[Allahu ta’âlâ created
all creatures. Everything except Allahu ta’âlâ was nonexistent. He always
exists. He is not a recent occurrence. If He had been nonexistent, a power
already existing before Him would have been necessary to create Him. To have
something come into being requires work. And it is a fact being taught in all
high schools and faculties of science that doing work requires having power. If
there is no power to create something previously nonexistent, that thing
remains nonexistent and never exists. If the owner of power always existed,
Allah is this powerful eternal being. But if it is determined that this owner
of creative power is also a recent occurrence, then it must have a creator,
too. If it is not accepted that one creator has existed since eternity, then an
infinite number of creators will be necessary. And this, in turn, means that
these creators do not have a beginning. The nonexistence of the first eternal
creator means the nonexistence of other creators it could have created. If
there is no creator, this universe of matter and spirits, which has been
created from nothing, cannot exist, either. Since substances and souls exist,
they must also have only one creator, and this creator must have existed
eternally.
Allahu ta’âlâ created
simple substances, which are the constructive materials for everything, and
souls and angels first. Simple substances are called elements now. Today’s
knowledge reveals the existence of one hundred and five different elements.
Allahu ta’âlâ created and is still creating everything from these one hundred
and five elements. Iron, sulphur, carbon, oxygen gas, and chlorine gas are all
elements. Allahu ta’âlâ has not informed us of how many millions of years ago
He created these elements. Nor has He declared the time He began to create the
earths, the heavens, and the living things which came into being from these.
Living or lifeless, everything has a life cycle. When the time comes, He
creates it, and when its time is up, He annihilates it. He creates things not
only from nothing, but also from other things, gradually or suddenly, and as
one being ceases to exist a new one comes into being.
Allahu ta’âlâ made up
the first man from lifeless substances
and a soul. There had been no man before him. Animals, plants, genies
and angels had been created before that first man. That first man’s name was
Âdam (alaihis-salâtu was-salâm). Later He created a woman named Hawwâ (Eve)
from him. The earth’s population finds its source from these two. And from each
animal its own species multiplied.
Today, the enemies of
Islam disguise themselves as scientists in order to deceive Muslim children.
“Men were created from monkeys,” they say. “A British doctor named Darwin said
so,” they say. But they are liars. Darwin did not say such a thing. He related
the struggle for survival among the living. In his book Origin of the Species, he wrote that the living adapted
themselves to their surroundings, and, in doing this, underwent some
insignificant changes. He did not say that one species changed into another. In
a conference organized in Salford in 1980 by the British Unity of Science,
Prof. John Durant, a member of the teaching staff in the University of Swansea,
made the following speech, in summary: “Darwin’s views on the the origin of man
has become a modern legend. The contribution this legend has made to our
scientific and social progress has been sheer harm, and no more. The tales of
evolution have had a destructive effect on scientific research. They have given
rise to distortions, unnecessary disputes and serious scientific abuses. Now
Darwin’s theory has come apart at the seams, leaving behind itself ruins of
erroneous conceptions.” These statements, which Prof. Durant made about his
compatriot, are the most interesting answers given in the name of science to
Darwinists. Today’s attempts to imbue people of various cultural backgrounds
with the theory of evolution originate from ideological determinations. They
have nothing to do with science. The theory has been exploited as a means for
the inculcation of materialistic philosophy. It is not scientific to say that
man has originated from the monkey. It is never a scientific word, either. Nor
is it Darwin’s saying. It is a lie of the ignorant enemies of Islam who know
nothing of knowledge or science. A man of knowledge or a scientist simply could
not say such an ignorant, absurd thing. If a person who has received a
university diploma begins to indulge in useless things, does not study his
branch of knowledge, even forgets what he has learned, that person cannot be a
man of knowledge or a scientist. If in addition he becomes an enemy of Islam
and attempts to sow and broadcast his mendacious and wrong words and writings
in the name of science and knowledge, he becomes a harmful, base
and treacherous microbe in society. His diploma, status, and rank
become an ostentation, a trap to hunt the youth. But the most pathetic people
are those who are swept into endless perdition by the deception of these
fraudulent and fanatical scientists who sow and broadcast their lies and
slanders in the name of knowledge and science.
Allahu ta’âlâ wants
people to live in comfort and peace in the world and to attain endless
happiness in the next world. It is for this reason that He has commanded useful
things that cause happiness and forbidden harmful things which cause calamity.
Whether a person is religious or irreligious, whether he is a Believer or a
disbeliever, the better he adapts himself to the rules taught in Qur’ân al-kerîm and obeys the commandments and
prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ, regardless of whether he does so on purpose or
by chance, the more peace and comfort will he attain in his worldly life. It is
like a person’s taking medicine, which will cure him anyway. The reason why
many irreligious and atheistic people and nations achieve success in most of
their enterprises today is their working compatibly with the principles taught
in Qur’ân al-kerîm. However, attaining
eternal felicity by following Qur’ân al-kerîm
requires first of all believing in it and following its rules intentionally.
The
first commandment of Allahu ta’âlâ is to have Îmân.
And His first prohibition is kufr. Îmân
means to believe the fact that Hadrat Muhammad (sall-allâhu alaihi wa sallam)
is Allah’s last prophet. Allahu ta’âlâ has given
Wahy (divine revelation) concerning His
commandments and prohibitions to him in Arabic. That is, He has declared them
to him by means of an angel. And the Prophet, in
turn, has communicated them to mankind. What Allahu ta’âlâ has declared in
Arabic is called the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The
book in which the entire Qur’ân al-kerîm
is written is called a Mus’haf. The Qur’ân al-kerîm is not the word of Muhammad
(alaihis-salâm). It is the word of Allah. No human being could have managed
such an immaculate wording. Everything that is declared in the Qur’ân al-kerîm is called Islam. A person who believes in all of it is
called a Mu’min (Believer) and Muslim. Denying even one of the facts in it is
called disbelief, that is, Kufr. It is only the business of the heart to believe in
the facts concerning the happenings in the next world, the existence of genies
and angels, and the Prophet Âdam’s
(alaihis-salâm) fatherhood over all people, and the fact that he is the first prophet. These are
called knowledge of I’tiqâd
(belief) and Aqâid (tenets). Both the
commandments and the prohibitions pertaining to the heart and body must be
accepted and observed. This is called knowledge of A’mal
or Sharî’at (Islamic law). It
is Îmân to believe in them, too. And it
is Worship to do them. As it is
understood, he who disbelieves or ignores the fact that worships are duties
becomes a kâfir (disbeliever). He who
believes them but does not do them, does not become a kâfir. He is called a fâsiq (sinner). A believer who has îmân in the
knowledge of Islam and observes it as well as he can is called a Pious Muslim. A Muslim who strives to earn the love
and the consent of Allahu ta’âlâ is called Sâlih.
One who has earned the love and the consent of Allahu ta’âlâ is called Ârif or Walî.
A walî who is instrumental in other’s attaining this love is called Murshid. All these distinguished ones are called Sâdiq.
All of them are Sâlih. A pious Mu’min will never go to Hell. A kâfir will
certainly go to Hell. Never leaving Hell, he will suffer eternal torment. If a
kâfir becomes a Believer, all his or her sins will be pardoned. If a fâsiq
repents of his sins and starts doing ’ibâdat (and begs Allahu ta’âlâ for
forgiveness), he will never go to Hell, but he will go to Paradise directly
like a pious believer. If he does not do his Tawba
(begging Allahu ta’âlâ for forgiveness), he will be forgiven through shafâ’at (intercession) or without any mediation
and go directly to Paradise, or, after burning in Hell to the extent determined
by his sins, caused by his sins, he will then go to Paradise.
The Qur’ân al-kerîm descended in a language suitable
with the Arabic grammar spoken by the people of that time, and it is in poetic
form. That is, like poetry, it is harmonious. It is replete with the subtleties
of the Arabic language. It has all the subtleties of the bedî, bayân, me’ânî
and belâghat sciences. It is, therefore, very difficult to understand. A person
who does not know the subtleties of the Arabic language cannot understand the Qur’ân al-kerîm well even if he reads and writes
Arabic. Even those who knew these subtleties could not understand it. As a
result, our Prophet explained most of its parts.
These explanations of our Prophet (sall-allâhu
alaihi wa sallam) are called Hadîth-i sherîf. The Sahâbat al-kirâm (rýdwân-ullâhi ta’âlâ alaihim
ajma’în) communicated to younger generations what they had heard and learned
from our master the Prophet. As time elapsed,
hearts became darker and darker, and Muslims, especially the newly converted
ones, attempted to interpret the
Qur’ân with their deficient minds and short sights, and inferred
meanings that contradicted those which our Prophet
(sall-allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) had communicated. The enemies of Islam incited
this faction and gave birth to seventy-two different, wrong, and heretical
beliefs. Those people who bear such heretical beliefs are called the Ahl-i bid’at or Ahl-i
dalâla. All of those who belong to the seventy-two groups of bid’at
will certainly go to Hell, but, being Believers, they will not remain in Hell
eternally. They will eventually be allowed out and enter Paradise. If the
belief of a person belonging to one of these seventy-two heretical groups
disagrees with something clearly declared in the Qur’ân
al-kerîm or in the hadîth sherîfs, he
will lose his Îmân. Such a person is called a Mulhid.
A mulhid thinks of himself as a Muslim. But his îmân has left, and he has
become a disbeliever.
Those Islamic savants
who learned correctly the teachings of i’tiqâd,
that is, the teachings of Islam that must be believed in, from the Sahâba
(rýdwân-ullâhi ta’âlâ alaihim ajma’în) and who wrote them in books are called
savants of the Ahl-as-sunnat
‘rahmat-ullâhi ta’âlâ alaihim ajma’în’. These people are scholars who have
attained to the grade called Ijtihâd in one of the four Madh-habs. The savants
of the Ahl-as-sunnat did not attempt to understand the meaning of the Qur’ân al-kerîm with their own minds, but they
believed what they learned from the Sahâba. They did not follow what they
themselves understood. Thus, they wrote down and taught the right way declared
by our Prophet (sall-allâhu alaihi wa sallam).
The Ottoman Empire was a Muslim state, and had the belief of the Ahl-as-sunnat.
As it is understood
from the information above and as it is written in many valuable books,
escaping disasters in this world and the next and living in peace and happiness
first requires having îmân, that is, to learn and believe everything as
communicated by the savants of the Ahl-as-sunnat (rahmat-ullâhi ta’âlâ alaihim
ajma’în). A person who does not have the belief of the Ahl-as-sunnat has become
either an Ahl-i bid’at, a heretical Muslim, or a mulhid, a disbeliever. The
second duty of a Believer with correct îmân, i’tiqâd, is to become sâlih
(pious), that is, to learn the teachings of the Sharî’at (Islamic law), that
is, to do ’ibâda. In explaining the teachings of how to worship, the savants of
the Ahl-as-sunnat (rahimahum-allâhu ta’âlâ) parted into four groups. Hence, the
four Madhhabs appeared. They disagreed
on a few insignificant matters, but they agreed with one another on îmân; they
loved and respected one another. Each Muslim has to
worship as shown by one of these four madhhabs. The fact that a person
who does not adapt himself to one of these four madhhabs has deviated from the
Ahl-as-sunnat, is written in the Zabayih section of Durr-ul-Mukhtâr,
an explanation of Tahtâwî. If a
disbeliever captured in war, or during the time of peace, says that he has
become a Muslim, he is to be believed. But he has to learn and believe in the six principles of îmân immediately. Gradually,
when he has the opportunity, he should learn the fards (obligations) and the
harâms (prohibitions) and obey what he has learned. If he does not learn them,
he will have slighted Allahu ta’âlâ’s sharî’at and his îmân perishes. A person
who has lost his îmân in such a way is called a murtad.
It is written in the hundred and sixteenth page of the translation of Sherh-i-Siyar-i-Kebîr and at the end of the
chapter about a disbeliever’s marriage in the book Durr-ul-mukhtâr
that if a person who is wise enough to earn his living and to pursue his
advantages successfully reaches the age of puberty without knowing Islam, he is
a murtad (renegade, apostate) (according to Islam’s evaluations). It is stated
at the end of the chapter about a disbeliever’s marriage in the book Durr-ul-mukhtâr: If a married Muslim girl does
not know Islam when she reaches the age of puberty, her nikâh (marriage
contract made in accordance with Islam) becomes null and void; [she becomes a
murtad]. She must be taught the Attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ. She must repeat
and confirm what she hears. Explaining this, Ibni
Âbidîn (rahima-h-ullâhi ta’âlâ) says, “A small girl is a Muslim
because her parents are Muslims. When she reaches the age of puberty, the rule
of her being in the same religion as her parents lapses. So when she reaches
the age of puberty without knowing Islam she becomes a murtad. If she heard the
tenets of belief and did not believe them, she will not become a Muslim by
saying the Kelima-i-tawhîd, that is, when she says the word ‘Lâ ilâha illâ-Allah Muhammadun Rasűlullah’. A
person who believes the six tenets in the credo ‘Âmentu billâhi...’ and says
that he accepts the commandments and prohibitions of Allâhu ta’âlâ, becomes a
Muslim.” It follows from what has been said so far that every Muslim has to
have his children memorize this credo and teach them its meaning well: “Amentu
billâhi wa Melâikatihi wa Kutubihi wa Rusulihi wa’l Yawm-il-âkhiri wa bi’l Qaderî
khayrihi wa sher-rihi min-allâhi ta’âlâ wa’l ba’su ba’dal mawt haqqun Esh-hadu
an lâ ilâha illâ-Allah wa esh-hadu anna Muhammadan ’abduhu wa Rasűluhu.” If a
child does not learn these six tenets and does not say that he or she
believes them, he or she does not become a Muslim when he or she
reaches the age of puberty; he or she becomes a murtad. There is detailed
information on these six tenets in the (Turkish) book Herkese Lâzým Olan Îmân, (and also in the English
book Belief and Islam.) Every Muslim
has to read this book and have his children read it and do his best that all
his acquaintances read it, too. We must spare no effort in doing this lest our
children should grow up as renegades. We must teach them Îmân, Islam, ablution,
ghusl, namâz before sending them to elementary school! The first duty of
parents is to raise their children as Muslims.
It is stated in the
book Dürer ve Gürer, “An apostate man is
first told to become a Muslim. Religious tenets in which he has doubts are
explained to him. If he asks to be given some time he is imprisoned for three
days. If he makes tawba, it is accepted. If he will not make tawba, the
(Islamic) judge has him killed. If the renegade is a woman, she is not killed.
She is kept in prison until she makes tawba. If she flees to (a country of
disbelievers called) the Dâr-ul-harb, she does not become a jâriya in the
Dâr-ul-harb. If she is captivated (by Muslims) she becomes a jâriya. When she
becomes a murtad, her nikâh (if she is married) becomes void. She loses all her
rights to her own property. If she becomes a Muslim again, it becomes her
property again. If she dies or flees to the Dâr-ul-harb [or if she becomes a
murtad in the Dâr-ul-harb], the property she leaves behind is to be given to
her Muslim inheritor(s). [If she has no inheritors, her property will by rights
belong to those people who are entitled to the benefits of Bayt-ul-mâl]. A
murtad cannot inherit property from another murtad. What is left behind a
murtad becomes a (sort of property called) ‘fay’ for Muslims. All sorts of
trade and rental contracts (made by a person who has become a renegade) and the
presents given by him become void. If he becomes a Muslim again, these things
become valid again. He will not have to make qadâ of his former worships.
However, he will have to make hajj again. What must be learned first after îmân
is to make an ablution, ghusl, and namâz (prayer).
The six principles of
îmân are to believe in the existence and the oneness of Allahu ta’âlâ and His
attributes, to believe in angels, Prophets, the
Heavenly Books, the happenings of the Next World, and Qadâ and Qadar. Later on,
we shall explain them separately.
In short, we should
obey Islam’s commandments and
prohibitions with our heart and body, and our heart should be wide
awake. If a person’s heart is not wide awake, [that is, if a person does not
meditate on the existence and greatness of Allâhu ta’âlâ, on the blessings in
Paradise and the vehemence of Hell fire], it will be very difficult for his
body to obey Islam’s commandments. Scholars of Fiqh communicate fatwâs
(explanations on how to do Islam’s commandments). It devolves on men of Allah
to facilitate the practice of these commandments. The body’s obeying Islam
willingly and easily requires the heart’s being pure. However, if a person
attaches importance only to purification of the heart and beautification of
morals and ignores physical adaptation to Islam, he becomes a Mulhid. His extraordinary skills, [such as giving
information about the unknown, curing his patients by breathing on them], which
result from the shining of his nafs, are (called) Istidrâj
and will drag him and those who follow him to Hell. What signifies a pure heart
and a nafs which is mutmainna [docile] is the body’s willingly obeying Islam. Some
people who do not adapt their sense organs and bodies to Islam say, “My heart
is pure. The important thing is the heart!” These are empty words. By saying
so, they are deceiving themselves and people around them].