Mankind�s Greatest Need |
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fatima
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Posted: 08 July 2006 at 7:31am |
Bismillah irrahman irrahim Assalamu alaikum Purification through Tawh�d Mankind�s Greatest Need Ibn Abil-�Izz (d.792H) - rahimahall�h - said: However, it is impossible for the minds to come to know and understand all that in detail, so the Most Merciful , the Most Majestic - from His mercy, sent Messengers to teach that and call to it; and to give good news to those who accept their Call and to warn those who reject it. The key to their Call and the essence of their message was the servant�s drawing closer to All�h - the Most Perfect - through His Names, Attributes and Actions, since all that the Messengers were ordered with is built upon this. This then is followed by two great principles:- Firstly: Knowing the path that leads to Him - and that is the Shar��h which is comprised of His orders and prohibitions. Secondly: That those following the path know what lies in store for them, which is endless bliss. So the people who know All�h best are the ones who best follow the way to Him; and know best what lies at the end of the way.� [1] Firmness Upon the D�n So, firmness upon the D�n of All�h, excellence in this world and salvation in the Hereafter is built upon two great matters: �Firstly: Knowledge of All�h and the beautiful Names and lofty Attributes that befit Him and His Actions - and this necessitates appreciation of His Majesty, honouring Him, fearing Him, being in awe of Him, loving Him, placing one�s hopes in Him, placing reliance upon Him, being pleased with His decree and having patience with what He sends down as regards hardships. Secondly: Knowledge of what He loves and is pleased with, and what He hates and angers Him - whether beliefs saying, or outward or inward actions. So the one who has knowledge of this has to rush to fulfill that which All�h loves and is pleased with, and to avoid that which He hates and which angers Him.� [2] Sufy�n ibn �Uyaynah (d.197H) - rahimahull�h - said: The Essence of Isl�m Explaining the essence of Isl�m and its main pillar, the Prophet sallall�hu �alayhi wa sallam said: �Isl�m is built upon five: Testifying that none has the right to be worshipped except All�h and that Muhammad is the Messenger of All�h, establishing the Sal�h, paying the Zak�h, making pilgrimage to the House and fasting in Ramadh�n.� [4] In another narration: �Isl�m is built upon five: To worship All�h and to reject anything along with Him ... � [5] Also in another narration: �Isl�m is built upon five: The Tawh�d of All�h ... � [6] Thus: �Testifying that none has the right to be worshipped except All�h,� has the same meaning as: �To worship All�h and to reject anything along with Him,� which has the same meaning as: �The Tawh�d of All�h,� So, it will be clear to the honourable reader that Tawh�d is the essence of Isl�m, and it is the starting and ending point for all goodness and excellence. Linguistically Tawh�d means: �To make something one, or to assert the oneness of something.� [7] However, what we are concerned with here is the Shar�ah or technical meaning of Tawh�d which is: �To single out All�h alone for worship.� [8] Al-Bayjowr� - rahimahull�h - said: Shaykh al-Ghunaym�n - hafidhahull�h - said: The Divisions of Tawh�d And Tawh�d - with the Salaf and the Scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jam�ah - has three divisions. �All�mah as-Saf�r�n� (d.1112H) - rahimahull�h - said: �And All�h has gathered these three divisions in His - the Most High�s - saying: �Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, so worship Him alone and be constant and patient in the worship of Him. Do you know of any who is similar to Him?� [12]� [13] �So Tawh�d ar-Rub�biyyah implies: A firm and definite belief that All�h alone is the Creator, the Master and Owner, and the Command is for none but Him.� [14] �And Tawh�d al- Ul�hiyyah is to single-out All�h alone for all worship and not to worship anything along with Him, whether it be an angel, a Messenger, a Prophet, a pious person, a tree, a stone, the sun, the moon, or other than these.� [15] �And Tawh�d al-Asm� was-Sif�t is the uniqueness of All�h - the Most High - with regards to His Names and His Attributes, by affirming that which All�h has affirmed for Himself - whether in His Book or by the tongue of His Messenger sallall�hu �alayhi wa sallam - without tahr�f (distorting the Names and Attributes), ta�t�l (denial of the Names and Attributes), taky�f (saying how they are), or tamth�l (making any resemblance with the creation).� [16] Tawh�d in Knowledge and Action The above three divisions of Tawh�d have been grouped - by some of the Scholars - into two types:- the first type deals with knowing All�h through His Names, Attributes and Actions (i.e. Tawh�d al-Asm� was-Sif�t and Tawh�d ar-Rub�biyyah), and the second deals with actualising and manifesting this Tawh�d through singling out All�h alone for worship (i.e. Tawh�d al-Ul�hiyyah). The first type of Tawh�d is connected with knowledge, whilst the second type is connected with action. Ibn al-Qayyim (d.756H) - rahimahull�h - said: So the first type affirms the reality of the Dh�t (essence) of the Lord - the Most High - along with His Names, His Attributes, His Actions, His speaking in His Books and His speaking to whomsoever He wishes from His servants. It also affirms the all-embracing nature of His Predestination and Pre-Decree and His wisdom. The Qur��n has completely clarified this type of Tawh�d - as occurs at the start of S�rah Had�d and S�rah T� H�, at the end of S�rah al-Hashr, at the beginning of S�rah Sajdah, at the beginning of S�rah �l-�Imr�n and all of S�rah al-Ikhl�s, and other than these. The second type: Then it is what is contained in S�rah al-K�fir�n and contained in His - the Most High�s - saying: �Say: O people of the Book! Come to a word that is just and fair between us and you, that we shall worship none but All�h and that we shall associate no partner along with Him, and that we shall not take others as lords beside All�h. Then if they turn away, say: Bear witness that we are Muslims.� [17] It is also contained at the beginning of S�rah Tanz�l and at the beginning, middle and end of S�rah al-Mu�min, and at the beginning and end of S�rah al-A�r�f and the greater part of S�rah An��m. Indeed every S�rah in the Qur��n comprises these two types of Tawh�d, witnessing to it and calling to it. Since the Qur��n either gives information about All�h, His Names, His Attributes, His Actions and His Sayings - which is Tawh�d al-Ma�rifah wal-Ithb�t (the Tawh�d of knowledge and affirmation); or [ii] it is a call to worship All�h alone without any partner, and a rejection of whatever is worshipped besides Him - and this is Tawb�d al-Ir�d� at-Talab� (the Tawh�d of actions and intentions); or [iii] it is a command to obey Him and to comply with His orders and prohibitions - so this is from the rights of Tawh�d and is a completion of it; or [iv] it gives information about the people of Tawh�d and how they were treated in this world and how they will be honoured in the Hereafter - and this is the reward for Tawh�d; or [v] it gives information about the people of Shirk (associating partners along with All�h) and the punishment they receive in this world and the torment they shall receive in the Hereafter - so this is the reward for those who abandon Tawh�d.� [18] Tawh�d - its Importance in the Qur��n Ibn Abil-�Izz - rahimahull�h - said: Likewise just as: �the great Qur��n opens with Tawh�d it also ends with it. So the Qur��n opens with S�rah al-F�tihah: �All praise belongs to All�h, Lord of the worlds.� and the great Qur��n ends with the S�rah: �Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind.� [21]� [22] Likewise, the greatest �yah in the Qur��n is �yatul-Kurs�. [23] Since this great �yah informs us - from start to finish - purely about All�h�s Names, His Attributes and His Actions. So this further emphasises the importance of the Tawh�d of knowledge. Similarly, S�rah al-Ikhl�s - from start to finish - is concerned with the Tawh�d of knowledge, whilst S�rah al-K�fir�n is connected with the Tawh�d of action. Indeed, the Prophet sallall�hu �alayhi wa sallam said about a man who was reciting al-Kafir�n in the first rak�ah: �This is a servant who believes in his Lord.� Then the man recited al-Ikhl�s in the second, so he sallall�hu �alayhi wa sallam said: �This is a servant who knows his Lord.� [25] The Prophet sallall�hu �alayhi wa sallam said: �Say: He is All�h, the One� is equivalent to one third of the Qur��n. And �Say: O disbelievers ... � is equivalent to a quarter of the Qur��n. [26] What further demonstrates the importance of this Tawh�d is the fact that the Prophet sallall�hu �alayhi wa sallam �would begin his day with Tawh�d (of knowledge and action), since he recited both S�rah al-Kafir�n and S�rah al-Ikhl�s in the two rak��t before Fajr (dawn prayer). [27] And he would end the night by reciting both of these S�rahs in his witr prayer. [28]� [29] Tawh�d - its Importance from the Sunnah And what proves the importance of Tawh�d from the Sunnah is that the Chosen one - �alayhis-sall�tu was sal�m - remained in Makkah thirteen years amongst the disbelievers, calling them to it, and saying to them: �Say: None has the right to be worshipped except All�h and thus be successful ... � [32] Similarly he would send his Companions to various communities ordering them with this Tawh�d first - as was the case when he sent Mu��dh ibn Jabal to Yemen, saying: �Indeed you are going to a people from the People of the Book, so let the Tawh�d of All�h be the very first thing you call them to ... � [35] Clearing a Misconception Shaykhul-Isl�m Ibn Taymiyyah (died 728H) said: And All�h informed us about every Prophet from amongst the Prophets that they called the people to the worship of All�h alone, having no partner, as He said: �Indeed there is an excellent example for you in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people: �Indeed we are free from you and whatever you worship besides All�h. We have rejected you, and there has arisen between us and you, hostility and hatred forever - until you believe in All�h alone.� � [42] And All�h said about the mushriks (pagan idolaters): �When it is said to them: �None has the right to be worshipped except All�h�, they become arrogant. And they say: �Are we to abandon those deities that we worship because of a mad poet?� � [43] And this occurs a lot in the Qur��n. And what is meant by Tawh�d is not merely Tawh�d ar-R�bubiyyah - the belief that All�h alone is the Creator - which is what some of the people of Kal�m (speculative theology) and the S�f�s think! So they think that if they affirm this type of Tawh�d, along with its proofs, then they have affirmed the utmost limits of Tawh�d and that if they bear witness to this and become absorbed in it, then they have absorbed themselves in the limits of Tawh�d! However, this is not the case. Since even if a person agreed to those attributes which are befitting to the Lord, and declared Him free from everything He should be declared free from and affirmed that He alone is the creator of everything - then still such a person would not be a muwahhid (a person of Tawh�d) until along with this, he witnesses that the only Il�h (i.e. object of worship) is All�h (Allah) - (i.e. none has the right to he worshipped except All�h alone) - affirming that All�h alone is the Il�h deserving off all worship, adhering to this worship and associating no partners with Him. Also affirming that this Il�h (object of worship) is He who is deified and worshipped and who deserves worship and it is not that Il�h merely with the meaning: �The One who has the power to create and originate.� [44] So if an explainer (of the Qur��n) explains Il�h to mean: �The One who has the power to create and originate� and believes that this is the most particular description of Il�h and affirms this to be the limits of Tawh�d - as is done by the people of Kal�m, and it is what they say from Ab�l-Hasan al-Ash�ar� [45] and his followers - then they do not know the true reality of the Tawh�d with which All�h sent His Messengers, since the Arab mushriks used to agree that All�h alone is the Creator of everything. Yet despite this, they were still mushriks, as All�h - the Most High - says: �Most people do not believe in All�h except that they commit shirk (i.e. associate others with Him in belief and worship).� [46] A group from amongst the Salaf (the first three generations of Muslims) said: �If you ask them who created the Heavens and the earth, they will say: �All�h� - yet along with this, they worshipped others besides Him.� [47] All�h - the Most High - said: �Say: �Whose is the earth and all that is in it, if you do indeed know?� They will say: �It belongs to All�h.� Say: �Will you not then remember?� Say: �Who is the Lord of the heavens and the Lord of the great Throne?� They will say: �All�h.� Say: �Will you not then fear Him?� � [48] So not everyone who affirms that All�h is the Lord of everything and is its Creator, will be a worshipper of Him to the exclusion of everything else - calling upon Him alone, hoping in Him alone, having fear of Him alone, forming allegiance and enmity for Him, obeying His Messengers, ordering what He orders and forbidding what He forbade.� [49] In Conclusion Shaykh �Abdul-Q�dir al-J�l�n� (d.561H) said: References 1. Sharhul-�Aq�datul-Tah�wiyyah (p.69).
Wassalam Edited by fatima |
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