Tawheed
In the name of Allah,
the Beneficent, the Merciful
Allah is absolutely ONE and has no partner or associate. He is the
One and Single God and He is the One and Single Lord (Rabb) and Master
and Owner of everything.
قُلْ هُوَ
اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
اللَّهُ
الصَّمَدُ
لَمْ يَلِدْ
وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
وَلَمْ يَكُنْ
لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
Say, "He is Allah , [who is] One,
Allah , the Eternal Refuge.
He neither begets nor is born,
And there is none like unto Him.
(112: 1-4)
These verses of Chapter Al-Ikhlas inform us of the following:
Allah is Holy and Pure from any type of partners or associate. He
is Single and Absolutely One and has no equal or likeness. He is
Self-Sufficient and doesn’t depend on anyone in any way. On the other
hand, all other creation depends upon Him. So Allah doesn’t need any
helper or partner or child / son or daughter / offspring! And He is High
above any such need. He did not beget and was not begotten and there is
none like unto Him.
Allah the Most High said in Surah Yunus, verse 18:
وَيَعْبُدُونَ
مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنْفَعُهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ
هَؤُلَاءِ شُفَعَاؤُنَا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ قُلْ أَتُنَبِّئُونَ اللَّهَ بِمَا
لَا يَعْلَمُ فِي السَّمَوَاتِ وَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى
عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
And they worship other than Allah that which neither harms
them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with
Allah " Say, "Do you inform Allah of something He does not know in the
heavens or on the earth?" Exalted is He and high above what they
associate with Him.
وَالَّذِينَ
يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ لَا يَخْلُقُونَ شَيْئًا وَهُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ
أَمْوَاتٌ
غَيْرُ أَحْيَاءٍ وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ أَيَّانَ يُبْعَثُونَ
And those whom they invoke besides Allah create nothing
and are themselves created.
They
are, [in fact], dead, not alive, and they do not perceive when they will
be resurrected. (16: 20-21)
Explanation: in these two
verses, it has been shown that the belief that those in graves or
shrines can intercede for us is wrong. These verses confirm that the
dead bodies lying in the graves are helpless even for themselves. After
death, they cannot do anything for their own benefit and they also don’t
know as to when they will be given new life. Then how can they benefit
or intercede for another?!!
A person who is alive has the power and strength to struggle and do
something to earn good in this life as well as earn good for his second
life in the Al-Aakhira (Hereafter) in the next world. Such a living
person can read Surah Al-Fatiha for a dead body and can pray for him.
But after death, he/she has no such ability and is lying helpless in his
/ her grave! Hence, he / she cannot do any help for others. So it is not
wisdom for a living individual to go to shrines / graves and ask help or
dua’.
The above verses clearly nullify the wrong belief that the saints /
religious persons in graves can intercede with Allah or grant our
wishes. Not only is such a belief wrong but it is also shirk, a sin that
Allah doesn’t forgive if a person dies without repenting from this sin!
Every dua is accepted only by Allah and every help is only given by
Allah. But the ignorant Muslim pays thanks to the shrine instead of
Allah and these actions are shirk (idolatry). It is important that
everyone be aware of the fact that if one committed shirk and then died
without repentance to Allah and without improving his / her faith and
actions, he / she will burn in Hellfire forever, in spite of the fact
that he / she considered himself / herself a Muslim and performed
obligatory prayers and fasted in Ramadan. If a person has the faith /
belief that prayers (duas / supplications) are accepted on such and such
shrine or that wishes are fulfilled on the shrine, he/she has committed
shirk, that is, he/she has associated partners with Allah Almighty. If
such a person dies without repentance and without improving his/her
faith, then he/she will be a dweller of Hell forever!
The foundation of Islam is on Tawheed. Tawheed means to believe
that Allah is absolutely One in His Being and in His attributes.
Allah is one as a Being and that means oneness in His Self.
Oneness in attributes means not to associate any of Allah’s
exclusive attributes to anyone other than Him. To understand Oneness in
Attributes, consider the attribute “Al-Razzaaq” and “Ar-Raziq” which
means that Allah is the only Sustainer and Provider. These are the
quality and attribute of Allah alone. It is only Allah who can increase
or decrease the sustenance and provision of every one of us.
Another thing is that the source of all the Rizq (sustenance) is
Allah as He is the creator of all sustenance and the One who has given
mankind the ability to work in the land to get sustenance.
Therefore our duty as Muslims is that we must work hard to get
lawful provision (to earn money in a lawful way or to work in the land
to grow vegetables, etc.) and along with that we must pray to Allah and
do Astaghfaar (repentance) – all this is important as well as sufficient
– with the hope that Allah will accept our prayers (supplications) and
will bless our hard work and earnings to be more than sufficient. So,
the attribute of Al-Razzaq is only Allah’s and no one other than Allah
can give or stop sustenance. If one believes that some shrine or saint
can increase one’s sustenance, he/she has committed shirk as no one
other than Allah is Ar-Razzaq.
Thus Allah has blessed the children of Adam i.e. mankind with the
honor and respect that he/she works hard and for his needs bows only to
Allah – The Greatest and the Kind Lord – and asks his/her supplications
only from Allah. He/she should protect him/herself from shirk (idolatry)
and not bow down to a wali (saint) or shrine and should not attribute
any of Allah’s exclusive qualities to anyone else.
If there is a wali (pious learned religious person) who is alive
and who sincerely teaches people Allah’s deen (religion) and tawheed,
and advises the people to ask all of their needs from Allah alone
because it is only Allah Who gives everything and removes all troubles
then it is all right to get guidance from such a person. If such a
person is truly fearful of Allah and is knowledgeable and sincere, then
learning the deen from him is beneficial. On the other hand, if someone
teaches that dead or alive saints have some power of intercession to
grant one’s prayers then such a person is teaching shirk and should be
avoided altogether. No one other than Allah has the power to solve
mankind’s problems or remove troubles. Beware of wolves in sheep’s
garments! It is important to learn the Quran by studying its commentary
and also to learn the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad
صلى الله عليه و
سلم from
authentic sources (trustable books and scholar’s lectures) and to
increase one’s knowledge so as not to be so ignorant that anyone can
mislead you or cause you to go astray.
Allah almighty said:
إنَّ الشِّركَ لَظُلمٌ عَظِيْم
And in Surah Al-Ma’idah, Verse 72, Allah said:
... إِنَّهُ مَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ
الْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَاهُ النَّارُ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ أَنْصَارٍ
…Indeed, he who associates others with Allah - Allah has
forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire. And there are not
for the wrongdoers any helpers.
(5:72)
Therefore it is the duty of all Muslims to protect themselves from
shirk and kufr so that they are protected from the everlasting Hellfire.
According to Hadith Shareef, tawheed (belief in the absolute
Oneness of God Allah both in His Being and His attributes is a very
delicate matter. Ibn Abbas
رضي الله عنه said
that if some thieves enter a house at night and the dog in the
house starts barking and the people in the house become aware of the
thief and the thief runs away without stealing anything, in that case if
the household members say, “We were protected from theft due to this
dog,” then this is shirk! (Reported by Ibn Abi Hatim with authentic
Isnad.) That is, utterance of such a statement is shirk and the one who
uttered these words has committed shirk! This is because they were
protected by Allah Almighty. The dog was only made a cause for the
protection. That is, Allah protected them, not the dog!
A hadith (*) of Prophet Muhammad
صلى الله عليه و
سلم
states that shirk is stealthier than a black ant crawling very
slowly on a black rock in the darkness of night! That is how obscured
(unnoticeable) shirk is!
We are ordered to take sources (tools) but are prohibited from
trusting the sources (tools). For example, if a house owner places
electric wires on the walls around his house and places a red bulb to
let thieves know that the wires have electricity in them and anyone
touching them will die due to electric shock, it’s necessary that the
house owner not put his trust in the electric wires. Rather he must say
and believe: “Oh Allah, I have fixed this wire to protect my house from
thieves but I pray to you o Allah to protect us because you are the
Protector in the real sense.” This is because everything happens by
Allah’s Will and if Allah doesn’t want it to happen, then it won’t
happen.
A patient is to be taken to a doctor and medicine should be bought
on the doctor’s prescription and given to the patient according to the
doctor’s advice. This is what means by ‘taking the sources (tools)’. The
doctor and medicine in this case are the sources (tools). But the true
granter of cure is Allah so the medicine is not to be relied on
altogether but it must be believed that the cure is in the Hands of
Allah Almighty and prayer (دعاء supplication) must be
asked from Allah to make the patient well and to bless the medicine for
cure of the patient. Taking sources / causes / tools and then putting
trust in Allah and asking prayers (supplication) from Allah is called
tawakkal Ala-Allah (trust in Allah).
In the end we pray to Allah to protect us and other Muslims from shirk
and kuffar (unislamic beliefs / rejecting Islamic faith) and make us go
from this world with pure and perfect Islamic faith and righteous deeds
so that we are saved from the everlasting punishment in Hellfire and get
admitted to Paradise. Ameen.
Purify your own faith and also convey the message about tawheed to all
your acquaintances and relatives.
***
(*) The Prophet
صلى الله عليه و سلم
said: “Shirk in this Ummah is more hidden than a black ant crawling on a
(black) stone.” (Al-Haakim via ‘Aa’ishah. See Saheeh Al-Jaami’, 1/693)
Read more about shirk at:
Quran Daily Ayah Memorization Club