Eight Ways On How To Gain Knowledge That, ‘None Has The Right To Be Worshiped Except Allah’

Allah says in the Quran:

“Know that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah” (47:19)

Shaykh Ibn Sa’dee (rahimahullah) cites eight different ways in his Tafseer on how to gain knowledge that ‘none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, he said:

1. To contemplate upon the names and attributes of Allah, and his actions that show his perfectness, greatness and magnificence. This causes a person to exert themselves in devotion to Allah and worshipping the perfect lord whom his is all praise, glorification beauty and majesty.
2. knowing that Allah is the sole creator and disposer of affairs requires that a person also know that Allah is solely deserving of worship.
3. Knowing that Allah alone bestows all blessings hidden and apparent, worldy and religious, necessitates that his heart loves and becomes attached to Allah, and that he worships him alone without any partners.
4. The reward, victory and apparent favours Allah bestows upon his awliyaa (supporters) that single out Allah with everything that is specific to him; and the punishment he sends upon his enemies who associate partners with him. This clearly calls to the fact that only he, the most high deserves all worship.
5. knowing the characteristics of the idols, statues, and partners that are worshipped besides Allah and have been taken as gods, and that they are deficient from all angles and needy themselves. They have no power to benifit themselves or those who worship them. They have no power of giving life or raising the dead. They have no ability to make those who worship them victorious and they cannot benifit them even with an atom seed, whether it is bringing about good or repelling evil. Knowledge of this necessitates that a person know ‘none has the right to be worshipped except Allah’, and it attests that the divinity of those that are worshipped besides him is false and futile.
6. All the books are in agreement and conformity about this.
7. the finest of the creation, and these are the prophets, messengers and upright scholars who have the best intellects, manners, understanding, knowledge and opinions, all testify to this.
8. The evidences that Allah has established that are ufuqiyaah and naffsiyaah prove and proclaim in the greatest fashion that Allah should be singled out with all worship, and he has made visible his fine work, amazing wisdom and marvellous creation.

[Tayseer Al-Kareem Al-Mannaan fee Tafseer Kalaam Ar-Rahman by Allaamah As-Sa’dee (pg. 731-732)]

See Also:

Meaning of La Illaha IllaAllah

Importance of Tawheed

Superiority of Tawheed

 

Ten Things That Expiate The Sins – Abu Iyaad Amjid Rafiq

 

Types of Shirk

First: Major Shirk (Shirk al-Akbar)

Which Allah does not forgive. Allah says:

“this is the guidance of Allah with which he guides whosoever he wills of his slaves. But if they had joined in worship others with Allah, all that they used to do would have been of no benefit to them” (Al-Anam:88)

“it is not for the Mushrikun (polytheists, idolaters, pagans, disbelievers in the oneness of Allah), to maintain the masjid of Allah (i.e. To pray and worship Allah therein, to look after the cleanliness and the building, etc), while they witness against their own selves disbelief. The works of such are in vain and in hell they shall abide” (at-Tawbah:17)

The one who associates others with Allah and dies on this shirk will not be forgiven and jannah (paradise) is forbidden to him, as Allah, the Most Mighty and Honoured says:

” Verily, Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with him in worship, but he forgives except that anything else to whom he pleases, and whoever sets up partners with Allah in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin” (An-Nisan:48)

“verily, whoever sets up partners with Allah in worship with Allah, then Allah has forbidden paradise for him, and the fire will be his abode. And for the zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers) there will be no helpers” (Al-Maidah:72)

Asking the dead or idols for help, slaughtering for them and making vows to them are examples of major shirk.

Second: Minor Shirk (Shirk Al-Asghar)

which is stated In the Quran and Sunnah but is not the same as Major Shirk. Riya (showing off), and swearing by other than Allah are examples of Minor Shirk. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:

“of which I fear for you the most is Minor Shirk.” When he was asked what it was, he said, “Riya”

and he (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) also said:

“he who swears by other than Allah commits minor shirk”

This kind of shirk does not necessarily lead to disbelief from islam or an eternal stay in hell. It negates however the completeness of faith.

Third: Hidden Shirk

The prophet (sallalahu alayhi wasallam) said:

“Shall I not inform you of which I fear more for you than I fear of the Anti-Christ? They said, ‘yes, o messenger of Allah’, and he said, “the hidden Shirk, where one beautifies the way of praying only because another one is looking at him”

Alternatively Shirk could be divided into two kinds, Major and Minor. In this case the hidden shirk encompasses both the Major and Minor kinds depending upon the act committed. It is Major if it is the same as the Shirk of the hypocrites who hiss their false beliefs while showing off islam out of fear. It is Minor if it is the same as Riya (showing off).

[Source: Important Lessons for the Muslim Ummah, by Skaykh Abdul-Aziz bin Abdullah bin Baz]

Additional Information:

Fear Of Shirk

Aqeedah Comes First if Only They Knew – Abu Muadh Taqweem

Sayings of The Salaf on Bidah (Innovation)

Abdullah Ibn Umar said: ‘every innovation is misguidance, even if the people regard it as good’

Abdullah ibn Masood said: ‘follow the sunnah of Muhammad and do not innovate, for what you have been commanded is enough for you.’ (Ad-darimee)

Hudayfah bin al-yaman said: ‘every act of worship the companions did not do, do not do it’ (abu Dawood)

Imam Abu Haneefah said: ‘stick to the narrations and the way of the salaf, and beware of the newly invented matters for all of it is innovation’ (Sawnul Muntaq of as-suyutee)

Imam Malik said: ‘he who innovates an innovation in Islam and regards it as good, has claimed that Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) has betrayed his trust to deliver the message as Allah says: ‘this day have I perfected for you your religion’. And whatever was not part of the religion then, is not part of the religion today’ (al-itisam)

Imam Ahmed said: ‘the fundamental principles of the sunnah with us are: avoiding innovations and every innovation is misguidance’ (usool us-sunnah of Imam Ahmed)

Adittional Information:

Why we Should Follow the Salaf

Definition of Bidah

Dangers of Innovation

Beware of Innovations

Importance of Tawheed – Abu Kadeejah

Pillars of Tawheed

Tahweed means to make something one (singular and unique). And this can not be accomplished except by a Negation and Affirmation, both together. So mankind can not fulfill the concept of tawheed unless they testify that non has the right to be worshipped except Allah.  By this we negate the worship of anything other than Allah, and affirm worship for him alone.

This can be more clearly understood from the testification of faith (shahada), ‘la ilaha ilaa Allah’ 

‘la ilaha’ means there’s nothing that has the right to be worshipped. This is a Negation for whatever else is worshipped alongside Allah.

‘illa Allah’ means except Allah. This is an Affirmation that he alone is the one that deserves to be worshipped.

and likewise from the ayat of Quran:

“And remember when Ibrahim said to his father and his people: ‘I am totally free from everything that you worship, except for the one who crated me” (zukhruf:26-27)

“I am totally free of everything that you worship”, Negation.

“Except for the one who created me” , Affirmation.

 “O people of the scripture, come to a word that is just between us and you, that we will single out Allah with all worship and not worship anything besides him, and will disassociate ourselves from everything that is worshipped besides him” (3:64)

“that we single out Allah with all worship”, Affirmation.

“and will not worship anything besides him”, Negation.

So in order to to fulfill tawheed, we must Negate the worship of everything and anything other than Allah, and Affirm that he alone is the one that deserves to be worshipped.

[Source: A Gift for the Intellects in Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles of Islam, by Skaykhul-Islam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab, Explained by Skaykh Ubaid Al-Jabiree. Publisher: Salafi Publications]

Why We Should Follow The Salaf

The salaf are those that have proceeded us. Salaf-us-saalih means the ‘righteous predecessors’.

So the intended meaning is what the messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) was upon, his companions and those that followed them upon righteousness.

The prophet said: “the best of my nation is my generation, then those that follow them, then those that follow them. “ (Bukhari).

So following the way of the salaf is to transverse upon the path of the companions and imitate them in the way that they used to follow the messenger (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and apply the narrations.

And the proof for following the Companions is the statement of Allah:

“The first and foremost to embrace islam from the migrants from Makkah and those who helped them from the residents of Madeenah, and those that follow them in goodness, Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with him.” (at-tawbah:100)

This verse refers to the companions of the prophet, (1) those that migrated from Makkah to Madeenah, and (2) those who resided in Madeenah, and then it mentions (3) those that follow them in goodness. So Allah is pleased with these three groups of people. It’s not possible for us to be from those that migrated from Makkah to Madeenah, nor from those that resided in Madeenah, so we must ensure that we are from, ‘those that follow them in goodnes’, in order to gain the pleasure of Allah.

and he (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:

‘this ummah will divide into seventy-three sects, all of them in the hellfire except for one.’ They asked, which one is this O Messeneger of Allah? He replied, ‘those upon that which I and my companions are upon today’ (at-timidhee)

And the reason for this is they are the most Knowledgable of what the Messeneger came with and how it should be acted upon. So it is a must that we transverse upon this path, the path of the salaf, in order to gain the pleasure of Allah and be saved from the Hellfire.

Pillars of Ibadah (Worship)

As worship was the sole reason for our creation. It is important for us to make sure that all our are acts of worship are performed in a correct manner. In order for an act of worship to be complete it must contain three vital elements:

1) Fear – which repels a person from those things that anger Allah.

2) Hope – which causes a person to anticipate the mercy of Allah.

3) Love – causes the hearts to be content with the commands and prohibitions of Allah.

So these three are the pillars of Ibadah (worship). Understanding how to combine these three qualities into the worship (ibaadah) of Allah is one of the most essential things that every Muslim must grasp, not least because every sect which has drifted from the Straight Path has strayed in the aspect of worship.

This can be seen through contemplation of Surat Al-Fatihah.

First ayah: “All Praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds” (1:1)

We praise him for his favours he bestows upon us, his kindness and good treatment. So this necessitates that we have Love for Allah.

Second Ayah: “The Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy” (1:2)

Allah is the Most merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. So we hope that Allah has mercy upon us.

Third ayah: “Master of the Day of Judgement ” (1:3)

This contains intimidation and fear from the day of ressurection, and the verdict we may face due to our evil actions.

So if someone observes only one of them he is astray. Whoever worships Allah with love only, resembles the soofiyah, who say ‘we don’t worship Allah fearing the fire, or hoping in his mercy we only worship him because we love him. ‘ This is a clear error as the messengers and angels (the best of creation), fear Allah and place hope in him.

“Verily, they used to hasten to do good deeds, and they used to call on us with hope and fear, and used to humble theselves before us” (21:90)

“those whom they call upon (besides Allah) desire (for themselves) means of access to their lord, as to which of them should be the nearest. And they hope in his mercy and fear his punishment” (17:57)

Whoever worships Allah upon Hope only, resembles the murj’ah, those who depend on hope only, not fearing their sins and disobedience.

Whoever worships Allah upon fear only resembles the khawarij, those who adhere to the texts of threat only, and abandon the texts of the promise, forgiveness and mercy.

After these three verses, the next ayah is:

“You alone we worship, and your aid do we seek” (1:4)

‘You alone do we worship’, so we worship Allah with these three, love, Hope and fear. Because al-Ibadah is not actualised without these three. So these are the pillars of worship, love, Hope, and fear. And directing these to other than Allah is shirk.

[Source: Some of the Benefits of Surat Al-Fatihah, by Skaykhul-Islam Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahaab. Explained by Skaykh Saalih Ibn Fawzan al Fawzan. Publisher: Troid]

Yes to the Sunnah, No to the Bidah! Abu Abdis Salaam