Saturday, October 25, 2014

Importance of learning “Tawheed al-Asmaa’ was-Sifaat”

Before establishing worship it is important to know whom to worship. Only Allaah, the One Who created us, provides for us, gives us protection and is the Owner of the Day of Judgment is worthy of all worship. There is none in the heavens and the earth but must come to al-Rahmaan as a humbled slave.

To believe in Allaah تعالى as the way He has described Himself as well as what the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has mentioned about Him تعالى. It is to accept all the Names and Attributes of Allaah تعالى without Tahreef (distortion), Ta`teel (denial), Takiyeef (description) and Tamtheel (comparison/resemblance).


Downplaying the importance of `Aqeedah in rectifying the Ummah: 

Some time back a certain individual (who needs no introduction) said: “Did Allaah make a big deal out of the question: “Where Allaah is?””, then he went on saying that addressing today’s social vices are more important than the matters of `Aqeedah etc. etc. (This issue was dealt with earlier – wa lillaahil Hamd). Then there are those who say that the issues of `Aqeedah can be learned in a matter of minutes. There can be nothing further from the truth.

The scholars from the first 3 generations till the present day gave much emphasis to learning and teaching Tawheed due to the many obvious reasons mentioned in the Kitaab and the Sunnah:

1. The Prophet said that the reward for reciting Surah al-Ikhlaas is equivalent to reciting one-third of the Qur’aan.
2. Allaah تعالى mentioned in the Qur’aan to learn about لا إله إلّا الله as mentioned in Surah Muhammad.
3. The Prophet sent Mu`aadh to Yemen instructing him to teach Tawheed first to the people.
4. For 13 years the only call of the Prophet was towards Tawheed. Praying 5 times a day was only established some 2 years before migrating to Madeenah.
5. When he was asked about Islaam, the first thing he mentioned was that one testifies: لا إله إلّا الله محمد رسول الله
6. When he was asked about Imaan, the first thing he mentioned was that one affirms faith in Allaah…


Some of the evil consequences:

The single major deviance came into religions of the past because of people deviating in the matters of “Names and Attributes” of Allaah which led to them worshiping anything and everything besides Allaah. The failure to give importance to learning and teaching the “Names and Attributes” of Allaah gave rise to many getting deviated away from the Straight Path in the past. The following are some of the examples:

1. Jews – forgot how to pronounce the name of their Lord.
2. Unlike the Jews – there are those who say we can call Allaah by any name, even by those names which are not mentioned in the Qur’aan or the Authentic Ahaadeeth.
3. The Christians – imagined and gave God, human characteristics.
4. The Mu`attilah – imagined and deprived God of all His Names and Attributes which He affirmed for Himself.
5. The atheists – a lot of Christians turned towards atheism and denied the existence of God because of the absurdities that were attributed in their books to the Creator.
6. The Hindus – divided the powers of God and ended up creating many “gods”.


1. Jews – forgot how to pronounce the name of their Lord.

There is no better example to highlight the importance of learning Tawheed Asmaa was-Sifaat (Names and Attributes of Allaah) upon the methodology of the Salaf as-Saaleh (Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaa`ah) than the fact that the Jews and the Christians have been deprived of even knowing the true name of their God in their Books.

Consonants and vowels:

Originally, both Hebrew and Arabic were written without the vowel signs. The native of each language was able to read if even without those vowels. Not so for the outsiders, for whose benefit the vowels were invented. But with the passing of time, even the natives of that language themselves got deprived of the correct pronunciation.

Tetragrammaton:

Four Hebrew letters (consonants) usually transliterated as YHWH (Yahweh) or JHVH (Jehovah) signifying the Hebrew name for God which the Jews regarded as too holy to pronounce. These four letters are known as Tetragrammaton (Tetra meaning 4 in Greek and grammaton meaning letters – such a long name for a simple four letters). They stopped pronouncing the name of their God, so those who came after them eventually forgot or never got to learn the correct pronunciation. To cover up this deficiency in their religion, the Jehovah’s witnesses came up with their own concoction – And Allaah’s aid is sought.

Even if the Jews and the Christians unite on Yahweh, it still deprives them of the real name of their Lord. Yahweh in Hebrew is similar to Yaa Huwa (يا هو) in `Arabic which only means: “Oh He!” Compare this with what the Muslims recite in Surah al-Ikhlaas {هو الله أحد} {He is ALLAAH, the One}. Seeing how the Jews and the Christians have been deprived of even knowing the true name of their “God” in their Books, makes us even more grateful to Allaah that He has guided us to Islaam.

In their scriptures, one would find that the Jews and the Christians also have the word Elohim/Elah. But you would hardly see any Christian referring to their Lord with it.


2. Unlike the Jews – there are those who say we can call Allaah by any name, even by those names which are not mentioned in the Qur’aan or the Authentic Ahaadeeth.

Allaah’s Names are Tawqeefiyyah (meaning a kind of knowledge that is restricted to textual evidence); there is no place for intellectual free-thinking regarding them.

Shaikh Muhammad ibn Saaleh al-`Uthaymeen رحمه الله in “Sharh Lum`atul-`Itiqaad” said:

“The Names of Allaah are not affirmed by the intellect - they can only be affirmed by Revelation. The Names of Allaah are based upon Revelation and as such, their affirmation is dependent upon what is reported in the revealed texts concerning them. Therefore, nothing can be added to them nor subtracted. This is because the intellect is not able to itself ascertain which names Allaah is most deserving of. So it is obligatory to depend upon the revealed texts for determining that. Also, naming Allaah with that which He did not name Himself or rejecting what He did name Himself with, is a crime against Him and a perpetration of His right. Thus, abiding by the proper etiquettes with regard to that is obligatory.”
--end of quote

For more details:


3. The Christians – used their imagination and attributed imperfection towards God.

The Christians used their limited imagination to perceive the true Essence of their Lord and ended up attributing falsehood and imperfection to God. Among the imperfections which the Christians have attributed towards God is: “He begets and or is begotten”, “He regretted making man”, “He gets tired”, “He rested and was refreshed”, “that He came in the form of man and sacrificed himself to redeem man of the original sin” – Glory be to Allaah and far be He from the falsehood they attribute to Him.

The Sufees went a step further in their blasphemy. The Christians believed that “god” came only once in the form of man, but the Sufees are worse because from their beliefs is: Wahdatul Wujood (all that exists is Allaah), Allaah is everywhere, and Hulool (that Allaah dwells inside of men), Ittihaad (unification with Allaah, meaning man and Allaah become one).


4. The Mu`attilah – imagined and deprived God of all His Names and Attributes which He affirmed for Himself.

In following the footsteps of the Christians, the Mu`attilah (the Jahmees, the Mu`tazilees, the Ash`arees etc.) also used their imagination whenever they read or heard the Names and attributes of Allaah, which led them to imagine God having human features. Since they did not have proper guidelines or principles regarding the Names and Attributes of Allaah, they ended up stripping Allaah of all the Names and Attributes and rejecting them. They thought that by rejecting the Names and Attributes of Allaah they were saving themselves from falling in the pit of anthropomorphism, but what they ended up with is just as bad as what they were trying to run away from.

As mentioned earlier, the Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaa`ah have the principles by which they neither liken Allaah with His creation, nor deny Allaah of the Names and Attributes which He mentioned about Himself in the Book or as mentioned by the Prophet in the authentic Ahaadeeth.


5. The Atheists – a lot of Christians turned towards atheism and denied the existence of God because of the absurdities that were attributed in their books to the Creator.

A lot of church going Christians ended up being atheist due to various reasons, among them is the absurdities which their religion had attributed towards God. Their reasoning: “How can “god” be weak, need rest, make mistakes etc.?” The impact of what they learned while growing up is now seen in the comic books and animations, where a character is given “god” like powers but then is also made to suffer from some type of weakness. Because of what they learned, their intellect now cannot conceive that there can be an absolute power who governs this Universe and all that exists. These comic books and animations are now trying to program the coming generations away from God.


6. The Hindus – divided the powers of God and ended up creating many “gods”.

The most pantheistic religion is that of the Hindus with over a million gods and their incarnation. Even though Hinduism claims to worship one Supreme Being, they do not put their theory into practice. They have divided and distributed the power of God among many demi-gods. There is one god who creates, the other who sustains and the one who destroys. They have a god of wealth, a god of Sun or thunder or light. Even the animals are not exempted from their worship; they worship monkeys, elephants, cows, snakes etc.

The `Arabs in Jaahiliyyah, before the coming of the Messenger of Allaah used to call their “gods” with names that were taken from the Names of Allaah like Al-Laat from al-Ilaah , Al-`Uzza from al-`Azeez and al-Manaat from al-Mannaan.  All of this is from Ilhaad (deviation, injustice). For them calling upon Allaah was not appropriate as He was too High and too Pure for them to call Him directly, so they invented these substitutes, their Laat, Manaat and `Uzzah. With the passing of time, these `Arabs were so comfortable with having many “gods”, that the original concept of One God became something astounding for them, which they could not accept.

﴿أَجَعَلَ الْآلِهَةَ إِلَـٰهًا وَاحِدًا ۖ إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَشَيْءٌ عُجَابٌ﴾

{Has he made the aalihah (gods) (all) into One Ilaah (God - Allaah). Verily, this is a curious thing!} [Surah Saad (38): 5]

The Sufees:

Look at the similarities of the `Arabs in the Jaahiliyyah and the Sufees of today. The Sufees use the same reasoning which the Mushriks of Makkah had used – that Allaah is too High and too Pure to be called upon directly. They say they need a waseelah (intermediary) between them and Allaah, which is a dead saint (Walee). The examples they give are: “to reach the roof you need a ladder”, “to approach the principal, you have to go through the teacher” etc.

﴿وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّـهِ زُلْفَىٰ

{And those who take Auliya' besides Him (Allaah) (say): “We worship them only that they may bring us near to Allaah.”} [Surah al-Zumar (39): 3]

Whereas we have many verses and Ahaadeeth which instruct us to supplicate to Allaah directly without any mediator:

{You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for Help} [Surah al-Faatihah]

{And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor).} [Surah al-Baqarah (2): 186]

{And your Lord said: "Call upon Me, I will answer you. Verily, those who scorn My worship they will surely enter Hell in humiliation!”} [Surah al-Ghaafir (40):60]

And the Prophet said to Ibn `Abbaas: “…Be mindful of Allaah, and Allaah will protect you. Be mindful of Allaah, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of Allaah; if you seek help, seek help of Allaah…” [Sunan al-Tirmidhee (2516) and graded as “Hasan” by Shaikh al-Albaanee]

So as Allaah تعالى said:

﴿فَمَاذَا بَعْدَ الْحَقِّ إِلَّا الضَّلَالُ﴾


{So what is left after the truth except misguidance?} [Surah Yunus (10): 32]


Conclusion:

Those who want to belittle the subject on Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat are directly or indirectly contributing in distancing the creation from the Creator. Cannot one see that deviation began when people started having misconception about the True Essence of their Lord? How can we know about our Lord if we do not learn about Him? Is it not the case that when we read the Seerah (biography) of our Prophet , our love for him increases? Similarly, the more we learn Tawheed and the more we know about our Lord, the more our love and obedience for Him تعالى increases.

﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ اللَّـهِ أَندَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّـهِ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِّلَّـهِ﴾


{And among mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allaah as rivals (to Allaah). They love them as they love Allaah. But those who believe, love Allaah more (than anything else).} [Surah al-Baqarah (2): 165]

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