IslamWorld

Search:

The Criterion between the Allies of the Merciful and Allies of the Devil

Contributor:

Coverage:

Creator: ibn Taymiyyah

Date:

Description:

Format: text

Identifier: http://www.java-man.com/Pages/Books/criterion.html

Language: en

Publisher:

Relation:

Rights:

Source:

Subject: character

Title: The Criterion between the Allies of the Merciful and Allies of the Devil

Created on: Thu Jan 24 10:55:14 -0500 2008

Updated on: Thu Jan 24 10:55:14 -0500 2008

Version: 1

Abstract: ... himself except for the Qur'an: If he loves the Qur'an, he loves Allah, and if he detests the Qur'an, he detests Allah and His Prophet (sas)." Uthman ibn 'Afaan said: "If our hearts were really clean, we would never become satiated with the words of Allah." Ibn Masood said: "Remembrance of Allah causes faith to grow in the heart like water causes onions to grow, and songs cause hypocrisy to grow in the heart just as water causes onions to grow." If a person is expert in the inner realities of faith, and able to distinguish between divine phenomena and satanic phenomena, this is because Allah has put light into his heart, as Allah said: [O, you who believe, have taqwa of Allah and believe in His Prophet, that He may give you two portions of His mercy, and make for you a light with which you can move about, and forgive you.] Qur'an 50/28 [And thus, we revealed to you a spirit from us. You had no idea what the Book was nor faith, but we made it a light with which we guide whom we wish among our slaves.] Qur'an 50/52 This is about the believers about whom the Prophet spoke in a hadith narrated by Abu Saeed Al-Khudriy in the collection of At-Tirmidhi: "Beware of the look of the believer, for verily, he sees with the light of Allah." (hassan) We have already cited the hadith found in Bukhari and others in which the Prophet said: "And then my slave continues to seek to come close to me through extra efforts until I love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his legs with which he walks. (In one version: So by Me he hears, by Me he sees, by Me he strikes, and by Me he walks). If he asks me, I will give him, and *if he seeks refuge in Me, I will give him refuge. I have never hesitated in anything as I have hesitated in taking the soul of my believing slave: he dislikes death, and I dislike annoying him, but there is no other possibility for him." If a slave of Allah is among these people, he will differentiate between states given to allies of Allah, and states of the allies of the devil, just as an money-changer differentiates between genuine coins and forgeries, or as an expert in horses tells a good horse from a bad one, or as one experienced in military matters tells a brave fighter from a coward. Similarly, it is obligatory to differentiate between a truthful prophet and a lying imposter. Thus, we differentiate between Muhammad the truthful, the trustworthy, the messenger of the Lord of the worlds, Musa, the Messiah and the other prophets and Musailama the liar (a lying claimer of prophethood in the time of the Prophet Muhammad), Al-Aswad Al-'ansiy, Talha Al-Asady, Al-Harith Al-Dimashqy, Babah Ar-Rumi and all other liars and impostors. It is just as necessary to differentiate between the allies of Allah, the pious and the allies of the devil, the far astray. Chapter 11 The reality (Al-haqeeqa) is the reality of the deen the deen of the Lord of the worlds: i.e. that about which all of the prophets and messengers have agreed, though each of them had their own law and program. The word shir'a in the following verse is the same in meaning as the word shari'a i.e. law. Allah said: [And for each (i.e. of the prophets) we assigned a law (shir'a) and a program (minhaaj).] Qur'an 5/48 [And then we put you on the straightest (shari'a) of affairs, so follow it, and do not follow the inclinations of those who do not know. They will be of no use to you with Allah. The oppressors are only allies of one another, and Allah is the ally of those who have taqwa.] Qur'an 45/18-19 The "program" (minhaaj) here is the path, Allah said: [If only they kept straight on the path, we would have sent down to them water in plenty, so to test them therewith, and whoever turns away from the reminder of his Lord He will send him to a severe punishment.] Qur'an 72/16-17 So, the shari'a is like the banks of the river, and the minhaaj (program) is like the course which it follows. The sought after goal is the reality of the way of Islam, and that is the worship of Allah alone and with no partners - this is the haqeeqa (reality) of Islam and it has no other reality. It is to actively submit to Allah the Lord of the worlds and not to submit to anything else. Whoever submits to other than Allah is an associationist (mushrik), and Allah [...does not forgive that any partner be associated with Him] (Qur'an 4/48). Whoever does not actively submit to Allah and is too arrogant to worship Him is among those about whom Allah said:] [Verily those who are too arrogant to worship Me will enter the hell-fire humiliated.] Qur'an 40/60 The way of Islam is the way of the early prophets and messengers as well as the later ones. Allah's statement: [Whoever seeks other than Islam as his way will never have it accepted from him.] Qur'an 3/85 is general and applies to all places and all times. The religion of Ibrahim, Ya'qub, the tribes, Musa, 'Isa, and the Disciples - all of them - was the way of Islam, which is the worship of Allah alone and with no associates. Allah said, quoting the Prophet Nuh: [O, my people, if my position and my reminding you of the signs of Allah is so outrageous to you, know that I have depended fully on Allah, so gather all of your forces and your associates (which you associate in worship with Allah), and give me no breaks. And if you turn away (remember that) I have not asked you for any compensation, my reward is only upon Allah, and I have been ordered to be among those who submit (to Allah).] Qur'an 10/71-72 [And who rejects the tradition of Ibrahim (pure monotheism) except for one who has immersed himself in foolishness. We have selected him (i.e. (Ibrahim) in this world, and he is, in the next life, among the righteous. When his Lord said to him: "Submit". He said: "I submit to the Lord of the worlds." And Ibrahim counselled his children with it, as did Ya'qub: O, my children, Allah has selected for you the way, so do not die except that you are in a state of submission.] Qur'an 2/130-132 [And Musa said to his people: O, my people, if you believe in Allah, then depend fully on him, if truly you have submitted.] Qur'an 10/84 When the sorcerers of the people of Pharaoh realized the truth of the message of Musa, they said: [Our Lord, pour onto us patience, and take our souls in a state of submission (i.e. Islam)] Qur'an 7/126 Allah also narrates the statement of the Prophet Yusuf in the Qur'an: [Take my soul in a state of submission (Islam), and join me with the righteous.] Qur'an 12/101 And Bilqis (the "Queen of Sheba") said when she became Muslim: [I have submitted, along with Sulaiman to Allah, Lord of the worlds.] Qur'an 27/44 And Allah said: [It was We who sent down the Taurah in which there was guidance and light. With it the prophets who had submitted to Allah ruled and judged for the Jews and for their Rabbis and their scholars of law.] Qur'an 5/44 The Disciples (of 'Isa) said: [We believe in Allah and bear witness that we have submitted (i.e. are Muslim)] Qur'an 3/52 Thus, the way of the prophets is one, even though their laws varied, as is recorded in the two books of Muslim and Bukhari, where it is reported that the Prophet said: "We, the prophets, have a single way (deen)" And, Allah said: [He has ordained for you as your way that with which He counselled Nuh, and that which we have sent down to you, and that with which we counselled Ibrahim, Musa, and 'Isa: to establish the deen, and not to become divided therein. This to which you call weighs heavily on the associationists.] Qur'an 42/13 [O, Messenger, eat of the clean things, and do good works, verily, I am all-knowing of that which you do. And this nation of yours is one nation and I am your Lord, so protect yourself from Me (i.e. from Allah's punishment by obedience to Him). Then, they divided their affair up between them into many pieces, each group rejoicing with what they have.] Qur'an 23/51-53 Chapter 12 The early generations of this nation, its scholars, and all allies of Allah all agree that the prophets are superior to the allies of Allah who are not prophets. Allah has put his righteous slaves upon whom He has bestowed his grace in four levels, saying: [Whoever obeys Allah and the Prophet, these are the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed His grace among the prophets, the ever-believing ever-truthful, the martyrs, and the doers of good, and these are the best of company.] Qur'an 4/69 And, in the hadith: "The sun has neither risen nor set on anyone after the prophets and the messengers better than Abu Bakr." The best of the nations is the nation of Muhammad (sas), as Allah said: [You are the best nation brought forth for the people.] Qur'an 3/10 [And then, we passed the book on to those whom we selected from among our slaves.] Qur'an 25/32 The Prophet said, in a hadith found in the collection of Ahmad: "You are the completion of seventy nations, of which you are the best, and the most elevated in the sight of Allah." Furthermore, the best of the nation of Muhammad are the first generation. This is confirmed in the hadith found in both Muslim and Bukhari and other collections and which has been narrated by many different routes, in which the Prophet said: "The best generation of all is the one in which I was sent. This is followed by the one after that, and then the one after that." In another hadith, the Prophet said: "Do not defame my companions. I swear by the One in whose hand my soul is: If any one of you gave gold equal to the mountain of Uhud, it would not equal a single handful from one of them nor half of it." The forerunners, the early ones among the Migrators and the Helpers are superior to the rest of the companions. Allah said: [Those of you who gave before the victory and fought are not the same as those who gave after that and fought. The first ones are greater in rank, and to both Allah has promised a good reward.] Qur'an 50/10 [And the forerunners, the early ones among the Migrators and the Helpers, and those who followed them in a goodly fashion, Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Allah.] Qur'an 9/100 The forerunners, the early ones are those who gave and fought before the victory. Victory here means the treaty of Hudaibiya, which was the first victory in Makka, and about it Allah said: [Verily, we have made for you a clear victory (literally: opened for you a clear opening), so that Allah may forgive for you all that has preceded and all that is yet to come.] Qur'an 48/1 The companions asked the Prophet about this saying: "Is this a victory?!" The Prophet answered them saying: "Yes." The best of the forerunners, the early ones are the four Caliphs, and the best of them is Abu Bakr followed by Umar. This is well known from the companions and those who followed them in a goodly fashion, the imams of the Muslim nation, and the masses of the Muslims. For this there are various sources of evidence, which I have detailed at length in my book entitled: "The Program of the People of the Prohpetic Sunnah - a Rebuttal of the Words of the Shi'a and the Qadariyah". Moreover, all Muslims have agreed - both Sunni and Shi'a that the best person in this nation is one among the first four Caliphs, and that no one after the companions will be better than them. The best allies of Allah are those greatest in knowledge of the message brought my Muhammad (sas), and most diligent in following it, like the companions who are the best of the nation in knowledge of the deen and following it. Abu Bakr was the greatest Muslim in terms of his knowledge of the message and his practical application of its dictates, thus he is the greatest of the allies of Allah, since the nation of Muhammad is the best of the nations, the best generation of this nation is the generation of the Prophet (i.e. the companions), and the best of the companions is Abu Bakr. One misguided group believes that the "Seal of the Allies" is the best of the allies of Allah by analogy with the Seal of the Prophets. No one of the early scholars ever spoke of this concept of a "Seal of the Allies" except for one man named Muhammad ibn Ali Al-Hakim Al-Tirmidhi (not the famous collector of hadith). He wrote a book in which he made many mistakes, then, groups of Muslims in later generations believed this, each one imagining that he is the "Seal of the Allies". Some of them even claim that the "Seal of the Allies" is superior to the Seal of the Prophets - may the peace and prayers of Allah be upon him - in terms of his knowledge of Allah, and that the Prophets benefit knowledge of Allah from him! Ibn Arabi, the author of "The Essences of Wisdom" and "The Makkan Inspirations" was one who imagined such things. In so doing, he went against the dictates of the law and of sound reasoning, as well as going against all of the prophets of Allah and His allies, just as it is said about one who says about the Qur'an: "And the roof fell in on them from below" (the verse reads: [And the roof fell in on them from above]), he has violated both the Qur'an and sound reasoning. The prophets of the past are superior to the allies of Allah in this nation. The prophets - upon them be the best peace and prayers of Allah - are superior to the allies, so what about all of the prophets together? The allies only benefit the knowledge of Allah from those who came after the prophets, and then some turn around and claim to be the "Seal of the Allies". The last of the Allies is not the best of them as the last of the prophets was the best of them. The superiority of the Seal of the Prophets (sas) has been established from textural evidence such as the two hadith which follow: "I am the head of the sons of Adam without undue pride." "I will come to the door of paradise and request entry. Then, the doorkeeper will say to me: "Who is it?" When I tell him that I am Muhammad, he will say: "It is you for whom I was ordered to open to no one before you." On the night of the ascension, Allah lifted the Prophet's rank above that of all of the other prophets, thus he was the one indicated in Allah's statement: [Those, then are the prophets, we have favored some of them over others. Some of them Allah addressed directly, and others He raised (several) ranks.] Qur'an 2/253 There are also other sources of proof aside from these. All of the prophets received revelation from Allah, not the least of them Muhammad (sas), whose prophethood was in no need of any other. His law was not in the least need of any precedent nor any antecedent. This is unlike, for example, 'Isa, who referred his followers to the Taurah (the book brought by Musa) in most issues of law. 'Isa came and completed this previous message, for this reason, Christians are in need of the Old Testament, all of which was put together before the coming of 'Isa. This includes the Taurah, the Psalms, and the other twenty-four prophets. The previous nations used to be in need of muhaddatheen (those who are addressed), unlike the nation of Muhammad, Allah has made them free of this need. They are in no need, after Muhammad (sas), of any other Prophet nor any muhaddath, since Allah has collected into one prophethood all of the good qualities, knowledge and righteous action which He had spread out and divided among the previous prophets. Thus, that with which Allah favored Muhammad is only that which He sent down to him and sent to him directly, without anything which came to him by means of any other human being. This is in contrast to the allies of Allah. No one who has heard of the message of Muhammad can ever be an ally of Allah unless he follows Muhammad (sas), so whatever he achieves in terms of guidance and religious practice is by means of and through Muhammad (sas). Likewise anyone who received the message of one of the previous prophets: they can never be an ally of Allah unless they follow that Prophet who was sent to them (i.e. to their time and place, to their nation). Whoever claims that among the allies who have heard of the message of Muhammad are those who have a route to Allah in which they are not in need of Muhammad and his message is a disbeliever and an atheist. And if he says: "I am in need of Muhammad only for the superficial external knowledge, but not the internal esoteric knowledge, or for the knowledge of the law (shari'a) but not for the knowledge of the "real" (haqeeqa), he is more evil than the Jews and the Christians who said: Muhammad is a Prophet to the unlettered, but not to those who had previously received revealed scriptures. These have believed in some and rejected some, for which Allah called them the true disbelievers. Likewise the one who says: "Muhammad was sent with the superficial external knowledge, but not with the internal esoteric knowledge", he has believed in some of what the Prophet brought and rejected some, and is thus a disbeliever. Furthermore, he is more of a disbeliever than the Jews and the Christians, since the internal knowledge, which is the knowledge of the faith of the heart, its realities and conditions, is the knowledge of the inner realities of faith and is more sublime than the mere knowledge of the external actions of Islam. If anyone claims that Muhammad (sas) only knew the external matters, and not the internal realities of faith, and does not take these inner realities from the Qur'an and the Sunnah, he has thereby claimed that some of what he believes in is from that which the Prophet brought, and some of it is not. This is worse than one who says "I believe in some and reject some", but does not claim that the portion of the message in which he believe is the lesser of the two portions. But these atheistic deviants claim the alliance with Allah (wilaya) is superior to prophethood. They confuse the issue to some people and say: "His alliance is superior to his prophethood", and say, in poetry: The station of prophecy is in the zone A little above Messengership, and below the ally (waliy)! And they say: "We share with him (i.e. the Prophet) in alliance with Allah which is superior to his messengership. This is the grossest of error! No one is similar to the Prophet Muhammad (sas) in his closeness (wilaya) to Allah ta'ala, not even Ibrahim nor Musa, let alone the belief of these groups in which are contained such atheists as those quoted above! Every Messenger is a Prophet and an Ally. Thus, the Messenger (Muhammad) is a prophet and an ally. His messengership entails his prophethood, and his prophethood entails and necessitates his ally-ship. If they imagine the imparting of information to him (this is the linguistic meaning of the Arabic word for "prophet", i.e. nabiy), without his alliance with Allah, this is an unacceptable proposition. His being a receiver of information from Allah, i.e. prophet could not be without his being an ally of Allah, and cannot be separated from his alliance with Allah. Even if it was assumed to be separable from it, none can be equal to the Prophet in his alliance and closeness to Allah. Some of them may try to say, as Ibn Arabi said, that they take from the same source from which the angel who used to give the revelation to Muhammad took. This is because the have taken on the belief system of the philosophers, then presented it in the form of "mysticism" and inspiration. The philosophers say: "The universe is ancient, without beginning, and there is an origin which they imitate and resemble." As Aristotle and his followers said: "The first of it is the prime mover.", or as the later ones say as well, such as Ibn Seena (a kafir who believed fully in the atheistic philosophy of the ancient Greeks and posed as a Muslim succeeding in infiltrating his heretical ideas into the Muslim nation). They do not say that the universe belongs to a Lord who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in six periods, nor that He created all things by His will and His power, nor that He knows all of the details in the universe. No, they either deny His knowledge altogether, as did Aristotle, or they say: Of the changing, moving things He knows only the generalities, as did Ibn Seena. In reality, there is no difference between the two statements. Ibn Seena has also denied the knowledge of Allah just as Aristotle did. Every real existing thing is specific containing many detailed characteristics. Each of these characteristics is a "detail". This is the case for all things, their characteristics and their actions. Whoever does not know the "details" and knows only "generalities" knows nothing about the universe. Generalities exist only in the mind, not in reality. This subject has been dealt with extensively elsewhere, in my book "A Rebuttal of the Idea of a Conflict Between Reason and Revelation" among other places. The kufr (disbelief) of these people is greater than the kufr of the Jews and the Christians and, in fact greater than the kufr of the idol-worshippers of pre-Islamic Arabia! All of these groups say that Allah created the heavens and the earth, and that He created the creation by His will and His power. Aristotle and others like him among the philosophers or among the Greeks used to worship the stars and idols. They knew about the angels and the prophets, but nothing of this appears in the writings of Aristotle, most of their studies and sciences were involved in the natural sciences. As for issues of theology, all of them were very rarely correct, often mistaken. The Jews and the Christians even after the changing and distortion of these messages were much more knowledgeable of theological realities than the philosophers. The later philosophers, however, such as Ibn Seena and others attempted to make up a contrived concoction consisting of the ideas of the philosophers mixed with some of the message of the Prophet (sas). They took some things from the principles of various deviant sects such as the Jahmiya and the Mu'tazilah, and put together a school of thought to which philosophers of many different traditions could trace their origins. In it are gross contradictions and corruption of the truth, some of which I have analyzed elsewhere. When these people looked at the matter of the prophets such as Musa and 'Isa and Muhammad, and the immense effect they had on the world, they acknowledged the revealed law with which Muhammad was sent - the greatest such law ever to come to the world. Then they found that the prophets taught about the angels and the jinn. They wanted to bring together this and the teachings of their predecessors and real teachers: the Greek philosophers, the farthest of Allah's creation from the knowledge of Allah, His angels, His books, His prophets, and the Last Day. They have said that there are ten beings or intellects, which they call isolations or separations. This terminology is derived from the separation of the soul from the body. They called them "separations" because of their separation from the physical world, and their isolation from it. They ascribed to each heavenly body a soul, most of them considered them manifestations or "form", while others considered them to be essences or "substance". Upon analysis, it is clear that these "isolations" are in reality things which exist only in the mind, and not in external reality, just as the imaginary numbers established by the students of Pythagoras, and the abstract Platonian analogies developed by the students of Plato. They established the idea of the "helium" abstracted from external appearances, as well as time and space as purely abstract concepts. Even the more astute among the philosophers have admitted that such things only have reality in the mind, and not in the world outside of the mind. When the later followers of these philosophers, such as Ibn Seena, decided that they wanted to prove the existence of prophethood based on their corrupt underlying concepts, they imagined that prophethood entails three special characteristics, whoever possesses them is a prophet: 1) That the person posses "mind power", which they call the sacred power, and its meaning is that such people can obtain knowledge without normal processes of learning. 2) That he possess "imaginative power", such that he imagines clearly the products of his own mind, and sees them as visions in his minds eye, and hears within himself voices, just as the dreamer hears and sees things which have no existence in external reality. They imagined that these visions of the imaginations are the angels, and those voices are the words of Allah ta'ala! 3) That he possess "dynamic power" with which he is able to influence the substances of the physical world. They believed that the miracles of the prophets, and the karaamaat (miraculous occurrences) granted to Allah's allies, and the amazing feats of the sorcerers are all part of the strength of the self. Thus, they only accepted of these that which fit into their principles such as the stick turning into a snake, while they rejected all others such as the splitting of the moon mentioned in the Qur'an, and others like it. I have written extensively about these people and their beliefs elsewhere, explaining that their beliefs are the most corrupt of beliefs. These things which they call one of the signs of the prophets (i.e. the miracles which they accept as having happened) are accomplished by average people along with even greater things, as they are accomplished by the followers of the prophets. The angels who brought the messages to the prophets are living, speaking beings and one of the greatest creations of Allah. They are very many in number, as Allah said: [[No one knows the forces of your Lord except He] Qur'an 74/31 and they are not ten in number. Furthermore, they are not manifestations or abstractions. These people also say that the first source of all things is the first intellect, from which came all other things, and that the tenth dynamic intellect is the Lord of all that is under the orbit of the moon. The total falsehood of all of these ideas is known of necessity from the religion and teachings of the prophets - no one of the angels is the originator of everything else other than Allah. They also imagine the status of the intellect to be as is described in the following (forged) "hadith": "The first thing Allah created was intelligence. Then He told it to come and it came, He told it to go and it went, then He said: "By my might, I have created nothing more noble to me than you. With you I will take and with you I will give, for you is the reward, and upon you is the punishment." Sometimes, they call the intellect a "pen" because of the (genuine) hadith narrated by At-Tirmidhi which starts out: "The first thing Allah created was the pen..." The hadith which they cite about the intellect is a lie and a forgery as is well known to the scholars of hadith. This has been mentioned by Abu Hatim Al-Basty, Ad-Daaraqutny, Ibn Al-Jawzi, and others. It is not found in any of the reliable collections of Hadith. (Note: All of the alleged hadith which are found in some books talking about the high status of the mind or the intellect are lies and fabrications as has been pointed out by various scholars of hadith.) Moreover, this hadith, even if valid, would be evidence against them and not for them. It starts out: "When Allah first created the intellect...", or in another version: "When Allah created the intellect, He said to it...", so the meaning of these words is that Allah addressed the intellect directly after creating it, and not that it was the first thing He created. (Note: The Arabic words in the forged hadith can carry either of these two meanings 1) "The first thing Allah created was..." or "When Allah first created the intellect...", at this point, Ibn Taimia is presenting is arguments for the second interpretation.) The word "first" is therefore an adverb of time, and not a ordinal number, making the meaning of the two different versions the same, i.e. "Upon creating the intellect...". This is also supported by the rest of the narration which says: "I have created nothing more noble to me than you..." which means of necessity, that Allah had created other things before the creation of the intellect. Then, He allegedly said: "With you I will take, and with you I will give. For you is the reward, and upon you is the punishment." Here, four types of contingencies are mentioned, yet their philosophy is that all essences in the upper and lower worlds came forth from that intellect. How can these two fit together? The reason for their error is that the word intellect in the language of the Muslims is not the same as the word intellect in the language of the Greek philosophers. To the Muslims, the word intellect ('aql) is the verbal noun for the verb 'aqala meaning to reason, to understand, to comprehend, etc. This verb is used in the Qur'an repeatedly, as in the following verses: [They said: If only we would have listened or reasoned correctly, we would not now be among the people of the fire.] Qur'an 67/10 [Surely, in that there are signs for a people who use reason.] Qur'an 22/46 [Did they not move about on the earth that they would have hearts with which they understand and ears with which they hear?] Qur'an 13/4 Intellect or reason is thus, in the language of Islam, the inherent faculty or capability with which Allah has endowed human beings and with which they can understand and comprehend. In the language of the philosophers on the other hand, intellect reason or the mind is an independent and distinct entity or essence, resembling more closely the reasoner than the faculty of reason given by Allah. This is not in harmony with the language of the prophets and the Qur'an. The creation to the philosophers, as mentioned by Al-Ghazali, is divided into bodies, minds and souls, all of which is referred to as the world of the order. Sometimes they refer to these categories as mulk (dominion), jabroot (omnipotence), and malakoot (realm) respectively, such that those ignorant of the language of the prophets and ignorant of the meanings of the Qur'an and the Sunnah may believe that the mentioning of mulk, jabroot, and malakoot in the Qur'an supports this theory, while this is not in fact the case. These people perpetrate great deceptions on the Muslim, such as their saying that the universe is "brought about" i.e. having an origin and a beginning (which, of course, it is), even though in reality they believe is to be ancient and without beginning. Something which is "brought about" (muhdath) in Arabic is of necessity something whose presence was preceded by its absence. It is not found in the language of the Arabs nor in any language that one can refer to something without beginning as being muhdath i.e. "brought about". Allah has informed us that He is the Creator of everything. Every created thing is by definition muhdath, and every muhdath has come into existence after not existing. The Jahmiya and the Mu'tazilah attempted to bring an Islamic response to the philosophers, but fell short and failed to understand the information brought to us by the Prophet (sas), nor did they understand the dictates of sound reasoning. They neither came to the aid of Islam, nor did they weaken its enemies. They joined them in some of their corrupt ideas and concepts while rejecting some of the sound bits of reasoning contained in their legacy. Their shortcomings in both the knowledge of the revelation and of the sound use of reasoning became an added reason for the thorough deviation of the philosophers, as I have explained at length in other works. These philosophers said that Jibreel was the imaginary vision which appeared in the mind of Muhammad (sas). Vision and imagination are products of and secondary to intellect. Thus the deviants came, those who shared with the philosophers this corrupt belief, and further believed themselves to be allies of Allah, and that the allies of Allah are superior to the prophets of Allah, since they receive from Allah with no intermediary, as was claimed by Ibn Araby the author of "The Essences of Wisdom" and "The Makkan Inspirations". He said that he takes from the same source from which the angel who gave revelation to Muhammad (sas) used to take. This "source" which he is referring to is to him none other than the intellect ('aql), and the angel to him is the imagination. Imagination is secondary to intellect, and since Ibn Araby and others like him imagine that they take directly from the source and not from one of its secondary components, while the Prophet took from the imagination which is secondary and a product of the mind, this is how he came to believe himself superior to the Prophet (sas). Even if prophethood consisted entirely of the three factors mentioned and they were sufficient to indicate prophethood, this man would not even be in the same group as the Prophet, let alone superior to him! What's more, these three "criteria" are things which can be granted to anyone among the believers. Prophethood is another matter entirely! If Ibn Araby claims a relationship to "Sufism" it is the sufism of deviants and philosophers, and not the sufism of the people of knowledge, let alone that of a leader of the people of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. These were people such as Al-Fadheel ibn 'Iyaadh, Ibrahim ibn Ad-ham, Abi Sulaiman Ad-Daaraani, Ma'roof Al-Karkhi, Al-Junaid ibn Muhammad, Sahl ibn Abdallah At-Tastry, and others like them, may Allah be pleased with them all. Allah has described angels in His book very different from the concepts of the philosophers and those influenced by them, as in His statement: [And they said that Allah took for Himself an offspring. Glorified is He! Rather honored slaves. They never precede Him with their speech, and they act with His order. He knows what is in front of them and what is behind them, and they do not intercede or plead for anyone except for the one for whom He has accepted this, and they are apprehensive with fear of Him. Whoever of them says I am a deity besides Him, we will reward him with Hell fire, and this is our reward for the oppressors. Qur'an 21/26-29 [And so many angels in the heavens whose intercession will be of no benefit unless and until Allah gives His permission for this intercession for those whom He wishes and is pleased with.] Qur'an 53/26 [Say: Call those who you imagine other than Allah. They do not own even the weight of an atom in the heavens nor in the earth, nor have they any share therein, and no one of them can aid Allah in any way. Intercession is of no benefit with Allah except that for which He has granted permission.] Qur'an 34/22-23 [His are all in the heavens and the earth, and those in His presence are not too arrogant to worship Him, nor do they become weary of it. They praise Allah in the night and the day and never break.] Qur'an 21/19-20 Allah has informed us that angels came to Ibrahim in the form of humans, and appeared also to Maryam in the form of real people. Jibreel also used to come to the Prophet in the form and face of a man named Dahiya Al-Kalbi, or in the form of an unknown bedouin, and was seen not only by the Prophet (sas), but by his companions as well. Allah has described Jibreel as a possessor of power: [...high in station with the Possessor of the Arsh, respected and obeyed there, trusted] Qur`an 81/20-21 and told us that the Prophet Muhammad (sas): [...saw him on the clear horizon.] Qur'an 81/23 and further described Jibreel as: [It was taught to him by the mighty in strength * Magnificent in his form, he settled down * While on the upper horizon * Then he came close, descending * Until he was at a distance of not more than two bows length * Then he revealed to Allah's servant that which was revealed * His heart has not lied about that which he saw. * Do you then dispute with him about that which he witnessed? * And he has seen him on another occasion * At the Lote tree of the farthest boundary * There is the garden of refuge. * When the lote tree was covered by that which covered it * His sight did not waver, nor did he go beyond bounds * Truly he has seen some of the greatest signs of his Lord.] Qur'an 53/5-18 It has been authenticated in the collections of Muslim and Bukhari on the authority of Aisha that she said that the Prophet (sas) never saw Jibreel in the form in which Allah created him except for two times. She means the two mentioned in the above verse: once on the clear horizon, and the other at the Lote tree of the farthest boundary. Further, Allah described Jibreel in other verses as the trustworthy spirit and the sanctified spirit, as well as other descriptions which show clearly that he is one of the greatest living, reasoning creations of Allah ta'ala, and that he is a real being having an independent existence, not a figment of the Prophet's imagination, as the deviant philosophers imagined, as well as the claimers to the wilaya of Allah and that they are more knowledgeable than the prophets! The end result of the reality of these people is the total rejection of all of the foundations of faith: to believe in Allah, His angels, His revealed books, His prophets, and the last day. The reality of their position is the rejection of the Creator, for they have made the existence of the creation the selfsame thing as the existence of the Creator, saying: Existence is one. They failed to differentiate between oneness of reality and oneness of concept. Everything which exists shares the concept of existence, just as all humans share in the concept of humanness, and all animals share in the concept of being animals. The problem is that this kind of general sameness is never really sameness except in the mind, just as the animalness of a man is not in reality the same as the animalness of a horse. The mere presence of the concept is not the actual existence of the man, and, in the same way, the existence of the Creator is unlike the existence of any of His creation (even though both are called "existence"). The reality of their position is that it is the position of Pharaoh who denied the Maker. He did not deny the visible, tangible creation, but claimed that it came into existence by itself with no maker or creator. The philosophers and claimers of wilaya agreed with him in that, but imagined that this visible creation is Allah. Thus, they are farther astray than Pharaoh, though the evil of his position may be more apparent. This is why they said that the idol worshippers did not worship other than Allah (since everything in their wrong belief is Allah, including the idols.) And they say that Pharaoh spoke the truth when he said: "I am your highest Lord", since he was in the position of ruler and the holder of the reins of power, i.e. though all of you are a "lord" in relation to something, I am higher than all of you through the apparent rulership over you which I have been given. They went on to say: when the sorcerers realized the truth of Pharaoh in what he said, they acknowledged it, saying: [So, do as you wish in that over which you have power, you can only affect the life of this world.] Qur'an 20/72 They said: So, Pharaoh spoke the truth when he said I am your highest Lord! Thus, Pharaoh was a great source of truth for such people. They also rejected the reality of the last day, and believed that the people of the fire will indulge in great pleasures and ease just as the people of paradise. They thereby became disbelievers in Allah and in the last day, His angels, His books, and His prophets, despite their claims to be the cream of the best of the best in alliance with Allah and that they are superior to the prophets and that the prophets only know about Allah from their light source! This is not the place for a long discussion the deviation of such groups and philosophies within the Muslim Ummah, but since the topic at hand is the allies of Allah and the criterion for distinguishing between the allies of the Merciful and the allies of the Devil, and since these are some of the most notorious claimers of the wilaya of Allah while they are in fact among the greatest allies of shaitaan, it became proper to make mention of them at this point. Thus you will find that most of their writings and discourses are involved with satanic states and events. Moreover, they say, as the author of "The Makkan Inspirations" said that the land of reality is the land of the imagination. From this we know that the "reality" (haqeeqa) about which they speak is in fact in the realm of imagination which is the playground of the devil. Shaitaan gets people to imagine things to be other than what they really are. Allah said: [Whoever turns away from the reminder of the Merciful, we will assign a devil to him who will be a partner to him. Verily, they block people from the path, though they imagine themselves to be doers of good and people of guidance. (This deception will continue) up to the time when they come to us, when they will say: "If only there was between me and you the distance between the two Easts - what an evil partner!" This will do you no good on that day once you have oppressed yourselves and will be partners also in the punishment.] Qur'an 43/36-39 [Verily Allah does not forgive the associating of partners with Him, and He forgives anything less than that to those whom He wishes. Whoever associates partners with Allah has gone very far astray indeed.] Qur'an 4/116 [He promises them and arouses their desires, but his promises are nothing but deception.] Qur'an 4/120 [And shaitaan said once the affair had been settled: Allah has promised you a truthful promise, and I promised you, but I broke by promise. I had no power over you except that I called you and you responded to me, so do not blame me, but blame your selves. I cannot save or benefit you, and you cannot save or benefit me. I reject totally your associating me before this. For the oppressors is a painful punishment.] Qur'an 14/22 [And when shaitaan made their actions seem good and said to them: "None can defeat you today from among the people, and I am your helper." Then, when the two groups saw each other, he turned back on his heels saying: "I am innocent of you, I see what you do not see, I fear Allah, and Allah is harsh in punishment.] Qur'an 8/48 The Prophet (sas) told the companions in a hadith found in the collection of Imam Malik that shaitaan saw Jibreel organizing the angels for battle on the day of Badr. When the devils see the angels which Allah has assigned to aid his slaves, they flee from them. Allah aids his believing slaves with His angels. Allah said: [When your Lord communicated to the angels: "I am with you, so help those who believe to be firm."] Qur'an 8/12 [O, you who believe remember the beneficence of Allah upon you when the army faced you and He sent upon them wind, and forces which you did not see.] Qur'an 33/9 [And when he (i.e. the Prophet) said to his companion: "Grieve not, surely Allah is with us." And Allah sent upon him calm, and aided him with forces which you did not see.] Qur'an 9/40 [And when you said to the believers: "Is it not enough for you for Allah to aid you with three thousand angels sent down? In fact, if you are patient, and righteous in practice, and even if the enemy should rush upon you right here, your Lord will aid you with five thousand specially trained angels.] Qur'an 3/124-125 As for the phony allies, "spirits" come to them and address them, or appear in human form to them. These are nothing but jinn and devils, but they think them to be angels. They are the same "spirits" who address the worshippers of the stars and the worshippers of statues. One of the first instances of this in Islam was Al-Mukhtar ibh Abi Ubaid of which the Prophet had informed us before his coming in the sahih hadith found in the collection of Muslim in which he said: "Out of Thaqeef will come an imposter and a destroyer of life." The imposter was Al-Mukhtar ibn Abi Ubaid, and the destroyer of life was Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf whose story is well known. It was said to Ibn Umar and Ibn Abbas that Al-Mukhtar imagines that things are sent down to him and they both said: "He speaks the truth. Allah said: [Should I tell you upon whom the shayateen descend? They descend upon every forging sinner.] (Qur'an 26/221). Someone else said: Al-Mukhtar claims that he received revelation (wahy). It was said to him: Allah said: [Verily the shayateen transmit (from the word wahy) to their allies so that they may dispute with you.] (Qur'an 6/121) These satanic spirits are the selfsame spirits who the author of "The Makkan Inspirations" believes came and gave that book to him. This is why he mentions various acts of isolation with a particular type of food, or with a particular thing. These are some of the ways in which one may open a contact with the jinn and the devils. He then imagines this to be of the karamaat of the allies of Allah whereas in actuality they are satanic phenomena. I know a number of such people. Some of them have been carried through the air for great distances and returned, others had property appear for them which the devils steal and bring to them, while others used to find peoples stolen property for them for a fee (ju'l), or for a portion of the property when it is recovered, and other such feats. Since the states of such people are satanic, they are always in opposition to the prophets, may the peace and prayers of Allah be upon them. That is why you will find throughout the writings of the Ibn Araby and those like him praise of the disbelievers such as the people of Nuh and Hud, Pharaoh and others as well as belittling of the station of the prophets such as Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, and Harun. They defame the praiseworthy Shaikhs of the Muslims such as Al-Junaid ibn Muhammad, Sahl ibn Abdallah At-Tastry, and others and praise the blameworthy among the Muslims such as Al-Hallaj and others like him, as he has mentioned in his imaginary and satanic "visions". Al-Junaid ibn Muhammad - may Allah sanctify his soul - was among the imams of guidance. He was once asked about tauhid and he said: "Tauhid is distinguishing things brought about from what is without beginning." He has explained that the meaning of tauhid is to distinguish between what has no beginning and what has been brought about after not existing i.e. to distinguish between the Creator and the creation. Ibn Araby rejected this statement of Al-Junaid and said, addressing Al-Junaid in a conversation conjured up in his satanic imagination: "O, Junaid can anyone distinguish between things brought about and that which is without beginning except one who is neither of them?" He viewed Al-Junaid as being in error in saying "distinguishing what is without beginning from that which is brought about", because his statement is that the existence of the things brought about is the very same existence of that which is without beginning, as he said in his book: "One of the names of Allah is the High (Al-Aliy) - higher than whom? There is nothing there except Him. Higher than what? It is nothing but Him. His highness is in and of Himself, and He is the very same existing things. Those things which are called things brought about are what are high in and of themselves, and they are none other than Him... He is that which is hidden and He is that which is apparent. There is no one there to see Him other than Him, and no one to speak for Him other than Him. He is the one indicated by the name Abu Said Al-Kharraz, and other made-up names." It is said to this deviant: It is not a condition of distinguishing between two things in knowledge and statement that the distinguisher be other than the two things being distinguished. Every person is able to distinguish between himself and other people, though he is not a third party. The slave of Allah knows that he is a slave, and distinguishes between himself and his Creator and the Great and Glorious Creator distinguishes between Himself and His creations and knows that He is their Lord and they are His slaves. Allah has stated this in the Qur'an in many places, and the Qur'an is the final source of evidence among the believers who believe in it openly and in secret, internally and externally. These deviants, on the other hand, believe about the Qur'an as At-Talmasaani believed. He was one of them, and among the most well-versed of them in their perverse theory of the unity of the creation and the Creator. "Essences of Wisdom" of Ibn Araby was read to him and it was said to him: "This book of yours goes against the Qur'an." To which he replied: "The whole Qur'an is associationism (shirk), tauhid is only found in our writings." Then, it was said to him: "If all existence is only one, why is a wife halal to a man while his sister is haram? He said: "Both of them, to us, are halal, but he who is veiled says: haram!, and so we say: haram for you." This person, aside from his blatant disbelief (kufr), has also contradicted himself! If all existence is one, who is the veiled one and who is the one who veils? Thus, one of their shaikhs said to one of his followers: "Whoever tells you that there is anything other than Allah in the universe has lied." The student then asked him: "Who, then is the one who lied?" They said to another student: "These are nothing but appearances." He said to them: "Are these appearances other than what they appear to be, or exactly that? If they are other than that, you have introduced a relativity (no more unity of existence!), and if they are the same, then it is as I said." I have dealt at length with the exposing of the secrets of these people elsewhere, analyzing the implications of the position of each of them. The author of "The Essences of Wisdom" says: "That which is not there is a thing, and the existence of the Truth (Al-Haqq i.e. Allah) inundates it." Here, he distinguishes between "existence" and "being there". The Mu'tazilah who say that that which is not there is a thing which is there in reality, in spite of there error, are better than him. This second group says that the Lord has created for these things which are not there an existence which is other than His existence, whereas the first one says that the very existence of the Lord inundates them, thus, he sees no existence of any created thing which is other than and distinct from the existence of the Creator. A companion of Ibn Araby named As-Sadr Al-Qunawy distinguishes between the absolute and the specific, since he had a closer tie to philosophy. He did not accept the idea that something which is not there is a thing, but said that the Truth (i.e. Allah) is the absolute concept of existence. He wrote a book called the "Keys to the Unseen of Union and Existence". This thinking has led to the negation of the Creator and disbelief in His existence. Perfect absolutes, which are purely theoretical, do not exist except in the mind, not in reality. Absolutes which are not required to be perfect are naturally occurring absolutes. Thus, though it may be said: they exist in reality, they exist only as something specified which is by definition some part of something else, by the admission of those who postulate its existence in reality. Thus, to say that Allah is the absolute concept of existence necessitates that He either not exist in reality, or that He be some part of the existence of the created things, or that He be the very existence of the created things. Is it then possible for part of something to create the whole thing?? Or for something to create itself?? Can non-existence create existence?? These people avoid using the words huluul and ittihaad (two innovated concepts common to many sufis, the first one means to inundate and refers to the false belief that Allah Himself inundates His allies, and they become one with Him, and the second one means unity and refers to the belief being discussed i.e. the unity of the Creator and the creation - Allah is exalted above that which they say!) since the first one indicates one who descends into or inundates and one who is inundated, and the second one indicates two things which joined together to become one. Their belief is that all of existence is one. They say: The Christians became disbelievers when the specialized the Messiah as being Allah and if they had left it generalized, they would not have become disbelievers. And they say that the only mistake of the idol worshippers is that they chose to worship only some of the manifestations of Allah and not others and that if they had worshipped them all they would not have been mistaken according to these people. Thus, the knowledgeable and informed among them could, as they believe, worship idols without harm to his belief! Aside from the blatant and gross kufr (disbelief) contained in this type of thinking, it also contains, as always in their discourses, obvious contradictions. The questions which immediately comes to mind is: Who is the mistaken one? (When you say that everything is Allah.) Is it right to say Allah is mistaken or that Allah committed shirk?! But they say: The Lord is described with all of the faults and shortcomings with which created beings are described. (The believers say that Allah is free of all faults, lacks and shortcomings.) And they say: Created beings are described by all of the characteristics of perfection with which the Creator is described. (The believers say that perfection is only Allah's, none of His creation can be described by His characteristics of perfection!) Or they ascribe to the statement of the author of "The Essences of Wisdom": "So, the High in and of Himself is the one having the perfection which means the possessor of all characteristics both positive and negative (i.e. negation of certain characteristics or lacks), whether these characteristics are praiseworthy by custom, reason or law (shari'a) or blameworthy by custom, reason, or law. This is for Allah alone and for no other." Aside from the kufr of this, the contradiction is still evident. It is known by senses and by reason the two are not the same: all characteristics of perfection and complete lack of deficiencies cannot exist along with characteristics of weakness, faults, and blameworthy action. When confronted with their contradictions, they are likely to say as At-Tilmasaani said: "Things have become established for us through our "illuminations" which contradict clear reason." And they say: "If you want correctness, leave reason and the law." I have said to some of them with whom I have spoken personally: It is well known that the "illuminations" of the prophets are greater and more perfect than those of anyone else, and their information is more truthful than that of anyone else. The prophets - may the peace and prayers of Allah be upon them - informed the people of things which their minds were unable to arrive at independently, but never did they bring information to the people which their minds told them was impossible. They brought that which had been beyond the ability of reason to arrive at without the coming of prophets, and not that which reason rejected as impossible. It is impossible for the message of the Prophet (sas) to contain that which violates clear reasoning. And, it is impossible for two infallible sources of evidence (e.g. two verses of the Qur'an, or hadith narrated by a very large number of people at every level of the chain, or a proven consensus of the scholars of the Muslim Ummah - all examples of infallible (qat'iy) sources of evidence) to contradict each other. How, then, can anyone claim validity for "illuminations" which contradict the clear implications of the law and reason?! Such people may not be lying intentionally, rather they imagine things within themselves, and believe them to be reality. Or, they may see things which are in fact there in reality and believe them to be of the karamaat of the allies of Allah when they are actually of the deceptions of the devils. Those who hold the idea of the unity of the creation and the Creator may also believe that the allies are superior to the prophets, or say that prophethood has not ended, as was said by Ibn Sab'een and others. They made up three levels of "progression". First, the slave witnesses obedience and disobedience, then obedience without disobedience, then no obedience and no disobedience. Only the first witnessing is the correct one i.e. the distinguishing between what is obedience to Allah and what is disobedience to Allah. The meaning behind the second one is the witnessing of the decree (qadr) of Allah only and ignoring his orders and forbiddances. Just as some of them say: I am a disbeliever in a lord who disobeys. The one who says this mistakenly believes that disobedience means going against the decree (qadar or mashee'a) of Allah. This is impossible - the whole of creation is constantly under the decree of Allah. About this mistaken belief, one of their poets said: You have become exited about that which you choose From me while my action - all of them - are obedience. This is clearly in contradiction with that with which Allah sent His prophets and sent in His revealed books. The disobedience for which its doer deserves blame and punishment is the violation of the orders of Allah and His Prophet (sas), as Allah said: [Those, then, are the boundaries of Allah. Whoever obeys Allah and His Prophet, Allah will put them in gardens under which rivers flow. They will stay therein forever, and this is the great success. And, whoever disobeys Allah and His Prophet and transgresses His boundaries, Allah will put him in fire to stay therein forever, and his is a debasing punishment.] Qur'an 4/13-14 This question caused some confusion in the minds of some early sufis, and was explained to them by Al-Junaid, may Allah have mercy on him. Those who took heed and followed Al-Junaid in the truth of his analysis kept to what is correct, and those who opposed him went astray. They thought that tauhid consists of witnessing that all things are by the decree and the power of Allah and that is all. This they refer to as the first "union" (jam'). Al-Junaid made clear to them that it is necessary to witness the second difference which is that, along with witnessing that all things are by the decree of Allah, and that all things share in the fact that they are by the decree of Allah and His power and His creation, it is also obligatory to differentiate between that which Allah orders, loves and is pleased by and that which He forbids, dislikes and is displeased by, and to differentiate between His allies and His enemies, as Allah said: [Should we then treat those who submit (i.e. Muslims) in the same was as the criminals? What is wrong with you, how do you judge?] 68/35-36 [Or should we treat those who believe and do good works the same as the spreaders of corruption in the earth, or should we make those of pious practice as the transgressors?] Qur'an 38/28 [Did those who practice evil think that we would make them the same as those who believe and do good works, the same in life and in death? How poorly you judge!] Qur'an 45/21 [Say: The blind are not the same as those who see, nor those who believe and do good works, and the wicked one. How little you remember!] Qur'an 40/58 Thus, the position of the first generations of the Muslims and their imams is that Allah is the Creator of everything, its Lord and its owner. Whatever He wills is, and whatever He does not will is not. There is no lord other than Allah. At the same time, He orders acts of obedience and forbids acts of disobedience, He does not like corruption, and is not pleased with the kufr of any of His slaves. He does not order sins and corruption. Even though it takes place by His decree, still He does not love it and is not pleased with it. Rather, He hates it, censures its doers, and punishes them. As for their third level: i.e. to witness neither obedience nor disobedience, it is the belief of the unity of the creation with its Creator. They see this as the peak of ascertaining the truth and closeness of relationship to Allah. In fact, this is the peak of deviation with respect to the names of Allah and His signs, and the peak of enmity with Allah. People of this belief take the Jews and the Christians as allies whereas Allah said: [And whoever puts his loyalty with them is one of them] Qur'an 5/51 and does not seek his innocence from associationism and idols thereby removing himself from the tradition of Ibrahim, the close friend of Allah, may the peace and prayers of Allah be upon him. Allah said: [There is for you in Ibrahim and those with him an excellent example when they said to their people: We are innocent of you and of that which you worship other than Allah, we disbelieved in you and enmity and hatred have appeared between us forever (or) until you believe in Allah alone.] Qur'an 60/4 Ibrahim said to his people: [Do you see that which you used to worship, you and your fathers of old, they are all enemies to me except for the Lord of the worlds.] Qur'an 26/75-77 [You will never find a people who believe in Allah and the last day putting out their love for those who oppose Allah and His Prophet, even though they be their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their clansmen. These are the ones in whose hearts Allah has written faith and He has aided them with a spirit from Him.] Qur'an 58/22 Some of them have written books and poems based on this corrupt belief of theirs, such as the following poem by Ibn Al-Faaridh which he entitled "Nudhum As-suluuk. Part of it reads as follows: To it is my prayer and my standing which I establish And I witness in it that it has prayed to me. Both of us are praying on prostrating to His reality in union in every prostration. None other than myself prayed to me and my prayer Was to none other than myself in every Rakaati ........ I am still with it and it still with me There is no distinction. No, my essence to my essence has prayed. To me as a messenger I was from myself sent And my essence with my signs sought the way to myself. So, if I call out (in prayer), I am the answerer and if I am The called, it answers the one who called me and responds. This same man, when about to die, changed his tune, saying: If my position of love with you is That which I have met, I have wasted my days With false hopes with which my self was strong for a time Today I see them as nothing but meaningless pieces of my dreams This man used to think that he was Allah, but when the Angel of Death came to him to take his soul, the falsehood of his thinking became clear to him! Allah said: [Everything which is in the heavens and the earth says the praises of Allah, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.] Qur'an 56/1 Since everything in the heavens and the earth praises Allah, it is not and cannot be itself Allah. Allah said: [His is the dominion of the heavens and the earth. He gives life and causes to die; He is capable of all things. He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Subtle, and He is the Knower of all things.] Qur'an 56/2-3 It is recorded in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet (sas) used to say in his du'a: "O, Allah Lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the mighty Throne. Our Lord and the Lord of all things, the One who splits the grains and the seeds. The one who sent down the Taurah and the Injeel and the Qur'an. I seek refuge in you from the evil of every creature which you will (one day) take by the forehead. You are the first, there is nothing before You. You are the last, there is nothing after You. You are the Apparent, there is nothing above You, and You are the subtle, there is nothing more subtle than You. Let my debts be settled, and keep me free from poverty." Also about this, Allah said: [He is the one who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then sat on the throne. He knows that which sinks into the earth and that which comes out from it, that which descends from the sky and that which ascends up into it. He is with you wherever you are and Allah sees all that you do.] Qur'an 56/4 Here, Allah explains that the heavens and the earth (and, in another verse: and all that is between them) are created things which say the praises of Allah. He also informed us that He is the Knower of all things. As for the words {He is with you wherever you are...}, the word with (ma'a) in the Arabic language does not mean that one of the two things must be mixed with the other, as in Allah's statement: [Have taqwa of Allah, and be with the truthful ones.] Qur'an 9/119 [Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are harsh with the disbelievers, merciful with one another.] Qur'an 48/19 [...And those who believed after the victory and migrated and fought with you they are of you.] Qur'an 8/75 The word for with (ma'a) comes in the Qur'an in relation to Allah in a general sense and in a specific sense. Its general sense is found in the following verse: [Did you not see that Allah knows all that is in the heavens and in the earth. There is no secret council of three but He is the Fourth, nor of five, but He is the Sixth, nor less than that nor more than that but He is with them wherever they are. Then, He will tell them all that they did on the day of Qiyama. Verily, Allah is the Knower of all things.] Qur'an 58/7 Allah opened this speech with a mention of His knowledge and closed it also with a mention of His knowledge. For this reason, Ibn Abbas, Ash-Dhahaak, Sufyan AthThawri, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal all said about this verse: "He is with them in His knowledge." The specific meaning of the word with in relation to Allah is found in the following verses: [Verily, Allah is with those who have taqwa of Him and who are doers of good.] Qur'an 16/128 Allah said to Musa: [Verily, I am with you, I hear and I see] Qur'an 20/46 [And when he (i.e. the Prophet) said to his companion: "Grieve not, surely Allah is with us." And Allah sent upon him calm, and aided him with forces which you did not see.] Qur'an 9/40 Allah is with Musa and Harun in this sense, but not Pharaoh. He is with Muhammad (sas) and Abu Bakr in the cave (in the last verse above), but not with Abu Jahl and the rest of the enemies of the Prophet. He is with those who have taqwa and those who do good, but not the oppressors and transgressors. The word with in the Qur'an clearly cannot mean that Allah himself is in every place because, if this were the case, the texts explaining the specific or special "withness" of Allah would be in conflict with the texts explaining the Allah is with everyone (i.e. in His knowledge). The meaning, then, is that He is with these people with His aid and not with their enemies. And, in Allah's statement: [He is the one who is deity in the heavens, deity in the earth.] Qur'an 43/84 The meaning is that Allah is the deity of all those in the heavens and in the earth, not the He is in the heavens and the earth. Allah said: [His is the loftiest of similitudes in the heavens and the earth, and He is the mighty, the wise.] Qur'an 30/27 Likewise, the meaning of the verse: [He is Allah in the heavens and in the earth.] Qur'an 6/3 is as has been stated by the leading scholars, Imam Ahmad and others, that He is the one worshipped in the heavens and in the earth. The early generations of Muslims and their Imams were in complete and unanimous agreement the the Lord is separate and distinct from his creation. He is to be described only with that with which He described himself (i.e. in the Qur'an) or with which His Prophet (sas) described Him without distorting, negating, delving into the exact nature of, or believing them to be the same as something known such as human characteristics of the same names. Allah is described with all characteristics of perfection and no characteristics of weakness or imperfection. He knows that there is nothing comparable to Him, nor to His words in any of His characteristics of perfection. Allah said: [Say: He is Allah, One * Allah, the self-sufficient * He was not born, nor does He give birth * And there is none whatsoever comparable to Him.] Qur'an 112 Ibn Abbas said: The "self-sufficient" (Arabic: As-Samad) the Knower who is perfect in knowledge, the Great who is perfect in His greatness, the Capable who is perfect in His capability, the Wise who is perfect in wisdom, and the Lord of complete and perfect lordship. Ibn Masood and others said: He is the one who has no cavity. The attribute of One (Al-Ahad) means the one to whom there is no one comparable. Thus, the name As-Samad entails all of Allah's attributes of perfection, and negation of any lacks or imperfections, and the name Al-Ahad denotes the complete lack of anybody or anything comparable to Allah in His names and characteristics. I have gone more deeply elsewhere into the interpretation of this sura of the Qur'an and that it is equivalent to one third of the Qur'an. Chapter 13 Many people become confused and fail to differentiate between the realities having to do with Allah's orders, his deen which He has enjoined on the human and the jinn, and the imaan of His slaves on the one hand, and the realities having to do with His creation, His decree, and His complete power and control over everything in the universe and all events which occur therein. To Allah belongs creation (Al-khalq) and authority or command (Al-amr), as He said in the Qur'an: [Verily your Lord is the one who created the heavens and the earth in six days and then sat on the throne. He covers the day with the night which seeks it persistently (is never late in its succession). The sun, the moon and the stars are subjugated to His command. Verily, His is the creation and the command, blessed is Allah, Lord of the worlds.] Qur'an 7/54 Thus, Allah is the Creator of all things and their Lord and their Sovereign. There is no other creator other than Him, nor any other Lord. Whatever He wills is and whatever He does not will is not. Everything which is in the universe, motion and lack of motion is by His decree and His power, His will, His decision, and His creation of it. Furthermore, Allah has ordered His creation to obey Him and to obey His prophets, and forbid them to disobey Him and to disobey His prophets. He has ordered us with Tauhid and Ikhlaas (absolute sincerity of intention and worship for Allah ta'ala), and has forbidden us associating anything with Allah. The greatest of good deeds is Tauhid, and the worst of sins is associationism (shirk). Allah says: [Verily Allah does not forgive the associating of partners with Him, and He forgives anything less than that to those whom He wishes. Whoever associates partners with Allah has gone very far astray indeed.] Qur'an 4/116 [And among the people are those who make others as equals to Allah. They love them as the love of Allah, but those who believe are more intense in their love of Allah.] Qur'an 2/165 In the two books of Muslim and Bukhari, Ibn Masood narrates: I said: "O, Messenger of Allah, which sin is the most serious?" He said: "To make a partner with Allah though He created you." I said: "And then what?" He said: "That you kill your offspring for fear that he will eat with you." I said: "And then what?" He said: "To commit adultery with the spouse of your neighbor." Allah reaffirmed the content of this hadith when He revealed the following verse: [Those who do not call to any other deities along with Allah, do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden except with the right to do so, and do not commit illegal sexual acts. Whoever does that will meet athaama (a pit in hell reserved for the punishing of adulterers). His punishment will be multiplied on the day of Qiyama, and he will stay in it forever, debased. Except for those who repented, believed, and did good works, for these Allah will change their misdeeds into good deeds and Allah is ever forgiving, merciful.] Qur'an 25/68-70 Allah has enjoined justice, kindness, and giving to (needy) relatives, and forbidden obscenity, disreputable acts, and transgression on the rights of others. He has informed us that He loves those who have taqwa, those who do good and are kind, those who are just, those who frequently repent, those who keep themselves clean and pure, and those who fight in His path in a solid line, as if they are a mortared building. He has also informed us that He hates that which He has forbidden, as He said in sura Al-Israa': [The evil of all such things is hateful in the sight of your Lord.] Qur'an 17/38 In the verses before this verse, Allah forbids associating partners with Him, rudeness to parents, He ordered the giving of relatives all of their rights, forbid mis-use of wealth, miserliness and the tying of one's hand to his neck (i.e. withholding ones wealth and being miserly), or spreading it all the way out (i.e. being too openhanded with ones wealth to the detriment of one's own needs and the needs of those under one's responsibility), He forbid killing of humans without justification, illegal sexual acts, and handling the property of orphans except in ways to their benefit. Following all of this, Allah said: [The evil of all such things is hateful in the sight of your Lord.] Allah does not like corruption, and is not pleased with the disbelief of any of His slaves. The worshipper is ordered to repent to Allah constantly, as Allah said: [And repent to Allah all of you O, believers in order that you may be successful.] Qur'an 71/21 In Sahih Bukhari, it is narrated that the Prophet said: "O, people, repent to your Lord for, by the one in whose hand by soul is, I seek forgiveness of Allah and repent to Him each day more than seventy times." In Sahih Muslim, it is narrated that the Prophet said: "Verily clouds come over my heart, and I seek forgiveness from Allah one hundred times in a day." In the books of As-Sunan, Ibn Umar narrates that: "We used to count the Prophet saying "My Lord, forgive me and accept my repentance. Surely You are the ever-returning, the Merciful." one hundred times in a single session." In another version he said: "more than one hundred times." Allah has ordered the Muslims to end good works with the seeking of His forgiveness. The Prophet (sas) used to seek Allah's forgiveness three times after the conclusion of every prayer and then say: "O, Allah you are the Peace and from you is peace blessed are you O possessor of Greatness and Beneficence." as has been reported in a sahih hadith from the Prophet. Allah mentioned in the Qur'an talking about the believers: [Those who seek forgiveness in the small hours of the night.] Qur'an 3/17 ordering them to stand in prayer in the night, and seek His forgiveness in the small hours of the night. Likewise, Allah concluded the sura entitled Al-Muzammil, which is the sura which discusses the night prayer, by saying: [And seek the forgiveness of Allah, verily Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.] Qur'an 73/20 And, about the pilgrimage, Allah says: [So, when you descend en masse from Arafat, mention Allah in the sacred precincts, and remember Him and how He guided you even though you were before that of those gone astray. Then, move on by the same route as the people and seek the forgiveness of Allah. Verily Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.] Qur'an 2/199 Moreover, Allah sent down near the end of the Prophethood when the Prophet went out on the expedition of Tabuk (the last of his expeditions): [Allah has turned to His Prophet (i.e. accepted his repentance) and the migrators and the helpers and those who followed him in the time of difficulty after the hearts of one party of them nearly became diseased. Then, Allah turned to them, He is with them Compassionate, Merciful. (He has also accepted the repentance of) the three who stayed behind (who were boycotted by the Muslims on the order of the Prophet) until the earth seemed to squeeze in on them in spite of its spaciousness, and the remorse pressed in on them and they realized that there was no where to run from Allah except by running back to Him and seeking His acceptance. Then Allah turned to them in acceptance that their repentance may be complete. Verily Allah is the ever-returning, the Merciful.] Qur'an 9/117-118 This was one of the last verses to be sent down. It has been said that the last verse to be sent down was: [When the help of Allah come and victory * And you see the people coming into the deen of Allah in droves * Celebrate the praises of your Lord and seek His forgiveness, verily He is ever returning with acceptance.] Qur'an 110 in which Allah ordered the Prophet to conclude his work with the praises of Allah and the seeking of His forgiveness. Aisha reports in the two books of sahih that the Prophet (sas) used to say in bowing and in prostration: "Glorified are you O Allah, our Lord and with Your praise. O Allah, forgive me." Aisha commented: "Putting the Qur'an into practice." Also in the two books of sahih, it is reported that he used to say: "O, Allah forgive me my mistakes and my ignorance, and my excesses in my affairs and all that which you know better than I. O, Allah forgive me (mistakes done in) jest and in earnest, (and those done) unintentionally and intentionally, and all of that which I may have. O, Allah forgive me that which has come before and that which is still coming, that which I hide and that which I make public - there is no deity but You!" Also in the two books of sahih is that Abu Bakr said: "O, Messenger of Allah, teach me a du'a (supplication) with which I can ask Allah in my prayer." The Prophet said: Say: "O, Allah, surely I have oppressed myself to a great degree and none can forgive sins except for You. Forgive me with a forgiveness from You and have mercy on me, verily, you are the Forgiving, the Merciful." And, in the books of hadith known as As-Sunan, it is narrated that Abu Bakr said to the Prophet (sas): "O, messenger of Allah, teach me a du'a (supplication) with which I can ask Allah in the morning and the evening." The Prophet said: Say: "O, Allah, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the visible, Lord of everything and its sovereign, I bear witness that there is no deity other than You. I seek refuge in You from the evil within myself, from the evil of the shaitaan and his associationism, and from anything which would bring evil to me or to any other Muslim." Say it when you get up in the morning, in the afternoon, and when you lie down to sleep. Clearly, it is not allowed for anyone to imagine that he is not in need of repenting to Allah and seeking His forgiveness for his sins. Rather, everyone is in constant need of that. Allah said: [We offered this trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to accept its burden and were afraid of it. Then man took it on, verily he is ever prone to criminality, ever prone to foolishness. * That Allah may punish the hypocrites, male and female and the associationists, male and female, and turn in acceptance to the believers, male and female, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.] Qur'an 33/72-73 So man is criminal and foolish in nature, and the goal of the believing men and women is repentance. Allah has informed us in His book of the repentance of His righteous slaves and His forgiveness of them. In the two books of sahih, it is recorded that the Prophet said: "No one will enter paradise by his actions." The companions asked him: "Even you, O, messenger of Allah?" He said: "Even me, unless Allah envelopes me in His mercy and His grace." This does not represent a contradiction of the verse in the Qur'an which reads: [Eat and drink because of your works which preceded in the days which have passed.] Qur'an 69/24 The hadith rejected the equivalence between the good works of the people of paradise and their reward from Allah and rejected the idea of the reward of paradise being in exchange for these good works in this life. The verse from the Qur'an, on the other hand established the causal relationship between obeying Allah in this life and being rewarded with paradise in the next. As for the statement of the one who says: "When Allah loves one of His slaves, his sins do him no harm." The meaning of this is that when Allah loves one of His slaves, He inspires him to repent and seek forgiveness and so, when he sins, he never determinedly continues in his sin. Whoever believes that sins could do no harm to someone who determinedly continues to commit them has gone astray, and is in contradiction to the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the first generations of Muslims and the Imams of the Muslims. Rather, [Whosoever does an atoms weight of good will see it, and whosoever does an atoms weight of bad will see it.] Qur'an 99/7-8 The praiseworthy slaves of Allah are none other than the ones mentioned in the verse: [And rush to forgiveness from you Lord and a garden whose width is like the heavens and the earth which has been prepared for the pious. * Those who spend in good times and in bad, who refrain themselves when enraged, and who are forbearing with people. Allah loves the doers of good. * Those who, when they commit some outrage or oppress themselves (by disobedience to Allah), remember Allah and seek His forgiveness for their sins. And who can forgive sins except for Allah? And they do not persist in the wrong which they did after they know. * Their reward is forgiveness from their Lord and gardens under which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever, and that is the reward of those who strive.] Qur'an 3/133-136 Whoever believes that the decree of Allah is an excuse for sinners is of the same type as the associationists whose statement Allah reported in the Qur'an: [Those who associate will say: If Allah had so willed, we would never have associated (partners with Allah), nor would have our forefathers, and we would never have forbidden anything.] Qur'an 6/148 Allah said, in answer to them: [In this way those who came before them denied (the truth) until they tasted our wrath. Say: Do you have any knowledge which you can produce for us? You follow only imagination, and you do nothing but guess. * Say: Allah's is the conclusive argument: If He had wished, He would have guided all of you.] Qur'an 6/148-149 If Allah's decree was any excuse, He would not punish anyone among the rejecters of the prophets such as the people of Nuh, 'Aad, Thamud, Al-Mu'tafikaat, and the people of Pharaoh. Nor would He have ordered the punishments (Al-Huduud) to be inflicted on those who transgress the boundaries of His law. No one cites the decree of Allah as his argument or excuse except one who is following his hawa (whims) without guidance from Allah. He who sees Allah's decree as an excuse for the sinners does not ascribe to them blame nor punishment, thus, it is upon him to blame no one, nor to seek anyone's punishment no matter what they may do to him (since it is all by Allah's decree!). In fact, that which causes pleasure and that which causes pain are the same to him, thus, he should not differentiate between those who do good to him and those who do evil to him. This is clearly unacceptable by common sense, reason, and the rule of shari'a! Allah said: [Or should we treat those who believe and do good works the same as the spreaders of corruption in the earth, or should we make those of pious practice as the transgressors?] Qur'an 38/28 [Should we then treat those who submit (i.e. Muslims) in the same way as as the criminals? What is wrong with you, how do you judge?] 68/35-36 [Did those who practice evil think that we would make them the same as those who believe and do good works, the same in life and in death? How poorly you judge!] Qur'an 45/21 [Do you then think that we created you in jest, and that you would not be returned to us?] Qur'an 23/115 [Does man believe that he is to be left without purpose?] i.e. neglected, not ordered with anything, not forbidden anything. It is recorded in the two books of sahih, that the Prophet said: "Adam disputed with Musa. Musa said to Adam: "O, Adam, you are the father of the human race, Allah created you with His hand, and blew into you of His spirit, and made His angels prostrate to you, why did you expel yourself and us from the garden?" Adam said to him: "You are Musa whom Allah favored with His speech, and wrote for you the Taurah with His hand, so (tell me) by how many years before my creation did you find it written about me: [... then Adam disobeyed his Lord and got lost.] (Qur'an 20/121)? Musa said: "By forty years." Then, Adam said: "So how do you blame me for something which Allah had decreed for me before my creation by forty years?" The Prophet said: "And so, Adam defeated Musa in the dispute." Two groups have gone astray in relation to this hadith. One group rejected it completely (though it is thoroughly authenticated), since it seemed to them to mean the removal of blame and punishment from anyone who disobeyed Allah because of Allah's decree. Another group fell into something even worse (than rejecting the words of the Prophet): They believed that Allah's decree is an excuse for the disobedience of Allah. Some of them may say: The decree of Allah is an excuse for the people of Al-Haqeeqa (lit. "reality") who have witnessed it, or those who do not perceive any actions whatsoever originating from themselves, (i.e. who believe they have annihilated themselves "in Allah" - exalted is He above that which they say!). Others say, by way of explanation: Adam won the argument because he is the father of Musa, or because he had repented, or because the sin was in one law, and the blame in another, or because this is in this world only, and not in the next. All of these explanations are false and incorrect. The meaning of the hadith is that Musa - peace be upon him - did not blame his father Adam except because of the hardship which befell the human race because of Adam's eating from the tree. Thus, he said to him: "Why did you expel your self and us from the garden?" He did not blame him merely for having committed a sin from which he had already repented, for Musa surely knew that one who repents from a sin is not to be blamed for it. Adam had repented from his sin, and did not believe the decree of Allah was any excuse for him. If he believed that, he would not have said after his sin what is reported in the Qur'an: [Our Lord, we have oppressed ourselves and if you don't forgive us and have mercy on us, we will be among those in loss.] Qur'an 7/23 Believers are ordered to be patient in the face of calamities and accept the decree of Allah, and they are ordered to seek forgiveness and repent when they commit any sin. Allah said: [So be patient, surely the promise of Allah is truth, and seek forgiveness for your sin.] Qur'an 40/55 Here, Allah ordered him to be patient with adversity, and to seek forgiveness from blameworthy actions. Allah said: [No calamity strikes except with the permission of Allah. Whoever believes in Allah, He will guide his heart.] Qur'an 64/11 Ibn Masood said about this verse: "He is the man who is afflicted with a calamity which he knows is from Allah, and so he is patient and surrenders. So the believers, when afflicted with some calamity such as illness, poverty, or oppression are patient for the ruling of Allah, even if that calamity is because of someone else's sin. For, example, someone whose father spent all of his property in disobedience to Allah such that his children come to poverty must be patient with what has befallen him. If he were to blame his father for what has befallen him, it would be proper to remind him of the decree of Allah. This type of patience is obligatory in the unanimous opinion of the scholars. Above patience with the decree of Allah is acceptance (ridhaa) of the decree of Allah. It has been said that acceptance is also obligatory, and it has been said that it is commendable, less than obligatory, and this is the correct opinion. Higher still than acceptance of Allah's decree when afflicted with calamities is to thank Allah for calamities because of what he sees of the beneficence of Allah in giving him that and making it a reason for the expiation of some of his sins, and elevating his rank, and aiding him in turning to Allah and humbling himself before Him, and increasing him in purity of intention and completeness of dependence on Allah and on no one else among His creation. As for the people of transgression and going astray, you will find them using the decree of Allah as an argument when they sin or follow their lusts and desires, while they attribute their good deeds to themselves when Allah graces them with that. A scholar once said: "When you are obedient you are a qadariy, and when you are disobedient you are a jabriy. You claim to be with whatever philosophy meets the dictates of your whims." (Note: These are two deviations in thinking which have arisen among the Muslims. A qadariy says that man is the creator of his own actions, and that Allah wills the submission of all of His slaves, but some of his slaves overcome the will of Allah, and sin! A jabriy says that man is not responsible for his actions since all of them have been decreed by Allah.) As for the people of guidance and right action, when they do something good they are witnesses to the grace of Allah upon them and that He is the one who was generous with them and granted them Islam, made them of those who establish the prayer, inspired them with taqwa, and that there is no power nor strength except from Allah. Their understanding of the decree of Allah prevents them from being overly pleased with themselves, feeling that they deserve praise for their actions, and being injurious to one to whom they have done some good. When they commit some sin, they seek the forgiveness of Allah and repent to Him from their sin. In Sahih Buhkari, Shaddaad ibn Aws narrates: "The Prophet said: The best seeking of forgiveness is for the slave of Allah to say: {O, Allah, You are my Lord, there is not deity other than you. You created me and I am your slave. I am (seeking to) stick to my obligation to you and my promise to you to the extent of my ability. I seek refuge in you from the evil which I may do. I return to You with the goodness which You have bestowed on me, and I return to You (in repentance) with my sin. So forgive me; no one forgives sins except for You.} Whoever says this when he wakes up with certainty and conviction and then dies that night will enter paradise." In another sahih hadith, Abu Dharr narrates from the Prophet of that which he narrated from Allah the Blessed the High that He said: "O, my slaves, I have forbidden myself oppression, and have made it forbidden among you, so do not oppress one another. O, my slaves surely you commit mistakes by night and by day, and I forgive all sins without problem, so seek my forgiveness, that I may forgive you. O, my slaves, all of your are hungry except the one whom I feed, so seek from me your sustenance that I may feed you. O, my slaves, all of you are naked except the one whom I have clothed, so seek this from me that I may clothe you. O, my slaves, all of you are lost except the one whom I have guided, so ask me guidance that I may guide you. O, my slaves, you will never be able to harm me, nor will you ever be able to help me. O, my slaves, if the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you were as pious as the most pious one among you, that would add nothing to my wealth. O, my slaves, if the first of you and the last of you and the human of you and the jinn of you were all as evil as the most evil individual among you, that would decrease nothing from my wealth. O, my slaves, if the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you all gathered in a single plain and asked me for their wishes and I granted every one of you what they asked, they would decrease nothing from that which I possess except as the ocean is decreased by the sticking of a needle into it one time. O, my slaves, it is nothing but your works, I keep track of them for each of you, then I reward you fully for them. So, whoever finds good, let him thank Allah, and whoever finds other than that, let him blame no one except himself." Allah here orders us to praise and thank Him for the good which comes to us, and when we find bad to blame no one but ourselves. Many people speak about "reality" or "the real" (Al-haqeeqa) while failing to differentiate between the reality relating to the decree of Allah, His creation of all things and actions, and his determination of events on the one hand, and the reality relating to the orders of Allah, and His deen which are related to His pleasure and displeasure. on the other. They fail to distinguish between one who is steadfast in the reality of the deen in accordance with the orders of Allah on the tongues of His prophets and one who is only steadfast in following his own feelings and intuitive experiences without subjecting that to the criterion of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. In the same way, many people talk about the term Shari'a but fail to differentiate between the shar' (law) which has been sent down from Allah i.e. the Qur'an and the Sunnah with which Allah sent His Prophet (sas) and the rulings of a ruler or judge. No one of Allah's creation has any right to go out of or against the Law of Allah, whoever does so is a kafir (disbeliever). As for the rulings of the ruler, he is correct sometimes and wrong other times. That is for the case of his being knowledgeable of the law, and righteous and just in his actions. The Prophet said about those who give rulings in the law: "Judges are three type: two types in the hell fire, and one type in paradise. A man who knows the truth and judges according to it is in paradise. A man who gives rulings for the people though he is ignorant of them is in the fire. And a man who knows the truth but judges with other than it is in the fire." The best of the knowledgeable and just judges is the uppermost among the sons of Adam: Muhammad, may the peace and prayers of Allah be upon him. It is reported in the two books of the sahih, that the Prophet (sas) said: "You come to me with your cases, and some of you may be more eloquent and convincing in expression than others. I only judge according to that which I hear, but whoever has received a favorable judgement from me in which I have awarded him what is rightfully his bother's, should not take it, for I have merely cut for him a piece of the hell fire." The Prophet here informs us that when he delivers a judgement according to that which he hears, but its reality is other than that, it is not allowed for the one who has been rewarded what is not rightfully his to take it, and that this is nothing more than a piece of the hell fire. This is a point of consensus among the scholars of Islam in relation to all types of property: If the judge rules according to that which he believes to be a valid legal argument such as evidence or admission, though the reality of the case is other than what it appears, it is not allowed for the one given the reward to accept it. If such a ruling is in the area of contractual obligations or cancellations, it is the opinion of most of the scholars that the one granted his wish though the reality of the case is other than what it appears to ... [Full Article...]

| Contact |