Hawzah News Agency (Qom, Iran) - The fourth degree of Tawhid pertains to the oneness of lordship and of the governance of the world and man. This oneness of lordship has two aspects: (a) creative governance (tadbir takwini), and (b) religious governance (tadbir tashrii).

As regards the second aspect, religious governance, this will be addressed in a separate Article below; for now we shall focus on the first aspect. What we mean by creative governance is the means by which the created universe is ordered. The arrangement of
the domain of existence, including its origination and creation, pertains to God’s act alone. It is true that as regards human activities, one is able to separate the aspect of governance from that of origination; for example, one person might construct a factory
and another might manage it. But in the domain of creation, the ‘originator’ and ‘manager’ are one and the same. The point here is that the governance of the universe is inseparable from the source of its creation.
 

The history of the Prophets reveals that this principle of the oneness of creatorship has never been in dispute within their respective communities. If polytheism (shirk) entered into the picture, it generally did so in regard to the question of governance and maintenance of the created order, resulting in the worship of, and servitude to, the agents through which these functions were effected. The polytheists in the time of the Prophet
Abraham believed in one Creator, but erroneously conceived of the stars, the sun and the moon as the lords and governors of the universe. The dispute between Abraham and his people was over this question, precisely.
 

Likewise, in the time of the Prophet Joseph, long after that of Abraham, polytheism asserted itself in respect of this aspect of governance, it being supposed that God, having created the universe, entrusted its governance to others; this subject comes up in the discourse of Joseph addressed to his fellow prisoners.
He asked them:
Are diverse lords better or God, the One, the Almighty? (Sura Yusuf, XII:39)
 

There are also verses in the Quran which show that the polytheists of the time of the Prophet [Muhammad] believed that a part of their destiny was determined by their gods. For example:
And they have chosen gods beside God that they may be a power for them. (Sura Maryam, XIX:81)
 

Likewise it is mentioned:
 

  And they have taken gods beside God in order that they may be helped. It is not in their power to help them; but they [the worshippers] are unto them a host in arms. (Sura Ya Sin, XXXVI:74–75)
 

In many verses, the Quran warns the polytheists that the gods they worship have no power to benefit or harm either those who worship them or their own selves. These verses indicate that the polytheists of the time of the Prophet believed that their gods
could produce benefit or harm for them. It was this belief that motivated their idol-worship. The verses show also that the polytheists associated partners with God, violating thereby the principle of the oneness of creatorship, in respect of the lordship and governance of the Creator over the creation, believing that in these domains their gods wielded effective power. In order to make them cease their idolatry, the Quran affirms the falsity of the aforesaid motive, saying, in effect: the gods which you worship are in no way capable of performing such tasks as you expect of them.
 

In some verses the polytheists are upbraided for conceiving equals and peers of God, and loving them as they ought to love God:
And of mankind are some who take unto themselves rivals to God, loving
them with a love like that [which is the due only] of God. (Sura alBaqara, II:165)
 

This condemnation of associating rivals (nidd, pl. andad) with God is expressed in other verses, the polytheists attributing to their own creations the prerogatives of God, and thus bestowing upon these false gods the love and worship that should be directed solely to transcendent spiritual authority. In other words, it was because they supposed God to have rivals, peers and similitudes, that they engaged in the worship of these imaginary beings.
The Quran tells us, in the words spoken by the polytheists on the Day of Resurrection, that they upbraid both themselves and their idols thus:
 

By God, we were truly in error manifest, when we made you equal with the
Lord of the worlds. (Sura al-Shuara, XXVI:97–98)
 

The sphere of the lordship of God is indeed all-encompassing. In this respect, the polytheists of the Prophet’s time agreed with him; that is, they acknowledged God’s lordship in such domains as the provision of sustenance, the giving and taking away of life and the overall governance of the universe:
 

Say: Who provideth for you from the sky and the earth, or Who owneth hearing and sight; and Who bringeth forth the living from the dead, and bringeth forth the dead from the living; and Who governs over the affair [of creation]? They will say: God. Then say: Will ye not then keep your duty to Him? (Sïra Yïnus, x:31)
Say: Unto Whom belongeth the earth and whosoever is therein, if you have knowledge? Then they will say: Unto God. Say: Will ye not then remember? Say: Who is Lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the tremendous Throne? They will say: Unto God [all that belongeth]. Say: Will ye not then keep your duty to Him? (Sura al Muminin, XXIII:84–87)
 

But these very people, according to the verses cited from Sura Maryam and Sura Ya Sin above, believed their gods to have effective power as regards such matters as victory in war, protection against dangers whilst on journeys, and so on; and, clearer still, they believed their gods to have the right to intercede, supposing them capable of intercession without needing the permission of God, and that such intercession would be effective.
 

Therefore, it is not contradictory to say that, on the one hand, some of the people, in certain matters, recognize that governance pertains to God—and in this respect being, therefore, monotheistic (muwahhid)—and, on the other hand, that they attribute the power of governance and supervision to their gods, believing in their effective authority as regards such matters as making intercession, bestowing profit or causing loss, dispensing of might and granting of forgiveness.
 

Indeed, the polytheists occasionally said, by way of accounting for their practice of polytheism and idolatry: ‘We perform this worship only in order to attain nearness unto God thereby; we do not believe in their effective authority over our lives.’ The Quran
relays this [attempted] justification thus:
 

We worship them only that they may bring us near unto God. (Sura alZumar, XXXIX:3)
But the end of the same verse asserts that such claims are but lies:
 

Lo! God guideth not him who is a liar and ungrateful.
 

However, the affirmation of the oneness of lordship consists in the total rejection of all types of belief in any kind of governance—whether on the universal or particular planes—which is independent of God’s command, and is carried out by any being other than God, in relation to man and the universe. The unitive logic of the Quran dictates not only the rejection of the idea of any kind of independent governance, but also of any kind of worship of what is other than God.
 

The rationale for the oneness of lordship is clear: in respect of the universe and man, the continuous operation of the ‘tools’ of creation cannot be separated from the initial ‘act’ of creation; and if the creator of man and the universe is one, their governor can only be one. Because of this clear link between creating and governing the universe, one finds that God, in the course of describing the creation of the heavens, makes Himself known as the governor over all creation, saying:
 

God it is Who raised up the heavens without visible supports, then mounted the Throne, and compelled the sun and the moon to be of service. Each runneth unto an appointed term; He governs over the affair [of creation]. (Sura al-Rad, XIII:2)
 

In another verse, the harmony of the order ruling over creation is given as evidence of the unity of the governor of the universe:
 

If there had been therein gods other than God, then verily both [the heavens and the earth] would have been disordered. (Sura al-Anbiya, XXI:22)
 

The principle of the oneness of governance, however, does not preclude the validity of belief in other ‘governors’ who, with the permission of God, carry out their respective duties. In truth, they do but constitute one aspect of the various means by which the lordship of God is outwardly deployed. Thus, the Quran, in the very midst of stressing the oneness of lordship, clearly establishes the reality of other ‘governors’.
... And those who govern the event. (Sura al-Naziat, LXXIX:5)

Reference:

 Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, Doctrines of Shii Islam, A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices, Translated and Edited by Reza Shah-Kazemi, published by I.B.Tauris Publishers, London • New york  2003