On Eemaan, Ibaadah and Tawheed : Their Link and Interrelation.
Lesson 1: Eemaan Consists of Speech and Action
Author: Abu Iyaad as-Salafi
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All Praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds and Prayers and Peace upon His Messenger, Muhammad.
This lesson will help us to have a proper understanding of the definition and meaning of Eemaan. What is eemaan? How do we understand it? Etc.
"Eemaan consists of Speech and Action"
This is the saying of the Salaf regarding this topic, and this statement needs further clarification and explanation.
What is "Speech" and what is "Action"? What is meant by them? How did the Salaf explain this?
When we say eemaan is speech, we mean two things:
·
the speech of the heart
·
the speech of the tongue
When we say eemaan is action, we mean three things:
·
the actions of the heart
·
the actions of the tongue
·
the actions of the limbs
For this reason we find that the Scholars of the Salaf (such as Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Taymiyyah etc.) have statements similar to the following:
Eemaan is the speech of the heart and tongue, and the actions of the heart, tongue and limbs.
The following diagram should help us to see this more clearly:
We will now explain precisely what each one is:
As for the ‘speech’ aspect of eemaan:
The speech of the heart: This actually refers to the belief of the heart with respect to Allaah and the other pillars of eemaan (such as the Angels, Books, Messengers, Qadr, the Last Day etc.). In other words it refers to the knowledge that the heart contains and its firm belief in this knowledge. So this would include Tawheed and its two categories of Ruboobiyyah and Asmaa was-Sifaat because both of these are related to knowledge. (The other category of Tawheed, al-Uloohiyyah will come later under the ‘Action’ section).
The speech of the tongue: This refers to the tongue’s confirmation of what the heart contains. In other words the tongue professes what the heart contains. When a person says with his tongue; "I testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah, alone without any partners and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger" then he is confirming what is in his heart. So note how the ‘speech of the tongue’ still relates to knowledge.
As a summary of this first section on ‘Speech’, we should notice that it relates to knowledge and the specific details of faith such as having the correct belief in Allaah, His Tawheed and the matters of the Unseen, such as Hellfire, Paradise, the Bridge over Hellfire etc. and the hearts belief and conviction in these things.
As for the ‘action’ part of eemaan:
The actions of the heart: This refers to the various states and feelings of the heart such as love, fear, hope, sincerity, reliance, submission etc. So you should now realise that the heart is firstly, a place of knowledge and belief (and this is its speech as discussed above) and it is also a place for these feelings and emotions which actually constitute its worship (and these are known as the actions of the heart). You should also now realise how Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah comes under the ‘actions’ aspect of eemaan. Because these acts of worship should only be for Allaah and for no one else.
The actions of the tongue: This refers to things such as dhikr (remembrance of Allaah), enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, seeking forgiveness from Allaah, etc. This is because these are acts of worship which are performed by the tongue. Notice how this also relates to Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah because these actions should be for Allaah alone. And notice also, just like the heart, how the tongue has two roles; firstly, to affirm what is in the heart with respect to its belief, so the tongue says what is in the heart (i.e. its belief in Allaah etc.) and secondly to perform the various acts of worship which are specific to it such as remembrance of Allaah, enjoining good and forbidding evil, seeking forgiveness. So this is very similar to what we discussed for the ‘speech’ of the heart and the ‘actions’ of the heart.
The actions of the limbs: And this refers to doing all the commanded things and keeping away from all the forbidden things. And this refers to the physical acts of worship, such as prayer, fasting, giving zakah, performing pilgrimage, removing something harmful from the floor, not stealing, not cheating, not backbiting, not disobeying parents etc. and the other acts which are physical in nature. Notice how the actions of the limbs are also related to Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah in that they should be performed for the sake of Allaah alone.
As a summary of this ‘Action’ aspect of eemaan, we should realise that it relates to the actual acts of worship, whether internal or external, of the heart, tongue or limbs.
At this stage we should, inshaa’allaah have a good understanding of the definition and meaning of eemaan. We should also be able to see how it relates to the three categories of Tawheed, two of which are related to ‘Knowledge and Belief’ and the third of which is related to ‘Actions’. For this reason Ibn al-Qayyim understood Tawheed to be of two types:
·
The Tawheed of Knowledge and Acquaintance (which would be both Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah and Asmaa was-Sifaat, because they are both knowledge-based)
·
The Tawheed of Purpose and Intent (which is Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah or Ibaadah because it is related to the sincerity of the actions, what is the reason and motive behind them, who are they done for etc.)
In other words, there is no contradiction when we say that some of the Salaf understood Tawheed to be of two types (like Ibn al-Qayyim) and others understood it to be of three types, because Ibn al-Qayyim simply combined two of the categories of Tawheed and made them into one category - so in essence it is the same understanding. If we go back and revise the diagram we showed earlier, we can include this point in it as well:
Important Note: Be aware that using the terminologies ‘Speech of the Heart’, ‘Speech of the Tongue’, ‘Actions of the Heart’ etc. is to help us to understand the solid principles and concepts that are found in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah. And by using these terminologies we have not innovated any principle or concept into the religion. Rather these terms are simply identifying and labelling the actuals and principles and concepts found in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah, to help us to understand them easily. So don’t be fooled by the meanderings of the foolish!
Now we will move onto another related issue to further increase our understanding.
If we have understood that eemaan consists of these five things (and that we cannot remove any one of them from the definition and understanding of eemaan), i.e.
·
the speech of the heart
·
the speech of the tongue
·
the actions of the heart
·
the actions of the tongue
·
the actions of the limbs
then we should realise that is possible for eemaan to "increase and decrease" and that for any Muslim or Believer, it will not remain constant. This is because, from year to year, or month to month, or week to week, or day to day, or hour to hour or even minute to minute, a persons strength of belief changes, his feelings of love, fear and hope decrease or increase, his level of sincerity to Allaah changes, how much he remembers Allaah, seeks his forgiveness or enjoins good and forbade evil changes, how perfect he performed his prayers, how many voluntary good deeds he did, all of this changes and therefore a persons eemaan will always be "increasing or decreasing." It will be increasing or decreasing for numerous reasons and factors. For example, a persons success or failure in facing the trials that Allaah has decreed for him A person’s persistence or abstinence from sins and other forbidden actions, and so on.
For this reason we will go back and revise our statement so it now becomes:
Eemaan Consists of Speech and Action, it increases with (acts of) obedience and it decreases with (acts of) disobedience
And this what the Salaf used to say.
Now we shall mention some proofs for all of this - and this is the way of the Salaf - to always mention the proofs and to stick to the Qur’aan, the Sunnah and the Aathaar (sayings) of the Companions and of the two generations after them.
The Speech of the Heart:
Allaah said,
When the hypocrites come to you (O Muhammad SAW), they say: "We bear witness that you are indeed the Messenger of Allâh." Allâh knows that you are indeed His Messenger and Allâh bears witness that the hypocrites are liars indeed. [Munaafiqoon 63:1]
Here the hypocrites are treated as liars, even though they expressed with their tongues their testification that Muhammad is indeed the Messenger of Allaah. When someone testifies to something then there must be two conditions present: a) The hearts firm knowledge of, belief, and certainty in that for which it is testifying, b) the tongue’s expression of that which the heart is certain of.
So the hypocrites were liars because their tongues uttered something different to that which their hearts contain. Another proof for ‘the Speech of the Heart’ is the saying of Allaah,
They were that day, nearer to disbelief than to Faith, saying with their mouths what was not in their hearts. And Allâh has full knowledge of what they conceal [Aali Imraan 3:167] See also al-Fath 48:11
So what we understand as ‘Speech of the Heart’ is explained in the Qur’aan
The Speech of the Tongue
Both of the above two verses are also an indication of the requirement of the ‘Speech of the Tongue’.
The Actions of the Heart, Tongue and Limbs
The Qur’aan is overwhelming with descriptions of the acts of worship, whether related to the Heart, Tongue or Limbs and the purpose here is to be brief and not prolong the discussion. See for yourself how Allaah describes, the love, fear and hope of the believers, their enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, their remembrance of Him and seeking forgiveness from Him and also their physical exertion in worshipping Him, such as constancy in prayer, fasting, etc.
Eemaan Increases and Decreases
From the Qur’aan:
The believers are only those who, when Allâh is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His Verses (this Qur'ân) are recited unto them, they (i.e. the Verses) increase their Faith; and they put their trust in their Lord (Alone) [Surah Anfaal 8:2]
This is one of many verses mentioning the increase in eemaan. Others are 74:31, 48:4, 3:173, 9:124
From the Sunnah:
The hadeeth: "The most perfect of people with respect to his eemaan, is the best of them in his manners." (Bazzaar, all of its narrators are reliable and al-Haithamee mentioned it in Majmoo az-Zawaa’id)
And the hadeeth: "Whoever loves for Allaah (alone), hates for Allaah (alone), gives for Allaah (alone) and withholds for Allaah (alone), then he has perfected eemaan." (Abu Daawood - saheeh).
These two hadeeth show that eemaan can be complete or incomplete and therefore it can go up (in order to be complete) and it can go down (so that it is incomplete). Notice how the first hadeeth contains actions of the tongue and actions of the limbs (speaking and behving well with people) and how the second hadeeth contains both actions of the heart (loving and hating) and actions of the limbs (giving and withholding).
The hadeeth: "Eemaan consists of seventy-odd branches, the highest of which is to testify ‘None has the right to be worshipped except Allaah’ and the lowest of which is to remove something harmful from the floor, and modesty is a part of eemaan." (Bukhaaree, Muslim Abu Daawood, Ahmad, Ibn Maajah, and others.)
Did you notice how this hadeeth contains "speech" and "action"? It mentions the testification ‘None has the right to be worshipped except Allaah’ which is the speech of the heart and the speech of the tongue (To testify to something means to have firm knowledge of it - which is in the heart - and to believe that this knowledge is true and correct, and then also to speak with it so that you are ‘testifying’ to it). And it mentions some actions, one which is to do with the limbs (removing something harmful from the floor) and one which is to do with the heart (modesty).
From the Salaf:
Al-Laalikaa'ee (d. 418H) reports in his Sharh Usool I'tiqaad Ahl is-Sunnah (5/958) that Abdur-Razzaaq (as-San'aanee) said: "I met sixty two Shaikhs, amongst them were: Ma'mar, al-Awzaa'ee, ath-Thawree, al-Waleed bin Muhammad al-Qurashee, Yazeed ibn as-Saa'ib, Hammaad bin Salamah, Hammaad bin Zaid, Sufyaan bin Uyainah, Shu'ayb bin Harb, Wakee' bin al-Jarraah, Maalik bin Anas, Ibn Abee Laylaa, Isma'eel bin Ayyaash, al-Waleed ibn Muslim and those I have not named, all of them saying: "Faith consists of speech and action, it increases and decreases."
Al-Laalikaa’ee also reports in his Sharh Usool I’tiqaad Ahl is-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah (5/959) that Uqbah bin Alqamah said: "I asked al-Awzaa’ee about eemaan, can it increase? He replied; ‘Yes until it becomes like the mountains.’ I said: Can it decrease? He said: ‘Yes, even until nothing remains of it.’"
So this is proof, from the Qur’aan, Sunnah and the Salaf, that eemaan increases and decreases.
Inshaa’allaah this much is sufficient for a good understanding of this topic…
All praise is due to Allaah, prayers and peace upon His Final Messenger, Muhammad, his family and his companions.
Try to answer the following questions to make sure you have understood all of this;
1.
Give the definition of eemaan.
2.
What is meant by ‘speech’ and ‘action’
3.
Explain each of the following: the speech of the heart, the speech of the tongue, the actions of the heart, the actions of the tongue, the actions of the limbs. Please give an example for each one as well.
4.
Why does eemaan increase and decrease.
5.
Quote two verses of the Quraan, which highlight the necessity of ‘the Speech of the Heart’.
6.
Quote three verses of the Quraan to show that eemaan increases and decreases.
7.
Quote two hadeeth to show that eemaan increases and decreases.
8.
What is the link between Tawheed and the components of eemaan? (See if you can reproduce the diagram to help you answer this).
9.
Finally, an astray sect appeared around the time of the taabieen who claimed that eemaan is constant; it does not increase or decrease. Do you know its name? The effects of the false understanding of this group are still present today so if you think over this lesson, can you recognize some of the signs of this misguided group and can you see how many groups and individuals still have some aspects of the understanding of this astray group?
See if you can answer all of these questions inshaa allaah. If you have follow up questions, you can ask them next time.
30th October 1997
Lesson 2: How to Believe in the Attributes of Allaah |
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Author: Abu Iyaad as-Salafi |
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Article ID : SCL010002 |
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All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds and prayers and peace upon His Messenger, Muhammad.
In this lesson we wil learn some of the principles which are linked to having the correct belief in Allaah's Names and Attributes.
Why is this subject important? Quite obviously since it is a part of Tawheed and it is also a part of Eemaan. (Remember the last lesson in which we mentioned that 'the speech of the heart' and 'the speech of the tongue' were related to knowledge). If the knowledge of Allaah is not correct then the actions of the believer will not be correct either (meaning that what his heart feels, how he uses his tongue and what he does with his limbs - all of this will not be correct).
It is also important because a lot of people have gone astray in this subject, and we shall also mention some things about them.
To proceed: Just like in the previous lesson on eemaan where we took a statement which the Salaf used to say (i.e. Eemaan consists of speech and action, it increases with acts of obedience and decreases with acts of disobedience) then, similarly we will take the statement of Shaikh ul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah for this lesson and expand upon it. He - may Allaah have mercy upon him said, in his 'Aqeedataul-Waasitiyyah': "
"And it is from having faith (eemaan) in Allaah, to have eemaan in whatever He has described Himself with in His Book and in whatever His Messenger, Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) has described Him with - WITHOUT falling into any of the following:
i) denying such attributes for Allaah (ta'teel)
ii) changing the original meaning of these descriptions/attributes (tahreef)
iii) likening these attributes to those of the creation (tamtheel)
iv) enquiring into their true nature (takyeef)"
[Note: in the translation above the order of the four things that it is necessary for us to avoid has been changed, for the purposes of this lesson - to make the discussion follow...]
So this is the statement we will analyse and explain for this lesson because it summarises everything we need to know. We will now take his statement step by step and look into it:
"And it is from having faith in Allaah to have eemaan in whatever He has described Himself with in His Book ..."
Here the Shaikh explains that to have faith/belief in Allaah (properly) then one also needs to have faith/belief in certain things that He has said about Himself in His Book. One cannot be believing in Allaah properly without knowing Him through what He has said about Himself.
When we look in the Qur'aan we find that Allaah has mentioned lots of different things about Himself. To summarise them, they can be put into three categories.
a) His Names
b) His Attributes
c) His Actions
Examples of the Names by which He is known include, ar-Rahmaan, al-Malik, as-Salaam, ar-Razzaaq. However we are not concerned with His Names in this lesson.
Examples of His Actions: for example, He punishes and He forgives, He sends down the rain and He splits the seed which is under the soil, He makes the clouds gather together in a heap and then causes rain or hail to fall, he gives honours someone and He humiliates someone or He guides someone and misguides someone... so these are 'actions' which he mentions about himself. But we are not concerned about this in this lesson.
Examples of His Attributes include, hands[1], shin[2], eyes[3], istiwaa[4] face, anger, pleasure, (ascending) etc. This is what we will discuss.
"...and in whatever His Messenger, Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) has described Him with..."
We also find that in the Sunnah, the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) has described Allaah with certain attributes. Examples include, laughter, amazement, descending, etc...
Now this is what we are concerned with and we want to make sure that we are believing in these things in such a way that we do not commit Shirk and other great sins.
You can easily see how people can be mislead just by looking at what type of attributes we have mentioned above. When someone reads them He might think 'No this cannot be true how can these things befit Allaah?' so he will deny them. Another person will think, 'Allaah has a hand like we do' and so he will make a resemblance between Allaah and His creation. Another person will think, 'No, it can't be the real meanings of these words, they must have different, hidden meanings'. And in fact, in Islamic History this is exactly what happened. Many individuals and groups were led astray because they did not submit to the texts of the Book and the Sunnah in the proper way.
We want to follow in the way of the Companions and the Taabi'een and the Salaf - the way they had in understanding these Attributes. So we will now look at the principles we need to understand:
The First Principle:
That we DO NOT deny them (i.e. do not do ta'teel - which means to deny them)
Why is this. This is because Allaah knows what He revealed and He knows the language better than anyone else. If we deny that He has said such things, then it is like denying the whole of the Book. Denial can be simple and plain, someone just denies them. But denial can also occur by changing and distorting the meanings (which is the next principle)
The Second Principle:
That we DO NOT change the meanings of these things (i.e. do not give them other meanings) This is tahreef (which means 'to change/distort something).
An example of this is like when someone says "Well when Allaah says 'Hand', it really means 'power' or 'favour'. Or when Allaah says 'istiwaa' (i.e. Allaah ascends the Throne), that is really means 'to conquer/control'.
This is something that a group called the Mu'tazilah used to do (and they are the very naughty people which we mentioned earlier - but there are others as well and we will mention them later). Can you see why this is wrong? This is because they are trying to give meanings to these descriptions that Allaah has given Himself based upon their own intellects and understandings. They do not really know whether that is what Allaah meant or not? They have no way of verifying it either. Revelation has stopped and no one after the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) can receive revelation. So how can they know whether the meaning they are trying to give, is what Allaah actually intended or not?
There is actually a word which describes this action of giving other meanings. It is called Ta'weel. This means to give a figurative explanation to a word, or to give an allegorical meaning. i.e. to give it a meaning which is not its obvious meaning in the language. For example if I was to say to you that 'I sat on a table' - its obvious and clear meaning is that I sat on something with four legs and also a flat top - it doesn't mean that I have a table consisting of 3 rows and 5 columns drawn on a piece of paper and that I sat on top of that? This is an unclear meaning - it is not obvious in the language and if I said 'I sat on a table' no sensible person would think other than what it obvioulsy and clearly means. Another group of very naughty people called the 'Asharees' are well known for doing lots of 'ta'weel'(They must really enjoy it since they neverseem to get sick of doing it). And this was never the way of the Salaf
Read the following two quotations:
1. Ibn Attaar, the student of an-Nawawi said in 'al-'Itiqaad al-Khaalis': "…And he, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, said, 'Allaah created Firdaus with His Hand, and the Gardens of Paradise with His Hand, and wrote the Taurah with His Hand.' And narrations other than this, it is obligatory upon us to believe that this is the truth. And it is forbidden upon us that we say: that Allaah has addressed us with what we understand, and we do not understand 'hand' except that which possesses a palm and fingers and therefore liken it to the creation and hence arrive at tajseem. Allaah is Exalted above what the unjust say. Or that we say: the meaning is favour and power, because it is unfeasible to take it to mean the 'hand' we understand, so therefore it necessitates taking it to mean this fearing tashbeeh! And this is tahreef (distortion) containing ta'teel, how is this possible when the consensus is that the Attributes are to be stopped at (tawqeefiyyah - i.e. in terms of nature and not likened to creation). And the meaning of what they make ta'weel of is not established, and this is the way of the Mu'tazila and Jahmiyyah, we seek refuge with Allaah from that. And so it is necessary to absolve the Creator, Azza wa Jall, from tashbeeh and ta'teel by distancing from tahreef and takyeef and tamtheel (likening), and taking to His saying, 'there is nothing like Him, and He is the Hearing and Seeing' May Allaah favour us with understanding and cognisance upon the road of tawheed and eliminating anthropomorphism. And this is the saying on all that is affirmed from the Attributes. And Allaah knows that corrupt from those that purify……( pp. 24-26)
….So when the Book and authentic narrations speak with affirming (the Attributes of) Hearing, Seeing, Eye, Face, Knowledge, Power, Strength, Greatness, Will, Desire, Words, Speech, Pleasure, Displeasure, Love, Hatred, Delight, Laughing - it is obligatory to believe in them literally without tashbeeh to the creation. And stopping at what Allaah said (about Himself), without adding or increasing or takyeef or tahreef or tabdeel (changing) or tagyeer, or removing the meaning from the word that the Arab understands from it…. (pp. 26-27)
And some of them negated Nuzool (the descent of Allaah to the lowest heaven at the last third of the night), and weakened the ahaadeeth or made ta'weel of them fearing confinement (tahayyuz - i.e. of Allaah) or movement or transmission which would necessitate a body. And the researching scholars affirmed them and obligated faith in them as Allaah wills….(p.19)…
….And all of the verses and ahaadeeth affirming Coming and Nuzool, and affirming face and other than that from the Attributes, the scholars obligated faith in them, and leaving contemplation of them and or depicting a form for them…..(pg. 19)"
2. Ibn Hajr al-Asqalaanee said, " the one who takes the path of the khalaf (i.e. the later generations after the Salaf who deviated from the way of the Salaf in these issues) cannot be sure that that which he makes ta'weel of is the intended meaning, and it is not possible to be certain of the correctness of the ta'weel." ['Fath al-Baaree' of ibn Hajr (13/436)]
So see how these two scholars are confirming what we mentioned earlier. That whoever does this, how does he know that the meaning he has invented is correct or not?? He cannot know and for this reason, whoever does this is in a way, lying against Allaah, saying about Him that which He doesn't know.
The way of the Salaf however was to take these attributes literally, in accordance with their clear and obvious meanings in the language.
Read the following quotations:
1. Ibn Abdul Barr (d. 463H) said: "Ahl us-Sunnah are agreed in affirming all the Sifaat (Attributes) which are related in the Qur'aan and the Sunnah, having eemaan (faith) in them and understanding them alal-haqeeqah (in a real sense), not alal-majaaz (metaphorically)."[5]
2. Shaikh Abdul-Qaadir al-Jeelaanee (d. 561H) said: "It is essential to carry the attribute of Allaah al-Istiwaa (Allaah's Ascending) upon its apparent sense - without ta'weel, and that He ascended by His Dhaat (Self) over the Throne. Istiwaa does not mean sitting or touching - as the Mujassimah and Karraamiyyah say. Nor does it mean uluww (grandeur and highness) - as the Ash'ariyyah say; nor does it mean isteelaa (conquering and dominating over) - as the Mu'tazilah say. None of this is related in the Sharee'ah. Neither has this been related by any one of the Salaf us-Saalih (Pious Predecessors) from the Sahaabah and the Taabi'een, nor from the Ashaabul-Hadeeth (Scholars of Hadeeth). Rather, it is related from them that they carried the meaning of Istiwaa with its apparent meaning."[6]
3. Qaadee Abu Ya'laa (d. 458H) said: "It is not permissible to repel these narrations - as is the way of the group from the Mu'tazilah. Nor to become preoccupied with ta'weel - as is the way of the Ash'ariyyah. It is obligatory to carry them upon their dhaahir (apparent) meaning; and that the Attributes of Allaah do not resemble any one of His creation, nor do we have an aqeedah (belief) that there is any tashbeeh (resemblance) to them. Rather [we believe] in what has been reported from our Shaikh and our Imaam, Abu Abdullaah, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal, and others from the Scholars of Ashaabul-Hadeeth."[7]
4. Al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee (d. 463H) said: "As for speech about the Attributes of Allaah, that which is authentically related about them in the Sunnah, then the way of the Salaf - may Allaah be pleased with them all - was to affirm them as they are, alaa dhaahir (upon their apparent meaning); negating any tashbeeh (resemblance) to Allaah and not asking how they are. We do not say that al-Yad (the Hand of Allaah) means His Power nor that as-Sama' (Allaah's Hearing) and al-Basr (Allaah's Seeing) means His Knowledge, nor do we say that He has jawaarih (limbs)"[8]
5. Al-Khattaabee (d. 388H) said: "The madhhab of the Salaf (the Pious Predecessors) with regard to the Sifaat (Attributes of Allaah) is to affirm them as they are alaa dhaahir (with their apparent meaning), negating any tashbeeh (resemblance) to them, nor takyeef (asking how they are)."[9]
6. Imaam at-Tirmidhee (d. 279H) said: "It has been stated by more than one person from the People of Knowledge about such ahaadeeth, that there is no tashbeeh (resemblance) to the Attributes of Allaah, and our Lord - the Blessed and Most High - descends to the lowest heaven every night. So they say: "Affirm these narrations, have eemaan (faith) in them, do not deny them, nor ask how." The likes of this has been related from Maalik ibn Anas, Sufyaan ath-Thawree, Ibn Uyainah and Abdullaah ibn al-Mubaarak, who all said about such ahaadeeth: "Leave them as they are, without asking how." Such is the saying of the People of Knowledge from the Ahl us-Sunnah wal-Jamaa'ah. However, the Jahmiyyah oppose these narrations and say: This is tashbeeh! However, Allaah the Most High, has mentioned in various places in His Book, the Attribute of al-Yad (Hand), as-Sama' (Hearing), and al-Basr (Seeing) - but the Jahmiyyah make ta'weel of these aayaat, explaining them in a way, other than how they are explained by the People of Knowledge. They say: Indeed, Allaah did not create Aadam with His own Hand - they say that Hand means the Power of Allaah."[10]
7. Abu Hasan al-Ash'aree (d. 324H) said: "If it is said: Why do you deny that His saying: Do they not see that We have created for them what Our Own Hands have created." [Soorah Yaa Seen 36:71] And His saying: Whom I have created with My Own (Two) Hands [Soorah Sa'd 38:75] are majaaz (metaphorical)? To him it is said: The ruling concerning the speech of Allaah - the Mighty and Majestic - is that it is taken upon its dhaahir (apparent) and haqeeqah (real) meaning. Nothing is removed from its dhaahir (apparent) meaning to majaaz (metaphorical) one, except with a proof ... [Al-Ibaanah an
Usool id-Diyaanah (p.133)]
So all of these narrations prove that the way of the Salaf was to affirm whatever Allaah has mentioned about Himself without fooling and playing around, and without giving them meanings which are unclear.
And if you think about it a bit more , you will realise how this constitutes a big lie and mockery of Allaah. The one who does 'ta'weel' - it is as if he is saying, "well Allaah's words were unclear so I am making them clear by giving them meanings based upon what I think". He is also accusing the Prophet of not having sufficiently fulfilled his task. So he is placing himself at a level higher than Allaah and His Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
So this is the second principle, that we do not change the meanings and this is known as Tahreef and it can also be called Ta'weel, because someone who gives words other than their obvious meanings and says that they have other unclear meanings - then he is in reality changing and distorting them. Note also that the one who does tahreef, he is also guilty of ta'teel, because the fact that he changes the original meaning of the word means that the actually denies it.
The Third Principle:
That we DO NOT hold or say that the Attributes of Allaah are like the attributes of the creation. i.e. we should not make resemblances between lets say the Hand of Allaah, and the hands of the creation. i.e. we should not say Allaah's Hand is like my Hand. And it is likewise will all the other attributes that have come in the texts of the Book and the Sunnah such as laughter, amazement, fingers, face etc...To do this would make one guilty of having done 'tamtheel' It is also known as 'tasbheeh' which has the same meaning, i.e.to make resemblances between two things.
This is because Allaah has already told us that there is nothing like Him at all:
There is nothing like Him and He is the All-Hearing (as-Samee'), All-Seeing (al-Baseer) [42:11]
Do you know of an equal to Him? [19:65]
And there is none equal or comparable to Him [112:4]
So these verses show that nothing resembles Him.
And from this we know automatically, that if Allaah has described himself with Hand, Face, Eyes, Shin etc... then He indeed does have these Attributes, but they are in no way similar to those of the creation because as Allaah has already told us (in the above three verses) that there is nothing equal to Him or like Him.
One of the heads of misguidance who was called Al-Qaadee Abdul-Jabbaar was one of the founders of the Mu'tazilah (those who use their intellects and put it above the Book of Allaah) and he was the one who claimed that whenever these attributes are mentioned in the Qur'aan they automatically must mean tashbeeh (i.e. resemble the creation) and therefore we must use our intellects to give them other meanings: Read his own words:
"When there are verses in the Qur'aan whose apparent meaning necessitates tashbeeh (resemblance to the creation) it is obligatory to interpret them (ta'weel) because words can carry [many] meanings whereas the proof [derived] by the intellect is far from carrying other possible [meanings]."[11]
So it as if he actually does not believe Allaah when He says:
There is nothing like Him and He is the All-Hearing (as-Samee'), All-Seeing (al-Baseer) [42:11]
If Allaah has already told us that nothing is like Him, then how can anything which Allaah has described Himself be similar to the creation and how can that be tashbeeh??
Look instead to what the Imaams from the Salaf say:
Nu'aym bin Hammaad (d. 228H) (one of the teachers of Imaam Bukhaaree) said: Indeed, all that Allaah has described Himself with, or what His Messenger has described Him with, then there is no tashbeeh in it at all."[12]
This means that we believe in everything Allaah has described Himself and we do not deny it and just because we believe in it, it does not mean that we have now claimed that these Attributes of Allaah are like our attributes. This is because we also have faith in the speech of Allaah, when He says:
There is nothing like Him and He is the All-Hearing (as-Samee'), All-Seeing (al-Baseer) [42:11]
And when He says:
Do you know of an equal to Him? [19:65]
And when He says:
And there is none equal or comparable to Him [112:4]
And therefore we automatically know that anything with which Allaah has described Himself, then it does not resemble the creation at all.
The man who actually claimed that Allaah's Attributes are like those of the creation (He was called Maqaatil bin Sulaimaan d. 150H) only did so because he saw that other people were denying Allaah's Attributes (like the Mu'tazilah as we mentioned above). So to refute them, he actually went to the other extreme and claimed that Allaah's attributes are like those of the creation - and in doing this he was totally wrong.
So we inshaa'allah are in the middle path - we do not deny these Attributes, since Allaah has in fact mentioned them about Himself - we do not start changing their meanings either - and nor do we believe that they are similar to the attributes of the creation - and this is because Allaah has already told us that this is an impossibility.
The Fourth Principle:
That we DO NOT start asking 'How' are these attributes. This is known as Takyeef. That you enquire about how exactly something is.
So we are not allowed to do this - We are not allowed to say: "How is Allaah's Hand, how is His Face etc...."
It is enough for us to know that Allaah has a Face and Hand but we do not know exactly how it is. We already know that it is not like those of the creation - so we cant make comparisons, but then after this we cant try to find out exactly how it is. This is not allowed.
A very famous narration which illustrates this is from Imaam Maalik. It is to do with Istiwaa (that is Allaah's ascending His Throne):
Imaam Maalik (d. 179H) said: "Al-Istiwaa is known, and how is unknown, to have eemaan in it is obligatory and to question it is an innovation." Reported by al-Bayhaqee in al-Asmaa was-Sifaat (p.516) with the wording: "Al-Istiwaa is not unknown and how is unknown, to have eemaan in it is obligatory and to question it is an innovation." Ad-Daarimee also reported it in ar-Radd alal-Jahmiyyah (p.55).
Imaam Malik said these words to one of the people of innovation, who came to him and said: "We know that Allaah ascends His Throne, but How does He do that", so Imaam Malik replied with these words and he also had him thrown out for daring to ask these words.
In the words of Imaam Malik there occurrs "how is unknown". So we do not know how exactly this attribute of Allaah is and we should not enquire into it either. It is the same for all the other attributes. We believe in them, affirm them for Allaah, do not deny them or twist and distort their meanings, or resemble them to the creation, or start asking how they are.
So these are four principles that we understand in order to be on the path of truth and guidance with respect to how to believe in Allaah's Names and Attributes.
Be Careful of this Trick:
Before we finish, we will just mention another trick of the people of innovation and desires. For this we need to discuss another thing which is known as 'Tafweedh'.
What does 'tafweedh' mean? It means 'to submit something to someone'. For example I can say 'I submitted my report to my teacher.' Etc...
What does this have to do with Allaah's Attributes? Another group of very naughty people say the following:
"OK, OK, we accept that Allaah has mentioned Hand and Face and Laughter and other attributes in His Book and in the Messenger's Sunnah, BUT WE DO NOT KNOW THEIR MEANINGS and we leave the knowledge of this to Allaah"
So this is 'tafweedh' which would mean here "to submit the knowledge of the meanings of these attributes to Allaah". See how they are trying to play smarty-pants? So they are saying that the words that Allaah used for His Attributes, that they have no meanings to them, and that we cannot know them either. Only Allaah knows them.
If you think about this a little more, you will realise how dangerous this is. This is because, if this was true, then Allaah would be nothing. i.e. we have nothing by which we know Him, because everything He has used to describe Himself with, then it has no meaning!! This leads to atheism and disbelief in Allaah, because then Allaah, does not even exist - because He has no Attributes and cannot be known.
You might think now, OK well what is the difference between us and those who do tafweedh, because what they are saying sounds very like what we are saying, which is 'that we should submit knowledge of exactly how the attributes are to Allaah - that there is no way that we can know exactly how they are."
The answer is that there is a difference between us and those who are trying to be clever and play smarty-pants.
We AFFIRM the Attributes, with THEIR OBVIOUS AND CLEAR MEANINGS but we submit KNOWLEDGE OF EXACTLY HOW they are to Allaah.
So we are submitting only the knowledge of 'how' they are to Allaah, NOT the meanings.
As for those who do 'tafweedh' they submit the knowledge of THE MEANINGS - whereas we do not.
This is the difference between us. We submit the knowledge of exactly how the attributes are to Allaah and they submit the knowledge of the meanings of the attributes to Allaah - which in reality is exactly the same as denying them!
Look at the following two narrations and see how the Salaf used to affirm the meanings of the Attributes:
1. Imaam Maalik (d. 179H) said: "Al-Istiwaa is known, and how is unknown, to have eemaan in it is obligatory and to question it is an innovation."
i.e. the meaning of istiwaa is known, but exactly how it is is unknown.
2. Muhammad bin al-Hasan ash-Shaybaanee (d. 189H) said: "Hammaad bin Abu Haneefah said: "We said to them: Do you consider the saying of Allaah - the Mighty and Majestic: And your Lord comes accompanied by the Angels, ranks upon ranks" [Soorah Fajr 89:22] They said: "As for the Angels then they come, ranks upon ranks. But as for the Lord - the Most High - then we do not know what is meant by that and we do not know the kaifiyyah (how) of His coming." So I said to them: "We do not oblige you to know how He comes but we oblige you to have faith in His coming. Do you not consider that the one who rejects that the Angels come, ranks upon ranks, what is he to you?" They said: A Kaafir (disbeliever) a Mukadhdhib (rejector)." I said: "Then likewise, the one who denies that Allaah - the Most Perfect - comes then he is a Kaafir, a Mukadhdhib." Aqeedatus-Salaf wa Ashaabil-Hadeeth (p.49) of Abu Uthmaan as-Saaboonee.
See how in this narration those people claimed that they did not know:
i) the meaning of when Allaah says that ''He will come on the Day of Judgement'
ii) the exact nature of how He will come.
So they were told, that no one is asking them to know how He will come (i.e. principle number 4 that we have just been through) However they must believe in the fact that He will come (and to do this they have to affirm the meaning, obviously)
So this narration from one of the Salaf very nicely illustrates the difference between the innovators, those who do 'tafweedh' and and between those upon the way of the Salaf.
And about this tafweedh, Ibn Taymiyyah[13] has said - that it is amongst the most evil of the sayings of the Ahl ul-Bid'ah wal-Ilhaad. This is because, firstly it sounds like it is correct so a lot of people get mislead by it, and secondly it basically means that Allaah is described with nothingness. Also to a lot of people it sounds like it is the 'middle way' in between those who affirm the attributes and those who deny them and those who make resemblances for the from the creation. Therefore it is very dangerous and it merely leads to ta'teel (denial of the attributes). This is why it is very dangerous.
We will finish by listing individuals in our times who have erred in this topic.
1. Hasan al-Bannaa - in his book al-Aqaa'id he claims and tries to argue that the way of the Salaf was to do tafweedh and this is incorrect as you can clearly see. It is surprising that people should fall into these kind of errors considering that the way of the Salaf is well known, especially through the works of Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim.
2. Sayyid Qutb, he denied the Attributes of Allaah and claimed that they were merely imaginations, he also denied that Allaah ascends the Throne (Arsh) claiming that this is metaphorical and is not real. Again it is surprising that he should deny these things, especially after he has read the books of the Salaf such as Tafseer Ibn Katheer and others.
3. Nuh Ha Meem Keller - A truly lowly and despicable person who pretends to be really intelligent and knowledgeable. What he is teaching and propagating is that we should do 'Ta'weel' and also 'Tafweedh' and he tries to claim that this was the way of the Salaf, and in saying this he is a filthy despicable liar. You will see many people thinking that this idiot is guided and that he is upon something. In reality, he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Whoever does not know the condition of this innovator, is himself ignorant. So you should be careful of this man and you should warn others of him, because he knows what the way of the Salaf is and he is deliberately opposing it and teaching others to oppose it. But most people will not be aware of this - due to their neglect of and lack of concern with knowledge. He was a lowly and despised person during the days in wich he was at the Islamic University of Medinah, and he will always remain so, so long as his heart is filled with hatred for the Salaf and those upon their way.
4. Hamza Yoosuf - His way is exactly the same as that of Nuh Ha Meem Keller. People think he is very knowledgeable and he has great mastery of the Arabic language and so on… which is a most ridiculous assertion and which anyone with basic knowledge of Arabic can verify for himself. His way basically, is to call to 'ta'weel' and 'tafweedh' and also to the innovations of sufism and tasawwaf. He is also very clear in his hatred of the Salaf and his belittlement and mockery of aqeedah and tawheed etc. But someone who doesn't follow his condition up will not be aware of this... they will not know what he is all about and think that he is a great speaker etc.
5. Dr. Sa'eed Ramadaan al-Bootee. You will probably not have heard of this one, but he is quite popular in Syria. He is basically soofee orientated and is also teaching the same ideas about Allaah's Attributes, that we should do 'ta'weel' and 'tafweedh'. If you read the works of this individual you will realise what a clever little deceiver he is. The way he tries to argue is really deceptive and cunning, but Alhamdulillaah, Allaah always sends scholars to uncover the pretenders and falsifiers. Shaikh Saalih al-Fawzaan has written a beautiful refutation of the book that Bootee wrote in which he attacks the Salafee way and claims that the way of the Salaf never existed?!
6. More broadly, the Asharees are a group who do 'ta'weel' and 'tafweedh'. Similar to them are a group called the Habashees. There are also the Maatureediyyah, who are not as well known as the Asharees. Basically they all share with each other in distorting the Attributes of Allaah, doing lots of ta'weel, tafweedh and other naughty things. If you look at some of the Muslim groups today, such as Ikhwaan ul-Muslimoon and Tablighi Jamaa'at you will find that they are full of people who have these deviated beliefs, such as Asharees, Maatureedees, etc... This is because such groups have no concern WHATSOEVER for aqeedah and tawheed, in fact they attack and destroy Tawheed. Shaikh al-Albaanee said: "It is not to be said that the Ikhwaan are from Ahl us-Sunnah because they wage war against Ahl us-Sunnah", he also said "The ikhwaan wage war against Tawheed". Also about Tablighi Jamaat he said: "They are the soofees of this era." Likewise Abu A’laa Mawdoodi was Ash’ari in his belief and denied some of the Attributes of Allaah. A person can only realise and appreciate this when they have the right belief themselves and good sound knowledge. Then when he looks at such groups and their call, what it consists of and what they are propagating and holding on to, then he will realise the truth of what we have mentioned. Only someone who knows their condition well and is well acquainted with the knowledge will perceive this.
Inshaa'allaah, this should be sufficient for todays lesson.
Before the questions - the following statement should help us to understand our position in this topic. You should repeat it to yourself:
"Allaah has mentioned in His Noble Book Attributes such as Hand, Face, Eyes and His Messenger has mentioned others such as Laughter, Fingers, Amazement, Feet, in authentic and reliable hadeeth. I know that Allaah certainly revealed these in His Book and to His Messenger and therefore I am obliged to believe in them. So I affirm them for Allaah and I do not deny them, since the Salaf never denied them and I am upon their way inshaa'allaah. I do not change their meanings either, by saying such things as Hand means 'power' and so on because none of the Salaf did this, and if I did this I would be uttering a lie against Allaah, saying something about Him which I do not know whether it is correct or not. And also this would negate the fact that Allaah revealed the Qur'aan in a clear Arabic tongue. I also do not say that these attributes are like those of the creation. And I know that it is impossible for there to be any resemblance between the Attributes of Allaah and those of the creation because Allaah has already told me so in His book, in Surah Shooraa verse 11 and in Surah Maryam verse 65 and also in Surah Ikhlaas. So I affirm them for Him and there is no likeness between His Attributes and those of the creation. And I will not ask about His Attributes, 'how exactly are they? How is his Hand? How is his Laughter?' There is no way of knowing this for me and I will stop at simply affirming these attributes for Allaaah with their meanings, as did the Salaf, and not setting up likenesses for them with the creation and not aking about them, as did that innovator in the presence of Imaam Malik concerning the issue of Istiwaa. This inshaa'allaah is my way, the balanced way and this was the way the Salaf took, and I shall guide myself by their way, even if the innovators dislike it."
If this is your position, then you will be rightly guided inshaa'allaah.
Try to answer the following questions to make sure you have understood the lesson
1. Explain what we must believe in, in order to have correct eemaan in Allaah.
2. Give a quotation from one of the Salaf which mentions the principles to do with todays lesson.
3. Explain what is ta'teel
4. Explain what is tahreef
5. Explain what is ta'weel
6. Explain what is tamtheel and tashbeeh
7. Explain what is takyeef
8. Explain what is tafweedh.
9. Of all the ones listed above, which is the most evil of them all and explain why.
10. Give an example of how someone would be guilty of ta'weel
11. Give an example of how someone would be guilty of tamtheel or tashbeeh.
12. Quote three verses of the Qur'aan which show that there is nothing like Allaah.
13. Quote two narrations from the Salaf to show that they used to affirm the Attributes with their apparent (dhaahir) meanings from the language.
14. Quote two narrations from the Salaf to show that they did not used to do ta'weel.
15. List some people who have strayed in these issues, despite the fact that the way of the Salaf is manifestly clear.
Definition of other terms:
- Mu'attilah (those who do ta'teel)
- Muharrifah (those who distort the meanings/words)
- Mushabbihah (the group who do tashbeeh)
- Mukayyifah (those who takyeef')
- Mufawwidah (those who are guilty of tafweedh)
- Jahmee (anyone who follows in the way of Jahm ibn Safwaan, who was executed around 130H, and he was one of the first to deny the Names and Attributes of Allaah. Those who sharein this quality are called Jahmees or Jahmiyyah)
- Mu'tazilah (those who put intellect over the Qur'an and the Sunnah and say it is more decisive)
If you have any questions you can ask them next time inshaa'allaah.
All praise is due to Allaah, prayers and peace upon His Messenger, his companions and his family.
5th November 1997
Notes
1 Refer to Surah Sad 38:75
2 Refer to Surah Qalam 68:42
3 Refer to Surah Qamar 54:14
4 Refer to Surah Taa Haa 20:5
5 At-Tamheed of Ibn Abdul-Barr (7/145)
6 Al-Ghuniyat ut-Taalibeen (1/50) of Abdul Qaadir al-Jeelaanee.
7 Ibtaal ut-Ta'weelaat (p.4)
8 Al-Kalaam alas-Sifaat of al-Khateeb al-Baghdaadee (p.19-20)
9 Al-Ghuniyah an Kalaam wa Ahlihi - as quoted in Mukhtasir al-Uluww (no.137).
10 Sunan at-Tirmidhee (3/24)
11 Al-Muheet bit-Takhleef (p.200)
12 Reported by Imaam adh-Dhahabee in al-Uluww (no.217)
Muhammad bin al-Hasan ash-Shaybaanee (d. 189H), the companion of Abu Haneefah said: "All the Fuqahaa , from the east to the west are agreed upon: [The obligation of] having faith in the Qur'aan and the ahaadeeth which the reliable and trustworthy narrators have come with from the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) - in describing the Lord, the Mighty and the Majestic - without explaining them (tafseer) or likening them to the creation (tashbeeh). So whoever explains anything from them today, then he has departed from that which the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wasallam) and his Companions were upon for verily, they did not explain them but they gave verdicts with whatever is in the Book and the Sunnah and then they remained quiet. So whoever speaks with the saying of Jahm [bin Safwaan] then he has separated from the Jamaa'ah since he [Jahm] describes Him [Allah] with nothingness." Reported by al-Laalikaa'ee in Sharh Usool il-I'tiqaad (3/432).
13 In 'Dar ut-Ta'aarudh al-Aql wan-Naql' (1/121)
Lesson 3: Love, Hope and Fear |
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Author: Abu Iyaad as-Salafi |
In this lesson we shall try to develop an understanding of some of the characterstics of worship (ibaadah) - which begins in the heart. Thus, this lesson is really dealing with the ‘actions of the heart’ - you should remember what this is from the first lesson.
Ibn Taymiyyah (rh) gave the definition of worship as follows:
"Worship is everything that Allaah loves and is pleased with from the inward and outward sayings and actions."
In other words this is very similar to the complete and comprehensive definition of eemaan that we dealt with in Lesson 1. This lesson will deal with the ‘inward actions of the heart’ which really form the basis of a Muslim’s servitude to Allaah.
As usual we shall summarise the lesson with a quotation. Today’s quotation should be easy for everyone. It is the first few verses of Surah Faatihah!
So what has this to do with our lecture? Lets take the verses one by one.
1. All Praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all the Worlds.
In this verse we praise Allaah, who is the Rabb. ‘Lord’ is a poor translation for the word ‘rabb’. Rabb means the one who creates everything, sustains everything, owns everything -the one who guides, misguides, gives life, takes life, shapes, fashions, sends down the rain etc… It means that Allaah has complete power over everything. When we understand this, we come to know, that it is Allaah who created us as individuals, gave us life, provided us with shelter in our mother’s wombs and outside of them. Granted us parents who looked after us and provided us with whatever we needed, whether that was food, drink or even emotions. That Allaah bestowed upon us many favours and gave us wealth, clothes etc…That Allaah is continuously bestowing each of us many favours and that His favours cannot even be enumerated. Every single breath that one of us takes, is a favour from him etc… On top of that in times of distress, He gives us ease, in times of poverty He gives us wealth, in times of sickness He grants us health, in times of hunger, He gives us to eat etc… So all of this, when a Muslim reflects over this and thinks about it carefully, should bring about a state of the heart, which we describe as ‘Love’. Our hearts develop ‘love’ for Allaah due to all these things, that He is our Creator, Fashioner, Provider, Sustainer, Protector, Guider, Healer etc…
From another point of view, we see that in this verse we begin with declaring that all praise is rightfully due to Allaah. The scholars of the Salaf (Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn Uthaimeen and others etc.) explain that Allaah is praised on account of his Most Beatiful Names and His Attributes. In other words when we know that Allaah is ar-Razzaaq (the Provider), ash-Shaafi’ (the Healer) al-Khaaliq (the Creator), al-Haadee (the Guider) etc. then our hearts develop ‘love’ for Him. Likewise when we know Allaah’s Attributes we come to know more about Him and therefore our hearts develop a greater love of Him. So the fact that the verse contains praise of Allaah, this should in turn remind us that He is praised on account of His Names and Attributes, because they indicate his perfection and freedom from any defects. And this in turn causes love in the hearts to develop.
From yet another point of view, the Name of Allaah, which is ‘Allaah’ has been mentioned in the verse. And this in itself gives indicates all the other names of Allaah. So we say, ar-Rahmaan is a name of Allaah, and ar-Razzaaq is a name of Allaah and al-Quddoos is a name of Allaah. So when we say Allaah, it is inclusive of all the other names of Allaah. But this is not the case if we say ar-Rahmaan. This does not include all the other names, likewise as-Salaam or al-Muhaimin, or ar-Raheem. These are individual names and they in themselves, don’t represent the other names. For example, the name ‘Allaah’ is inclusive of the meanings of all those other names, but the meaning of al-Aleem is not the same as the meaning of as-Samee’ or al-Baseer etc. [Refer to Ibn Uthaimeen in al-Qawaa’id ul-Muthlaa]. Therefore the fact that Allaah is mentioned in this verse, it reminds us of all His Names, those which He revealed and those which He did not. And again, when we think of this, our hearts develop ‘love’ of Him.
Some verses mentioning the love aspect of worship:
And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allâh as rivals (to Allâh). They love them as they love Allâh. But those who believe, love Allâh more (than anything else). If only, those who do wrong could see, when they will see the torment, that all power belongs to Allâh and that Allâh is Severe in punishment. [Baqarah 2:125]
O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion (Islâm), Allâh will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him… [Maa’idah 5:54]
And the well known hadeeth:
"There are three qualities, whoever possesses them will taste the sweetness of eemaan… … that he loves Allaah and the Messenger over everything else…"
2. The Vast in Mercy (ar-Rahmaan), Ever-Merciful (to His Believing Servants)
The word ‘ar-Rahmaan’ is such in the arabic language that it denotes an overflowing quality. In other words it shows that Allaah is vast and overflowing in His Mercy, or that He is the Most-Merciful and that His mercy comprehends and envelopes everything. As the Angels say:
O our Lord, You have encompassed everything with Your knowledge and mercy… [Ghaafir 40:7]
The word ‘ar-Raheem’ means one who constantly bestows mercy, is always being merciful in His actions.
The first of the two names ‘ar-Rahmaan’ is general for the whole of creation. In other words Allaah gives blessings and shows mercy to the disbelievers and the hypocrites etc. since He gives them food, drink, saves them from harm and other such things. So this is general for the whole of creation. The second of the two refers only to the Believers, those whom Allaah favours with knowledge, guidance, forgiveness, eemaan etc.
This verse contains the element of hope in the sense that we hope in Allaah, either for our worldly needs and more importantly for the needs with respect to the religion and the hereafter. So when we come to know of these two names of Allaah it produces the feelings of hope in our hearts. That is we hope that Allaah grants us mercy, forgives us, turns to us, guides us, increases in knowledge and faith. And also we hope that He provides for us, sustains us, protects us, etc.
3. Master/King of the Day of Judgement
It is clear why this verse is linked to and produces fear in the hearts. This reminds us of the terrors of the day of Judgement, the various events that will take place such as being held to account, standing in front of Allaah with Hellfire to the right and left, being presented with the scrolls, either in the right hand, the left hand or behind our backs, when we will be tested to see if we can prostrate when Allaah reveals His Shin, the crossing over the bridge, the settling of the accounts and disputes that occurred amongst the believers - those who manage to get over the other side of the bridge, the fact that everything we have done will be laid out in front of us to see - and all the other things which are too numerous to mention.
So this no doubt, will inculcate fear in our hearts, fear of Allaah’s anger, His punishment, His rejection of our actions and our worship etc.
Now we are aware of the foundations of worship, or the characteristic features of worship - love, hope and fear. We shall now make some additional points to give us a better understanding of this topic.
POINT 1 : Combining Hope and Fear
We have been requested to combine both hope and fear, in our worship and prayers and all other actions. Allaah said:
And call upon Him out of fear and hope [A’raaf 7:56]
Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope [Sajdah 32:16]
So we have been requested to combine both these qualities. In other words - for example -when we make supplication, we hope that Allaah answers our prayers and we fear that it might be rejected. Doing this protects from two things - despairing of Allaah’s Mercy, and not being too confident or arrogant that somehow Allaah will and must respond.
In fact the above two verses and others like them can be understood and linked to verses such as the following:
Declare (O Muhammad SAW) unto My slaves, that truly, I am the Oft-Forgiving, the Most-Merciful. And that My Torment is indeed the most painful torment. [Hijr 15:49-50]
The Forgiver of sin, the Acceptor of repentance, the Severe in punishment, Extensive (in His Favour, Grasp, Power) [Ghaafir 40:3]
See how Allaah mentioned His mercy along with His punishment? He did not mention mercy alone - but He coupled it with His punishment and likewise He did not mention punishment alone but coupled it with His mercy. This shows that we should worship Allaah with both of these states.
Anas reported that the Prophet, (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) entered upon a young boy who was dying. The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) asked: "How are you?" The boy replied: "O Messenger of Allah, I am in-between hoping in Allah and fearing for my sins." The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said: "The like of these two qualities do not unite in the heart of a servant except that Allah gives him what he hopes for and protects him from what he feared." [Hasan - Collected by at-Tirmidhee & Ibn Maajah. Authenticated by al-Albaanee in Ahkaamul-Janaa'iz (no. 2).]
POINT 2 : Deviating in Love, Hope and Fear
Concerning the statement of the Salaf:
"He who worships Allah with hope only is a Murji’ee.
He who worships Him in fear only is a Harooree [Khaarijee].
And he who worships Allah in love only is a Zindeeq [e.g. Soofees, Christians].
But he who worships Allah in fear, love and hope is a Muwahhid Mu'min [a believer upon Tawheed."
We shall take each section in turn and discuss it.
Worshipping Allaah out of Love alone is something the Christians are guilty of. This leads them not to be concerned with the correction of their actions and that they might not be accepted. Similar to them are the astray Soofees and their likes, such as the Barailawees - to whom the religion revolves around exessive and exaggerated praise of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) . Their is nothing wrong with loving the Messenger, rather this is an obligation. But it has to be shown and manifested in a certain way and that is by complying with his orders and limiting oneself to his sunnah, NOT by something that Allaah and His Messenger have not revealed.
The Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said: Do not excessively praise me like the Christians excessively praised Eesa the son of Maryam. Indeed I am a servant so call me 'Servant of Allaah and His Messenger' [Reported by Bukhaaree] (excessively praise - from the verb atraa, meaning to lavishly praise).
So you see many of them acting upon so many innovated practices that its hard to tell the difference between them and the Christians, in what they do to show their so called love of Allaah and His Messenger. You will often find that such people are also very neglectful of their rights to Allaah. So the effect of excessive love on its own is to lead the person into innovations, in belief in action and consequently into heresy. This is why the Salaf accused the one who worshipped Allaah out of love alone as being a heretic. Without fear a person will not be cautious of his actions - are they acceptable to Allaah or not?
Worshipping Allaah out of Hope alone is something that we have touched upon before in a slightly different way. When we discussed the meaning of eemaan in the first lesson - we discussed a group/sect called the Murji’ah. Someone who worships Allaah with only hope is what we call a Murjee (No, not a murghee, a murjee. A murghee is a big chicken). If you can remember back to the first lesson we mentioned how the Murji’ah claimed that actions are not a part of eemaan. That as soon as a person declares his testification of faith, his eemaan is complete and perfect and whatever he does after that will not harm him. This is wrong, because it leads people to worship due to hope only. So when you say to someone who is a Muslim by name and who does not complete his faith by acting upon the pillars and the other obligations he will respond by saying: "But Allaah is ar-Rahmaan, ar-Raheem, al-Ghafoor, at-Tawwaab" he will mention only what He knows of Allaah’s mercy thinking he will be forgiven. But along with this Allaah is severe in punishment as we have mentioned in the verses earlier. The correct understanding of hope - as Ibn al-Qayyim explains in al-Jawaab ul-Kaafee - is that hope is action itself. In other words it is the actions themselves which signify and represent hope. If you are not doing what Allaah has requested from you then you are not hoping in Allaah. This is false type of hope. Ibn al-Qayyim also explains the difference between true hope and a deceptive hope. He explains that the feeling of ‘hope’ has three components to it:
·
that you love what you hope for
·
that you fear not having it or getting it
·
that you strive to attain it as much as you are possible.
We will give here an example to illustrate the point (it is a silly one, but it should help us to remember, the correct meaning of hope).
Imagine when you were a little kid and how from within your home you heard the ice-cream van with the short tune that it usually plays. The first thing that you start doing is jumping up and down in excitation and frenzy and shouting with the words "Ice Creeeaaaaaam!!!". This is because you love ice-cream, especially if it has a flake in it. So the picture of it comes to your mind and your heart becomes agitated. You hope that you can have one. But at the same time, you know that the ice-cream van will not stay there all day and so at the same time you fear that you will not get one, that you will miss this chance. So fear too, develops in your heart. So far you have love in your heart of the ice-cream. You have a great hope in your heart of getting one. You also fear that the ice-cream van will go away. But on top of this - as soon as you manage to get the change off your parents (or your generous brother or uncle) you zoom out of the house faster than Ben Johnson and even if the ice-cream van drove off and your pants started falling down you would still have enough energy to chase it all the way to the next block, puffing and panting. In other words you had detemination and you would never give up till you got what you wanted.
This then is an analysis of how these three components come together in the heart of a person - and how it is all genuine. When one of these three components are not there, then it is not a real and genuine ‘hope’ it is in fact a deception and merely a vain desire or a mere wish.
We should apply this analysis to every one of our actions, to see if all of these three components are there. This will allow us to see whether we have a genuine hope or whether we are merely deceived. So the extent to which one complies with the Sunnah in ones worship, behaviour, belief, methodology etc… then to that extent is a person’s ‘hope’ genuine and real. And if any one of these three components are missing then we are not really hoping in Allaah, we are merely deceiving ourselves.
A Benefit: Before we move onto the next aspect - it is worthwile mentioning another point. From the ice-cream example - can you see how children get conditioned by the environment around them. In other words the qualities of love fear and hope are instilled in children from an early age. You can see this by the way children react to certain things - such as ice-cream for example. Also to vain things such as cartoon characters, film stars, even toys etc… It’s important for those who are or will be parents to instill the love fear and hope into children for the right types of things. For example instead of reacting with hope, love and adoration to He-man or the Tele-tubbies wouldn’t it be better if they reacted in the same way to Imaam Bukhaaree? Or Ibn Abbaas, the explainer of the Qur’aan? Or Mu’aadh bin Jabal, the most-knowledgeable of the halaal and haraam? Or Ubayy bin Ka’ab the most skilled reciter of the Qur’aan? Or Imaam Ahmad, the Defender of the Sunnah and Destroyer of Innovation?
In other words children get attached to things by means of these three conditions of the heart: love, fear and hope. They love something, they fear not having it and they hope to have it. So in this is an additional lesson for parents, to be concerned about their children and not to allow them to become vegetables who are still into toys etc.. even at the age of 8. (Remember, amongst the salaf there were children who could lead the prayer at the age of 4, due to their memorisation of the Qur’an - there were others who participated in jihaad at the age of 8-10, there were others who had memorised Bukhaaree and there were others who knew and had learnt the businesses and skills of their parents etc…)
Now back to the main discussion:
Worshipping Allaah out of Fear alone is something that a sect called the Khawaarij fell into. They are at the other extreme of the Murghees. In other words they claim that any action can nullify a person’s Islaam such that he becomes a disbeliever. In other words they had excessive fear without any hope. One way you will see this in people is that they will say: "I am already sinful, I have no good deeds, I am doomed anyway, what is the point? I am doomed to Hell so I might as well forget it.!" Such a person only knows Allaah through fear and thus, he has despaired of Allaah’s mercy, whereas Allaah’s mercy encompasses everything and His Messenger has told us that if the Son of Aadam was to come to Him with sins that fill the earth, He would still be merciful and forgiving. So you will often see this amongst many Muslims.
A Benefit: What the above discussion also teaches us is that when we give da’wah and call people to Allaah and His Messenge, we have to sometimes us a bit of love, a bit of fear and a bit of hope. Or sometimes only hope - for someone who despairs, sometimes only fear - for someone who only hopes. In other words, understanding that different people’s hearts have different levels of love, fear and hope, helps us to to understand what types of approaches to take when we advise people, or enjoin the good or forbid the evil etc. So sometimes we warn of the Hellfire alone and other times we give hope to People of Paradise etc.
POINT 3 : The Basis of the Call to Allaah
A Final Note to make is that now you have understood the importance of love, fear and hope, you should now be able to realise why the calls and methodologies of many individuals/groups/parties will not work and that they are in fact in opposition to the call and methodology of the Prophets. This is because love, fear and hope (and what inculcates them - which is the correct knowledge and understanding of Tawheed etc.) is not their main concern. They have made the priority something else. Ikhwaan ul-Muslimoon for example, their sole concern is politics and getting Jerusalem back and toppling the rulers and establishing the state etc.. So you will see amongst them Soofees and Heretics (such as in Syria and Sudan) and the Khawaarij, (such as those in Egypt and Algeria) and all sorts of other strayers. It is likewise for HT, whose sole concern is to establish the khilaafah, but they do not know the way or the means and are not concerned with that. And likewise too, the Jamaat ut-Tableegh, (which is really a covering, or a veil for the Soofees), whose aim is to gain the largest numbers, promote the madhhab of Abu Haneefah (rh) and to get people to come to their world centre in India where they will take part in ridiculous rituals such as climbing up a rope which they suspend from the air, claiming that a person would actually be holding onto the rope of Allaah - and also so that they will perform tawaaf around the graves and tombs of some of their founders etc. like Muhammad Ilyaas. This is a reality, but most people will be unaware of it, since they cannot see the global orientation and connection of this group. The overall aim of JT is bring you eventually to their centre in India. In addition to that they destroy the family and cause ruin to the lives of wives and children [Seer ‘al-Qawl-Mubeen’ of at-Tuwaijuree for an excellent documentation of all these things with proofs and evidences as clear as daylight.] . So all of this is far removed from the call of the Prophets and the Messengers, the call of love, fear and hope. But these calls are not concerned with love, fear or hope. Or they maybe concerned with only one at the expense of others. The important point that is being made here is that we should look at everything around us, and the Muslims and their affairs etc. and understand them in light of the foundations of worship, love fear and hope and see how their is neglect in or exaggeration in these three qualities.
Questions:
1.
Give the definition of worship as described by Ibn Taymiyyah
2.
Quote a section from the Qur’an which summarises the inner aspects of worship.
3.
Show how each of these verses relates to the quality or feeling that it produces in the heart
4.
Quote a verse to show that Allaah combines His Mercy with His Punishment
5.
Quote a verse to show how Allaah has requested us to worship Him. (i.e. with what qualities)
6.
Explain what would happen if :
o
someone worshipped out of love only
o
someone worshipped out of hope only
o
someone worshipped out of fear only
7.
Name the three components of a genuine hope in something. In other words, for someone’s hope to be genuine, mention the three things that have to be present.
8.
In small groups, discuss how this topic of love, fear and hope, can help us to see and understand why the Muslims are in the state that they are and how the calls and methodologies of many groups are incorrect and upon error.
9.
In small groups, try to discuss how this topic is connected to the topics of the previous two lessons i.e. the meaning of eemaan, and how to believe in the Attributes of Allaah.
25th November 1997
Lesson 4: An Introduction to Tawheed |
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Author: Abu Iyaad as-Salafi |
To proceed:
Today’s lesson will give us an overview of Tawheed at a basic level. This will lead us to the next two lessons in which we will look in more detail at some of the branches of Tawheed.
But before we go any further, we want to stop here and just reflect a bit on exactly what we are doing - in other words we want to be clear about what the objective of these lessons are. If you refer back to Lesson 1 (on Eemaan), you will find that we introduced a small model which showed us the components of Eemaan (faith). We will reproduce here again:
What we are trying to do is to use this model as a foundation. In other words, all the lessons after this first one, will be building upon this model. So every time we go through a topic, you have to stop and think and see how it relates back to this diagram. If you recall Lesson 2 which was on Allaah’s Attributes, you should have noticed that this falls under the section ‘Speech of the Heart’ - since it is related to belief and is knowledge-based. If you now reflect on Lesson 3 (Love, Fear and Hope), you should have noticed that this falls under the section ‘Actions of the Heart’, because it is to do with the feelings and states of the heart in worshipping Allaah. In other words, all of our topics will fall into one of these categories. This shows that week by week, inshaa’allaah, we are steadily increasing our knowledge and understanding of eemaan, and also our practice of it. When we finish this whole area of eemaan, we should all have a good and solid foundation. Then we will move on to construct another model, i.e. a whole new area or subject (for example Methodology, or the Science of Hadeeth, or the Sunnah, or Bid’ah etc.).
So this is what we are trying to do inshaa’allaah. Steadily build our religion as if we were constructing a building, section by section, brick by brick, upon this foundation.
To continue with todays topic then, Tawheed.
Linguistically the word ‘Tawheed’ means ‘to make something one’.
In its Islamic usage it means ‘to testify to the uniqueness and oneness of Allaah and to make all of one’s worship for Allaah alone’.
[The word ‘wahhada’ from which the word Tawheed directly comes from has been mentioned by the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) in the hadeeth of Ibn Abbaas who explains that the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) sent Mu’aadh to Yemen and told him: "…Let the first thing you call them to be that they perform the Tawheed of Allaah, the Exalted (yuwahhidulLaaha Ta’aalaa). It is also mentioned in the hadeeth in Muslim "Islam is built upon five: the Tawheed of Allaah the Most High…."]
A side point worth mentioning here is that sometimes we look at a word in terms of what it means in the language and sometimes what it means when it used in relation to the Sharee’ah or the religion of Islaam. For example the word ‘hadeeth’ in the arabic language simply means ‘conversation, news, speech’. But islamically it means ‘a saying of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) . Why is knowing this important? It is important to understand this because we can differentiate between when a word is being used in terms of the Sharee’ah or when it is just being used as a word in the language, i.e. with its linguistic meaning. We will illustrate this with an example. You all know the saying of Umar’ when he joined all the people together behind one imaam for the taraaweeh prayer in Ramadaan. Then he commented ‘What an excellent innovation this is?’ Now, the word bid’ah linguistically means ‘something new, which has no previous example for it, an invention’. From this point of view it is not necessarily a bad thing. But when used Islamically and in reference to the Sharee’ah it means ‘ a newly invented matter, by which Allaah is sought to be worshipped and which has no previous example from the Sunnah’. So this distinction helps us to clarify that Umar said this statement by using the word ‘bid’ah’ in the linguistic sense, not the Sharee’ah sense. In other words, no one before him had thought of the idea to bring all the people together behind one imaam. His idea was a good one. So he was referring to his action from the linguistic sense. He was not referring it from the Sharee’ah sense, why? Because this action of Umar cannot be considered to be an innovation in the Sharee’ah sense anyway, because then it already has a previous example. In other words this action was done before, by the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) when he led the people in taraaweeh prayer for three days in Ramadaan. So it is not possible for Umar to be referring to his action in the Sharee’ah sense, because then the definition of ‘bid’ah’ in the Sharee’ah sense would not apply to this situation or this action of Umar. Why? Because this action already has a previous example and model, from the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) , whereas the Sharee’ah definition of bid’ah states that it is ‘something which has no previous model or example…’.
Anyway going back to the topic again.
We have just looked at the Sharee’ah definition of Tawheed - ‘testifying to the oneness of Allaah and worshipping Him alone’.
In order to do this - i.e.
·
To testify to the oneness of Allaah and,
·
To worship Allaah alone
We have to look at our Tawheed from:
·
the knowledge aspect and
·
the actions aspect.
In other words, Tawheed can be looked at from two angles, or it can be seen to have two branches. We have already discussed in Lesson 1, Ibn al-Qayyim’s classification of Tawheed. Lets go back to it again.
So one type of Tawheed is concerned with Knowledge and the other type of Tawheed is concerned with Action. We also mentioned in Lesson 1, how there is no contradiction between what Ibn al-Qayyim says (i.e. he divides Tawheed into two categories) and between what the rest of the Salaf say i.e. that Tawheed is of three branches:
1.
Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah
2.
Tawheed ul-Asmaa was-Sifaat
3.
Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah
This is because two of the above categories (No’s 1 and 2) are in fact related to knowledge the third one is related to action. Lets reproduce the diagram again - including this:
So it is clear that there is no contradiction, because in essence it is the same categorisation.
Now we will give a brief description of precisely what each one means:
Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah: This is to have the knowledge and firm belief that Allaah alone is the ‘Rabb’ of all the worlds. This means that He alone is the Creator, that He brought everything into existence alone, and that He sustains and controls the whole of creation - which includes such things like, giving life, taking life, sending down the rain, making the sun rise and set, etc. In fact everything related to the working of the whole of creation, then that is under the sole control of Allaah, He owns of everything and He alone created it.He is responsible for everything that happens. You can see how some of Allaah’s names are linked to his Ruboobiyyah eg. Khaaliq (the Creator), ar-Razzaaq (the Sustainer), an-Naafi’ (the One who causes benefit) ad-Daarr (the One who causes Harm), ash-Shaafee (the Healer), al-Muhyee (the One who gives life), al-Mumeet (the One who causes death) etc…
Tawheed ul-Asmaa was-Sifaat: This is to have the knowledge of Allaah’s Names and Attributes. To have belief and conviction in what He has described Himself with and the Names Has has mentioned in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger in the Sunnah. We have to believe them in the right way, as we have been commanded, as did the Companions of Allaah’s Messenger. We have already covered the topic of Allaah’s Attributes in Lesson 2 and we covered how to believe in His Attributes in such a way so that it does not nullify the Tawheed of Allaah. In a future lesson (Lesson 5) we will look at the Names of Allaah and discuss the principles behind understanding them aswell.
So the above two categories are related to knowledge.
Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah: This is to worship Allaah alone in ones inward and outward actions. Allaah has informed us of all the actions that He loves and is pleased whether they are inward actions (i.e. of the heart) or whether they are outward actions (i.e. of the tongue and limbs). So this aspect of Tawheed is to do with knowing and acting upon everything that Allaah has commanded and refraining from everything that He has forbidden. Allaah has also explained everything that constitues Shirk (such as fortune-telling, wearing talismans etc..) so a part of perfecting this aspect of Tawheed, is knowing what actions constitute Tawheed and what actions constitute Shirk. And we shall look at this in Lesson 6 inshaa’allaah.
IMPORTANT POINTS
We will now discuss a number of points related to this topic.
1. Where did this categorisation come from:
Some one might ask - where did this categorisation come from? Isnt this an innovation. Because the companions never explained this?
The answer to this is that this categorisation is not an innovation at all. And by looking at Tawheed at this way it does not mean we have innovating anything new. And also we are not claiming that looking at Tawheed in this way is an act of worship. (which is the definition of Bid’ah - i.e. inventing something new and seeking to worship Allaah by it). And even if we did not have these terms then the Qur’aan explains these principles anyway.
In other words, Allaah has mentioned what we mean by Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah, Tawheed ul-Asmaa was-Sifaat and Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah in the Qur’aan already.
·
There are many verses where Allaah mentions that He is the Rabb of all the Worlds and other verses related to this where He says He created the heavens and the earth, that He is in control of everything etc. All of these indicate His Ruboobiyyah
·
There are verses in which Allaah says there is nothing like Him (see Lesson 2) - i.e. the underlying principle in Tawheed ul-Asmaa was-Sifaat, and verses in which He mentions His Names and Attributes etc.. So all of these indicate His Names and Attributes AND the way we are supposed to believe in them.
·
There are verses in which Allaah asks the creation to worship Him alone and not to worship another god along with Him whether that might be in ones inward actions, or outward actions. So all of these such verses indicate His Uloohiyyah
So the basis of all of this is in the Qur’aan anyway. Nothing new has been innovated. To illustrate this : Go back to Lesson 2 and remember how we said that we have to believe in Allaah’s Attributes without resembling them to the creation in other words we must not do ‘Tashbeeh’. Someone might say, but this word Tashbeeh, the Companions never used it so where did you get it from? The issue is that the principle is in the Qur’an, it doesn’t matter what we call it. Allaah said: "There is nothing like Him’ [42:11]. So this tells us that we cannot do ‘tashbeeh’ i.e. resemble His Attributes to those of the creation. So the meaning is already in this verse, all we have done is to identify this principle and give it a label to make it easier to understand. We have not invented or imposed any new concept or meaning upon the Qur'aan.
It is similar with the branches of Tawheed. They are all contained in the verses of the Qur’aan and even though the names of these categories are not mentioned, the principles, concepts and meanings behind them have, all we have done is to identify them. In this is an uncovering of the enemies of Tawheed, those who claim that the Salafis have resembled the Christians in inventing a ‘trinity’, a ‘triune Tawheed’ as they say. Such idiotic fools, having no knowledge, sense or guidance, only earn the wrath of Allaah in their constant struggle and fight against the adherents of Tawheed. So you should not be mislead by the rantings and ravings of the lunatics, foremost amongst them the hallucinogenic Soofees.
2. The Excellence of Tawheed and its Cleansing of Sins (And Correct Tawheed with Many Sins is Better than Shirk and Innovation with Much Worship.)
The verse:
It is those who believe (in the Oneness of Allâh and worship none but Him Alone) and confuse not their belief with Zulm (wrong i.e. by worshipping others besides Allâh), for them (only) there is security and they are the guided. [6:82]
In other words, only those will are saved and guided who keep their Tawheed pure and free from Shirk
The hadeeth:
"Allah will not permit to be consigned to Hell anyone who witnesses 'There is no god but Allah,' seeking thereby nothing but Allah's face." [Bukharee/Muslim]
That is testifying to the oneness and uniqueness of Allaah (from the point of view of knowledge, i.e. Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah and Asmaa was-Sifaat) and worshipping Him alone (Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah) and this is the meaning of ‘thereby seeking nothing but Allaah’s Face’ - i.e. doing actions for Him alone, without associating any partners with Him - and this is what Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah requires.
3. Understanding the Calls of the Groups of Innovation (may Allaah rid the earth of them).
A second related point is that we can now look at some of the methodologies of some groups and see how they are not calling to Tawheed at all. Before we do this lets establish a fact. And that is that ALL the Messenger’s called to Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah, NOT to Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah. This is because their respective peoples already accepted this anyway. Look carefully and slowly at the following verses:
And if you (O Muhammad SAW) ask them: "Who has created the heavens and the earth," they will certainly say: "Allâh." Say: "All the praises and thanks be to Allâh!" But most of them know not. [31:25]
Say: "Who is (the) Lord of the seven heavens, and (the) Lord of the Great Throne?" They will say: "Allâh." [23:86-87]
Say (O MuhammadSAW ): "Who provides for you from the sky and from the earth? Or who owns hearing and sight? And who brings out the living from the dead and brings out the dead from the living? And who disposes the affairs?" They will say: "Allâh." Say: "Will you not then be afraid of Allâh's Punishment (for setting up rivals in worship with Allâh)?" [10:31]
And indeed if you ask them, "Who has created the heavens and the earth?" They will surely say: "The All-Mighty (al-Azeez), the All-Knower (al-Aleem) created them." [43:9]
Can you see how the pagans accepted Allaah’s Ruboobiyyah already. They accepted He was the creator, that He created the seven heavens and the earth - also that He has a Throne! And even some of His Names! Such as Al-Azeez and al-Aleem! So the pagans accepted this. This wasn’t the dispute between them. Rather what the Messenger’s called to and what the pagans rejected was Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah. In other words, that they should make all their worship for Allaah alone,both inward feelings and outwards actions. But the pagans rejected this. Look carefully and slowly at the following verses:
And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (community, nation) a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allâh (Alone), and avoid (or keep away from) Tâghût[] (all false deities, etc. i.e. do not worship Tâghût besides Allâh)." Then of them were some whom Allâh guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified. So travel through the land and see what was the end of those who denied (the truth). [16:36]
And We did not send any Messenger before you (O Muhammad SAW) but We inspired him (saying): Lâ ilâha illa Ana [none has the right to be worshipped but I (Allâh)], so worship Me (Alone and none else)." [21:25]
And indeed We sent Nûh (Noah) to his people (and he said): "I have come to you as a plain warner." "That you worship none but Allâh, surely, I fear for you the torment of a painful Day." [11:25-26]
And to 'Ad (people We sent) their brother Hûd. He said, "O my people! Worship Allâh! You have no other Ilâh (God) but Him. [11:50]
And to Thamûd (people, We sent) their brother Sâlih (Saleh). He said: "O my people! Worship Allâh, you have no other Ilâh (God) but Him. He brought you forth from the earth and settled you therein, then ask forgiveness of Him and turn to Him in repentance. Certainly, my Lord is Near (to all by His Knowledge), Responsive." [11:61]
** And to the Madyan (Midian) people (We sent) their brother Shu'aib. He said: "O my people! Worship Allâh, you have no other Ilâh (God) but Him, and give not short measure or weight, I see you in prosperity; and verily I fear for you the torment of a Day encompassing. [11:84]
So see how the call of the Messenger’s was to the worship of Allaah alone, i.e. Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah. [Even Shu’aib, he called to Tawheed first, THEN he forbade them from the evil they were doing. In other words, calling to Tawheed first, comes before ALL the other actions]
So now we have established this fact, we can see how the calls of certain groups are in error. For example, Jamaa’at ut-Tableegh have shared with the pagans, the mushriks in their understanding of Tawheed and they have not shared with the call of the Noble Messengers. This is because their call is to Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah and not to Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah. This is why amongst them you will find a man who has travelled across the world in 40 years and he is still ignorant of the fact that he is committing Shirk by wearing talismans and going to the graves of the dead and other such acts. That they call to Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah is clearly stated in their books and more specifically in the book of their founder Muhammad Ilyaas in what is known as the Six Pillars. So if you look at this book you find that Tawheed to him is just Ruboobiyyah!! High is Allaah from that. So this Jamaa’ah has no concern whatsoever with Tawheed.
Someone might say: ‘But I know people who are with Jamaa’at ut-Tableegh and they do not commit shirk and they don’t do these things, and they know what Tawheed is.’ This is only a doubt and it can be cleared in the following way. The question to be asked is: ‘Is it because of the da’wah of JT that such people do not do these actions or is it because of some other reason i.e. their family background etc.. or that someone who is upon the Sunnah, actually told them and warned them about these things, or what?’ You will never find that they avoid these acts BECAUSE JT told them so, and that it is part of the call of JT to warn people of these things. It is not for this reason. We will give you one example of the JT’s when they came to this mosque. One of the bro’s with them said that he knows that Allaah is above the Heavens and not here upon the earth. So one of the brothers asked him, but where did you learn that from? Did JT teach you that or what? And he explained how someone outside of JT, told him that and so he believed it. Also another example. A brother met a TJ and he started boasting about how educated he was and how much he has travelled the world. But upon his wrist was a talisman. So one of the brothers (a Chinese Muslim) asked him ‘what is that?’ He said, ‘My wife gave it to me, it helps to cure my wrist’. So the brother said to him ‘If I showed you that Allaah and His Messenger forbade this, would you take it off?’ The brother said ‘Yes’. So when the brother showed him, he would not take it off and said ‘I will do it tomorrow, or. Anyway the brother wripped it off his wrist and destroyed it. Then the brother said to him, ‘Here take this book and read it’ (he gave him a book on Tawheed), so the brother replied: ‘If you come with me for 3 days I will read it’, so the brother said, ‘I will spend 3 days working for the sake of Allaah in my own time inshaa’allaah you just take and read this book’. Sothe brother took the book in his hand but when he left, he left the book behind on the shelf and did not bother with it, fleeing away from the knowledge and guidance (and this is because it is also part of this deviated group to make its followers flee and run away from knowledge as if it were a hungry lion, chasing them.)
So these are just two illustrations of millions across the world of how a person spends a lifetime with a group or party and does not learn anything. And if he or she does, it is not from JT, but from someone outside of it. This is because the call and methodology of the group is not to Tawheed, and nor is it concerned with learning the knowledge either.
In a similar fashion you find Ikhwaan ul-Muslimeen, whose call is not to Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah but to something else, Takfeer, Revolting, Sufism, Modernism and a mixture other rubbish. They have made these things their starting points in their call. Similarly with all the groups of innovation and misguidance. Their starting point is wrong, so what follows in their methodology is also incorrect.
4. The Three Categories of Tawheed in One Verse:
We have already explained above how many verses of the the Qur’an, put together, mention all the categories of Tawheed, not by name, but by principle, concept and meaning.
'Allaamah as-Safaareenee (died 1112H) - may Allaah's mercy be upon him - said: "Know that Tawheed has three divisions: Tawheed ur-Ruboobiyyah (the Oneness of God in His Lordship), Tawheed al- Uloohiyyah (to single-out Almighty God alone for worship) and Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat (the uniqueness of God's Names and Attributes)."
Shaikh Ibn Uthaimeen said: "And Allaah 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, (i.e Ruboobiyyah)
So worship Him alone and be constant and patient in His worship (i.e Uloohiyyah)
Do you know of any who is similar to Him? (i.e. Asmaa was-Sifaat) " [19:65]"
Summary:
We have looked at Tawheed and its categorisations. This helps us to understand Tawheed more fully. In the next lesson (Lesson 5) we will look at, ‘How to Understand the Names of Allaah’. In other words we are filling in this gap in the ‘speech aspect of the heart’. We have already looked at the ‘Attributes of Allaah’ so looking at the Names will complete the area of Tawheed ul-Asmaa was-Sifaat. The lesson after that (Lesson 6) that we will look at ‘Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah’. In other words we will be filling in the gap in the ‘actions aspect of the heart’. Then after that, we will have a break for a week in which we will not cover anything new, but just revise the previous three lessons (4, 5 and 6).
Questions:
1.
How is our discussion of Tawheed related to Eemaan?
2.
Mention the two divisions of Tawheed according to Ibn al-Qayyim and explain each one?
3.
Give the three categories of Tawheed as commonly understood by the Salaf and explain what each one is about?
4.
Give some examples of how these categorisations are actually mentioned in the Qur’an.
5.
Why is this categorisation NOT an innovation?
6.
What did the pagans of Makkah already accept and affirm with respect to Allaah’s Tawheed? Quote three verses along with references to prove this.
7.
Give an example of when a word can be used in the linguistic sense and in the Sharee’ah sense and how they can have different meanings and applications.
8.
Quote three verses along with their references that explain the call of the Messengers and explain precisely what this call was to.
9.
Give some examples of groups whose call is NOT to Tawheed ul-Uloohiyyah.
10.
Quote a verse, with its reference which contains a description of all three categories of Tawheed.
1st December 1997
Lesson 5: General Principles Regarding Allaah's Names |
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Author: Abu Iyaad as-Salafi |
All praise is due to Allaah, the Lord of all the Worlds and Prayers and Peace upon His Messenger Muhammad. Continuing with our discussion of Tawheed, we will look at how to believe in the Names of Allaah. As with the Attributes of Allaah (Lesson 2), there are certain principles that we have to adhere to in order to believe and understand the Names of Allaah correctly. - This is because the Names of Allaah and His Attributes are the basis of our worship of Allaah. We come to know Him by His Names and Attributes, the more we know, the better our worship. Today’s lesson is taken and adapted from a book by Shaikh Ibn Uthaimeen ‘Qawaa’id ul-Muthlaa Fee Sifaat iLlaah wa Asmaa’ihil-Husnaa’ - (roughly, the Perfect Principles Regarding the Attributes of Allaah and His Beatiful Names).
THE FIRST PRINCIPLE: All the Names of Allaah are Beautiful/Excellent/Perfect
This means that the Names of Allaah reach the extreme of perfection. They are perfect and complete in every single aspect. As Allaah said:
"And to Allaah belong the most-beautiful/excellent of Names" [7:180]
This is because these names represent the qualities/characteristics that Allaah has and in which there is absolutely no deficiency or shortcoming whatsoever.
An example: ‘Al-Hayy’ the EverLiving - is a name of Allaah, and this gives evidence to the perfect life of Allaah, a life which was not preceded by death or non-existence and which will not be followed by death or non-existence.This is unlike the ‘life’ of created things, who are born and die and then no longer exist. Also their life depends on other created things such as food and water etc. But the life of Allaah is free and independent of all of these things. Therefore His life is the most perfect and most complete.
Another example: ‘Al-Aleem’ - the All Knowing - is a name of Allaah and this gives evidence to the perfect knowledge of Allaah, knowledge which was not preceded by ignorance and which will not be followed by forgetfulness. Allaah’s knowledge is free from all of that. As Moses said to Pharoah;
"The Knowledge of of it (i.e. the state of the people of past) is with My Lord in a Book. My Lord does not err, nor is He forgetful" [20;52]
So Allaah’s knowledge encompasses everything. He knows what the hearts contain and what the wombs contain. He knows what is in the depths of the oceans and what is in the heights of the heavens. Nothing is hidden from him, not even the weight of an atom or what is less than that. So the Name of Allaah ‘al-Aleem’ gives evidence to perfect and complete knowledge.
Another example: ‘ar-Rahmaan’ - the One Full of Mercy - is a name of Allaah and this gives evidence to the overflowing mercy of Allaah, which is perfect and complete and about which the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said: "Allaah is more merciful to His servants than this (i.e. a female animal) to her child". And Allaah’s mercy encompasses everything i.e. it covers everything, Allaahs’mercy reaches everything.
"And My mercy encompasses every single thing" [7:156]
NOTE: There are some names which are common between Allaah and the Creation. But this does not mean that the reality behind them is the same. For example Allaah has described Himself as ‘hearing, seeing’ [4:58] but He also described man as ‘hearing, seeing’ [76:2]. However, the hearing and seeing of Allaah is one thing, but the hearing and seeing of mankind is something else. Allaah’s hearing and seeing is the most-complete and most perfect, without any limitations or restrictions whatsoever, as opposed to that of humans.
This is an important point because the people of innovation claim, that just because we affirm these Names and Attributes for Allaah, we are likening Him to his creation and this is false because of the following principle:
"Agreement in the name does not necessarily mean agreement of the reality behind them".
So Allaah’s life is different from our life. His is perfect, ours is not. So there is a big difference. The same can be said about all those Names or attributes that seem to be common between the creation and Allaah. Ibn Taymiyyah in ‘at-Tadmuriyyah’ gives a list of all those attributes/names that He has named Himself with and also with which He has named the creation. By this Ibn Taymiyyah says that this is proof that although the names are the same, the realities are different. Some of the names that Allaah mentions about the creation in the Qur’aan and which are common between the creation and Allaah are:
·
knowing [aleem] 37:101 - so the knowledge of the creation is not like that of Allaah
·
hearing, seeing [samee, baseer] 76:2 - the hearing and sight of the creation is not like that of Allaah
·
kind, merciful [ra’oof, raheem] 7:128 - the kindness and mercy of the creation is not like that of Allaah
·
proud, arrogant [mutakabbir, jabbaar] 40:35 - so the pride and arrogance of the creation is not like that of Allaah’s
and there are many others…so the point here is that: "resemblance in name, does not mean resemblance in reality and modality".
THE SECOND PRINCIPLE: The Names of Allaah are both Names/Identities and also Descriptions.
What this actually means is that when we have a Name of Allaah. It actually consists of:
1. A Name, or something which acts as an identifier. Just like a person may have a name such as Zaid, or Khaalid or whatever. So we know that this person is known by this name. And if we were to say ‘Zaid’ everyone would know who we are referring to.
2. The quality or characteristic it indicates or gives evidence to.
To illustrate, if we take the name ‘Al-Aleem’ (All-Knowing), we know from this that Allaah has the title or name of ‘al-Aleem’ firstly, and secondly that He must therefore have the quality or characteristic of ‘knowledge’.
Another example: ‘al-Baseer’, (All-Seeing)we know from this that Allaah has the title or name of ‘al-Baseer’ firstly and that He must therefore have the quality of ‘sight’.
And the same goes for all of the Names of Allaah. They are names firstly, AND they indicate certain qualities or charactersitics.
This shows that all the names of Allaah are similar in the sense that they refer back to Allaah, but they are different in the sense that they each carry a different meaning. To explain what this last sentence means. If I said: ‘al-Aleem’, ‘al-Azeez’, al-Qawiyy’ (The All-knowing, The Mighty, the Strong), then all of them refer back to Allaah, so they all refer to one thing. The essence of Allaah. However they all carry different meanings. So the meaning of ‘al-Aleem’ is not the same as that of ‘al-Azeez’ and so on for all of the other names.
To show this further, we know that the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) had different names. Messenger of Allaah, Abul-Qaasim, Muhammad, Ameen (trustworthy) etc.. So if I said to you, ‘Abul-Qaasim’, you know I am referring to Muhammad. If I said to you ‘Messenger of Allaah’, you know I am referring to Muhammad, if I said to you ‘Ameen’ you know I am referring back to Muhammad. So in this sense the different names and titles all refer back to the same person. However, they all carry different meanings because they give evidence to different qualities or attributes.
So Allaah is called al-Aleem (All-Knowing) and He has the characteristic of knowledge
Allaah is called al-Hakeem (All-Wise) and He has the characteristic of wisdom.
Allaah is called al-Ghafoor (All-Forgiving) and He has the characteristic of forgiving.
Allaah is as-Samee (All-Seeing)and He has the characteristic of hearing.
And the same for all of the Names of Allaah. They are 1)Names firstly and 2) they give evidence to the attributes or qualities behind them.
NOTE: For the creation, they might be given a name but they might not necessarily have the quality that it indicates. For example someone might be called ‘Saadiq’ (truthful), yet he could be a liar, or someone might be called ‘Ameen’ (trustworthy) yet he might not be trustworthy, or someone could be called ‘Raheem’ (merciful) yet he could be really harsh and mean. So for humans, they can be called by a name, but they do not necessarily have the quality which the name indicates.
As for Allaah, then He is called by His Names because He has the qualities that they indicate in a most perfect and complete way, with no deficiency whatsoever. So Allaah’s actions arise from His Perfect Names and Attributes. He forgives because is the All-Forgiving and He has the quality of forgiveness. With the creation however, we give them names based upon their actions. What this means that we can only call someone ‘truthful’ if he really is truthful. We can only call someone ‘generous’ if his actions prove that he is generous. So people receive these titles and descriptions when they prove in their actions that they have these qualities. So the perfection of people lies in their actions. However, for Allaah, His actions come from His Perfection, from His Names. In other words it is the other way around.
NOTE: The people of Bid’ah argue that because we affirm lots of attributes of Allaah we have claimed that there are lots of gods. This argument is so ridiculous it is not even worth discussing.
THE THIRD PRINCIPLE: The Names of Allaah can be Transitive or Non-Transitive.
Before we go any further, let us understand what is ‘transitive’ and ‘non-transitive’. This is not difficult to understand, in fact it is very easy. We know that a language consists mainly of verbs and nouns. Nouns are objects, like a table, cat, planet, car, a person. Etc… In school you were probably told that a noun ‘is a place, person, or thing’. As for verbs, then they are ‘doing words’ as you were probably told in school. In other words, verbs represent actions. It is verbs that we will discuss in a bit more detail.
Verbs are of two types.
1. Verbs which require another object to complete the meaning, or to give a meaningful sentence. For example, the verb ‘to meet’. If I want to use this word I must also mention that thing or object which my action relates to. If I said ‘I met’ and then stopped my sentence there, it does not make sense and it does not give a meaningful sentence. I must add something to the end to complete the meaning. For example: ‘I met the Sultan of Brunei’, or ‘I met the local postman’.
2. Verbs which give a complete meaning in themselves. For example ‘to sleep’. If I said ‘I slept’. That’s all I need to say, because to sleep I don’t need another object or thing to do this action.
Can you see the difference? Lets give plenty of examples to illustrate this.
to make - If I said ‘I made’ would that be a complete sentence? No. Because the verb requires another object to complete its meaning. ‘I made apple crumble.’ So in other words, my act of making relates to something else.
to hate - If I said ‘I hate’ would that be complete, meaningful sentence? No. Because the verb requires another object to complete its meaning. ‘I hate that lowly and despised innovating Jahmee, Nuh Ha Mim Keller’. So there must be something that I hate. Again my act of hating, has to be related to something else.
to sleep - If I said ‘I slept’ would that be a meaningful sentence? Yes, because this action does not require another object.
to blush - If I said ‘I blushed’, that is a complete sentence, I don’t need another object to blush.
to reject - If I said ‘I rejected’ and stopped there, that would not be a meaningful and complete sentence. I have to say ‘I rejected the offer’, or ‘I rejected the invitation’ or something like that. In other words there must be something, an object or thing that I reject.
I cried - If I said ‘I cried’ that is a complete sentence, I don’t need another object to complete the sentence.
So by now you should be able to work out which verb is a ‘transitive’ one (i.e it relates to something, an object or thing, and needs it to complete the meaning) and a ‘non-transitive’ one (it does not need anything else and has a complete meaning in itself).
So how does this relate to Allaah’s Names? This is because some of Allaah’s Names are from verbs which are transitive and others which are non-transitive. So the third principle then is:
If a Name of Allaah is transitive then we affirm three things:
1. The Name itself
2. The attribute or quality it gives evidence to
3. How this quality or attribute relates to the creation and its ruling and what it necessitates
And if a Name of Allaah is non-transitive then we only affirm two things:
1. The Name itself
2. The attribute or quality it gives evidence to
To illustrate this, lets look at some ‘transitive’ and ‘non-transitive’ examples in the following table.
Transitive Names |
|||
The Name |
1. To affirm the name: |
2. To affirm the quality |
3. Its ruling and implication |
Al-Aleem (All-Knowing) |
‘Al-Aleem’ |
Allaah has ‘knowledge’ |
Allaah’s knowledge covers every single thing. Nothing is hidden from Him etc… |
Ar-Razzaaq (The Provider) |
‘Ar-Razzaaq’ |
Allaah ‘provides’ |
Allaah provides for and sustains the whole of creation. He sends the rain, splits the seed and causes the herbage to grow etc….and by all this, He feeds and clothes the whole of creation. |
As-Samee’(All-Hearing) |
‘As-Samee’ |
Allaah ‘hears’ |
Allaah hears all of the creation, nothing is hidden from His hearing. |
Al-Mujeeb(The Responder) |
‘Al-Mujeeb’ |
Allaah ‘responds’ |
Allaah responds to His creation when they call upon Him and when they are in distress and when they submit their needs to Him. |
Al-Khaaliq (The Creator) |
‘Al-Khaaliq’ |
Allaah ‘creates’ |
Allaah is the Creator of everything, He created the universe and He continues to add to His creation as He wills |
Ash-Shaafi’(The Healer) |
‘Ash-Shaafi’’ |
Allaah ‘heals’ |
Allaah heals the creation and removes their ills and diseases, whether they are physical, or related to the soul and the heart…. |
Al-Musawwir (The Fashioner) |
‘Al-Musawwir’ |
Allaah ‘fashions, forms, shapes’ |
Allaah is the one who forms us in our wombs and gives us our shape…. |
Non-Transitive Names |
|||
The Name |
1. To affirm the name: |
2. To affirm the quality |
|
Al-Ahad (The Unique) |
‘Al-Ahad’ |
Allaah is ‘unique’ |
|
Al-Hayy(The Ever-Living) |
‘Al-Hayy’ |
Allaah has ‘perfect life’ |
|
As-Samad (The Self-Sufficient) |
‘As-Samad’ |
Allaah has the quality of being ‘self-sufficient, independent of everythinig else’ |
|
Al-Awwal (The First) |
‘Al-Awwal’ |
Allaah is the ‘first’ before everything. |
|
Al-Quddoos |
‘Al-Quddoos’ |
Allaah is ‘clear of imperfections and evil things’ |
|
So these are some examples. Notice how the ‘transitive’ ones mostly involve actions whereas the ‘non-transitive’ ones mostly describe states or qualities.
THE FOURTH PRINCIPLE: The Names of Allaah are ‘Tawqeefiyyah’ and there is no place for the intellect regarding them.
What this means is that the Names of Allaah are restricted to proof from the Qur’aan and the Sunnah and no one from his own mind and thinking can start to give names for Allaah. So when we say, such and such is a name of Allaah, then it must be from the Qur’aan or the Sunnah. No one can invent a name or think of a name.
This is like the acts of worship. They are restricted to a text from the Book or the Sunnah. No one is allowed to come up with an act of worship which the Qur’aan and the Sunnah have not covered.
Allaah said:
"Do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge…" [17:36]
"Say: My Lord has forbidden…. and that you say about Allaah that of which you have no knowledge" [7:33]
THE FIFTH PRINCIPLE: There is no specific number for Allaah’s Names
The proof for this is the saying of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) in the well-known du’a:
"I ask you by every Name that you have named Yourself with, or which You revealed in Your Book, or which you taught to anyone from amongst Your creation, OR WHICH YOU KEPT TO YOURSELF IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNSEEN" [Ahmad, Ibn Hibbaan and it is saheeh]
So whatever Allaah has kept to Himself of His Names, it is not possible for anyone to count their exact number.
As for the hadeeth, "To Allaah belong 99 Names, whoever enumerates them will enter Paradise", then this is not a proof that Allaah only has 99 names. The hadeeth says that there are 99 specific Names of Allaah which if enumerated, memorised acted upon etc.. will cause a person to enter Paradise. It did not say; "The Names of Allaah are 99, whoever enumerates them will enter Paradise."
To illustrate this, If I said: "I have 100 pounds which I have kept aside for charity." This does not prevent the fact that I also have other pounds which I did not keep aside for charity.
It is not established either from the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) that he listed the 99 names mentioned in the above hadeeth. In fact all the hadeeths which have the above wording, but then go on to list the names are all da’eef, as explained by Ibn Taymiyyah in Majmoo ul-Fataawaa (vol 6).
THE SIXTH PRINCIPLE: That we do not do Ilhaad (deviate) in the matter of Allaah’s Names
Allaah said:
"And to Allaah belong the most-beautiful of Names, therefore call upon Him by them, and leave alone those who deviate in Allaah’s Names. They will soon be recompensed for what they used to do." [7:180]
Deviating can take place in a number of different ways:
1. To reject anything that the Names of Allaah indicate or give evidence to, such as the Attributes or Qualities behind them, as the Jahmees do, and the Ash’arees and other straying innovators.
2. To claim that the Names of Allaah give evidence to attributes which are similar to the creation. (This is Tashbeeh that we covered in Lesson 2)
3. To call Allaah by a name that He did not call Himself such as ‘Father’ as the Christians do or ‘The First Cause’ as the philosophers and the People of Kalaam do.
4. To derive other names from the Names of Allaah and then to name idols with them. For example al-Uzzaa, one of the gods of the pagans in the time of the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) was derived from Allaah’s Name, al-Azeez. Likewise, al-Laat was taken from Allaah. However, these names are unique for Allaah and no one else deserves them, just as He is unique in deserving the worship of the whole of creation.
Comprehension Questions:
1. Why is the topic of Allaah’s Names important?
2. Quote the verse in the Qur;’an in which reference is given to Allaah’s Names and give the reference.
3. Answer the following objections:
A. There are some names that are common between Allaah and the creation and if we affirm them for Him aren’t we likening Him to the creation/
B. If we affirm all these names for Allaah and the qualities behind them aren’t we creating lots of different gods?
3. Give some examples to illustrate how the Names of Allaah consist of two things: the Name, and the quality or characterstic behind it.
4. What is the difference between Allaah being called by something and the creation being called by something? (Hint, end of Second Principle).
5. Explain what is a transitive verb and a non-transitive verb.
6. Give examples of Allaah’s Names which are transitive and which are non-transitive.
7. What do we have to affirm for:
A. a Name that is transitive?
B. a Name that is non-transitive?
8. Quote two verses to prove that we cannot speak about Allaah without knowledge, learn them and memorise their references.
9. Is there is a limit to Allaah’s names and do we know the exact number? Answer this question with proof from the Qur’aan or the Sunnah.
10. Give some examples of how a person can deviate in the issue of Allaah’s Names (there is some link here to Lesson 2, on the Attributes of Allaah).
14th December 1997