The search for an answer to the modern challenge based on tawhid: The example of Qutb, Shariati, and Faruqi

The Islamic world experienced big changes in its political, economic, and social structure with the impact of wars, occupations, colonialism, and nationalism since the 19th century. In this process, many thinkers from different regions of the Islamic world developed new approaches in the understanding of some religious concepts to solve the problems of Muslims and to ensure their unity and solidarity. The purpose of this study is to show what kind of change has happened in the way that the conept of tawhid is addressed with the effect of historical and social conditions. In this regard, first Abū Mansūr al-Maturīdī's (d. 333/944) work Kitāb al-Tawhīd and Abū al-Muʻīn al-Nasafī's (d. 508/1115) work al-Tamhīd li-Qawā'id al-Tawhīd as classical kalam books; and then Muḥammad ʿAbduh's (d. 1905) Risālat al-Tawḥīd that can be considered as a transition work between the classical and the modern period and Said Halim Pasha's concept of "İslamlaşmak" (Islamization) were examined. Lastly, Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966), Ali Shariati (d. 1977), and Ismail Raji Faruqi's (1986) works were studied, and how they explained the tawhid as the main principle that shapes a Muslim's whole life. Qutb, Shariati, and Faruqi, as Muslim thinkers who lived in the 20th century, did not limit the Islamic doctrine of tawhid to the common way of thinking about believing in one god, and transformed it from a concept related to belief into a worldview that deals with all fields of human life such as history, knowledge, human, society, metaphysics, etc. Moreover, they considered the construction of the Islamic society (ummah) based on this principle to bring the tawhid to life in a real way. While explaining the ideal ummah models, they all referred to the past, in other words to the first Muslim generations; and they developed a dynamic and inclusive ummah model that appeals not only to Muslims, but to all humanity, and deals with not only the problems of Muslims but the matters and problems of humanity. Keywords: Islamic society, tawhid, ummah, worldview