The People of Monotheism

The People of Monotheism may translate several Arabic terms:

• Ahl al-Tawḥīd (Arabic: أهل التوحيد‎‎), a name the Druze use for themselves. Literally, "The People of the Unity" or "The Unitarians," from tawḥid, unity (of God).
• al-Muwaḥḥidun (Arabic: الموحدون‎‎) is an Arabic term meaning "the monotheists." It has currency as:
  • the Arabic name of the Almohads.
  • a term that adherents of Salafism use to describe themselves.
  • a term that the Druze use to describe themselves.^[1]
  • a term that the ʿAlawīs use to describe themselves.^[2]
• Ahl al-ʿAdl wa t-Tawḥīd, "The People of Justice and Monotheism," a term used by the Muʿtazilis to describe themselves.

See also

• Monotheism
• Unitarianism

References

1. Friedman, Yaron (2010). The Nuṣayrī-ʿAlawīs. Leiden: Brill. p. 44. Both Nuṣayrīs and Druzes were Shīʿī sects deeply influenced by Neoplatonism and Gnosticism. Both called themselves muwaḥḥidūn, and considered the study of esoteric knowledge as the true path to monotheism.
2. Friedman, Yaron (2010). The Nuṣayrī-ʿAlawīs. Leiden: Brill. p. 11. According to Nuṣayrī sources, the members of this group called themselves muwaḥḥidūn or ahl al-tawḥīd (monotheists), because they believed that only by combining exoteric (zāhir) and esoteric (bāṭin) knowledge, can complete monotheism be achieved.