MEANINGS SECRETED IN THE STATEMENT TERMED KALIMA-I-TAWHÎD

Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî says in the 3rd letter of the third volume of his Maktûbât:

May hamd be to Allâhu ta’âlâ, and salâms and perfections be over His born slaves whom He has chosen and loves! ‘Lâ ilâha ill-Allah!’ This statement means: Allâhu ta’âlâ, alone, has the right of ulûhiyyat and ma’bûdiyyat. He does not have a partner, a coowner, or a likeness. He is the Wâjib-ul-wujûd; His existence is definitely indispensable. Attributes and symptoms of imperfection and creatableness do not exist in Him. Ma’bûd means ‘something worshipped’. ’Ibâdat means ‘to serve as a qul’, ‘to worship’, i.e. khudhû’ and tezellul. In other words, it means to humiliate oneself. A Being who possesses all Attributes of Perfection, Highness, and Goodness, who does not have any imperfection, who is needed by all beings so that they may exist and continue existing, who does not need anything for anything, who, alone, can be of benefit or cause harm to all, and nothing can be of benefit or cause harm to anything else without His permission and order, and who always exists and the only Being who always exists, all others being nonexistent both in the beginning and in the end, is the only Being to be worshipped. Only such a person is possessed of the right to be worshipped. And such a person is Allâhu ta’âlâ, alone, and no one else; nor can another such person exist. If we should say that another person also possesses these attributes of perfection, then That other Person cannot be said to be ‘another person’. Being another person will require being a different person. If we should think of such another person as a person different from Him and other than Him, then that second person will be short of fulfilling the conditions for ulûhiyyat and ma’bûdiyyat. So he will not have the right of ulûhiyyat and ma’bûdiyyat. For, in order for that second person to be different from the first one, the second person will have to lack one of the attributes required for being a ma’bûd, which in turn means imperfection on the part of the second one. If we should suppose that the second one has all the attributes of perfection and yet let him retain one of the attributes of imperfection so that it should be different from the first one, this, again, will mean imperfection on his part. For instance, supposing he is a being not needed by all, then why should those who do not need him need to need him? Supposing he needs something in a certain respect; this also will means imperfection. Supposing benefit or harm to all does not come from him, then why should he be needed, and why should he be worthy of being worshipped? Supposing another person is capable of being of benefit or causing harm to something without his permission or knowledge, in that case also he will be a being not needed, and he will not be worthy of being worshipped. There has to be only one Being who is the sole possessor of all attributes of perfection, only one, without a partner, and who is the only One Being who is worthy of being worshipped. And that one Being is Allâhu ta’âlâ.

Note: You could read from Maktûbât remaining part of the letter.