Two Parts of the Kalima

It is the Kalima: La ilaha illallah. The Kalima has two parts: negation (La ilaha) and affirmation (illallah). So what are you negating? You are negating the perceived world. Because your faculties, your senses of perception, are limited and finite.

Therefore, you are not getting the real version of the world; you are getting a filtered version of reality. Allah says in the Qur'an:

"Verily, We have created man from Nutfah drops of mixed semen, in order to try him: so We made him hearer and seer."

Allah created man to test him (nabtalihi), and immediately after that word, He says "so" (fa), indicating that the next action is immediate: He gave man the ability to hear and see. This implies that what you see and hear is the very platform of the test.

The True Definition of Iman (Faith)

At the time of death, Allah says, "We have removed from you your veil, so your vision today is sharp." This means you will see what you couldn't see before.

So if I cannot trust my senses, who do I trust? This brings us to the definition of Iman (faith): "Takdhibun nadhar wa tasdiqul khabar" – To deny what you see and to affirm the news (from Allah and His Messenger).

Whenever what I perceive does not align with the Qur'an and Hadith, I negate what I see and affirm what Allah tells me. The basis of the non-believers is Mushahada (seeing is believing). The basis of believers is Ghayb (belief in the unseen) and Mujahada (struggle and striving).

The Nafs (Ego): The Dividing Veil

The self (Nafs) is the very thing that stands between us and Allah. The journey of purification (Tazkiya) is the journey inward, to understand that whoever knows himself knows his Lord.

The Awliya (saints) used to say that Jannah is two steps: one step on your ego, and the other step in Paradise.

The Fruits of Belief: Iman, Taqwa, and Barakah

When you believe that Allah is An-Nafi' (The Benefactor), Ad-Darr (The Harmer), Al-Mu'izz (The Giver of Honor), Al-Mudhill (The Humiliator), that He controls everything, why would you turn to creation?

The fruit of Tawheed is Inaba (turning back to Allah), which leads to Iman (faith). Following Muhammad Rasulullah leads to Niyaba (representation), which leads to Taqwa (God-consciousness). When you have both Iman and Taqwa, it leads to Barakah (blessing).

"And if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah, We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth."

Barakah is when you achieve a lot with little effort; or achieve it with no effort; or when Allah fulfills your need without the means in the first place.

Tawheed is more than a declaration. It is a worldview that reframes our entire existence, shifting our reliance from the seen to the Unseen, from the self to Allah.