Download Yasir Qadhi - An Explanation Of The Shahadah 1-2

The Key to Paradise: An Explanation of the Shahadah - Lecture 1
Introduction: A discourse on knowledge
All praise is due to Allah, the Exalted who has praised knowledge and raised the status of its
people. As Allah says in the Quran:
“Allah will raise the status of those who have emaan and those that have knowledge amongst
you.”
It is through knowledge that the superiority of Adam, our father, was shown over the angels, as
Allah says:
“Allah taught Adam the names of all things...”
It was through knowledge that the status of our own Prophet, the Prophet Muhammad (sws)
was established. As Allah, the Exalted states:
“Allah has revealed the book and the wisdom and has taught you that which you do not know
and it is because of this... (need the rest)”
It is so great, the status of knowledge that Allah testifies on their behalf, as Allah says:
“Allah testifies that there is no object worthy of worship except Himself and the angels and the
peopled of knowledge standing for justice...”
And this verse is the greatest verse praising the people of knowledge because Allah, the
Exalted testifies for them, without them having to say anything and when Allah testifies for them,
what does this show you about them? He testifies for them regarding the most important
kalima, La illah illa Allah and describes them as “standing with justice”. So, Allah began with
Himself, that Allah testifies and then He said (that) the angels testify and then He followed that
up with the people of knowledge - they also testify. And this is enough of a tazkiyyah, enough of
a means of purifying and showing the status of the people of knowledge.
It is the people of knowledge who truly understand the Qur’an. As Allah says:
“These are the parables that we give to people but nobody understands them, except the
people of knowledge”
It is the people of knowledge who truly fear Allah, the Exalted and no one can fear Allah and
have the true taqwa except for the ‘alim, as Allah says in the Qur’an:
“Verily the people who truly fear Allah, from amongst my slaves are the people of knowledge.”
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that this is the only subject; it is the only matter that the
Prophet (sws) has been commanded to ask Allah to increase him in:
“And say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge.”
Knowledge is a sign, it is an indication, that Allah, the Exalted is pleased with a person.
“Whoever Allah wishes good for, He gives him an understanding of the deen.” (Hadith)
The scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets because they collectively take on the status of
the Prophets. It is the Prophets who tell the people what to do, when to do it and how to do it
but we will not have any more Prophets, so who will take on this status? Even though they
cannot take on the blessings and cannot take on the responsibility, but there will be a collective
group of people who will take on the status of guiding the ummah and it is the scholars who take
on this status, as the Prophet (sws) said,
“The scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets”
And in one long hadith, He (sws) stated, in sunan at-Tirmmidi, as is narrated, that whoever
takes a path seeking knowledge through it, he travels through the earth, whether it be a long
distance or a small distance, it doesn’t matter, if you leave your house wanting to learn some
knowledge, then Allah will make the path to jannah easy for him.
And then He said that the malaika (angels) come down and they lower their wings upon the
student of knowledge, out of happiness, out of pleasure for what he is doing. And the scholars
state that the meaning of this is that the angels are flying around, looking for good people (and)
when they find the student of knowledge, they stop flying and they accompany him and they
lower their wings of mercy over him and they wish to benefit from him, so that is why they stay
with him. Because, the very presence of the angels is a blessing. When the angels are there,
Allah’s sakina (tranquility) and Allah’s rahmah (mercy) comes down. So when they find the
student of knowledge, the Prophet (sws) said that they lower their wings, meaning that they stop
flying and they accompany this student of knowledge out of pleasure for what he seeks.
And then the Prophet (sws) said that every single object, in the heavens and in the earth, even
the ant, in its ant hole and the fish in the sea, they pray to Allah to bless the person who teaches
mankind, good.
And then He (sws) said, and this is one hadith, all of it is the same hadith, and then He (sws)
said that the blessings and the superiority of the ‘alim (scholar) over the ‘abid (worshipper) is
like the superiority of the full moon over the stars. The full moon, look at it, over the stars, this is
the superiority that an ‘alim has over a worshipper. The reason is for this that the worshipper,
the one fasts and prays and gives zakat and this and that, he only benefits himself. But, it is the
‘alim, that he teaches mankind good and he benefits the entire ummah through his knowledge.
Therefore, his superiority is like the moon. Do you know that the full moon is so bright that you
can see in the middle of the night with the full moon, it is that bright? Yet all the stars combined,
they cannot show you any light. So the ‘alim shows his light to the people and he benefits the
people in this way but the ‘abid, the worshipper, he does not show light to anyone, he only
benefits himself.
And then the Prophet (sws) went on and He said that the ulema (scholars) are the inheritors of
the Prophets, for the Prophets did not leave behind gold and silver to be inherited, rather they
left behind knowledge. So whoever has taken this knowledge, has taken a very large quantity
of good.
This is the ulema (scholars). They take on the status, meaning they guide the people. They tell
them what to do, when to do it and how to do it. So therefore, they are the inheritors of the
Prophets. And when you are inheriting from the Prophet (sws), then who will be richer than
you?
Who will be richer than you, when you inherit directly from the Prophet (sws)? (8:15)
But realize, brothers and sisters, that the knowledge that is praised in the Quran and the
Sunnah is the knowledge of Islam. It is the knowledge of Islam, of shariah, of aqidah, of
tawheed, of fiqh, primarily. And this is because the Prophet (sws) stated,
“Whoever Allah wants good for, he gives him a knowledge of the deen (an understanding of this
religion)”
In another authentic narration, the Prophet (sws) said, that Allah, the Exalted hates every
person who is knowledgeable of this world but ignorant of the hereafter.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, it behooves us to start learning our religion, to start
studying these sciences of Islam, that everyone of us should go out of his way, should take a
path, traverse on a journey, even if it is from his house to the masjid, whatever the journey might
be, to make it a regular habit, to be with the people of knowledge, to increase in your
knowledge, to read the books of the people of knowledge, to listen to the cassettes of the
people of knowledge, in order that we, ourselves can attain the blessings that are mentioned in
this hadith.
Without a doubt, the greatest knowledge, and the most noble of all sciences, is the knowledge
of Allah, the Exalted and His rights upon us and His Names and Attributes. It is the knowledge
of Tawheed. As Allah, the Exalted describes in the Qur’an:
“This is how We have inspired you with a spirit from Us”
Allah describes the Qur’an as a spirit because this is the book that brings the knowledge of who
Allah is. It brings us the knowledge of Allah wants us to do; it brings the knowledge of His
Names and Attributes. Therefore, it is the spirit; it is the life that we need. Without this
knowledge we are dead. Without this knowledge we do not have a spiritual life, even if we eat
and drink and we are walking on the face of this earth. Spiritually if we do not have this
knowledge, we are dead. As Allah says,
“This is how We have inspired you with a spirit from Us.”
“You did not know what the Book was, you did not know Emaan, but We have made it a shining
light for you and by this light We guide whom we will.”
So, Allah has called this knowledge, has called the Qur’an which brings this knowledge, the life
and He has called it the light. So this knowledge is the light that guides us from the darkness of
shirk, the darkness of kufr, the darkness of our desires to the light of the worship of Allah. This
knowledge is the life that brings us real spiritual knowledge, such that even if our bodies die, our
souls are alive and we will have an eternal life in the hereafter. If our souls are alive with the life
of Islam, the life of emaan, the life of tawheed.
In another verse, Allah, the Exalted says:
“Give the example of the one who was dead and We gave him life, We resurrected him”
The analogy here is not to the one who is physically dead, and then he was resurrected from
the grave. No! What is being referred to be the one who is spiritually dead, who did not believe
in Allah, who did not worship Allah?
“We gave him life” by guiding him to Islam, by guiding him to the worship of Allah.
“and We gave him a light”, the light of emaan, the light of knowledge “and he walks amongst
people with this light”
“is his example the same as the one who is in darkness, never going to leave it?”
The one who has emaan, the one who has knowledge, the one who has the life of Islam, is the
equivalent to the one who is in the darkness, wandering around. The one who is in the dark will
never find his way out; will never know how to get from one place to the other. So, he is
wandering in circles, aimlessly and this is exactly what the kufar (disbelievers) do, those that do
not have the life in their hearts. They do not have a purpose; they do not have a goal in life.
They eat and they drink and they are married just like the animals are as Allah says in the
Qur’an. So they wander around aimlessly in their desires, never having a final goal. Is he
equivalent, this kafir (disbeliever), to the one that has the final goal, he has the light to guide him
and he has the life by which he can use this light. By Allah, they are not the same, as Allah, the
Exalted, Himself says.
Definition of Tawheed
So, my dear brothers and sisters, with this brief introduction about the blessings of knowledge
and particular the blessings of tawheed and the blessings of emaan, we now embark on a
series of small journeys, if you like, in our path to study this knowledge. The knowledge of
tawheed, the knowledge of aqeedah, the knowledge of our kalima, “la illaha illallah, Muhammad
ar-rasoolullah” and what does it mean and what are the implications of this kalima.
As we know, this kalima is called kalima at-tawheed. So, what exactly is tawheed? We have to
define ‘tawheed’ before we start talking about the kalima. ‘Tawheed’ is from the root, wa ha da
(insert ARABIC here), which means, ‘to ascribe unity to something’. Wa ha da means he
ascribed unity to something, he made something into one and when applied in Islamic sciences,
it means to unify Allah, the Exalted, in His Lordship and in His Names and Attributes and in His
right to be worshipped, these three aspects.
The unity of Allah, the Exalted, in
1. His Lordship and in
2. His Names and Attributes and in
3. His right to be worshipped.
And these tripartite divisions, meaning the three divisions of tawheed are clearly found in the
Qur’an and in the Sunnah. In fact, when we open up the Qur’an, surah al Fatiha, it gives us
these three types of tawheed.
Alhamdulillah RUBBil ‘alimeen, Tawheed ar - Rubbubiyyah, Allah is the LORD of the worlds
Ar-Rahmani Ar-Raheem, Maliki Yaumid deen, He is describing Himself, who is he, the Tawheed
of His Names and His Attributes
Ieya ka Na’budu, wa ieya ka nasta’een, You alone do we worship and You alone are the One
whose help we seek. This is the Tawheed of worship.
So, within these first three, four verses of the Qur’an Allah clearly lies out for are, implicitly, the
three types of tawheed: Tawheed ar-Rubbuiyyah that is there is only one Lord, only one
creator, only one sustainer. Tawheed al Asma wa Sifaat, that all of His Names and Attributes
are unique and are names and attributes of perfection and Tawheed al ‘Ulloohiyyah that only
Allah, the Exalted deserves to be worshipped and no other deity deserves worship except Him.
Likewise, this term is clearly mentioned in the Sunnah. In more than a dozen Ahadith, the word
“Tawheed” or it’s root is mentioned. And the most famous one being, the hadith of Muadh,
when the Prophet (sws) sent Muadh to Yemen and He (sws) said that you are going to come to
a people of the book, so let the first thing you call them to be, tawheed.
Likewise in the hadith of Jabir, which is narrated in Sahih Muslim, that he said that the Prophet
(sws) declared the tawheed, meaning he declared the kalima, he declared labayk Allahumma
labayk.
And it is because of this that the term ‘tawheed’ has always been in existence. If we even look
at Sahih al Bukhari, we find the last chapter entitled, ‘Kitab at-Tawheed’. Likewise, books were
written on this topic with the title ‘Kitab at Tawheed’. There was a scholar by the name of Ibn
Khuzayma, who died 311 hijri, and he entitled his book, ‘Kitab at Tawheed’. Likewise, Ibn
Manda, who died 395, he titled his book ‘Kitab at Tawheed’. So, those people who claim that
this title was invented in the 7th or 8th century or in the 12th century, they have no idea what
they are talking about. This term is clearly found in the Sunnah, in more than a dozen ahadith,
this term. Likewise the scholars of the past used this term frequently. All you have to do is open
up Sahih al Bukhari and you find this term being used. So this is a refutation for those who
claim that the term ‘tawheed’ in an innovation, invented by some later scholar.
We have now defined ‘tawheed’. Let us now talk about the blessings of tawheed, the blessings
of this kalima, la illah illallah, which is the essence of tawheed.
The Blessings of Tawheed
There are many, many blessings of tawheed and in fact it is true to say that we cannot even
enumerating them, there are so many. We will summarize these blessings, by mentioning ten
of them.
The first blessing of the kalima and of tawheed is that it is because of tawheed that Allah, the
Exalted, created us. As Allah says in the Qur’an:
“I have only created man and jinn to worship Me”
Allah has negated any other purpose of creation; there is no purpose of creation, except for the
pure worship of Allah. And that is why when we open up the Qur’an and we start reciting it, the
first commandment we find is what?
“O Mankind! Worship your Lord, who created you and created those before you”
So can there be anything more important than the very purpose of our existence? This is the
first blessing of Tawheed.
The second blessing of tawheed and the second matter that shows you its status and its
importance, is the fact that it is because of tawheed that Allah, the Exalted sent the Prophets
and He revealed the books. This is the only reason He did this.
“and We have sent in every single nation a messenger, so that they worship Allah and they
avoid taught (all false deities)”
In another verse,
“We have not sent before you any prophet except that We inspired him, la illah illa huwa”
This kalima is the reason why Allah sent the Prophets and it is the reason why he revealed the
books as well. It was the same message of all the prophets, as Allah says in the Qur’an that
every single prophet, from Nuh, to Saleh to Shuaib that they said,
“Worship Allah, you have no god besides Him”
The third matter which shows you the blessings and importance of this topic of tawheed is that
this kalima of la illaha illallah is the weightiest matter in the scales. There is nothing that is
heavier than it. In an authentic hadith, Musa (as) asks Allah, he says, “O Allah teach me a
phrase that I can worship you by”. So, Allah, the Exalted says, “O Musa, say La illaha illallah.”
Musa says, “O Allah, all of your creation is saying this (in other words he wants something
specific, he wants something special, he wants something above La illaha illallah since
everyone is saying and it is something common). So, Allah, the Exalted responds, “O Musa, if
everything in the heavens and everything that is on the earths and all that is in them, if they
were put on one side of the scale, and la illaha illallah was placed on the other side, la illaha
illallah would outweigh the other side”. Showing you the importance and the status of the
simple kalima of la illaha illallah.
The fourth matter which shows you the importance of this kalima is that it is because of this
kalima that the Muslim is differentiated from the kafir, that the inhabitant of jannah is
differentiated from the inhabitant of the fire of hell. As Allah says in the Qur’an:
“Oh you, who believe, believe in Allah and His messenger and in the day of judgment and that
which has been revealed to the Prophet, and that which has been revealed to those before him.
And whoever disbelieves in Allah and the angels and the books and the day of judgment is the
one who has gone astray”
There are only two categories of people, the mu’min or Muslim and the kafir. And what is the
basis of differentiation? Allegiance to la illah illallah. In fact, la illaha illallah is the height of
emaan, as the Prophet (sws) said that emaan is composed of 73 odd branches, the highest of it,
the highest branch, is the statement of la illaha illallah.
So, la illaha illallah enters you into emaan, the lowest of emaan and then perfection to it causes
you to be raised to the height of emaan. It is only through la illaha illallah, an allegiance to la
illaha illallah and following la illah illallah and implementing la illah illallah that you rise in the
ranks of emaan. Why? Because the kafir, how does he accept Islam? By la illah illallah. So
that is lowest level and yet the Prophet (sws) is saying is that is highest level as well. Meaning
that the one thing that is common between the highest and the lowest, the one ladder that you
can use to climb it, is your allegiance to, your implementation of la illah illallah.
The fifth matter which shows you the blessings of this kalima and of tawheed is that this is the
only path that one can take if he wishes to achieve success and happiness in this life and in the
hereafter. To live a contented, a peaceful, a serene life, in this world before the life of the
hereafter, the only way to do so is through tawheed. It will not be through money, nor status,
nor fame, nor power, nor riches, nor wealth, nor women, nor family, nothing will give the
satisfaction of the heart like tawheed will give.
“Whoever turns away from remembering Me, then he will live a difficult life”
Whoever turns away from worshipping Me, he will not attain happiness in this life. As Allah says
in another verse:
“Verily, in the remembrance of Allah will the hearts find peace and tranquility.”
The only way that tranquility will be achieved in this life is through following Allah, worshipping
Allah, loving Allah, obeying Allah, and this is only way that a person will live successfully,
happily in this life, before the life of the hereafter.
The sixth blessing of tawheed is that this is the first matter that the Prophet (sws) and in fact,
Allah, the Exalted both have commanded us to call to. There is nothing that we should call to
when we are calling to Islam before tawheed. As the Prophet (sws) said to Muadh ibn Jabal, as
we quoted before, that when he (sws) sent him to Yemen, he said, “Oh Muadh, let the first thing
you call them to be, tawheed.”
And Muadh ibn Jabal is one of the greatest scholars of the sahabah and one of the most
beloved to the Prophet (sws), so much so that he told Muadh, “Oh Muadh, I love you for the
sake of Allah”
And when he is sending him to Yemen, to be the governor of Yemen, he instructs him with
some jewels of wisdom and the first jewel that he gives him, “Let the first thing you call them to
be, tawheed of Allah, that they believe in la illah illallah”.
And this is the call of the Qur’an as well, that the first commandment of the Qur’an, as we know,
“Oh mankind, worship your lord who created you and those before you...”
The seventh matter which shows you the importance of this concept of tawheed, is that this is
the right that Allah, the Exalted has over us. In the famous hadith, also another hadith of
Muadh, where the Prophet (sws) was riding with Muadh ibn Jabal, together on the same
donkey, he (sws) said, “Oh Muadh, do you know what the right of Allah is over His servant?”
And Muadh, out of his modesty replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best”. So the Prophet
(sws) said, “Oh Muadh, the right of Allah over His servant is that they worship Him alone and do
not associate partners with Him.”
This is the right that Allah has over us. Allah, the Exalted
has many rights but by singling out this one, the Prophet (sws) is telling us that this is the first
and final commandment, the primary commandment that worship Allah alone and worship
nothing besides Him.
And then he (sws) said, “Do you know what the right of the servant is over Allah?” and this is a
right that is not something that we can claim but Allah has given it to us, it is a blessing from
Allah that He has given us this right, it is not something that we deserve, or we owe or we own,
it is something that Allah has given us from His blessings, that if we do this, like the Prophet
(sws) said, that if we worship Him alone, then He will not punish us. And this is enough of a
blessing to show you the importance of this concept of tawheed.
The eighth matter which shows you the importance of tawheed, is that it is through tawheed that
a person enters jannah. As the Prophet (sws) said, “whoever’s last word was LLL, will enter
jannah” Whoever said at the end of his life, right before death comes to him, LLL will enter
jannah. And a person who does not have this statement, LLL and he never said it, then of
course, he will never be able to (enter) jannah. But out of Allah’s blessings if someone makes it
a habit of saying it all the time, then it is a Sunnah of Allah that when a person dies, (he dies)
loving and saying that which was beloved to him in his life. So, if a person made LLL something
beloved to him, then Insha’Allah before he dies, Allah, the Exalted will give him the power and
the capability, to say it before the angel of death comes and because of this Allah, the Exalted
will cause him to enter jannah.
The ninth blessing of tawheed and of this kalima, is that it forgives all sins and it prevents a
person from entering the fire of hell. The Prophet (sws) said that whoever testifies LLL la
sharika la hu wa Muhammad abdaho wa rasoolaho and that Iesa if the messenger of Allah and
His word that He gave to Maryam and a spirit from Him, and that jannah is true and that an-nar
is true, then Allah will cause him to enter jannah, no matter what he has done. As long as he
was pure and sincere to these simple fundamentals, of LLL MR, and he didn’t go to the
extremes of the Christians or the Jews and he said that Iesa is also a messenger of Allah and
the son of Maryam, and a spirit proceeding from Him, and he believes in jannah and nar, Allah
will cause him to enter jannah, no matter what he has done.
In another hadith, the Prophet (sws) said, “There was a man from the people before you from
the children of Israel, he never did any good, except for tawheed” Notice the Prophet (sws) used
this word “tawheed”, so it cannot be an invention of a 7th century scholar. Here it is in the
Musnad of Imam Ahmed where the Prophet (sws) clearly says, “He didn’t do any good, except
tawheed”, he uses the word ‘tawheed’, as it is, ‘tawheed’.
and then he narrated the story and he (sws) said (that) when death came to him, he said to his
family, that when I die, I want you to burn my body and then to take the ashes, and throw them
in the sand on a very windy day (not just on any day). So when he died, his children and his
family members did what he wanted them to do. So, Allah told His angels to go and collect his
ashes from the left and from the right and from the east and from the west and Allah resurrected
him and He said, “Oh son of Adam, why did you do what you did?” He said, “Oh my lord, out of
a fear for you, I was scared that if you resurrected me, that you would punish me.” So, Allah,
the Exalted says that because of this, because of this fear, I have forgiven you and then the
Prophets (sws) emphasized that he didn’t do any good except tawheed. Once again he
emphasized it at the end of the hadith, “He never did any good, except for tawheed”.
In another hadith that also proves this and this is hadith known as the hadith of the “bithaqa”,
the hadith of the card. The Prophet (sws) said that there will be a person from my ummah, on
the day of judgment, he will be called out in front of everyone, everyone will see him and his
good deeds and his bad deeds will be brought forth, 99 scrolls of bad deeds! and they will be
placed on the left hand of the scale. As far as he is able to see, he will see these scrolls. So
Allah, the Exalted will ask him, “Oh my servant, do you deny any of this that you see in front of
you?” So the servant will lower his head and say, “No my Lord, I do not deny it.” Then Allah,
the Exalted will say, “have My servants (meaning the angels), have they done you any injustice,
have they wronged you, have they done something they shouldn’t have done, have they written
something they shouldn’t have written?” He will respond, “No my Lord, they have not.” So then
Allah will ask him, “Do you have any good deed to show, these are your evil deeds, do you have
any good deed to show?” He will say out of shame, “No my Lord, I have no good deed to
show.” So Allah, the Exalted with say, “No, you do have a good deed and today you will not be
shown any injustice.” And then one card, bithaqa, will be brought out and on it will be written,
LLL and it will be placed on the right hand of the scale. So the man will say, “Oh my Lord, of
what use will this one card against the 99 scrolls, 99 books?” So Allah, the Exalted will say,
“This is your good deed and today you will not be shown any injustice. Today, you will receive
the exact reward of your good and your evil together” And when that card will be placed on the
right hand of the scale, the left side will go flying up and the right side will go down. The weight
of LLL. A person who practices LLL, believes in it, perfects it, it will destroy all of his sins. It will
forgive all of his sins, as this hadith of the bithaqa shows. But this is only the one who fulfills its
conditions, who understood it, who practiced it.
The final blessing that we will mention and we cannot say this is the final blessing because
there are too many blessings of this kalima. The final blessing which makes us realize the
importance of this concept of tawheed is by realizing the dangers of the opposite of tawheed,
which is shirk. By appreciating how dangerous the opposite of tawheed is, we automatically
understand how beautiful and how important and how noble the concept of tawheed is. And the
opposite of tawheed is shirk, or associating partners with Allah and the sins and the dangers of
shirk are so many!
Of them is that this is the only unforgivable sin.
As Allah says twice in the Quran, Allah will not forgive the shirk we have done with Him. And He
will forgive anything we have done besides this. Anything else below shirk, it is possible Allah
will forgive it. As for the sin of shirk, it will not be forgiven. So these are ten blessings of tawheed
that I have mentioned and as we said they cannot be enumerated and complete, complete
because they are more than can be mentioned. What can be more important than the purpose
of creation? what can be more important than the reason why Allah sent prophets and revealed
the books? What can be more important than that what differentiates a Muslim from a kaafir –
the person of a jannah from a person of naar? It is therefore no surprise that the Prophet (pbuh)
said:
“The best thing that I have said and all the prophets before me “I bear witness and testify He is
alone having no partners, to Him belongs the kingdom, to Him belongs all praise and He is
capable of all things.”
This one kalima, kalima of tawheed, is the best, the most blessed and most noble speech that
all the prophets have ever said. It is therefore no surprise to find that the entire Quran is nothing
but a call to tawheed. Every single verse in the Quran is nothing except a call to tawheed.
As Ibn al-Qayyim mentions all the verses in the Quran can be categorized as one of five
categories. The first category is of those verses which describe Allah and His names and
attributes, and this is the essence of tawheed who Allah is e.g. Surah-al-Ikhlas. Why is this
surah equivalent to one-third of the Quran, even though its only of three or four verses, it’s
because it talks about one-third of tawheed. Tawheed of Allah and His attributes. This one
surah is equivalent to one-third of the Quran is because is summarizes for you who our Lord is.
This is the first category of verses.
The second category is those verses which direct us to worship Allah alone, and this is tawheed
al-uloohiyyah. For example, surah-al-Ikhlas and its entirety:
“O disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship. Nor are you worshippers of what I worship.
Nor will I be a worshipper of what you worship. Nor will you be worshippers of what I worship.
For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.” [Surah Kafirun]
Clear cut differentiation. These are the verses which command mankind to worship Allah alone
and only Allah. This is the second category and this is tawheed tawheed al-uloohiyyah.
The third category is those verses which describe the Sharri'aah – the halaal and haraam – and
this is the perfection of tawheed. How do you worship Allah? What do you do to please Allah?
Do this, do not do this, pray five times a day, avoid this and this… All of the verses which have
the commandments of the Sharri'aah are the fikri verses if you like. They are manifestation of
tawheed because they tell you what to do and how to worship Allah?
The fourth category of verses is the verses which describe the stories of the people of tawheed
and the blessings of tawheed that in the hereafter are the blessings of jannah. So they describe
what happened and what will happen to the people of tawheed – all of the stories of the
prophets and the problems they have met and the successes – all of the descriptions of jannah.
All of this are only the manifestations of the blessings of tawheed in this world and in the
hereafter.
The fifth category of verses is the verses which describe the people of shirk; the opposite of
tawheed, and the punishments they received in this life. The punishments of Firaun, people of
Aad and Thamud and all of the people before us who have rejected Allah, and the punishments
of the fire of hell that awaits them in the hereafter. This is what will happen to the people who
reject tawheed, in this world and the hereafter – humiliation in this life, a shameful death in this
life, and everlasting torment in the hereafter.
So these are the five categories of verses. You can take every single verse of the Quran without
exception and categorize them into these five categories which are directly related to tawheed.
This explains that the entire Quran is nothing but an explanation of "La ilaha illallah" (there is no
god but Allah). The entire Quran is nothing but a call to tawheed – an explanation of what
tawheed is and a description of its meanings.
After this brief introduction of the blessings of tawheed and the fact that the entire Quran is
nothing but a call to tawheed we now move on to the precise meaning of the types of tawheed.
What are Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah, Tawheed al-Ilaahiyyah and Tawheed al-Asmaa-wasSifaat? Because the understanding of these three types of tawheed, we will be able to
understand the meaning of "La ilaha illallah" better.
So we start off with the first type, Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah, or tawheed of Allah in the fact that
He is the Rab. You unify Allah so that there is only one Rab, so then you have to define the
meaning of Rab. If you go back to the classical Arabic dictionaries, the famous one being
Nisaan-ul-Arab, this book is one of the most standard references of the Arabic language, you
find that he says that Rab in the Arabic language as an Owner, or the one who is obeyed, or the
one who nourishes and sustains, or the one who causes and object to grow, or the one who is
beneficent to the object. So the Rab is the one who is the true Owner, the true ‘Sayyed’
meaning the one who is obeyed, the one who controls the affairs, the one who nourishes and
sustains. So when we combine all of these definitions, we find that all of them centre around
three aspects.
Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah is centered on three aspects. Firstly that Allah is the complete and
true owner. If He is the true owner that means He is the one who created us. One who creates
in the true owner, not the one who buys or takes the object. For example when an inventor
makes something he is the complete and true owner of the object. So the fact that Allah is the
true owner, or Malik, it necessitates and implies that Allah is the true and only creator. So there
is no creator except Allah. So the first aspect of Ruboobiyyah is that He is the complete owner
and part of that complete ownership is that He is the one who has created us as well.
The second aspect of Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah is that Allah has the right to be obeyed. This is
the meaning of Rab as well – the one who is obeyed – which implies that He is the true king. He
is the true king and no one has the right to be obeyed or to legislate the part of the meaning of
Rab. The third aspect of Rab is the one who takes care and nourishes, and sustains, this is why
He is al-Razaaq. No one gives or sustains except Allah. So these are the three meanings of
Rab. When we say Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah is means Allah is unique and the true owner. He
is unique and He is the only one who has the right to be obeyed. He is the only one who
nourishes and sustains and takes care of us.
You can summarize and state that Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah means to unify Allah and that
Allah is unique and so are all of His actions. He is the only one who sustains, legislates and has
the right to be obeyed. Allah is the only one who does all of these things. This is Tawheed arRuboobiyyah. Nothing occurs except by His will, and no one can overcome or escape his world,
nothing escapes His knowledge and His creation because He is the only Creator. So tawheed of
Allah and His actions is Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah. So by this we understand that all of the
creation is under His Ruboobiyyah. It is not possible except that a created object comes under
the Ruboobiyyah. As Allah says in the Quran:
“To Him submitted all creatures in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly” [Soorah
aal-Imran (3) verse: 83]
No one can escape from the Ruboobiyyah of Allah. If Allah desired something, Allah created
him in the first place and he cannot escape this. and whatever Allah wills will happen to him
whether he likes it or not. Allah is the one who nourishes him whether he believes in Allah or
not. No one can overcome the Ruboobiyyah of Allah.
“To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and He is the Most High,
the Most Great.” (Surah Ash-Shurah Verse 4)
Everything has submitted itself to Him.
Now obviously those who believe in Allah have a special Ruboobiyyah. They have a special
protection and there is no doubt about it. All of the creation comes under a general
Ruboobiyyah. So we can say that Ruboobiyyah is of two types: General Ruboobiyyah – the
Muslims and the kaafirs all come under this because Allah created them, nourishes them and
the will of Allah is executed upon them, and then there is this Specific Ruboobiyyah – the
special protection for those who believe in Him. They are given extra nourishment and care.
What is the proof of Ruboobiyyah? How do we know that there is a Rab? How do we know that
there is a creator? And this a very common question and topic in the Western world that they
want to know the proof of the existence of God. How do we know that there is a God or a
Creator? We call it out of respect that Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah is the proof because in reality
the concept of atheism and denying that there is a God is a very small and minority concept.
Throughout the centuries, in fact even before this century it was almost unheard of, it was really
hard to find an atheist. Only in our times with the spread of capitalism and the materialism and
the duniya and the communism when these different philosophies have come forth, they had
people have the luxuries to deny the existence of Allah. The fact of the matter is that throughout
history, atheism is very small minority.
We know that the western philosophies pay a lot of attention to this topic: what is the proof of
the existence of God. When we go back to the earliest work of Aristotle he has the standard
proofs of the western worldly life. basically they concentrate a lot on this topic. Thousands of
works, hundreds of different ideas and ways, man books written. When you tune to the Quran,
you find surprisingly that this topic is hardly mentioned. It hardly mentions in Quran it says it
does not really care about this that there has to be a proof that there is a God. You can count
the number of verses that direct towards those who deny the existence of God on one hand,
that’s how few they are. The reason being that Islam takes it for granted that this is common
sense that to deny that there is a creator it means the person is mad or a fool. He is denying
something which cannot be denied.
As one poet versified in Arabic, he said: ‘how can you prove something to which every single
object is a proof of its existence. Why do you waste your time trying to prove something when
every single object screams out at this existence?” and this is exactly the philosophy of life. The
Quran doesn’t concentrate on this topic that much. This is in contrast to the philosophers and
the Muslim groups that have been influenced by the philosophers. Those Muslim groups that
have been influenced by the philosophers, such as the Mu’tazilia and the Asha’ira, their
emphasis is always on proving that Allah exists. If you pick any of their books, the first
discussion is how you prove God and they discuss this in hundreds of pages at times in their
classical books. But the Quran and the Sunnah hardly talks about this because it is something
that is taken for granted.
So what are the proofs of the existence of Allah? There are four or five that will be mentioned
but again it is completely ridiculous to enumerate them as every single object is a proof of His
existence. To categorize it nicely, we’ll say the first proof is the creation itself. You look around
you? where did we come from? how did we come from? what is the origin of us and everything
around us? As Allah says in the Quran in Surah-at-Toor:
“Were they created by nothing, or were they themselves the creators?” [Surah-at-Toor verse 35]
Allah asks two rhetorical questions and He doesn’t ask the third one because it is understood.
The two questions, there are three logical possibilities, either there is a God who created you, or
nothing created you, or you created yourselves. So Allah asks two questions, did they create
themselves or were they created out of nothing, if neither of these two is true then there is only
one that is the truth that Allah is the one who created you.
Now the modern philosophers and the modern western philosophy it follows the second
question that we are created out of nothing. That’s what they say, the big bang and then
everything just evolved from there. And yet this simple cause that they have is so ludicrous that
they themselves cannot believe it. If you were to ask one of them, suppose you were to see a
rundown shack or even two sticks put together and you were to try to convince them that this
came out of nothing. That the wind was blowing and this happened or that happened and it was
created itself, he would not believe you. Even if he didn’t see a footprint or any sign of
civilization, if there is a carving in the stone or a tool or an instrument he would conclude that
there must have been life here. Why is it that when he sees life itself he doesn’t realize that
there is a creator to this life.
There is a famous story of Imam Abu Haneefa that once there was a small group of atheists in
the time of the khalifa (Caliph) of his time, they wished to debate on the existence of god. They
went to the kahlifa (Caliph) and said we want to debate with you on the existence of God so
send us your most powerful scholar. So the khalifa called Abu Haneefa at a specific time and
place and told him to be there. So the other people, the atheists, showed up at the proper time
and place. Abu Haneefa was not there and the atheists waited for him for hours and hours.
They got impatient and said what kind of scholar doesn’t come on time. When they were about
to leave Abu Haneefa entered the place. So they went angry on him saying what kind of scholar
are you who didn’t even come on time and Abu Haneefa said wait let me explain what
happened. If it’s a reason will you excuse me, they said yes we will excuse you so give us a
good excuse. He said while I was coming here, I came across a river and the ferry to cross the
river was not there. So that’s why I was late. I kept waiting and the ferry never came. So they
said Abu Haneefa if the ferry never came how did you cross the river? He said while I was
waiting, I saw that the branches fell off a tree and they automatically came together to form a
raft and then the leaves started falling and formed into a rope and then the ropes automatically
came together to form the lines of ropes to keep the raft tight together. So they started laughing
and said to the khaleefa that you expect us to believe this man – he is a mad man and a fool.
So Abu Haneefa said who are the real fools – you or me? You are not willing to believe that
even a ship created itself and yet you believe that the entire earth and the entire creation came
out of nothing. Who are the real fools? You won’t believe that a raft or a ship could be created
itself and yet you claim that the entire creation was created by itself. So look at the tactics of
Abu Haneefa and the atheists could not respond to this and he won the argument.
But the point is that this is something so clear. As Allah says in another verse:
“This is Allah's creation, but show Me what those besides Him have created.” [Surah Luqman
verse 11]
Where is the creation of other than Allah? No one else can create anything, only Allah is the
Creator. So this is the first proof that there is Rab. You look around you – the perfect harmony of
creation. Everything is so perfect. Any person who studies any science whether is biology,
chemistry, astrology, physics; you can do nothing but marvel at how everything is so perfect.
Simple things like the composition of the air that we breathe, had it be a little bit different, we
would not have been able to survive. The water cycle, the distance of the earth from the sun,
look at the difference of the seasons, the difference is of only 0.01% between the summer and
the winter. Imagine if it was a few hundred or thousand miles we would not have been able to
live on the surface of this earth. Everything is so perfect. No matter what science you look into,
did it come out of nothing? As Allah says:
“Were they created by nothing, or were they themselves the creators?” [Surah-at-Toor verse 35]
The second proof of creation is the human instinct – the fitra. Human instinct, ones innate
nature tells you that there is a creator and this instinct was placed in us by Allah. Every single
human being has this fitra inside of them. As the Prophet (sws) said, “every single human being
is born upon their fitra. Then his parents transform him into a Christian or a Jew or anything
else.” Every child, male or female, Muslim or kaafir, when he is born he is upon the fitra. The
child is born upon a clear fitra, that if you were left without any interference or other
circumstances, you will grow up believing in one God. This is why so many people are guided to
Islam because it appeals to ones inner nature, the fitra. When they hear the message of Islam
they say this is what I have been looking for. This is what I want. Where did this yearning and
desire come from? Allah placed it in all of the children that are born. The Quran and the Sunnah
have come conforming to a man’s fitra. So when a man is been corrupted from his fitra and he
hears about Islam he finds a yearning and a desire to return to that fitra. Therefore, people
always convert to Islam and no one leaves Islam after embracing it because it conforms to the
fitra.
It can also be referred to as the covenant – the meethaq. When Allah created Adam, He made a
covenant with Adam and all of his children. This is mentioned in Quran.
“And remember We took your covenant and We raised above you (The towering height) of
Mount (Sinai): (Saying): "Hold firmly to what We have given you and bring (ever) to
remembrance what is therein: Perchance ye may fear Allah." [Surah Al Baqara, Verse 63]
This is mentioned in the Hadith as well that Allah placed Adam in a valley of Araafat and he
extracted from the lungs of Adam all of the children that were to come till the day of judgment
and he spread all of the mankind in front of him. And then He asked them, “Am I not your Lord?”
and all of the mankind responded “Yes! You are our Lord”. So this is the meethaq that Allah
placed in all of us. But we don’t remember the meethaq, but the remembrance of the meethaq is
in our fitra. We do not physically remember it, but that meethaq remains with us. How? It is in
our human nature – the fitra. And it is because of this meethaq that every human being knows
from right from wrong. Everyone knows that stealing, rapping, lying is wrong. Why? Why do they
know this? where did it come from? Every society knows this. Why? Because it is a part of the
fitra.
Likewise, every single human being has tawheed in his part of fitra that Allah is one. He might
not remember the name Allah but he would know that there is one God and that I should
worship this one. So this is yet another evidence of Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyyah.
The third evidence is that all of mankind has an innate feeling of helplessness. No human being
is devoid of this feeling. And this feeling is particularly manifested at times of distress. Even the
atheists and the non-Muslims who don’t believe in God, when there is a matter of life and death
of themselves or their loved ones, they automatically call upon God and say Oh God save me or
Oh God do this. they might not even believe in God. There are so many stories that all of us
know, especially those who deal with convents, that they might not have ever worshipped God,
not even Christian or anything, when there is a time of difficulty, instantly without even thinking
about it they call Oh God help me. And this is something that Quran mentions in several verses.
“‘When any problems affix mankind he calls to us and when we respond to him he rejects us”.
There are so many verses in Quran on waves that when they are riding on the ocean and are
drowning they call to Allah. And when He saves them to the shore, then they reject Him.
Where does this feeling come from in all of us. This is once again a manifestation of Tawheed
ar-Ruboobiyyah. That we are not the ones who decide our destiny, we do not have all the
control, there is someone who cares, and there is someone who created us. And that is our
Rab.
The fourth evidence of the Ruboobiyyah, that there is a Rab and Allah is our Rab, is the
descending of the prophets and the revelation of the books. So the prophets have come to
establish evidence against mankind. They are sent with clear proofs, miracles. All the prophets
have been sent with miracles, there is not a single prophet except that he was blessed with
miracles from Allah. So Musa was given the miracle of the staff, Isa was given with the raising of
the dead and the healing the sick and curing the blind, and Prophet (sws) was given so many
miracles and the greatest one was Islam – clear proofs that there is a Rab. Likewise, the
message that all of these messengers come with: the clear beautiful message of Islam, the
message of tawheed and iman. Look at all the man made religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, any –
ism, besides Islam, look at even Christianity and Jewish which are the revealed religions but
have been corrupted, they do not conform to common sense, to logic and to human emotion
and reason, they do not conform to the fitra, how they describe god, what is the rights of god.
And look at Islam, the beauty, the purity, the prestigious. This is the clear proof that there is a
Rab. And that this Rab cares about us that is part of being the Rab. That is why He has sent
prophets and revealed books so that we can be guided to His worship. And then there are other
proofs as well but these are the main ones that we have discussed.