Ubayd Allāh bin Muḥammad bin Baṭṭah al-ʿUkbarī al-Ḥanbalī is one of the great Salafī scholars from the fourth century (304H-387H). He was a student of Abū al-Qāsim al-Baghawī (d. 317H) (رحمه الله) and amongst his students was Abū Nuʿaym al-Asbahāni (d. 430H) (رحمه الله).
Ibn Baṭṭah was a righteous man and an Imām of the Sunnah and he authored his great and monumental work "al-Ibānah" which is a compilation of the creed of the Muslims and a refutation of the deviant sects that had emerged such as the Jahmiyyah, Qadariyyah, Muʿtazilah, Murjiʾah, Khawārij, Rāfiḍah and others.
Ibn Baṭṭah al-ʿUkbarī (رحمه الله) said:[1]
And this is because the foundation of īmān (faith) in Allāh whose belief is obligatory upon the creation in affirmation of of belief in Him is [comprised of] three things:
The first of them: That the slave believe in his Rabbāniyyah (his Lordship over all creation) so that by this he separates from the doctrine of the negators who do not affirm a maker (creator).And the second: That he believes in his Waḥdāniyyah (his sole right to be worshipped) so that by this he separates from the people of shirk (associationism) who affirm the Maker (Creator) but they associated others with Him in worship.
And the third: That he believes Him be to be described with [perfection in His] attributes which are not permitted except for Him to be described with, such as knowledge (ilm), power (qudrah), wisdom (hikmah) and all of what He has descrbed Himself with in His Book.
Since we know that many of those who affirm Him (in His Rabbāniyyah) and single Him out [in His Waḥdāniyyah] with a generalized saying, but who deviate in [the subject of] His Attributes, and thus his deviation in the Attributes is damaging to His Tawḥīd. And also because we find that Allāh, the Most High, has addressed His slaves by inviting them to have belief in all of these three types and to have faith in them.
As for His inviting them to affirm His Rabbāniyyah (Lordship) and His Waḥdāniyyah (sole right to be worshipped alone), then we shall not mention this here due to its length and the vastness of the speech regarding it. And also because the Jahmī claims the affirmation of them both for himself, even if his denial of the Attributes invalidates his claim regarding them both.
This statement establishes that this categorisation and understanding of Tawḥīd was present amongst the scholars upon the way of the Salaf in the fourth century hijrah and was certainly not an innovation of those Scholars who came four to eight centuries later (the 8th and 12th centures after hijrah).
Arabic Text:
Footnotes
1. In his work (الإبانة عن شريعة الفرقة الناجية), "al-Ibaanah", (2/172-173).