Al-Wala' Wal-Bara' in Islam ...Part 2
islam3-1.jpg May Allah Help picture by zubia_2007
Al-Wala' Wal-Bara' in Islam
Part2
By: Dr. Muhammad Saeed Al-Qahtaani
Translated by: Omar Johnstone
bismillah2.gif picture by zubia_2007
THE DECLARATION OF FAITH: ON
THE TONGUE AND IN THE HEART

According to Ibn al-Qayim, belief in Divine Unity
is not simply saying that Allah is the sole Creator
and that He is Lord and Master of all things.
This was what the pagans used to say,
while at the same time worshipping many gods.
Belief in Divine Unity does not only mean love of Allah,
but also submission to Him,
humility before Him,
complete obedience to Him,
and devotion to Him in all our words and deeds,
in what we hold on to and in what we give,
in our love and in our hate.
It can never be confused with the urge to disobey,
or to do as you please in misguided self interest.
Whoever takes this to heart will understand
the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, "Certainly Allah has forbidden
the Fire from taking whoever says
'There is no god but Allah',
and who says this for the pleasure of Allah.";
(1) and in another hadith, "whoever says
'there is no god but Allah, shall not enter the Fire."
So what do these reports really mean?
Many people have misunderstood them,
going so far as to say that these statements
were later abrogated, and that they were
made before the completion of the Shariah,
before we knew what we must and must not do.
Others have said that the fire they refer to is
the hell of the disbelievers, while others
still interpret the actual entering of
the fire to mean entering it for eternity; thus "
..shall not enter the Fire
(for eternity)."
These are just a few of their baseless
interpretations.
In fact, the Prophet, may Allah bless him
and grant him peace, did not say that
this would occur merely by pronouncing
the declaration of faith; this would contradict
our entire understanding of Islam.
The hypocrites say these words with their tongues,
but they are bound for the deepest pit of Hell,
and will be punished even more severely
than those who actively dispute the fact
that there is no other god than He.
What is being referred to is, of course,
a matter of both the heart and the tongue.
While the heart must believe,
it must also realise the truth:
it must realise the meaning of the words of the
declaration of faith, of what they deny
and what they affirm;
realise that there is no other divinity than Allah;
and realise that the attribution of divinity to
anything else is quite impossible.
Thus its meaning must be taken to
heart consciously and deliberately,
with certainty and urgency.
This is what protects you from the Fire.
This recalls the story of the man who had
murdered a hundred men,
and though faith arose in his heart
he took no notice of it,
pushing it out of his breast;
but when he came to death's door it again
entered his heart and so he was one of those
who entered Paradise.

(2) And also the account about the prostitute
whose heart was moved by the sight of a dog
dying of thirst by the side of a well,
eating the dust in desperation.
With no higher purpose or hope of reward,
she filled her shoe to the brim and gave it to the dog.
Though people usually beat it she took it
by the paw and stilled it until it had drunk,
knowing that it could neither reward her nor even
thank her in any way.
Her supreme act of love wiped out all her
previous sins and this is how she was forgiven.

(3) Imam Muslim reports a hadith in which the Prophet,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
says, "Whoever says, There is no god but Allah,
and denies whatever he used to worship beside Allah,
will find that his life and his property are protected,
and his reward is with Allah."

(4) Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab points out that
this is the greatest proof we have of the real
meaning of the declaration of faith,
since neither life nor property are protected
simply by pronouncing these words;
indeed there is no significance at all in just
saying them, nor in advocating them,
nor in calling on Allah alone.
Your life and your property are not protected
until you actually deny whatever you used to worship
beside Allah; and if you have any doubt
or hesitation about that,
then you are still outside Islam.

(5)This should make clear the error of the Murji'a sect.

(6), who said that faith was equivalent to knowledge,
and disbelief to ignorance, and
who in this way severed deeds from belief.
Everyone knows that the pagans of Makkah
understood what the Prophet,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
meant by saying, "There is no god but Allah".
They understood it and they believed it,
but they arrogantly refused to acknowledge it;
so their faith in the One God, the Provider,
the Bringer of Life and Death,
did not benefit them at all.
When the Prophet told them,
"Say there is no god but Allah",
they said:
"Does he make the gods One God?
Surely that is an astounding thing." [38:5]
The strange thing is that while the disbelievers
know that the declaration of faith is more than
just saying the words,
some think that these reports mean that
a simple utterance of the words
'there is no god but Allah',
with none of their meaning entering the heart,
is all that is required.
But wiser people understand that it means
that there is no creator other than Allah:
no other provider, giver of life, bringer of death,
and no other who holds all things in his hand.
However, there is still no benefit to be gained by
knowing what the declaration of faith
means if you are without any belief.
This throws new light on the meaning of those
reports in which the Prophet,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
mentions the simple repetition of these words,
such as, "I have been ordered to struggle
against people until they say
'There is no god but Allah'."

(7)Some people hope to imply by this that whoever
recites the declaration of faith is not
a disbeliever, and that we should
not oppose him,
regardless of whatever else he does.
These people should recall that the Prophet,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
fought the Jews and cursed them
even though they said,
'There is no god but Allah'.
Not only this, but also the Companions of
the Prophet fought the Bani Hanifa who not only said,
"There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is
the Messenger of Allah",
but also prayed and claimed to be Muslims;
this was the same for the people whom
Ali ibn Abi Talib burned alive for saying
that he was an incarnation of Allah.
However, when you ask these people about
the case of someone who denies the rising of the dead,
they say that he has disbelieved and
that we should fight him, even he says,
'there is no god but Allah'.
They agree that whoever disputes any of
the five pillars of Islam has disbelieved
and should be opposed with the pen and the sword,
even though he may pronounce the
declaration of faith.
The contradiction here is that none of these
denials involve the central tenet of Islam,
which is the affirmation of Divine Unity,
and yet these people are prepared to go to
war over them; but when it is a matter of
someone who denies the very essence of belief,
the Diving Unity of God,
then they provide him with an excuse for its denial,
even though it is the very source and
foundation of the Deen.
So it becomes clear that these people are
the enemies of Allah,
and that they have not understood
at all the meaning of what the Prophet,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
has said: It is well known that when a man
declares himself to be a Muslim we should
act prudently towards him until he does
something that clearly contradicts his claim.
Allah says: "O you who believe!
When you go out (to fight) in the way of Allah,
be careful, and do not say to one who
offers you peace: 'Your are not a believer',
seeking the chance profits of this life
(so that you may despoil him).
With Allah are plenteous spoils.
You too were like this once, and Allah gave you hope,
so be careful; surely Allah is well aware of what you do." [4:94]
This verse indicates the necessity of restraint
until such time as you are sure about the situation,
since Allah says: "be careful".
If it becomes clear that someone is
at odds with Islam,
then fight him. If this were not the case,
then the command to verify the situation
before fighting would meaningless.
Similarly the Prophet,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace,
said of the Kharijites,
"Wherever you find them fight them,
for were I to discover them
I would destroy them utterly,
as the people of Ad were destroyed."

(8)He said this even though they were
meticulously observant in their dedication
and in their worship,
so much so that the companions,
with whom they studied,
felt humbled before them.
Their declaration of faith, however,
did not benefit them,
and neither did the fullness
of their worship,
nor indeed their service to Islam,
once they had abandoned the Shariah.

(9)Any intelligent person knows that if this
whole matter hinged upon a single word,
a mere word, then it would have been a
simple thing for the Quraish to say it.
They would have said,
'There is no god but Allah',
saving both themselves a lot of trouble and
their gods from ridicule.
But they knew that the
declaration of faith also involved a commitment,
and it was this commitment that threatened
their power and status in the land.
The point here is that Islam is a force that
liberates all people from the unjust slavery
of one to another,
and places mankind at the service of the One,
the Victorious.
The degree of their fear of Allah became
the measure of their worth and
excellence among people.
Thus the habits and customs of the jahiliyyah,
inherited from parents and grandparents,
had no place. Every good hearted,
sincere Muslim must strive towards the full
realisation of the declaration of faith,
in order that each and every one of us may
worship Allah with insight,
knowledge, and certainty.
This is the real challenge of Islam.

NOTES:
Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Masajid, 1/356.
See Sahih Bukhari,
Kitab al-Anbia', 6/512, (3470);
and Sahih Muslim, Kitab at-Tawba,
4/2118 (2766)
Ibn al-Qayim, Madarij as-Salikin,
1/330-332.
Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Iman,
1/53, (23).
Ibn Abdul Wahhab,
Kitab at-Tawhid, p.115.
The Murji'a sect believed that belief is all that
is needed to reach the Garden Sahih Muslim,
Kitab al-Iman, 1/51, (20)
Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Zakat,
2/742, (1064)
Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab,
Kashaf ash-Shubuhat, p.40.
The Kharijites believed that committing
major wrong actions turns a
Muslim into an unbeliever.