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Part VI

Faith and Manhaj
By Prof.Hafiz Muhammad Saeed

Types of Tauheed: (monotheism)
In the previous lessons we learnt that what are the rights of Allah, what is worship and in this concern what the prescribed and non-prescribed ways to perform worship. Now next topic is Tauheed, its different types. Answers to same important questions will be presented. Insha Allah

First important question is why Allah sent Prophet? Its answer is Allah sent Prophets so that they invite people to the worship of Allah and forbid them from polytheism. This point is evidenced by this verse of the Quran: Verily, we sent a Prophet to every people so that they worship Allah and stay away from the worship of Taghoot (evil). (An-Nahl: 36)

In this respect, the Prophet (saw) said: All Prophets are brothers and they professed the same religion. (Agreed Upon) The above quoted verse and Hadith tell us that the purpose of appointment of all Prophets was to invite people to the worship of Allah and the Oneness of Allah, and to forbid them from practicing polytheism which was so rampant. The Satan is always trying to divert people from Tauheed (oneness of Allah). Whereas the Prophets call people to Tauheed (oneness of Allah) Allah's worship. When the Satan was expelled from Paradise, he sought permission from Allah to mislead people. Allah gave him the permission to do whatever he wanted to do but warned him that His true slaves would not follow him. Now the Satan who was expelled from Paradise due to man is string to keep the man away form Paradise, as it was man due to whom he was expelled from Paradise.

The most certain way that leads to the Hell is that of Polytheism, therefore the Satan is always trying to attract man to Polytheism. It is the Polytheism, which expels man from the pale of Faith. This is also why Allah sent a large number of Prophets with sole mission of purifying people of Polytheism which leads to the Hell and then guiding them to Tauheed and worship which leads to paradise. This was mission of all Prophets from Adam (AS) to Prophet Muhammad (saw). After the Prophets the pious people and scholars of the Ummah were charged with the same mission that is to call people to Tauheed till the Day of Judgment. On the occasion of Hujja-tul-Wida (the last Pilgrim) the Prophet (saw) said to the Ummah: I am the last Prophet of Allah. The last Book of Allah has been revealed, today Allah's Deen has been completed. I have converged to and explained to join the entire Deen and showed to you how to practice it, now my mission is complete. After me you will take up this responsibility who ever is present here should to fulfill the responsibility of conveying it to who is not present here. In this way the Prophet (saw) entrusted the Ummah with the responsibility of inviting people of this Deen and Tauheed.

As far as Dawaah is concerned, it means calling people to Tauheed and Allah Almighty if we read Imam Ibn Taimiya's books, we will find that even if he is describing a matter of economy, he will start by describing Tauheed, He states that when man's belief in Tauheed becomes corrupt, it even ruins the economy. Therefore, like politics ect is Tauheed. He says the foundation of every thing is Tauheed of Allah and the basis of every evil is polytheism. Matters continue to grow worse if polytheism among people continue to grow, and as a result people grave torment in the life hereafter. We see many Prophets just emphasized Tauheed and they discussed no their matters this is because Tauheed is a complete faith. And we need to understand this.

What is Taghoot ?
This verse has already been mentioned that Allah almighty said: Verily, we sent a Prophet towards every Ummah that it should worship Allah and abstain from the worship of Taghoot. (An-Nahl; 36)

Here Taghoot means Satan, or the Iblis who tries to drive people away form Allah's worship. He has established a complete system against Allah. That is why Sheikh-ul-Islam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahab has defined Taghoot thus: every thing that is opposed to Allah is Taghoot. It means that every thing that is believed in instead of Allah or accepted as a might and its system is accepted is Taghoot. Even those humans, who try to be Lord and force their commands on people, establish their dictatorship, are Taghoot. Likewise man-made systems that are enforced instead of Allah's system are also Taghoot, be they democratic, secular, capitalist, socialist and communist systems. That is why it is said abstain from the worship of Taghoot. Likewise, the Prophet of Allah (saw) also told, "All Prophets are brothers and their faith is the same." It is clear from this verse and Hadith that the Dawaah (Invitation) of all Prophets was the same and that is invitation of Tauheed. The Qruan presents the gist of teachings of all Prophets from Nooh (a) to Muhammad (saw). The Dawaah of all these Prophets was the same, they all called people to Tauheed and therefore their religion was also the same. Here it is also important to understand that Shariahs have kept changing, and Allah has revised His commands but Deen was never based on these commands, it was rather based on the Tauheed of Allah, which has never changed. Allah almighty says: Allah, angels and the people of knowledge testify that nobody is worthy of worship except Allah and He maintains world with justice. Nobody is worthy of worship except Him who is Dominant and Ever-Wise. Verily, the religion according to Him is Islam. [Al-Imran: 18,19) Here Allah Almighty is Himself testifying to la ilaha illal Allah, and so are His angels and all those passes knowledge. This attestation is the real Deen, the real Islam because Tauheed is the basis of a firm faith and paves way to compliance with other commands of Shariah.

SIGNIFICANCE OF TAUHEEED AND
OTHER COMMANDS IN DEEN
To accept Tauheed as the essence of Deen does not mean that one should have faith only in it and that it is not obligatory to embrace other commands. Tauheed in fact smoothes the ground for following all other commands. If somebody claims to adhere to Tauheed but considers the following of any other commands unnecessary, then he needs to revise his belief in Tauheed. If somebody is not following Tauheed fully then this Tauheed is imperfect. Allah Almighty gave different commands to different peoples, it was done simply test these belief in Tauheed. Those who have firm faith in Allah, firm belief of Tauheed they readily accept whatever commands Allah makes, otherwise they object to the change in commands and thus fail in the trial.

Tauheed is divided into three types:
(1). Tauheed Raboobiat
(2). Tauheed Aloohiat
(3). Tauheed Al-Asma wal Sifat (names and attributes)

Before we discuss Tauheed Raboobiat it is important to understand the difference between Tauheed Raboobiat and Tauheed Aloohiat. Tauheed Raboobiat refers to the actions of Allah, and Tauheed Aloohiat refers to the actions of man. Tauheed Raboobiat means believing in the Oneness of Allah in His actions, Tauheed-e-Aloohiat means all actions of man should be for Allah. Now we will try to understand Tauheed-e-Raboobiat. When we say Tauheed-e-Raboobiat means believing that Allah has no partners in His actions, it means that He has no partners in all His actions, like creation, provision of sustenance, mercy etc.

Allah's actions or Tauheed-e-Raboobiat works in two ways. In Allah's creation and in His plans. So it is obligatory to believe that this entire universe is Allah's creation and that He also runs all systems of this universe. Tauheed-e-Raboobiat includes both these beliefs. Allah Almighty said in the Quran: All praise be to Allah who is the Lord of all words. And the Prophet (saw) said: You are the Lord of heavens and the earth. (Agreed upon) The word Rab (Lord) has been used in the above verse and Hadith. Rab is a very comprehensive word which means the creator, the Sustainer and He who runs all system. Rab is a very comprehensive attribute of Allah. Therefore in Tauheed-e-Raboobiat, both creation and the running of system by Allah must be believed in. Generally, people believe that Allah is the creator of this universe but they ascribe the running of systems to other than Allah as the Quran tells us about disbelieves. And if you ask them who created the heaven and the earth, they will readily say Allah. (Az-Zumar: 38) It means people do not generally deny that Allah is the Creator, but do entertain false notions about His running the system. An altogether wrong and misleading notion has been devised that Allah created this universe but now this entire universe is running on its own, Allah end this universe and its systems on the Day of Resurrection. In other words Allah's will has nothing to with the coming of this universe. It is due to such misleading philosophic notions that scholars make it a point to include belief in Allah's running of this entire universe in the concept of Tauheed-e-Raboobiat. This is to make it clear that Allah, who is the originator of this universe is this creator of all things that will come into being until the Day of resurrection and He is also running this universe too. Nothing happens in this universe without the will of Allah Almighty. The Quran has declared in very clear terms: No even a leave falls without His knowledge. (Al-Anam: 59) So each and every moment in this universe takes place by Allah's will and behest. The second misleading notion connected about this universe and its system is that Allah created this universe once and for all and the changes that keep taking place in this universe and its diverse systems do not come from Allah. In fact He has entrusted others (humans and angels) with charge of controlling these systems. For instance the angels of rain causes rain whenever he wants. Likewise, he has entrusted some "pious" people with similar responsibilities. Sufis have devised a system of grading on the basis of the importance and magnitude of these responsibilities. They call such people Ghos, Qutab and Abdal who they believe are running this universe and make changes in it as and when they like. This belief has been borrowed from Hindus who also believe that the Creator of this universe is one, whom they call Rama. According to their faith Rama created this Universe and all that it contains once and for all and then his job was done. Now he is just a passive observer as the universe is now run by a countless gods and goddesses. Now whoever has a need supplicates a god relevant to that need. Similar kinds of beliefs have been introduced by Sufis. There are Sufis who give children, some give wealth and some heal ailments. Pilgrims are made to different shrines where people make offerings and practice polytheism. We are Muslims by name but our religious philosophies have been borrowed from Hindus. Only the nomenclature is Muslim. The saints and Sufis have been given starts similar to that of gods in Hinduism. We attack more importance to rituals and myths than the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah. Our peers and religious figures also do not allow us to do so because this will jeopardize their monasticism and their spiritual business, Now we must have understood that the real reason for divergence form Islam is adherence to Hindu philosophy. We accepted Allah the Creator of this universe but do not accept Him the governor of this universe. Ideally, we should believe that Allah is the Creator of entire universe and He is running it too. He has no partners in its creation. Nor in its running. He has not entrusted anybody with the responsibility of running this universe, no matter how pious he is, he be a saint or a Prophet.

Two Misunderstandings
Difference between the will of Allah and man There is a general misunderstanding that Allah has given man some choice. In fact the nature of man's choice is different, it is meant for his trial. He will be questioned on the Day of Judgment about the use of his choice. If he used this choice in following the Satan he will be thrown in the Hell, if he used this choice to adhere to Allah's way then he will be rewarded with heaven. This choice does not mean that man has the choice to intervene in the system of this universe. Allah has no partners with him in any of his attributes and actions.

Generally people entertain the false notion that peers and saints answer our invocations and supplications. They the saints do this because Allah has given them the authority to do so and that they take them as mere intercessors. If we send the Quran we will see that the polytheists of Makkah has similar beliefs about their idols. They believed in Allah but they also had many idols that they worshipped as intercessors. Those idols were of ancient pious people. They believed that those idols would intercede with Allah. The following verse says the same thing: Those who take for protectors others than Allah say: "we only serve them in order they may bring us nearer to Allah. (Az-Zumar: 3)

There are many other verses and Ahadith that clarify the meaning that Allah has no partner in His creation and this Governance. No Prophet or saint can intervene in His attributes or actions. Allah has the entire authority and this is the essence of Tauheed-e-Raboobiat. May Allah help us understand and practice! Ameen.