“This exalted person asked again, ‘O Rasűl-Allah! Now tell me what is îmân.’” Having asked what was Islam and the answer having been given, Hadrat Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm) asked our master Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) to explain the essence and reality of îmân. Literally îmân means ‘to know a person to be perfect and truthful and to have faith in him.’ In Islâm, ’îmân’ means to believe the fact that Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Prophet; that he is the Nabî, the Messenger chosen by Him, and to say this with the heart; and to believe in brief what he transmitted briefly and to believe in detail what he transmitted in detail from Allâhu
ta’âlâ; and to say the
Kalimat ash-shahâda whenever possible. Strong îmân is such that, as we know for
certain that fire burns, serpents kill by poisoning and we avoid them, we
should deem Allâhu ta’âlâ and His attributes great, be fully certain of this by
heart, strive for his consent (ridâ’) and run to His beauty (jamâl), and beware
of His wrath (ghadab) and torture (jalâl). We should write this îmân on the
heart firmly like an inscription on marble.
Îmân and Islam are the
same. In both, one is to believe the meaning of the Kalimat ash-shahâda. Though
they differ in general and in particular, and have different literal meanings,
there is no difference between them in Islam.
Is îmân one thing, or is
it a combination of parts? If it is a combination, how many parts is it made
of? Are deeds or ’ibâdât included in îmân or not? While saying, “I have îmân,”
is it right to add “inshâ-Allah” or not? Is there littleness or muchness in
îmân? Is îmân a creature? Is it within one’s power to believe, or have the
Believers believed under compulsion? If there is force or compulsion in
believing, why was everybody commanded to believe? It would take a long time to
explain all these one by one. Therefore, I will not answer them separately
here. But it should be known thus far that, according to the Ash’arî madhhab
and the Mu’tazila, it is not jâ’iz (probable) for Allâhu ta’âlâ to command us
to do something that is not possible. And according to the Mu’tazila, it is not
jâ’iz for Allâhu ta’âlâ to command something which is possible but which is not
within man’s power. According to the Ash’arî, it is jâ’iz, yet He has not
commanded it. To command people to fly in the air is of this sort. Neither in
îmân nor in ’ibâdât did Allâhu ta’âlâ command His creatures to do what they
would not be able to do. For this reason, a person who goes mad or becomes
ghâfil (forgetful, oblivious), or sleeps or dies while he is Muslim is still a
Muslim, though he is not in a state of confirmation.
We should not think of
the literal meaning of ’îmân’ in this hadîth-i-sherîf, for, there was not one
ordinary man in Arabia who did not know its literal meaning: ‘considering
truthful, belief.’ Certainly the Sahâbat al-kirâm (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum
ajma’în) knew it, too, but Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm) wanted to teach the
meaning of îmân to the Sahâbat al-kirâm by asking what îmân meant in Islam. And
Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) said that îmân was to believe in six
certain facts:
1. “First of all,
to believe in Allâhu ta’âlâ,” he declared. Îmân
is to have a heartfelt
belief in six certain facts by finding through kashf (revelation) or wijdân
(conscience) or by the comprehension of the ’aql (intellect, reason) through an
evidence or by trusting and following a distinguished and approved statement,
and to confirm this with the tongue.
The first of these six
facts is that Allâhu ta’âlâ is the Wâjib al-wujűd and the Real Ma’bűd (the One
Worshipped) and the Creator of all creatures. It should be believed for certain
that He alone creates everything [every substance, atoms, elements, molecules,
compounds, organic substances, cells, life, death, every event, every reaction,
all kinds of power and sorts of energy, movements, laws, spirits, angels and
every being living or lifeless out of nothing, and He makes them all survive]
in both this world and the next without material, time or similarity, out of
nonexistence. As He created all creatures in the universe [in one moment while
they had been nonexistent], so He [creates some of them from one another, and,
when the time for Doomsday comes, in one moment He] will annihilate everything.
He is the Creator, Owner, Absolute Ruler of all creatures. It has to be
believed and acknowledged that there is nobody to dominate Him, to command Him
or to be superior to Him. Every type of superiority, every attribute of
perfection, belongs to Him only. No defect, no deficient attribute exists in
Him. He is able to do what He wills. What he does is not intended to be useful
to Him or to others. He does not do something for a reward. In everything He
does, however, there are hidden causes (hikma), uses, blessings and favours.
Allâhu ta’âlâ does not
have to do what is good and useful for His creatures, nor does He have to
reward some people or torture some others. It would befit His superiority and
benevolence if He would bring all the sinners to Paradise. And it would become
His justice if He would put all of those who obey and worship Him into Hell.
Yet He decreed and declared that He would put Muslims, those who worship Him,
into Paradise and grant them favours, and that He would eternally torture disbelievers
in Hell. He does not go back on His word. It would be of no use for Him if all
the living creatures believed and worshipped Him, nor would it give Him any
harm if all creatures became disbelievers, became excessive or disobeyed Him.
If man wishes to do something, He creates it if He, too, wills it be so. He
alone is the One who creates every action of His human creatures and all
things. If He does not will or create, nothing can move. If He does not wish,
no one can
become a disbeliever or
can revolt. He creates disbelief and sins, yet He does not like them. No one
can interfere with His works. No one has the strength or the right to ask the
reason why He has done this or that or to comment on how He must do. He will
forgive, if He wills, a person who has committed any great sin and has died
without repentance, except if it is polytheism or disbelief. He will torture
him, if He wills, for a merely venial sin. He declared that he would never
forgive disbelievers and apostates and that He would torture them eternally.
He will torture in Hell
those Muslims who worship Him yet whose faith (i’tiqâd) is not compatible with
the faith of the Ahl as-Sunna and who die without repentance. Yet such Muslim
people of heresy (bid’a) will not remain in Hell eternally.
It is possible (jâ’iz) to
see Allâhu ta’âlâ with the eyes in this world, but no one ever has. On the Day
of Judgement He will be seen by disbelievers and sinful Muslims in His Wrath
and Glory, and by pious Muslims in His Kindness and Beauty. Angels and women,
too, will see Him. Disbelievers will be deprived of this. There is a sound
report conveying that genies also will be deprived of this. According to the
majority of the ’ulamâ’, “Muslims whom Allâhu ta’âlâ loves will be honoured
with seeing His Beauty every morning and every evening; Muslims of low degree
will be honoured every Friday, and women a few times in a year, like festivals
in this world.”[1] It should be believed that
---------------------------------
[1] Hadrat Shaikh ’Abd al-Haqq ad-Dahlawî [passed
away in Delhi in 1052 (
Allâhu ta’âlâ will be
seen. Yet we should not wonder how this will happen; His works cannot be
comprehended through intellect (’aql). They are not like worldly affairs. [They
cannot be measured with physical or chemical criteria.] Such concepts as
direction, being opposite or being toward something have no connection with
Allâhu ta’âlâ. He is not material. He is not an object, [nor is He an element,
an alloy or a compound]. He is not countable, He cannot be measured, nor can he
be calculated. No change takes place in Him. He is not at a place. He is not
with time. He does not have a past or a future, front or back, bottom or top,
right or left. Therefore, nothing of Him can human reasoning comprehend, nor
does human intellect or knowledge suffice to do this. So, man cannot comprehend
how He will be seen. Though such words as hand, foot, direction, place and the
like, which are not suitable for Allâhu ta’âlâ, exist in âyats and hadîths,
they are not used in the sense that we know and use today. Such âyats and
hadîths are called mutashâbihât. We have to believe them, but we should not attempt
to understand what or how they are. Or they can be explained away (ta’wîl) briefly or in detail;
that is, they can be given the meanings suitable for Allâhu ta’âlâ. For
example, the word hand may be interpreted as power or energy.
Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm) saw Allâhu ta’âlâ during the Mi’râj. But this seeing was not with the
eyes, like seeing in this world. A person who says that he has seen Allâhu
ta’âlâ in this world is a zindîq. The observation of Awliyâ’ is unlike seeing
in this world or seeing in the next world. In other words, it is not ru’ya
(seeing) but shuhűd that occurs on them [that is, they see the examples
(mithâls) through the eyes of their hearts]. Some Awliya’ said that they had
seen Him. However, they mistook the shuhűd they experienced while in sakr, that
is, when they were unconscious, for ru’ya. Or these words of theirs are to be
explained away.
Question: “It is said above that it
is possible (jâ’iz) to see Allâhu ta’âlâ with the eyes in this world. Then why
should a person who says something happened which is possible be a zindîq? If a
person who says so becomes a disbeliever, can it be said to be possible?”
Answer: In its literal meaning
‘jâ’iz’ means ‘possible to happen or not.’ Yet according to the madhhab of al-Ash’arî
[Abu ’l-Hasan ’Alî ibn Ismâ’il, passed away in Baghdâd in 330 (941
A.D.)], the possibility
of ru’ya means that Allâhu ta’âlâ is capable of creating in man quite a
different sense for seeing in this world, different from seeing closely or face
to face with Him, and different from seeing through the physical laws He
created in this world. For example, He is able, so it is possible, to show a
mosquito in Andalusia to a blind man in China, and anything on the moon or on a
star to a man on the earth. Such a power is peculiar to Allâhu ta’âlâ only.
Furthermore, to say, “I saw Him in this world,” is incompatible with the âyat
al-kerîma and with the consensus of the ’ulamâ’. Therefore, he who says such a
word is a mulhid or a zindîq. Thirdly, the phrase “it is possible to see Allâhu
ta’âlâ in this world” does not mean “it is possible to see Him on the earth
within the physical laws.” However, a person who says he saw Allâhu ta’âlâ
means that he saw Him as he sees other things; this is a seeing which is not
possible (jâ’iz). A person who says words that cause disbelief is called a mulhid or a zindîq.[1] [After these answers,
Hadrat Mawlânâ Khâlid stated, “Be careful!” Thus he directs attention to the
soundness of the second answer.]
The elapse of time, day
or night, cannot be related to Allâhu ta’âlâ. There can be no change in Him in
any respect, nor can it be said that He was in this manner in the past or He
will be like that in the future. He does not penetrate (hulűl) into anything.
He does not unite with anything. He never has an opposite, reverse, likeness,
partner, assistant or guide. He does not have a father, mother, son, daughter
or wife. He is always present with everybody, surrounds and overlooks
everything. To everyone He is closer than the big artery in his neck. However,
His surrounding us, His presence or togetherness or closeness, is not like what
we understand from these words. His closeness cannot be comprehended with the
knowledge of ’ulamâ’, with the intellect of scientists or with the kashf or
shuhűd of Awliyâ’. Human reason cannot understand their inner meanings. Allâhu
ta’âlâ is unique in His Person and in His Attributes. No change or
differentiation takes place in any of them.
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Names are
tawqîfî, that is, it is permissible to use His Names shown by Islam
and not permissible to use other
---------------------------------
[1] The mulhid or zindîq says that he is a Muslim.
The mulhid is sincere in his words; he believes that he is a Muslim and is on
the right path. However, the zindîq is an enemy of Islam. He feigns being a
Muslim in order to harm Islam from within and to deceive Muslims.
words.[1] Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Names
are infinite. It is well-known that He has one thousand and one Names; that is,
He revealed one thousand and one of His Names to human beings. In the religion
of Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), ninety-nine of them, called “al-Asmâ’
al-husnâ,” were
revealed.
The Sifât
ath-Thubűtiyya of Allâhu ta’âlâ[2] are eight in the Mâturîdiyya madhhab and seven in the Ash’ariyya madhhab. These attributes
of His are eternal and everlasting like His Person; that is, they exist
eternally. They are sacred. They are not like the attributes of creatures. They
cannot be comprehended through reasoning or assumption or by comparing them
with the things in the world. Allâhu ta’âlâ has endowed upon human beings an
example of each of His Attributes. Seeing these examples, the Attributes of
Allâhu ta’âlâ can be understood to a small extent. Since man cannot comprehend
Allâhu ta’âlâ it is not permissible to think of or to attempt to comprehend
Allâhu ta’âlâ. The eight attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ are neither the same as
nor other than His Person; that is, His Attributes do not make up His Person,
nor are they other than He. These eight attributes are:
Hayât (Life), ’Ilm (Omniscience), Sam’ (Hearing), Basar (Seeing), Qudra (Omnipotence), Kalâm (Speech, Word), Irâda (Will) and Takwîn (Creativeness). In the
Ash’ariyya madhhab, Takwîn and Qudra make up the same attribute. Mashiyya and
Irâda are synonymous.
Each of the eight
attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ is unique and in a uniform state. No change occurs
in any of them. But each of them varies in its related quality in creatures.
That an attribute of His varies in its relation to creatures and in affecting
them does not harm its uniqueness. Similarly, even though Allâhu ta’âlâ has
created so many kinds of creatures and is protecting all of them
---------------------------------
[1] For instance, Allâhu ta’âlâ may be called “
’Âlim” (the ‘Omniscient’), but we cannot use ‘faqîh’ which also means ‘’Âlim’
(scholar, one trained in Islamic sciences), for Islam does not use ‘faqîh’ for
Allâhu ta’âlâ. Likewise, it is not permissible to say ‘God’ instead of Allah,
because ‘god’ means ‘idol’; “Ox is the god of Hindus,” is said, for example. It
is permissible to say, “Allah is one; there is no god but He.” Words like Dieu
(French) and Gott (German) can be used for god or idol, but not for Allah.
[2] See the footnote on page 11 for the Sifât
adh-Dhâtiyya, which are six.
against annihilation, He
is still One. No change ever occurs in Him. Every creature needs Him every
moment in every respect. He does not need anybody in any respect.
2. The second of the six
fundamentals of îmân is “to believe in His angels.” Angels are material but
ethereal (latîf), more ethereal than the gaseous phase of matter. They are
nűrânî (luminous, spiritual). They are alive. They have reason (’aql). Evils
peculiar to human beings do not exist in angels. They can take any shape. As
gases turn into liquid and solid and take any shape when becoming solid, so
angels can form beautiful shapes. Angels are not souls that have parted from
the bodies of great men. Christians presume that angels are such spirits.
Unlike energy and power, they are not immaterial. Some ancient philosophers
supposed so. All of them are called malâ’ika. ‘Malak’ (angel) means
‘envoy, messenger’ or ‘power.’ Angels were created before all other living
creatures. Therefore, we were commanded to believe in them before believing in
the holy books, which come before the belief in prophets; and in the Qur’ân
al-karîm the names of these beliefs are given in this succession.
Belief in angels has to
be as follows: angels are the creatures of Allâhu ta’âlâ. They are not His
partners, nor are they His daughters as disbelievers and polytheists suppose.
Allâhu ta’âlâ loves all angels. They obey His commands and never commit sins or
disobey the commands. They are neither male nor female. They do not get
married. They do not have children. They have life; that is, they are alive.
Though, according to a narration traced back to Hadrat ’Abdullah ibn Mas’űd
(radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), some angels had children among which the Satan and
genies were counted; its explanation is written in books in detail. When Allâhu
ta’âlâ announced that He was going to create human beings, angels asked, “Oh
Allah! Are You going to create those creatures who will corrupt the world and
shed blood?” Such questions, called dhalla, from angels do not change
the fact that they are innocent.
Of all creatures, angels
are the most plentiful. No one but Allâhu ta’âlâ knows their number. There is
no empty space in the skies where angels do not worship. Every place in the
skies is occupied by angels in rukű’ (bowing during salât) or in sajda
(prostrating). In the skies, on the earth, in grass, on stars, in every living
and lifeless creature, in every rain-drop, plant leaf, atom, molecule, in every
reaction, motion, in everything, angels have duties. They carry out Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s commands everywhere.
They are intermediaries
between Allâhu ta’âlâ and creatures. Some of them are the commanders of other
angels. Some of them brought messages to the prophets among human beings. Some
angels bring good thoughts, called “ilhâm” (inspiration), to the
human heart. Some others are unaware of all human beings and creatures and have
lost consciousness upon feeling Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Beauty. Each of these angels
stays in a certain place and cannot leave its place. Some angels have two wings
and some four or more.[1] Angels belonging in Paradise stay in Paradise.
Their superior is Ridwân. Angels of Hell, zabânîs, carry out in Hell what
they are commanded. The fire of Hell does not harm them, as the sea is not
harmful to fish. There are nineteen leading zabânîs. Their chief is Mâlik.
For each human being,
there are four angels who record all the good and bad actions. Two of them come
at night and the other two come during the day. They are called kirâman
kâtibîn or
angels of hafaza. It was also said that the angels of hafaza were different
from the kirâman kâtibîn. The angel on one’s right side is superior to the one
on the left and records the good deeds. The one on the left writes down the
evil deeds. There are angels who will torture disbelievers and disobedient
Muslims in their graves, and angels who will ask questions in graves. The
questioning angels are called munkar and nakîr. Those who will question Muslims are also called mubashshir and bashîr.
Angels have superiority
to one another. The most superior angels are the four archangels. The first of
them is Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm). His duty was to bring wahî to prophets, to inform
them of the orders and prohibitions. The second one is Isrâfîl (’alaihi ’s-salâm), who
will sound the last trump called ‘Sűr’. He will sound the Sűr
twice. At the first sound every living being but Allâhu ta’âlâ will die. At the
second sound all will be resuscitated. The third one is Mikâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm). It is
his duty to make up
---------------------------------
[1] As the wings of each kind of fowl, or those of
an aeroplane, are of their own structure and are different from the wings of
each other kind, so angels’ wings have their own structure. When we hear the
name of something which we have not seen or do not know, we presume that it is
like the things we know, which is, naturally, wrong. We believe angels have
wings, but we do not know how they are. Pictures of winged women in churches,
publications or movies, which are regarded as angels, are all false. Muslims do
not make such pictures. We should not regard these unrealistic pictures drawn
by non-Muslims as true, and we should not believe our enemies
cheapness, expensiveness,
scarcity, abundance [economic order, to bring comfort and ease] and to move
every object. The fourth one is ’Azrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm), who takes the souls [jân,
Persian for Arabic ‘rűh’] of human beings. After these four, there are four
superior classes of angels: four angels of hamalat al-’Arsh, who will be eight on the
Resurrection; angels in Divine Presence, called muqarrabűn; leaders of torturing
angels, called karűbiyűn; and angels of Mercy, named rűhâniyűn. All these higher angels
are also higher than all human beings except prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salawâtu wa
’t-taslîmât). The sulahâ’ and Awliyâ’ among Muslims are higher than common or
lower angels. And common angels are superior to common, that is, disobedient,
sinful Muslims. Disbelievers, however, are lower than all creatures.
At the first sound of the
Sűr, all angels except hamalat al-’Arsh and the four archangels will be
annihilated. Then hamalat al-’Arsh and then the four archangels will be
annihilated. At the second sound all angels will come back to life. Hamalat
al-’Arsh and the four angels will rise closely before the second sound of the
Sűr. That is, these angels will be annihilated after all the living creatures,
as they were created before all.
3. The third of the six
fundamentals of îmân is “to believe the Books revealed by Allâhu
ta’âlâ.” He
sent these Books to some prophets by making the angel read to them. To some He
sent books inscribed on tablets, and to some others by making them hear without
the angel. All these Books are the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ (Kalâm-Allâh). They
are eternal in the past and everlasting. They are not creatures. They are not
words made up by angels, nor are they words of prophets. The Word of Allâhu
ta’âlâ is unlike the language which we write, keep in mind and speak. It is not
like being in writing, speech or mind. It does not have letters or sounds. Man
cannot understand how Allâhu ta’âlâ and his Attributes are. But men can read
that Word, keep it in mind and write it. It becomes hâdith, a creature, when it
is with us. That is, the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ has two aspects. When it is with
human beings, it is hâdith and a creature. When it is thought as the Word of
Allâhu ta’âlâ, it is eternal (qadîm).
All the Books sent down
by Allâhu ta’âlâ are just and right. There is no lie or fault in them. Though
He said He would punish and torture, it was said that it was possible (jâ’iz)
that He would forgive; this depends on His Will or on conditions which man
could not know, or it is meant that He will forgive the punishment which
Muslims deserve. Since the words ‘punishment’ and
‘torture’ do not narrate
an event, it will not be a lie if He forgives. Or, though it is not jâ’iz that
He will not give the rewards which He has promised, it is jâ’iz that He will
forgive the punishments. Reason, laws of human beings and âyats prove us right.
It is necessary to
interpret âyats and hadîths in their literal meanings, unless there is a risk
or an inconvenience. It is not permissible to give other meanings similar to
their literal meanings.[1] The âyats called mutashâbihât have unintelligible,
occult meanings. Only Allâhu ta’âlâ knows and very few distinguished superiors
who have been granted al-’ilm al-ladunnî understand their meanings as far as
they are allowed. No one else can understand them. For this reason, we should
believe that âyats of mutashâbihât are of the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and we
should not investigate their meanings. The scholars in the Ash’arî madhhab said
that it was permissible to explain away (ta’wîl) such âyats briefly or in
detail. ‘Ta’wîl’ means ‘choosing, from among the several meanings of a
word, the one which is not common.’ For example, about the âyat, “The Hand of
Allah is superior to theirs,” which is the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ, we should say, “I
believe whatever Allâhu ta’âlâ means by this.” It is the best to say, “I cannot
understand its meaning. Only Allâhu ta’âlâ knows.” Or we must say, “Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s knowledge is unlike our knowledge. His Will is not like our will.
Similarly, Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Hand is not like the hands of His human creatures.”
In the Books which Allâhu
ta’âlâ revealed, either the pronunciations or the meanings of some âyats, or
both, were changed (naskh) by Him. The Qur’ân al-kerîm replaced all the Books
and abolished the validity of their rules. There will never be any mistakes,
additions, forgotten or missing points in Qur’ân al-kerîm until the end of the
world, nor will it be forgotten. All knowledge of the past and the future exist
in the Qur’ân al-kerîm. For this reason, it is higher and more valuable than
all the Books. The greatest mu’jiza of Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi
wa sallam) is the Qur’ân al-kerîm. If all human beings and genies would
assemble and try to say something similar to the shortest sűra of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm, they would not be able to do it. Ýn
---------------------------------
[1] The Qur’an al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf are in the Quraish language and dialect. But the words should be given the meanings used in the Hijâz thirteen hundred years ago. It is not correct to translate them by giving them contemporary meanings, which are the results of the changes throughout centuries
fact, the eloquent,
literary poets of Arabia assembled and strove very hard, but they could not say
something like three short âyats. They could not stand against the Qur’ân
al-kerîm. They were stupefied. Allâhu ta’âlâ makes the enemies of Islam
incapable and defeated in front of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The eloquence of the
Qur’ân al-kerîm is above human power. Human beings are incapable of saying as
it says. The âyats in the Qur’ân al-kerîm are unlike the poetry, prose or
rhymed verse of human beings. Nevertheless, it was said in the letters of the
language spoken by the literary, eloquent men of Arabia.
One hundred and four of
the heavenly Books were revealed to us: it is well-known that ten suhuf (pl. of
sahîfa, little book) were revealed to Âdam (’alaihi ’s-salâm), fifty suhuf to
Shis (Shît) (’alaihi ’s-salâm), thirty suhuf to Idrîs (’alaihi ’s-salâm) and
ten suhuf to Ibrâhîm (’alaihi ’s-salâm); the Tawrât (Torah) was revealed to
Műsâ (Moses) (’alaihi ’s-salâm), the Zebűr (the original Psalms) to Dâwűd (’alaihi ’s-salâm),
the Injîl (Latin ‘Evangelium’) to ’Îsâ (Jesus) (’alaihi ’s-salâm) and the Qur’ân al-kerîm
to
Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm).
When a person wants to
give an order, to forbid something, to ask something or to give some news,
first he thinks about and prepares it in his mind. These meanings in mind are
called “kalâm nafsî,” which cannot be said to be Arabic, Persian or English.
Their being expressed in various languages does not cause these meanings to
change. Words expressing these meanings are called “kalâm lafzî.”
Kalâm
lafzî can be said in different languages. So, kalâm nafsî of a person is a
pure, unchangeable, distinct attribute that exists in its possessor like other
attributes such as knowledge, will, discernment, etc., and kalâm lafzî is a
group of letters that express kalâm nafsî and that come out of the mouth of the
person uttering them and that come to the ear. Thus, the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ
is the eternal, everlasting, non-silent and non-creature Word existent with His
Person. It is an attribute distinct from the as-Sifât adh-Dhâtiyya and from
as-Sifât ath-Thubűtiyya of Allâhu ta’âlâ, such as Knowledge and Will.
The attribute Kalâm
(Speech, Word) never changes and is pure. It is not in letters or sounds. It
cannot be differentiated or classified as command, prohibition, narration or as
Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Turkish or Syriac. It does not take such forms. It
cannot be written. It does not need such apparatuses or media as intelligence,
ear or tongue. Nevertheless, it can be understood through them as a being
distinct from all beings we know; it can
be told in any language
wished. Thus, if it is told in Arabic it is called the Qur’ân al-kerîm. If it
is told in Hebrew it is the Tawrât. If it is told in Syriac it is the Injîl.
[The book Sharh al-maqâsid[1] writes that if it is told in Greek it is the Injîl
and if it is told in Syriac it is the Zabűr.]
Al-Kalâm al-ilâhiyya (the
Divine Word) tells various subjects; if it narrates the events that happened or
that will happen, it is called khabar (narration); if not so, it is called inshâ.’ If it points out the
things that should be done, it is called amr (command). If it points out prohibitions, it is nahî (prohibition). But no
change or increase occurs in al-Kalâm al-ilâhiyya. Each book or each page
revealed is a sheet of the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ; that is, they are of al-Kalâm
an-nafsî of His. When it is in Arabic it is called the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The wahî revealed in poetry and
that can be written and said and heard and kept in mind is called al-Kalâm
al-lafzî or
the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Since al-Kalâm al-lafzî denotes al-Kalâm an-nafsî, it is
permissible to call it al-Kalâm al-ilâhiyya or the Divine Attribute. Though
this Word is of one sort, it can be divided and broken into parts with respect
to persons. As the whole of it is called the Qur’ân al-kerîm, so its parts are
called the Qur’ân al-kerîm.
The ’ulamâ’ of the right
path unanimously say that al-Kalâm an-nafsî is not a creature but it is qadîm
(eternal). There is no unanimity on whether al-Kalâm al-lafzî is hâdith or
qadîm. Some who regarded al-Kalâm al-lafzî as hâdith said that it was better
not to say that it is hâdith for it might be misunderstood and come to mean
that al-Kalâm an-nafsî is hâdith. This is the best comment about it. When the
human mind hears something that denotes something else, it simultaneously
remembers the denoted thing. When one of the ’ulamâ’ of the right path is heard
to have said that the Qur’ân al-kerîm was hâdith, we must understand that he
referred to sounds and words which we read with our mouth. The ’ulamâ’ of the
right path have unanimously said that both al-Kalâm an-nafsî and al-Kalâm
al-lafzî are the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Though some ’ulamâ’ considered this
word metaphoric, they all agreed that it was the Divine Word. That al-Kalâm
an-nafsî is the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ means that it is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
Attribute of Speech, and that al-Kalâm al-lafzî is the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ
means that it is created by Allâhu ta’âlâ.
---------------------------------
[1] By Sa’d ad-dîn at-Taftâzânî, who passed
away in Samarqand in 792A.H. (1389).
Question: “From the preceding
writing it is understood that the eternal Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ cannot be
heard. A person who says, ‘I heard the Word of Allah,’ means ‘I heard the
sounds and words uttered’ or ‘I understood the eternal al-Kalâm an-nafsî
through these words.’ All prophets, even everybody, can hear it in both of
these two manners. What is the reason for distinguishing Műsâ (’alaihi
’s-salâm) as Kalîm-Allah (one to whom Allâhu ta’âlâ spoke)?”
Answer: Műsâ (’alaihi’s-salâm)
heard the Eternal Word without letters or sounds, in a way different from
al-’Âdat al-ilâhiyya (the Divine Custom; the law of causation). He heard it in
a manner that cannot be explained, as Allâhu ta’âlâ will be seen in Paradise in
an unintelligible and unexplainable manner. Nobody else heard it in this
manner. Or, he heard the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ in sounds not only through his
ears but also through every particle of his body, from every direction. Or, he
heard it only from the direction of the tree, yet not in sounds or with the
vibration of air or with other means. Because he heard it in one of these three
conditions, he was honoured with the name ‘Kalîm-Allah’. Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm) also heard the Divine Word in this manner on the Mi’râj Night. So was
the hearing of Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi’s-salâm) as he received wahî.
4. The fourth of the six
fundamentals of îmân is “to believe in Allâhu ta’âlâ’s prophets,” who were sent to make
people attain the way He likes and to guide them to the right path. Literally
‘rusul’ (pl. of rasűl) were the ‘people sent, messengers.’ In Islam, ‘rasűl’ means ‘noble, respectable
person whose nature, character, knowledge and intellect are higher than those
of all the people of his time, having no bad trait in his character and no
disliked manner.’ Prophets had the quality ’Isma, that is, they did not
commit any grave or venial sins before or after they were informed of their
nubuwwa (prophethood, prophetship).[1] After they were informed of their nubuwwa and
until their nubuwwa was known and spread out, they did not have such defects as
blindness, deafness or the like. It has to be believed that every prophet had
seven peculiarities: Amâna (trustworthiness), Sidq (devotion), Tablîgh (communication), Adâla (justness), ’Isma
---------------------------------
[1] Those disbelievers who insidiously try to
abolish Islam say, “Before becoming the Prophet, Muhammad (’alaihi-’s-salâm)
had sacrified victims to idols,” and give reference to non-madhhabite books as
documents. The lines above prove that this statement is a lie.
(purity), Fatâna (superintelligence) and Amn al-’azl (security against
dismissal from nubuwwa).
A prophet who brought a
new religion is called a “rasűl” (messenger). A prophet who did not bring a new
religion but invited people to the previous religion is called a “nabî” (prophet).[1] In the communication
(tablîgh) of commands and in calling the people to Allâhu ta’âlâ’s religion,
there is no difference between a rasűl and a nabî. We have to believe that all
prophets, without exception, were devoted and truthful. He who does not believe
in one of them is regarded as not believing in any.
Nubuwwa cannot be
attained by working hard, by suffering hunger or discomfort, or by praying very
much. It is possessed only with Allâhu ta’âlâ’s favour and selection. Religions
were sent through the mediation of prophets in order arrange a useful life for
people in this world and the next, and to prevent them from harmful acts and
make them attain salvation, guidance, ease and happiness. Though they had many
enemies and were mocked and treated harshly, prophets did not fear the enemies
and showed no hesitation in communicating to people Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commands
about the facts to be believed and the things to be done. Allâhu ta’âlâ
supported His prophets with mu’jizas to show that they were devoted and
truthful. No one could stand against their mu’jizas. The community of a prophet
is called his umma. On the Day of Judgement, prophets will be permitted to
intercede for their ummas, especially for the ones who were gravely sinful, and
their intercession will be accepted. Allâhu ta’âlâ will permit also the
’ulamâ’, sulahâ’ and awliyâ’ among their ummas to intercede, and their
intercession will be accepted. Prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salawâtu wa ’t-taslîmât)
are alive in their graves in a life we cannot know; earth does not cause their
blessed bodies to rot. For this reason, it was said in a hadîth-i-sherîf, “Prophets
perform salât and hajj in their graves.”[2]
---------------------------------
[1] ‘Rasűl’ is also translated as ‘prophet’ in the
text.
[2] Today, in Arabia there are people called Wahhâbîs. They do
not believe such hadîths. They call true Muslims who believe these hadîths
“disbelievers.” Though they, on account of explaining wrongly the inexplicit or
dubious nasses away, do not become disbelievers, they become people of bid’a.
They greatly harm Muslims. Wahhâbism was founded by an idiot named Muhammad
While the blessed eyes of
a prophet slept, the eyes of this heart did not sleep. All prophets (’alaihimu
’s-salâm) were equal in doing their duties as prophets and in possessing the
excellences of nubuwwa. The above-mentioned seven peculiarities existed in all
of them. Prophets were never dismissed from nubuwwa. The Awliyâ’, however, may
be deprived of Wilâya. Prophets were human beings but not genies or angels, who
could never be prophets for human beings or attain the degree of a prophet.
Prophets had superiority to and honours above one another. For example, because
his umma and the countries he was sent to were larger and because his knowledge
and ma’rifa spread in a vaster area and because his miracles were more plentiful
and continual and because there were special blessings and favours for him, the
Prophet of the Last Age, Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), was higher than all other
prophets. The prophets called Ulu ’l-’azm were higher than the others. The
rasűls were higher than the nabîs who were not rasűls.
The number of prophets
(’alaihimu ’s-salâm) is not known. It is well known that they were more than
124,000. Among them, 313 or 315 were rasűls; the six higher rasűls among them,
called Ulu ’l-’azm, were: Âdam, Nűh (Noah), Ibrâhîm (Abraham), Műsâ (Moses), ’Îsâ (Jesus) and Muhammad
Mustafâ (’alaihimu
’s-salâtu wa ’s-salâm).
The following
thirty-three prophets are well-known: Âdam, Idrîs, Shît (or Shis), Nűh, Hűd,
Sâlih, Ibrâhîm, Lűt, Ismâ’îl, Is’hâq, Ya’qűb, Yűsuf, Ayyűb, Shu’aib, Műsâ,
Hârűn, Khidir, Yűshâ’ ibn Nűn, Ilyâs, Alyasa’, Dhu ’l-kifl, Sham’un, Ishmoil,
Yűnus ibn Matâ, Dâwűd, Sulaimân, Luqmân, Zakariyyâ, Yahyâ, ’Uzair, ’Îsâ.
---------------------------------
.bin ’Abd-ul-Wahhâb of
Najd city. Hempher, a British spy, misled him by using the heretical ideas of
Ahmad Ibn Taimiyya [d. Damascus, 728 A.H. (1328)]. It spread out among the
Turks and everywhere through the books of an Egyptian named Muhammad ’Abduh [d. Egypt, 1323 A.H. (1905)]. The
scholars of Ahl as-Sunna pointed out in hundreds of their books that the
Wahhâbîs were not the followers of a fifth madhhab, but those who were in
heresy and on a wrong path. Also detailed information is given in Endless Bliss
and Advice for the Muslim. May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect young men with religious
duty from falling into the path of Wahhâbism, and may He not disconnect us from
the right path of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, who are praised greatly in many
hadîths! Âmin
ibn Mariam,
Dhu ’l-qarnain and Muhammad (’alaihimu ’s-salâtu wa ’s-salâm).
Only the names of
twenty-eight of them are written in the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Shît, Khidir, Yűshâ’,
Sham’un and Ishmoil are not written. Among the twenty-eight, it is not certain
whether Dhu ’l-qarnain, Luqmân and ’Uzair were prophets or not. It is written
in the thirty-sixth letter of the second volume of Maktűbât-i-Ma’thűmiyya that there are authentic
reports stating that Khidir ‘alaihis-salâm’ was a prophet. And it is written as
follows in the hundred and eighty-second letter: “That Khidir ‘alaihis-salâm’
appears in a human form (from time to time), and does some things, too, does
not show that he is alive. Allâhu ta’âlâ has given his soul, as well as the
souls of many other Prophets and Walîs, the permission to appear in a human
form. Seeing them does not prove that they are alive.” Dhu ’l-kifl (’alaihi
’s-salâm) was also called Harqil, who was also said to be Ilyâs, Idrîs or
Zakariyyâ.
Ibrâhîm (’alaihi
’s-salâm) is Khalîl-Allah, because there was no love for creatures and there
was only love for Allâhu ta’âlâ in his heart. Műsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is
Kalîm-Allâh, because he spoke with Allâhu ta’âlâ. ’Îsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is
Kalimat-Allâh, for he did not have a father and was born only upon al-Kalimat
al-ilâhiyya (the Divine Word) ‘Be!’ Furthermore, he preached Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
words, which were full of Divine Wisdom, and communicated them to the ears of
people.
Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), who
is the reason for the creation of all creatures and the highest, the most
prominent, the most honourable of mankind, is Habîb-Allâh (Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
Darling). There were many evidences proving his greatness and superiority and
that he was Habîb-Allâh. For this reason, such words as ‘was overcome’ or ‘was
defeated’ cannot be said about him. At Resurrection, he will rise from his
grave before everybody. He will go to the place of Judgement first. He will go
to Paradise before everybody. Though the beautiful traits in his character
cannot be concluded by counting, nor would human energy suffice to count them,
we will ornament our book by writing down some of them:
One of his miracles was
his ascent to the Mi’râj: while he was in bed in al-Mekkat al-Mukarrama, he was
awakened and his blessed body was taken to the Aqsâ Mosque in Jerusalem (Quds),
thence to the heavens, and after the seventh heaven, to the places which Allâhu
ta’âlâ determined. We have to believe in the Mi’râj
in this manner.[1] How the Mi’râj happened
is written in detail in many valuable books, particularly in Shifâ’-i
sherîf.[2] He went with Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi’s-salâm) from Mekka
to Sidrat al-muntahâ, a tree in the sixth and seventh heavens. No knowledge, no
ascent could go further than there. In Sidra, Rasűlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) saw
Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm) in his own shape with his six hundred wings.
Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm) remained in Sidra. From Mekka to Jerusalem, or to
the seventh heaven, Rasűlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was taken on Burâq, which was a white, very
fast, sexless and unworldly animal of Paradise and which is smaller than a mule
and bigger than an ass. It stepped beyond eyeshot. At the Aqsâ Mosque,
Rasűlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) became the imâm for prophets in the night or
morning prayer. Prophets’ souls were present there in their own human figures.
From Jerusalem up to the seventh heaven, he was made to ascend in a moment with
an unknown ladder named Mi’râj. On the way, angels lined up on the right and on the
left, praised and lauded him. At each heaven, Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm)
announced the good news of Rasűlullah’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) arrival. In each
heaven he saw a prophet and greeted him. In Sidra, he saw many astonishing
things, the blessings of Paradise and the tortures of Hell. He looked at none
of the blessings of Paradies out of the desire for and the pleasure of seeing Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s Jamâl. Beyond Sidra, he went ahead alone, among nűrs (lights). He
heard the sounds of the angels’ pens. He went through seventy thousand curtains. The distance between two
curtains was like a way of five hundred years. After this, on a bed named Rafraf, which was brighter than
the sun, he went through the Kursî and reached the ’Arsh. He went out of the ’Arsh,
out of the worlds of time, space and matter. He reached the stage to hear
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Speech.
He saw Allâhu ta’âlâ in a
manner that cannot be understood or explained, like Allâhu ta’âlâ will be seen
in the next world without time and space. He spoke with Allâhu ta’âlâ without
letters and sounds. He glorified, praised and lauded Him. He was given
innumerable gifts and honours. Fifty times of performance
---------------------------------
[1] The Ismâ’îlî heretics and the enemies of faith
disguised as Islamic scholars try to deceive the youth by saying and writing
that the Mi’râj was not a bodily ascent but a spiritual state (hâl). We should
not buy such corrupt books; we should not be decieved by them.
[2] Qâdî ’Iyâd al-Mâlikî, author of Shifâ’, passed
away in Morocco in
of salât in a day were
made fard for him and for his umma, but this was gradually reduced to five
times a day with the mediation of Műsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm). Before this, salât
had been performed only in the mornings and in the afternoons or at nights.
After such a long journey, having attained gifts and blessings and having seen
and heard so many bewildering things, he came back to his bed, which had not
become cold yet. What we have written above was understood partly from âyats and
partly from hadîths. It is not wâjib to believe all. Yet, since the scholars of
Ahl as-Sunna communicated them, those who deny these facts will be separated
from Ahl as-sunna. And he who does not believe an âyat or a hadîth becomes a
disbeliever.
Let us cite some of the
innumerable evidences showing that Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is the Most
Superior (Sayyid al-Anbiyâ’) of prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâwâtu wa
’t-taslîmât).
On the Day of Judgement
all prophets will shelter in the shade of his banner. Allâhu ta’âlâ commanded
all prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâm) that, if they would remain alive till the
time of Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), who, among creatures, was His Darling
Elect, they should believe him and be his assistant. Also, all prophets ordered
their ummas the same in their last requests.
Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm) was the Khâtam al-anbiyâ’ (the Last Prophet), that is, no prophet will
succeed him. His blessed soul was created before all prophets. The status of
nubuwwa was given first to him. Nubuwwa was completed with his honouring the
world. Towards the end of the world, during the time of Hadrat al-Mahdî, ’Îsâ
(alaihi ’s-salâm) will descend from the sky to Damascus and join Muhammad’s
(’alaihi ’s-salâm) umma and preach Islam on the earth.
[The heretical people
called Qâdiânîs, or Ahmadîs, who were organized by the British in India in the
lunar hijrî year 1296 (1880), tell slanderous lies about ’Îsâ (’alaihi
’s-salâm), too. Though they claim to be Muslims, they strive to abolish Islam
from within. A fatwâ has been issued on that they are not Muslims.
Another heretical group
of zindîqs who appeared in India are the group called Jamâ’at-ut-tablîghiyya. Their sect was first
founded in 1345 [1926 C.E.], by an ignoramus named Ilyâs. He asserted that
Muslims had “deviated from the true path of Islam,” and that he had had a dream
wherein he had been given the divine command to “rescue them from aberration.”
He said what he had learned from the books written by his masters,
namely, Nezîr Huseyn,
Rashîd Ahmad Kankuhî and Khalîl Ahmad Sehâranpűrî, who also were heretical
people. The ruse they have been using to mislead Muslims is to “always talk
about the value of namâz and jamâ’at. The fact, however, is that none of the
prayers of namâz and else performed by heretics is acceptable, since they are
not in the group of Ahl as-sunnat. The first thing these
people have to do is to read books written by the scholars, rid themselves of
heretical beliefs, and become true Muslims. People who misinterpret the âyats
with covered meanings in the Qur’ân al-kerîm are termed people of
bid’at,
or heretics. And those enemies of Islam who give such âyats meanings
suitable to their treacherous and heretical thoughts are called zindîq. By doing so these people
are trying to change the Qur’ân al-kerîm and Islam. The real great enemy who
invent and feed these heresies are the British, who spend billion for this
ignominious purpose. Members of the Tablîgh-i-jamâ’at, who are merely ignorant
and ignoble tools that have fallen into the traps set by the British
unbelievers, are striving to deceive Muslims by calling themselves Sunnîs, by doing their daily
prayers of namâz, and by telling lies. These people are like stork-nests built
on the tops of minarets, and shall be subjected to eternal fire in the deepest
ditches of Hell. Wearing huge turbans, growing their beard long, putting on
their long robes called jubba, reading or reciting âyat-i-kerîmas, and then
misrepresenting them, is one of the stratagems no rarely used by these people use
in their heinous programs to misguide Muslims. However, a hadîth-i-sherîf reads
exactly as follows: “Inn-Allâha lâ yanzuru ilâ suwarikum wa
siyâbikum wa lâkin yanzuru ilâ qulűbikum wa niyyâtikum,” which means, “Allâhu
ta’âlâ judges you not by your figures and attirements, but by your hearts and
intentions.” A distich:
Kad-du buland
dâred, dester pâra, pâra.
Chun âshiyâni laklak, ber kalla-i-minâra.
Because these people have
been unable to answer the books of Ihlâs Waqf, which prove that the
statements made by these ignorant idiots are lies, they say, “Books published
by Ihlâs Waqf are wrong and heretical. Do not read those books.” The most
conspicuous symptom whereby to diagnoze the heretics and zindîqs, who are
enemies of Islam, is their dissuading people from reading books publicizing the
teachings of savants of Ahl as-sunnat by stigmatizing them with heresy. Our
(Turkish) book
Fâideli
Bilgiler
(Useful Information) enlarges on the harms these people have been causing to
Islam and quotes the answers given to them by the scholars of Ahl as-sunnat.[1]]
Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm) is the highest of prophets and is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s compassion for all
creatures. 18,000 ’âlams (worlds of beings) received benefit from his ocean of
blessings. By the consensus (of the ’ulamâ’), he is the Prophet for all human
beings and genies. Many (scholars) said he was the Prophet for angels, plants,
animals and for every substance. While other prophets had been sent to certain
tribes in certain countries, Rasűlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was and is the
Prophet of all worlds and all the living and lifeless creatures. Allâhu ta’âlâ
had addressed other prophets by their names. As for Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm), He favoured him by addressing him, “Oh My Prophet (Rasűl)!” The like
of every miracle that had been granted to every prophet was presented to him.
Allâhu ta’âlâ bestowed upon His Beloved Prophet more gifts and granted him more
miracles than He had done to any other prophet of His. He was made superior to
all prophets with countless honours and excellences: the moon split into two
when he made a sign with his blessed finger; the stones in his palm uttered the
Name of Allah; trees greeted him by saying, “O Rasűlallah”; the dry log named
Hannâna cried because Rasűlullah (’alaihi ’s-salâm) departed from its side and
left it alone; pure water flowed down through his blessed fingers; the high
grades of al-Maqâm al-Mahműd, ash-Shafâ’at al-kubrâ, al-Hawd al-Kawthar,
al-Wasîla and
al-Fadîla were said to be given to him in the next world; he had the
honour of seeing Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Jamâl before entering Paradise; he had the
greatest moral quality in the world, the most perfect faith, knowledge,
gentleness, patience, gratitude, zuhd (devotion, asceticism), chastity,
justness, heroism, bashfulness, bravery, modesty, wisdom, beautiful manners,
helpfulness, mercy and inexhaustible honors and honourable traits. No one but
Allâhu ta’âlâ knows the number of miracles given to him. His religion abrogated
all other religions. His religion was the best and highest of all the
religions. His umma is higher than all other ummas. The Awliyâ’ of his umma are
more honourable than the Awliyâ’ of other ummas.
---------------------------------
[1] Please see our other publications in English,
particularly The Sunnî Path, Endless Bliss, five fascicles, Belief
and Islam, and Documents of the Right Word.
Among the Awliyâ’ of the
umma of Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), the one who deserved to be his khalîfa
(caliph) was Abu Bakr as-Siddîq (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), who was loved most by the
Awliyâ’ and by the imâms and was more suited for the caliphate than others.
After prophets, he is the highest and the most auspicious of all human beings
that have come and that will come. He was the first to attain the status and
honour of caliphate. As a favour and blessing from Allâhu ta’âlâ, he had not
worshipped idols before Islam commenced. He had been protected against the
defects of disbelief and heresy.[1]
After him, the highest of
human beings is the second khalîfa ’Umar ibn al-Khattâb (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anh), whom Allâhu ta’âlâ chose as a friend to His Beloved Prophet.
After him the highest of
human beings is the third khalîfa of Rasűlullah (’alaihi’s-salâm), Dhu’n-Nűrain
’Uthmân ibn ’Affân (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), the treasure of favours and
blessings and the source of modesty, faith and spiritual knowledge.
After him, the most
auspicious of human beings is the fourth khalîfa of Rasűlullah (’alaihi’s-salâm),
’Alî ibn Abî Tâlib (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), the possessor of astonishing
superiorities and the Lion of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
Hadrat Hasan ibn ’Alî
(radiy-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’anhum)[2] became the khalîfa after him. The thirty years of
caliphate mentioned in the hadîth ash-sherîf was completed with him. After him,
the highest human being is Hadrat Husain ibn ’Alî (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anhum), the light of Rasűlullah’s (’alaihi’s-salâm) eyes.
These superiorities were
based on their having earned more thawâb; abandoned their country and their
beloved ones for the sake of Islam; being Muslims before others; adapted
themselves to Rasűlullah (’alaihi’s-salâm) to the highest extent; given
themselves up to his sunna; struggled in spreading his religion; and prevented
disbelief, fitna and corruption.
Hadrat ’Alî (radiy-Allâhu
’anh) embraced Islam before everybody with the exception of Hadrat Abu Bakr
(radiy-Allâhu
---------------------------------
[1] It can now be understood by this statement
about Abű Bakr as-Siddîq (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) how poor and how ignorant
are those who think and write that Rasűllah (’alaihi’s-salâm) worshipped idols
before his nubuwwa.
[2] Hasan bin Ali passed
away because of being poisoned in Medina-i Munawwara in [669 A.D.].
’anh). Yet he was a child
and had no property and lived in Rasűlullah’s (’alaihi’s-salâm) house and
served him. Therefore, his embracing Islam did not cause disbelievers to become
Muslim, to take warning or to be defeated. On the other hand, the embracement
of the other three khalîfas strengthened Islam. Because Hadrat ’Alî and his
sons (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum) were the closest relatives of Rasűlullah
(’alaihi’s-salâm) and of Rasűlullâh’s blessed blood, they might be said to have
been higher than Hadrat Abu Bakr and Hadrat ’Umar, but their superiority was
not a superiority in every respect and did not help them surpass these great
persons in every way. It was similar to Khidir’s (’alaihi’s-salâm) having
taught something to Műsâ (’alaihi’s-salâm).[1] Hadrat Fâtima was higher than Hadrat Khadîja and Hadrat ’Â’isha (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anhunna) because she was closer to the Prophet in respect of blood. But one
type of superiority should not show a superiority in every respect. The ’ulamâ’
remarked differently on which of these was the highest. As it is understood
from the hadîth as-sherîf, these three, Hadrat Mariam and the Pharaoh’s wife,
Hadrat Âsiya, were the five highest of all the worldy women. The hadîth
ash-sharîf, “Fâtima is superior to the women of Paradise, and Hasan and Husain
are the highest youths of Paradise,” referred to a superiority only in one respect.
The next highest ones of
the Sahâbat al-kirâm (Companions of the Prophet) were al-’Asharat
al-Mubashshara, the ten people blessed with the good news of [going to] Paradise.
After them, the highest Muslims were the 313 Muslims who took part in the Holy
Battle of Badr. The next were the 700 brave Muslims who took part in the Holy
Battle of Uhud. Next to them were the Bî’at ar-Ridwân, the 1400 Muslims who took
the oath of allegiance to Rasűlullah under the tree.
As-Sahâbat al-kirâm
(radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în) sacrificed their lives and property for
the sake of Rasűlullâh (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) and assisted him.
It is incumbent (wâjib) upon us to mention the name of any of them with
veneration and love. It is never permissible to say words
---------------------------------
[1] If blood relationship were the only criterion
for superiority, Hadrat ’Abbâs should have been regarded superior to Hadrat
’Alî. Moreover, Abu Tâlib and Abu Lahab, who were very close in respect of
blood, did not even have the honour and superiority existing in the lowest
Believer.
unbecoming their
greatness. It is heresy to mention their names disrespectfully.
One who loves Rasűlullah
(’alaihi’s-salâm) has to love all of his Companions. A hadîth-i-sherîf says, “He who loves
my companions loves them because he loves me. He who does not love them does
not love me. He who hurts them hurts me. And he who hurts me hurts Allâhu
ta’âlâ. A person who hurts Allâhu ta’âlâ will certainly suffer torture.” In another
hadîth-i-sherîf he declared, “When Allâhu ta’âlâ wants to favour one of my
umma, He places in his heart the love of my Companions, and he loves them
dearly.”
For this reason, it
should not be supposed that as-Sahâbat al-kirâm fought each other for becoming
the khalîfa or satisfying their evil thoughts or their sensual desires. It is
hypocrisy which leads one to ruination to speak ill of them out of such a
supposition, since jealousy and desire for position and addiction to the world
had been completely cleared away from their hearts by sitting in the presence of
Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) and hearing his blessed
words. They were corrected and became free from greed, ambition, grudge and
evil nature; they were entirely purified. Considering the fact that a person
who stays for a few days in the presence of one of the Walîs of the umma of the
Exalted Prophet benefits from the Walî’s beautiful morals and excellences and
becomes purified from worldly ambitions, how could it ever be presumed that the
Prophet’s Companions, our masters, who loved Rasűlullah more than anybody else
and sacrificed their possessions and lives for him and abandoned their country
for him and were fond of his company, which was nourishment for spirits, were
not free from bad morals, that their nafses were not clean and that they fought
for the carrion of this temporary world? Those great people were certainly
cleaner than everybody. It is unbecoming to liken the disagreements and combats
between them to those between us, ill-willed people, or to say that they fought
to satisfy their evil, sensual and worldly desires. It is not permissible to
bear such improper thoughts against as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. A person who would say
something against them should know that to be hostile towards as-Sahâbat
al-kirâm is to be hostile towards Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa
sallam), and to speak ill of them means to speak ill of him, who educated and
trained them. For this reason, the great men of Islam say that he who does not
respect and have a high opinion of as-Sahâbat al-kirâm is in
disbelief in Rasűlullah.
The battles of “Jamal” (Camel) and Siffîn cannot be taken as grounds for
slandering them. Because of some religious reasons, none of those who stood
against Hadrat ’Alî in these battles was evil; in fact, they all deserved to be
rewarded on the Day of Judgement. A hadîth-i-sherîf says, “One reward
will be given to the mujtahid who is mistaken, and two or ten to him who finds
out what is right. One of the two rewards is for employing ijtihâd. The other
is for finding the truth.” The disputes and combats among those great people of Islam
were not out of obstinacy or hostility but because of their [different]
ijtihâds and out of their wish to carry out what Islam ordered. Each of
as-Sahâbat al-kirâm was a mujtahid.[1]
It was fard for every
mujtahid to act in accordance with the conclusion he had found by his own
ijtihâd, even if his ijtihâd might not be in agreement with that of a mujtahid
much higher than he. It was not permissible for him to follow another’s
ijtihâd. Abű Yűsuf and Muhammad ash-Shaibânî, the disciples of al-Imâm al-a’zam
Abű Hanîfa Nu’mân ibn Thâbit [d. Baghdad,
It is true that Hadrat
’Alî (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) was more exalted and hearned than Hadrat
Mu’âwiya and Hadrat ’Amr ibn al-’Âs (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhumâ). He had many
superior qualities to distinguish him from them, and his ijtihâd was stronger
and sharper than their ijtihâds. However, since all as-Sahâbat al-kirâm were
mujtahids, it was not permissible for those two to follow the ijtihâd of that
great religious leader. It was necessary for them to act upon their own
ijtihâds.
Question: “In the battles of
‘Jamal’ and ‘Siffîn’, a great many of the Muhâjirűn and Ansâr among as-Sahâbat
al-kirâm took part with, obeyed and followed Hadrat ’Alî. Though all of them
were mujtahids, they considered it was wâjib to follow him. This shows
---------------------------------
[1] For example, it is declared in the hadîth
as-sherîf on the 298th page of Al-hadîqa that ’Amr ibn al-’Âs
(radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) was a mujtahid.
that it was wâjib also
for mujtahids to follow Hadrat ’Alî. They had to follow him even if their
ijtihâds did not agree with his, did they not?”
Answer: Those who followed Hadrat
’Alî and fought on his side joined him not with the view of following his
ijtihâd but because their ijtihâds were in agreement with his ijtihâd and
showed that it was wâjib to follow Imâm ’Alî. Similarly, the ijtihâds of many
prominent Companions of the Prophet did not agree with that of Hadrat ’Alî, and
it became wâjib for them to fight against him. The ijtihâds of as-Sahâbat
al-kirâm happened in three different ways then: some of them understood that
Hadrat ’Alî was right, and it became necessary for them to follow Hadrat ’Alî;
another side saw that the ijtihâd of those who fought Hadrat ’Alî was right,
and it became wâjib for them to follow those who fought Hadrat ’Alî and to
fight against him; the third group said it would be necessary not to follow
either side and not to fight, and their ijtihâd required them not to enter into
the war. All these three sides were certainly right and deserved to be rewarded
in the next word.
Question: “The answer [above] shows
that those who fought against Hadrat ’Alî (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) were also
right. On the other hand, the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna have said that Hadrat
’Alî was right, that his opponents were wrong, that they were forgivable
because they had an excuse, and that they even gained thawâb. What can be said about
that?”
Answer: Al-Imâm ash-Shâfi’î and
’Umar ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz, two great men of Islam, said that it was not
permissible to use the word ’wrong’ about any of as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. For this
reason, it was said, “It is wrong to say ‘wrong’ about the superiors.” It is
not permissible for inferiors to say such words as, “He did right,” “He did
wrong,” “We approve,” or “We disapprove,” about the superiors. As Allâhu ta’âlâ
did not dirty our hands with the blood of these great people, so we should
protect our tongues against uttering such words as ‘just’ and ‘unjust.’ Those
profound scholars who studied the evidences and events and said that Imâm ’Alî
was right and his opponents were mistaken, in fact, meant that if Hadrat ’Alî
had had the opportunity to talk with those on the other side, he would have led
them to employ ijtihâd in conformity with his ijtihâd. As a matter of fact,
Hadrat Zubair ibn Awwâm was against Hadrat ’Alî in the Battle of ‘Jamal’ but,
after studying the facts more deeply, he changed his ijtihâd and gave up
fighting. The words of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna who consider
the mistake as
permissible should be taken as such. And it is not permissible to say that
Hadrat ’Alî and those who were with him were on the just way and the other Companions
of the Prophet, who were on the other side with our mother ’Â’ishat as-Siddîqa,
were on the corrupt way.
These combats among
as-Sahâbat al-kirâm were out of the differences of ijtihâd in the branches of
the Ahkâm ash-Shar’iyya (the rules of Islam). They did not have any
disagreements on the fundamentals of Islam. Today, some people speak ill and
disrespectfully of the great men of Islam such as Hadrat Mu’awiya and ’Amr ibn
al-’Âs (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhumâ). They cannot realize that they in reality
defame and belittle Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) by
defaming as-Sahâbat al-kirâm. It is written in Shifâ’
ash-sherîf that
Imâm Mâlik ibn Anas said, “A person who swears at and slanders Mu’âwiya[1] and ’Amr ibn al-’Âs[2] deserves the words he
says against them. It is necessary to punish severely those who talk and write
against and do not show respect for them.” May Allâhu ta’âlâ fill our hearts
with the love for His Beloved’s companions! Not hypocrites or sinful people but
pious and Allah-fearing Muslims love those superiors.
Those who realize the
value and greatness of Rasűlullah’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam)
Companions and who love and respect all of them and follow them are called Ahl as-Sunna. Those who claim to love some
of them and dislike the others and thus slander most of them, and those who do
not follow any of them, are called Shî’ites. There are many Shî’ites
in Iran, India and Iraq. There are none in Turkey. Some of them, in order to
deceive the pure Muslim ’Alawîs in
Turkey, call themselves ’Alawî, which means ‘Muslim who loves Hadrat ’Alî’. Loving
someone necessitates following in his footsteps and loving those whom he loves;
if they loved Hadrat ’Alî (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) they would follow in his
footsteps. He loved all of the Prophet’s companions. He was a counsellor to the
Khalîfa Hadrat ’Umar, who confided his woes to him. He married his and Hadrat
Fâtima’s daughter Umm Ghulsum to Hadrat ’Umar. In a khutba, he said about
Hadrat Mu’âwiya, “Our brethren disagreed with us. Yet they are not disbelievers
or sinners. Their ijtihâd occurred in
---------------------------------
[1] Hadrat Muâwiya bin Abű Sufyân passed away in
Damascus in 60 [680 A.D.].
[2] ’Amr Ibn al-Âs passed away in Egypt in 43 [663
A.D.].
that manner.” When Hadrat
Talhâ (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), who was fighting against him, died a martry,
he himself cleaned the dust from his face and became the imâm in the salât
performed for his death. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares, “Believers are
brothers.” In
the last âyat-i-kerîma of the Sűrat al-Fat’h He declares, “The Prophet’s
Companions love one another.” Not to love even one of the Prophet’s Companios, or the worst
of it, to bear hostility towards him, is to disbelieve the Qur’ân al-kerîm. The
scholars of Ahl as-Sunna understood the superiority of as-Sahâbat al-kirâm
(radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în) correctly and commanded Muslims to love
all of them and thus rescued Muslims from the danger.
Those who disliked and
bore hostility towords our superiors Hadrat ’Alî (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh) and
his sons and descendants, the apples of the eyes of Ahl as-Sunna, were called Khârijîs (Khawârij). Now they are
called Yazîdîs. Their faith is so corrupt that they hardly have any
relation with Islam.
The Wahhâbîs, while claiming to love
all as-Sahâbat al-kirâm, follow not their path but their own heretical path
which they ascribe to as-Sahâba. They do not like the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna,
great sűfîs and ’Alawîs and slander all of them. They suppose that they alone
are Muslims. They regard those who are not like them as ‘polytheists’ and say
that it is halâl for them to take away life and property of such people. Therefore,
they become Ibâhatîs. They draw wrong, heretical meanings from the Qur’ân
al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf and think that Islam consists merely of
those meanings. They deny the adilat ash-Shar’iyya and most hadîths. The
notables of the four madhhabs have written many books proving with documents
that those who disagree with Ahl as-Sunna are heretics and do much harm to
Islam.[1]
Eyyűb Sabrî Pasha
(rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ) said, “Wahhâbism
---------------------------------
[1] For more detailed information, please read the
English books Advice for the Muslim and Endless Bliss, and also
the Arabic Al-minhat al-wahbiyya fî ’r-raddi ’l-Wahhâbiyya, At-tawassuli bi
’n-Nabî wa jahâlat ’l-Wahhâbiyyîn and Sabîl an-najat and the Persian
Saif al-abrâr. These works and the valuable books written in refutation
to ahl al-bid’a are published by Hakîkât Kitâbevi in Istanbul. Both in Radd
al-mukhtâr, (written by Muhammad Emin Ibni Âbidin who passed away in
Damascus in 1252 [1836 A.D.] (volume
III, the chapter on “Bâghî”) and in the Turkish Ni’met-i Islâm (the
chapter on “Nikâh”), it is clearly written that the Wahhâbîs are
came out with a bloody,
torturous rebellion on the Arabian Peninsula in 1205 (1791).” Muhammad ’Abduh
of Egypt was one of the people who tried to spread Wahhâbism and
anti-madhhabism through his books around the world. In the time of the Union
and Progress Party, ’Abduh’s books were translated into Turkish and were
presented to the youth as the “works of the great scholar of Islam, the
enlightened man of ideas, the eminent reformer ’Abduh.” However, ’Abduh had
openly written that he admired Jamâl ad-dîn al-Afghânî [d.
---------------------------------
Ibâhatîs.
Eyyűb Sabri Pasha [d.
[1] Maudoodi is the founder of the association in India named
Jamâ’atul-islâmiyya. He died in 1399.
[2] Sayyid Qutb was put to death in Egypt in 1386
[1966 A.D.]
Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm)! May He protect us against being taken in by the lies and slanders of
the enemies! Âmin. Let us not deceive ourselves by praying only! To pray
without clinging to al-’Âdat al-ilâhiyya (Divine Law) of Allâhu ta’âlâ, without
working or holding on to the means, would be to ask miracles of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
A Muslim should both work and pray. We should first hold on to the means and
then pray. The first means for escaping disbelief is to learn and teach Islam.
As a matter of fact, it is obligatory (fard) and the primary duty for
everybody, man or woman, to learn the faith of Ahl as-Sunna, the commands and
prohibitions.
Those who do not learn
the faith and teachings (’ilm al-hâl) of Ahl as-Sunna or teach them to their
children are exposed to the danger of deviating rom Islam and falling into the
abyss of disbelief. The prayers of such people are not acceptable. Then, how
can they protect themselves against disbelief? Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’alaihi wa sallam) said, “There is Islam where there is knowledge. There
is no Islam where there is no knowledge.” As it is necessary to eat and drink in order not to
die of hunger, so it is necessary to learn our religion in order not to be
deceived by disbelievers and not to become non-Muslims. Our ancestors
frequently assembled and read ’ilm al-hâl books and thus remained Muslim and
enjoyed Islam. They communicated this light of bliss correctly to us. So, for
remaining Muslims and lest our children should be captured by the enemies
inside or outside, the first and the most necessary preventive measure is to
read and digest the ’ilm al-hâl books prepared by the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna.
Parents who want their child to be a Muslim should send it to a teacher and
make certain that it shall learn how to read the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Let us read,
learn and teach our children and those we are responsible for while we have the
chance. It will be difficult or even impossible for them when they go to
school. It will be useless to lament after the degeneration takes place. We
should not believe the enemies of Islam, their deceptive and false books,
newspapers, magazines, television and radio programs, and motion pictures. Ibn
’Âbidîn (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ) wrote in the third volume [of Radd
al-mukhtâr]
that those insidious disbelievers who, though they do not believe in any
religion, pretend to be Muslims and teach things that cause disbelief as if
they were Islamic, and who strive to cause Muslims to go out of Islam, are
called “zindiqs.”
Question: “A person who has read
translations of their corrupt books says:
‘We should read
interpretations (tafsîr) of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. To entrust the job of
comprehending our religion and the Qur’ân al-kerîm to religious scholars is a
dangerous and horrible thought. The Qur’ân al-kerîm says not “O Religious
Scholars” but “O Muslims” and “O Mankind.” For this reason, every Muslim should
understand the Qur’ân al-kerîm himself and should not expect this job from
anybody else.’
“He wants everybody to
read tafsîr and hadîth books. He does not recommend reading the books of kalâm,
fiqh and ’ilm al-hâl written by Islamic scholars and great men of Ahl as-Sunna.
The publication of Rashid Ridâ’s[1] book Islâmda Birlik ve Fikh Mezhebleri by the Chief Office of
Religious Affairs (publication no. 157; 1394/1974) has all the more confused
readers. On its many pages, particularly in the “Sixth Dialogue,” the book
states:
‘They [muqallids,
followers of one of the four madhhabs] extolled the mujtahid imâms to the
degree of prophethood. They even preferred a mujtahid’s word which disagreed
with the Prophet’s hadîth to the hadîth. They said that the hadîth could have
been annulled (naskh) or there could have been another hadîth in their imâm’s
view. By acting upon the words of those people who might have been wrong in their
judging and who might have not known the matter, and by relinquishing the
hadîth of the Prophet, who was free from error, these muqallids also contradict
mujtahids. They even contradict the Qur’ân by doing so. They say that no one
but a mujtahid imâm could understand the Qur’ân. Such words of faqîhs and other
muqallids show that they have adopted them from Jews and Christians. On the
contrary, it is easier to understand the Qur’ân and the Hadîth than
understanding the books written by the men of fiqh. Those who have digested
Arabic words and grammar will not have difficulty in understanding the Qur’ân
and the Hadîth. Who on earth could deny the fact that Allah is capable of
explaining His own religion explicitly? Who could object to the fact that Rasűlullah
was more able than anybody else to understand what Allah meant and could
explain it better than others? To
---------------------------------
[1] Rashid Ridâ is the disciple of Muhammad Abduh.
He died in 1354 [1935 A.D.].
say that the Prophet’s
explanations were insufficient for Muslims is to claim that he was not able to
carry out his duty of communication (tablîgh) precisely. If the majority of
people had not been able to understand the Qur’ân and the Sunna, Allah would
not have charged all people with the rules in the Book and the Sunna. One
should know what one believes together with its documentary evidences. Allah
disapproves of taqlîd (adapting oneself to a madhhab) and says that their
[muqallids’] imitating their fathers and grandfathers would not be deemed
excusable. Âyats show that taqlîd is never approved by Allah. It is easier to
understand that part of the religion concerning the furű’ from its dalîl
(document, source) than it is to understand the part pertaining to faith (usűl,
îmân). While charging with the difficult one, would not He charge with the easy
one? It will be difficult to draw rules from some rare matters, yet then it
will be deemed as an excuse not to know or do them. The men of fiqh invented a
number of mas’ala (problems, matters) by themselves. They produced rules for
them. They attempted to introduce such things as ra’y, qiyâs jalî and qiyâs
khafî as documents for them. These were made to overflow into the field of
’ibâdât, on which it is impossible to acquire knowledge through reasoning. Thus
they expanded the religion several times. They drove Muslims into trouble. I do
not deny qiyâs; I say that there is no qiyâs in the field of ’ibâdât. Îmân and
’ibâdât were completed in the time of the Prophet. No one can add anything to
them. The mujtahid imâms prohibited people from imitating (taqlîd) and made
taqlîd a prohibition.’
“This passage, which is
taken from the book published by the Chief Office of Religious Affairs, like
all anti-madhhabite books, prohibits following the imâms of the four madhhabs.
It commands that everybody should learn tafsîr and hadîth. What would you say
about it?”
Answer: If the passages written
by the non-madhhabite are read with attention, one will easily see that they
try to deceive Muslims by embellishing their heretical thoughts and separatist
views with an unsound series of reasoning and false statements. The ignorant,
thinking that the writing is based upon knowledge within the framework of logic
and reason, may fall for it, yet the learned, keen-sighted people will never be
caught in their traps.
In order to warn the youth against the danger of non-
maddhabism or
anti-Sunnism, which has been driving Muslims towards eternal perdition, the
’ulamâ’ of Islam (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ) have written thousands of valuable
books for fourteen centuries. The following is the translation of some passages
from the book Hujjat-Allâhi ’ala ’l-’âlamîn by Yűsuf an-Nabhânî [d.
Beirut,
“Not everybody can draw
ahkâm (rules, conclusions) from the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Since even the mujtahid
imâms would not be able to draw all the rules from the Qur’ân al-kerîm,
Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) explained the rules in the
Qur’ân al-kerîm in his hadîths. As the Qur’ân al-kerîm was explained by him
only, so the hadîths could be understood and explained by as-Sahâbat al-kirâm
and the mujtahid imâms only. In order that they could understand them, Allâhu
ta’âlâ endowed upon His mujtahid imâms scientific and religious knowledge,
strong comprehension, keen sight, superfluous mind, and many more virtues.
Ahead of all these virtues was taqwâ. Next came the Divine Light in their
hearts. With the help of these virtues, our mujtahid imâms understood what
Allâhu ta’âlâ and Rasűlullah meant in their words, and, as for those they could
not understand, they showed [solutions for] them through qiyâs. Each of the
four a’immat al-madhâhib informed that he did not speak out of his own opinion
and said to his disciples, ‘If you find a sahîh hadîth, leave my word aside and
follow Rasűlullah’s hadîth!’ Whom our a’immat al-madhâhib told this were
profound scholars who were mujtahids like them. These scholars were the
mujtahids of tarjîh (ability to distinguish between) who knew the documentation
of the four madhhabs. They studied the documents and the transmitters of the
hadîth on which the madhhab imâm had based his ijtihâd and those of the newly
encountered sahîh hadîth, and examined which was said later and many other
conditions, and thus understood which was to be preferred (tarjîh). Or, the
mujtahid imâm [the imâm al-madhhab] decided about a problem (mas’ala) through
qiyâs because he did not know the hadîth which would document [or solve] it,
and his disciples, finding that hadîth, decided differently. Yet, while
employing such an ijtihâd, the disciples did not go beyond the rules of the
imâm. Those mujtahid muftîs who succeeded them gave fatwâ in this manner, too.
As it is understood from all that has been written here, those Muslims who have
been following the four a’immat al-madhhâhib, and the mujtahids who were
educated in their
madhhabs, have been
following the rules of Allâhu ta’âlâ and His Messenger. These mujtahids
understood the rules in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf, which
nobody else could understand, and conveyed what they understood. Muslims have
been living up to what mujtahids understood and communicated from the Nass,
that is, the Book and the Sunna. For, Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the 43rd âyat
kerîma of sűrat an-Nakhl, “If you do not know, ask those who know.”[1]
“Only upon the Umma of
His Beloved Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) did Allâhu ta’âlâ
bestow the fortune that the a’immat al-madhâhib would perform ijtihâd and
establish their madhhabs, and that all Muslims would come together in these
madhhabs. Allâhu ta’âlâ, on the one hand, created the imâms of i’tiqâd[2] and prevented heretics,
zindîqs, mulhids and Satanic people from defiling the knowledge of i’tiqâd,
and, on the other, protected His religion from being defiled by creating the
imâms of madhhabs. Since this blessing did not exist in Christianity and
Judaism, their religions were defiled and were turned into playthings.
“By consensus of the
Islamic scholars, there came no deep scholar capable of employing ijtihâd after
the four hundred years following Rasűlullah’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa
sallam) death. A person who says that it is necessary to employ ijtihâd now
must
---------------------------------
[1] This âyat shows that not everybody can understand the Book and the Sunna correctly. It commands those who cannot understand them not to try personally to understand the Qur’ân al-kerîm or the Hadîth ash-sherîf but to learn them by asking those who have understood them. If everybody had understood the meanings in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf correctly, the seventy-two heretical groups would not have appeared. All of those who started these groups were deeply learned, but none was able to understand the meanings in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf correctly. Misunderstanding them, they deviated from the right path and caused millions of Muslims to end up in perdition. Some of them have been very excessive in giving wrong meanings to âyats and hadîths so much so that they have become as heretical as to call Muslims of the right path ‘disbelievers’ and ‘polytheists’. In the book titled Kashf ash-shubuhât, which has been translated into Turkish and slipped into Turkey in a clandestine way, it is said that it is mubâh (permitted) to kill and confiscate the property of those Muslims who hold the faith of Ahl as-Sunna.
[2] See page 60.
be mad or unaware of the
religion. When the great scholar Jalâl ad-dîn as-Suyűtî ’Abd ar-Rahmân
[rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ, d. Egypt,
“If a non-mujtahid Muslim
learns a sahîh hadîth and thereupon begins to feel uneasy about doing something
in the manner taught by the îmâm of his madhhab because the manner taught by
the imâm of his madhhab disagrees with the hadîth, he has to search and find
within the four madhhabs another mujtahid whose ijtihad was based on that
hadîth and do that thing in accordance with the madhhab that that mujtahid
belonged to. Great scholar al-Imâm Yahyâ an-Nawawî [rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ, d.
Damascus,
---------------------------------
[1] Imâm-ý Muhammed
Ghazâlî passed away in the city of Tus is 505 [1111 A.D.].
that they are religious
men! Hold fast to the madhhab of your imâm! You are free to choose whichever
you like of the four madhhabs. But it is not permissible to collect the
facilities (rukhsas) of the madhhabs, that is, to unify the madhhabs, which is
called ‘talfîq’.[1]
“A Muslim who can read
and understand hadîths well should learn the hadîths that are his madhhab’s
documents, then do the actions praised and shun those prohibited by the hadîths
and learn the greatness and value of the Islamic religion, the perfection of
Rasűlullah’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) and Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Names
and Attributes, Rasűlullâh’s life, his virtues and miracles, the order of this
world and the next, of the Resurrection, of the Judgement and Paradise and
Hell, angels, genies, ancient ummas, prophets and their books, the
superiorities peculiar to Rasűlullah and to the Qur’ân al-kerîm, the lives of
his ’Âl (immediate relatives) and those of his Companions, the harbingers of
the Last Day and many more items of information pertaining to this world and
the next. All the information pertaining to this world and the next has been
accumulated in Rasűlullah’s hadîths.
“When what we have
written here is understood, it will become apparent how ignorant are those who
say that those rules of Islam which were not derived from hadîths are useless.
Among the innumerous items of information given in hadîths, those hadîths
teaching ’ibâdât and mu’âmalât are very few. According to some scholars, there
are about five hundred; [including the repetitive ones, there are no more than
three thousand]. It is not presumable that any one of the four a’immat
al-madhâhib might not have heard one sahîh hadîth among so few hadîths. Each
sahîh hadîth was used as a document by at least one of the four a’immat
al-madhâhib. A Muslim who sees that a certain affair in his own madhhab is
unsuitable with a sahîh hadîth should do the affair by following another
madhhab which based its ijtihâd on
---------------------------------
[1] ‘Talfîq’ means ‘performance of an act
by unifying or mixing the easy ways of madhhabs and in a way which is not
compatible with any of them’. After one carries out an act according to one of
the four madhhabs, that is, after his performance is sahîh (valid, suitable) in
that madhhab, his observing additionally as many as possible of the conditions
that are put in the other three madhhabs with the view that the act shall be
sahîh and acceptable also in these madhhabs is called ‘taqwâ’, which is
very reward-deserving.
that hadîth. Perhaps the
imâm of his own madhhab also heard of the hadîth, yet, following another hadîth
which he understood was more sahîh or was [said by the Prophet] later in date
and annulled the former, or, for some other reasons known to mujtahids, he did
not take the former hadîth as a document. It is good for a Muslim who
understands that the former hadîth is sahîh to give up his own madhhab’s
ijtihâd which is not suitable with the hadîth and to follow the hadîth, yet, in
this case he has to follow another madhhab which used that hadîth in its
ijtihâd for the matter in question. For, the îmâm of that second madhhab,
knowing those documents of the rules (ahkâm) which he did not know, found out
that there was nothing to deter acting upon that hadîth. Nevertheless, it is as
well permissible for him to carry out that affair in accordance with his own
madhhab, for it is doubtless that the imâm of his own madhhab relied upon a
sound document in his ijtihâd. Islam deems it excusable for a muqallid not to
know that document. For, none of the imâms of the four madhhabs overflowed the
Book and the Sunna in ijtihâd. Their madhhabs are the explanations of the Book
and the Sunna. They explained the meanings and rules in the Book and the Sunna
for Muslims. They explained them in a way that Muslims can understand them, and
wrote them in books. This work of the a’immat al-madhâhib (rahimahum-Allâhu
ta’âlâ) was such a tremendous service to Islam that human power would not have
sufficed for doing it if Allâhu ta’âlâ had not helped them. [Existence of]
these madhhabs is one of the most perfect evidences of the fact that Rasűlullah
(sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) is the True Prophet and Islam is the
True Religion.
“The difference in the
ijtihâds of our a’immat al-madhâhib were only in matters pertaining to furű’
ad-dîn, that is, in matters of fiqh. There was no disagreement among them in
respect to usűl ad-dîn, that is, in the knowledge of i’tiqâd or îmân. Nor did
they differ from one another in those teachings of furű’ which are known to be
essential in the religion and which were taken from those hadîths whose
documents were reported by tawatűr. They differed only in some aspects of
knowledge concerning furű’ ad-dîn. This arose from the difference in their
understanding the soundness of the documents of these matters. And this little
difference among them is [Allâhu ta’âlâ’s] compassion over the umma; it is
permissible (jâ’iz) for Muslims to follow any madhhab they like and find easy.
Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) foretold this difference as
glad tidings, and it has
“It is not permissible to
employ ijtihâd in the knowledge of i’tiqâd, that is, in the facts to
be believed. It gives way to deviation and heresy. It is a grave sin. There is
only one correct path in matters pertaining to i’tiqâd: ahl as-Sunnat
wa ’l-Jamâ’a. The difference which was declared to be [Allâhu ta’âlâ’s] compassion
in the hadîth ash-sherîf was the difference in furű’ or ahkâm.
“In a matter on which the
judgements of the four madhhabs differ from one another, only one of the
judgements is correct. Those who do this correct way will be given two thawâbs,
and those who act according to one of the incorrect judgements will be given
one thawâb. That the madhhabs are compassion shows the fact that it is permissible
to give up one madhhab and follow another. But it is not permissible to follow
any madhhab –other than the four– that belongs to Ahl as-Sunna, nor even
as-Sahâbat al-kirâm, since their madhhabs were not put into written form and
have been forgotten. There is now no possibility for following any madhhab
other than the known four. Imâm Abű Bakr Ahmad ar-Râzî [rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ,
d.
It is not correct to say,
“Qur’ân al-kerîm does not say ‘religious scholars.’ ” Various âyats in praise
of scholars (’ulamâ’) and knowledge (’ilm). Hadrat ’Abd al-Ghânî an-Nablusî [d.
---------------------------------
[1] Yűsuf an-Nabhânî, Hujjat-Allâhi ’ala
’l-’âlamîn, p. 771-. The above quotation, which is translated from the
Arabic original, does not contain any words added by the translator, who, as
done in all our books, has put additions from other books in blocked brackets
here, too, to prevent confusing them with the translated text. The Arabic
original of the above passage from Hujjat-Allâhi ’ala ’l-âlamin was
reproduced by offset in Istanbul in 1394 (1974).
means ‘knowledge’. This
âyat-i-kerîma commands those who know little to find scholars and learn from
them.” It is declared in the seventh âyat-i-kerîma of sűrat al-Âl ’Imrân, “Only possessors
of knowledge understand the meaning of inexplicit âyats”; in the 18th âyat-i-kerîma
of the same sűra, “That Allâhu ta’âlâ is existent and unique is understood
and reported by possessors of knowledge”; in the 81st âyat-i-kerîma of sűrat al-Qasas, “Possessors of
knowledge said to them, ‘Shame on you! The rewards Allâhu ta’âlâ will give to
those who believe and do good deeds are better than worldly favours’ ”; in the 56th âyat-i-kerîma
of sűrat Rűm, “Possessors of knowledge and belief will say, ‘Well, this
is the Day of Resurrection which you denied in the world’ ”; in the 108th
âyat-i-kerîma of sűrat Isrâ, “Possessors of knowledge, upon hearing al-Qur’ân al-kerîm, will prostrate and say, ‘There is no defect in our Owner, who does not break His Word’ ”; in the 54th âyat of sűrat Hajj, “Possessors of knowledge understand that al-Qur’ân al-kerîm is the Word of Allah”; in the 50th âyat-i-kerîma
of sűrat Ankabűt, “Al-Qur’ân al-kerîm has settled in the hearts of possessors of knowledge”; in the sixth âyat-i-kerîma of ‘sűrat Saba’, “Possesssors of knowledge know that al-Qur’ân al-kerîm is the Word of Allah and renders attaining to Allâhu ta’âlâ’s love”; in the eleventh âyat-i-kerîma of sűrat al-Mujâdala,
“High ranks will be granted to possessors of knowledge in
Paradise”; in
the 27th âyat-i-kerîma of sűrat al-Fâtir, “Only possessors of knowledge fear
Allâhu ta’âlâ”; in the 14th âyat-i-kerîma of sűrat al-Hujurât, “Most valuable
among you is the one who fears Allâhu ta’âlâ much.” It is declared in the
hadîths quoted on the 365th page of the same book, “ ‘Allâhu
ta’âlâ and angels and all creatures pray for him who teaches people what is
good’; ‘On the Day of Judgement, first prophets, then scholars and then martyrs
will intercede’; ‘O Men! Be it known that knowledge can be acquired by
listening to the scholar’; ‘Learn knowledge! Learning knowledge is an ’ibâda.
The teacher and the learner of knowledge will be given the reward of jihâd.
Teaching knowledge is like giving alms. Learning knowledge from the scholar is like
performing midnight salât.’ ” Tâhir Buhâri,[1] the author of the fatwâ book Khulâsa, states: “Reading fiqh
books is more thawâb than performing salât at nights. For, it is fard to learn
the fards and harâms from [’âlims or their] books. To read fiqh books in order
to carry out what is
---------------------------------
[1] Tâhir Buhâri passed away in 542 [1147 A.D.].
learned or to teach
others is better than performing salât at-tasbîh. It is declared in a hadîth
ash-sherîf, ‘Learning knowledge is more thawâb than all supererogatory ’ibâdât,
for it is useful both for oneself and for those whom one will teach’; ‘The
person who learns in order to teach others will be rewarded like siddîqs.’ Islamic knowledge can be
learned only from a master and from books. Those who say that Islamic books and
guides are unnecessary are liars or zindîqs. They deceive Muslims and lead them
to ruination. The knowledge in religious books is derived from the Qur’ân
al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf.” The translation from Hadîqa[1] ends here.
Allâhu ta’âlâ sent His
Messenger (’alaihi’s-salâm) so that he would communicate and teach the Qur’ân
al-kerîm. As-Sahâbat al-kirâm learned the knowledge in the Qur’ân al-kerîm from
Rasűlullah. The Islamic scholars learned it from as-Sahâbat al-kirâm, and all
Muslims learned it from the Islamic scholars and their books. It is declared in
a hadîth ash-sherîf, “Knowledge is a treasure. Its key is to ask and
learn”; “Learn and teach knowledge!”
“Everything has a source. The source of taqwâ is the hearts of ’ârifs.”
“Teaching knowledge is an atonement for sins.”
Al-Imâm ar-Rabbânî
(rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih) wrote in the 193rd letter of the first volume of
his work Maktűbât:
“A responsible person
[one at the age of puberty] first has to correct his îmân, his faith. That is,
to learn the knowledge of i’tiqâd (tenets of belief) as written by the scholars
of Ahl as-Sunnat wa’l-Jamâ’a and adjust his, belief to their teachings. May
Allâhu ta’âlâ plentilfully reward those great men for their endeavours. Âmîn.
Escape from torture in the next world depends only upon learning and believing
the knowledge which these great people deduced correctly. [Those who follow
their path are called Sunnî.] It is declared in a hadîth sherîf that one group
will be saved from Hell, and they are those Muslims who follow in the footsteps
of these scholars. The real Muslims who follow the path of Rasűlullah
(sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) and his Companions (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ
’anhum) are only these Muslims. The right and valuable knowledge derived from
the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the hadîth ash-sherîfs, is the knowledge which the
scholars of Ahl as-Sunna deduced from the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth
ash-sherîfs. For, every heretical man of
---------------------------------
[1] The author of the book Hadîqa passed
away in 1143 [1731 A.D.].
religion carrying a
Muslim name claims that his own heretical beliefs have been taken from the
Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîf. Every person with wrong ideas and
heresies says that he adapts himself to the Book and the Sunna. It is seen that
not what everybody understands and deduces from the Qur’ân al-karîm and the
Hadîth ash-sherîfs is right.
For learning the precise
faith of Ahl as-Sunna, the Persian book Al-mu’tamad, written by Hadrat Tur
Pushtî,[1] the great Islamic
scholar, which explains the true faith transmitted by the Ahl as-Sunna
scholars, is very estimable. The meaning in the book is very clear. It is easy
to understand. The book was printed by Hakîkat Kitâbevi (Bookstore) in 1410
[1989 A.D.].
“After correcting
’aqâ’id, the teachings to be believed, we should learn and obey halâls,
harâms, fards, wâjibs, sunnas, mandubs and makrűhs from books of fiqh written by the scholars of Ahl
as-Sunna. We should not read the heretical books published by ignorant people
who could not understand these great scholars. Those Muslims who have a belief
unconformable to the faith of Ahl as-Sunna will not escape going to Hell in the
next world — may Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us! If a Muslim whose faith is correct
is slack in ’ibâdât, he may be forgiven even if he does not make tawba. Even if
he is not forgiven, he will be saved from Hell after torture. The main thing is
to correct one’s faith. Khwâja ’Ubaid-Allâh al-Ahrâr [qaddas-Allâhu ta’âlâ
sirrahu’l-azîz, d. Samarqand,
“Today, Muslims in India
are very desolate. The enemies of Islam attack from every direction. One coin
given for serving Islam today is more thawâb than thousands of coins given some
other time. The greatest service to be done for Islam is to get the books of
Ahl as-Sunna, which teach îmân and Islam, and to distribute them to villagers
and young people. A person who is vouchsafed this fortune must rejoice over it
and thank Allâhu ta’âlâ profusely; he is so lucky, so fortunate. It is always a
good deed to serve Islam. But at such a time as this, when Islam is weakened,
when many efforts are made to annihilate Islam
---------------------------------
[1] Fadlullah bin Hasen Tur Pushtî, a Hanafî fiqh
scholar, passed away in
through lies and
slanders, it is a much better deed to strive to disseminate the faith of Ahl
as-Sunna. Rasűlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) said to his
Companions, ‘You live at such a time that if you obey nine-tenths of Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s commands and prohibitions but disobey one, you will perish. You will
be tortured! After you, there will come such a time that those who then obey
only one tenth of the commands and prohibitions will be saved.’ [These are written in Mishkât-ul
mesâbih, vol.
1, 179th article and in Tirmizi, Kitâb-al Fitan, 79th article.] It is the
present time that the hadîth ash-sherîf points out. It is necessary to struggle
against disbelievers, to know those who attack Islam and to dislike them.[1] For disseminating the
books and words of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, one does not have to be a man
of karâma or a scholar. Every Muslim should struggle to do it. The opportunity
should not be missed. On the Day of Judgement, every Muslim will be questioned
on this and will be asked why they did not serve Islam. Those who do not strive
to distribute the books teaching Islam and those who do not help people and
institutions promulgating Islamic knowledge will be tortured very much. Excuse
or pretext will not be accepted. Though prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâm) were the
highest and the most superior human beings, they never looked after their own
comfort. In disseminating Allâhu ta’âlâ’s religion, the way to endless bliss,
they strove day and night. To those who asked for miracles they replied that Allâhu ta’âlâ
created miracles, and their duty was to communicate Allâhu ta’âlâ’s religion. As they worked for this
purpose, Allâhu ta’âlâ helped them and created miracles. We, too, should
disseminate the books and the sayings of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna
(rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ) and tell the youth and our friends the baseness of
disbelievers and expose the lies of the enemies and of those who slander and
persecute Muslims.[2] Those
---------------------------------
[1] Jihâd through force (jihâd qatlî) is made by
the State, by its army. Muslims’ making jihâd is their undertaking as soldiers
the duty given to them by the State. That jihad qawlî, which is made through
speech and writing, is better than jihâd qatlî is also written in the 65th
letter.
[2] Telling them will not be gossip but al-amru
bi’l-ma’rűf. Every Muslim has to learn the faith of Ahl as-Sunna and teach it
to people whom he can influence. Books, magazines and papers explaining the
words of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna should be bought and sent to young
brothers and acquaintances. We should strive hard in order that they read them.
Also, books exposing the real purposes of the enemies of Islam should be
distributed.
who do not work for this
purpose through wealth, power or profession will not escape torture. While
working for this purpose, suffering distress and persecution must be deemed as
a great happiness and a big profit. Prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâm), while
communicating Allâhu ta’âlâ’s orders to people, underwent the attacks of
ignorant and ignoble people. They suffered very much. Muhammad (’alaihi
’s-salâm), Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Beloved, who was chosen to be the greatest of those
great men, said, ‘No prophet suffered so much ill-treatment as I did.’ ”
Ahl as-sunna scholars who
showed the right path to all Muslims on the earth and guided us to learn the
religion of Muhammad (’alaihi’s-salâm) without any change or interpolation are
the scholars of the four madhhabs who reached the grade of ijtihâd. The most
prominent ones of them are four. The first of them was al-Imâm al-a’zâm Abu Hanîfa
Nu’mân ibn Thâbit (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ). He was one of the greatest ’ulamâ’ of Islam.
He became the leader of Ahl as-Sunna. His biography is written in the Turkish books
Seadet-i Ebediyye and Faideli Bilgiler.[1] He was born in Kűfa in
The second one was the
great scholar Imam Mâlik ibn Anas (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ). The book Ibni Âbidîn says
that he lived eighty-nine years. His grandfather was Mâlik bin Ebî Âmir.
The third one was Imâm Muhammad ibn
Idrîs ash-Shâfi’î (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ), who is the apple of the eyes of Islamic
scholars. He was born in 150 [767] in Ghazza, Palestine, and passed away in
Egypt in 204 [820].
The fourth one was Imâm Ahmad ibn
Hanbal (rahimah-Allâhu
ta’âlâ), who was born in Baghdad in 164 [780] and passed away there in 241
[855]. He is the archstone of the Islamic building.
Today, he who does not
follow one of these four great imâms is in great danger. He is in heresy.
Besides them there were many other Ahl as-sunna scholars who had righteous
madhhabs, too. But in the course of time their madhhabs were forgotten and
could not be committed to books. For instance, the seven great Medinan scholars
who were called al-Fuqahâ’ as-sab’a and ’Umar ibn ’Abd al-’Azîz, Sufyân ibn ’Uyaina,[2] Is’haq ibn
Râhawah, Dâwűd at-Tâ’î, ’Âmir ibn Sharâhil ash-Sha’bî, Laith ibn Sa’d,
---------------------------------
[1] Also in the first chapter of The Sunni Path
and in the fifth and sixth chapters of the first fascicle of Endless Bliss.
[2] Sufyân bin ’Uyaina
passed away in the city of Mekka in 198 [813 A.D.].
’A’mash,
Muhammad ibn Jarîr at-Tabarî, Sufyân ath-Thawrî [d. Basra,
All the Sahâbat al-kirâm
(radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în) were rightfully the “stars” for guidance.
Any of them would have sufficed to guide the entire world to the right path.
They were mujtahids, each belonging in his own madhhab. Most of their madhhabs
were alike. Yet, since their madhhabs were not written into books, it is not
possible for us to follow them. The madhhabs of the four imâms, that
is, what they communicated about the things to be believed and about the things
to be done, were gathered together and explained by their disciples. They were
committed to books. Today every Muslim must belong to the madhhab of one of the
abovementioned four imâms and live up to and perform ’ibâdât in accordance with
that madhhab.[1]
Among the disciples of
these four imâms, two scholars reached very high grades in spreading the
teachings of îmân. Thus, there became two madhhabs in i’tiqâd or îmân. The right faith in accord
with the Qur’ân-al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîfs, is only the faith shown by
these two imâms, who spread on the earth the faith of Ahl as-Sunna, which is
the Group of Salvation. One of them was Abu ’l-Hasan ’Alî al-Ash’arî (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ),
who was born in Basra in
The paths (turuq) of the
awliyâ’ are right. Not to a smallest degree have they deviated from Islam.[2] The Awliyâ’ do possess
---------------------------------
[1] A person who does not
want to follow one of these four madhhabs does not belong to Ahl as-Sunna. See
page 9.
[2] ] In every century
there have been liars and heretics who made the religion a means for their
worldly advantages and who came forward in disguise of Walîs, murshids or men
of religious authority. Still there are evil people in every profession, in
every branch of crafts and in every official post today. Seeing those who look
for their advantages and pleasures in others’ harm, it would be injustice or
ignorance to blemish all crafts and people with whom they are mixed. It would
help factious people. For this reason, the existence of heretical men of
religion and ignorant, false men of turuq should not cause us to speak ill of
the ’ulamâ’ of Islam or great men of tasawwuf whose services have filled up
honourable pages in history. We should realize that those who slander them are
unjust.
karâmât. All their
karâmât are right and true. Al-Imâm ’Abdullâh al-Yâfi’î [d. Mekka,
It is not permissible to
call, by imitating others, a person who performs salât “disbeliever” unless his
disbelief is understood from his saying, openly and without darűra (strong
necessity or compulsion), a word or his using something causing him to become a
disbeliever. We cannot call down curses upon him unless it is certainly known
that he has died as a disbeliever. It is not permissible to curse even a
disbeliever. For this reason, it is better not to curse Yazîd.
5. The fifth of the six
fundamentals of îmân is “to believe in the Last Day (al-Yawm
al-âkhir).” It
begins on the day when a person dies and continues till the end of Doomsday.
The reason it is called the “Last Day” is because there is no night to come
after it, or because it comes after the world. The “Day” mentioned in this
hadîth sherîf is not like the day or night we know. It denotes some time. It
was not made known when Doomsday will occur. No one could estimate its time.
Nevertheless, our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) pointed out
many of its harbingers and precedents: Hadrat al-Mahdî[2] will come; ’Îsâ (’alaihi
’s-salâm) will descend to Damascus from heaven; ad-Dajjâl[3] will
---------------------------------
[1] Abdulqâdir Geylânî passed away in Baghdâd in
561 [1161 A.D.].
[2] Hadrat al-Mahdî will be a descendant of the
Prophet Muhammad (‘alaihi ‘s-salâm). His name will be Muhammad and his father’s
name will be ‘Abdullâh. He will preside over Muslims, strengthen Islam and
spread it everywhere. He will meet ‘Îsâ (‘alaihi ‘s-salâm), and together they
will fight and kill ad-Dajjâl. During his time, Muslims will settle everywhere
and live in comfort and ease.
[3] Ad-Dajjâl (who is called Antichrist by
Christians, and who will also be called Masih because his fame will spread over
the word) will be a son of a Jew of Khurasan, northern Iran, and an enemy of
Islam commanding innumerable soldiers. He will kill Muslims and bring
discomfort and disorder to the Middle East. After shedding much blood, he will
be killed by Hadrat al-Mahdî. It is written with references in Mukhtasaru
Tadhkirat al-Qurtubî by ’Abd al-Wahhâb ash-Sha’rânî (2nd ed., Istanbul,
1302) that ad-Dajjâl’s name will be Ibn as-Sayyâd.
appear; people called
Ya’jűj and Ma’jűj[1] will put the whole world into turmoil; the sun
will rise in the west; violent earthquakes will occur; religious knowledge will
be forgotten; vice and evil will increase; irreligious, immoral, dishonest
people will become leaders; Allâhu ta’âlâ’s orders will be forbidden; harâms
will be committed everywhere; fire will come out of Yemen; seas and mountains
will split into pieces; the sun and the moon will darken; seas will mix with
each other, boil and dry up.
A Muslim who does sinful
acts is called fâsiq. Fâsiqs and all disbelievers will be tortured (’adhâb) in
their graves. These are certainly to be believed. After interment, the deceased
will return to an unknown life and will be either in blessings or in torture.
As it was declared in hadîth ash-sherîfs, two angels named munkar and nakîr, in the guise of two
unknown horrible people, will come to his grave and question him. Questions in
the grave will be on some fundamentals of îmân according to some scholars or on
the whole of îmân to some others. For this reason, we should teach our children
the answers to the following questions: Who is your rabb (Allah)? What is your
religion? Whose umma (which prophet’s community) do you belong to? What is [the
name of] your Holy Book? What is your qibla? What are your madhhabs in îmân and
in ’ibâdât (or ’amal)? It is written in Tadhkirat al-Qurtubî[2] that those who are not
Ahl as-Sunna will not be able to answer correctly. The graves of those who will
give precise answers will enlarge and a window will be opened to Paradise.
Every morning and every evening they will see their places in Paradise, and
angels will do them favours and give them good news. He who cannot answer
precisely will be beaten with iron mallets so severely that every creature but
mankind and genies will hear him cry out. His grave will become so tight that
he will
---------------------------------
[1] It is written in the Qur’ân al-kerîm that Yâ’jűj and Ma’jűj are two evil peoples, who, at a very ancient time, were left behind a wall, and that they will spread on the earth towards the end of the world. Considering that archaelogical research finds cities buried under the ground and sea fossils on the peaks of mountains, that wall does not have to have been found yet, nor do those peoples have to be so numerous that we see or know them today; it can be thought that, as thousands of millions of today’s people originated out of two poeple, those two peoples will spread on the earth multipliying out of a few people, whose place may not be known today.
[2] Muhammad Qurtubî Mâlikî, the author of the
book Tadhkirat al-Qurtubî passed away in 671 [1272 A.D.].
feel as if his bones
would intertwine. A hole will be opened to Hell. In the morning and in the
evening he will see his place in Hell. He will be tortured bitterly in his
grave till the Resurrection.
It is necessary to
believe in [the other] life after death. After the flesh and bones rot and turn
into earth and gas, they will come together again; the souls will enter the
bodies they belong to, and everybody will rise up from his grave. Therefore,
this time is called the Day of Qiyâma (Resurrection).[1]
All living creatures will
gather at the place of Mahshar. The deed-books will fly to their owners. Almighty
Allah, the creator of the earth, heavens, stars and all particles, will make
all these happen. Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Messenger (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa
sallam) reported that these will happen. It is for certain that what he said is
true. All will certainly happen.
The deed-books of the
pious (sâlih), the good people, will be given from their right, and those of
the sinful (fâsiq), the bad people will be given from their back or left. Every
action, good or evil, big or little, done secretly or openly, will be in that
book. Even those deeds unknown to the kirâm kâtibîn angels will be revealed by
the human organs’ witnessing and by Allâhu ta’âlâ, who knows everything, and
there will be questioning and settlement of accounts on every action. During
the Day of Judgement, every secret action will be revealed if Allâhu ta’âlâ
wills it so. Angels will be questioned on what they have done on the earth and
in the heavens, prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâm) on how they communicated Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s commands and His religion to men, and people on how they adapted
themselves to prophets, how they lived up to the duties revealed to them, and
on how they took care of one another’s rights. On the Day of Judgement, those
who have îmân and whose actions and morals are beautiful will be rewarded and
blessed, and people with a bad
---------------------------------
[1] Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and
water and salts (mineral substances) from the soil and unite them with one
another and form organic substances, the living matter of our organs. It is
known today that a chemical reaction taking years happens in less than a second
when a catalyst is used. Similarly, Allâhu ta’âlâ will unite water, carbon
dioxide and mineral substances in graves and create organic substances and the
living organs in a moment. Mukhbir-i sâdiq (the Truth Reporter, the Prophet)
reported that we would come to the other life in this manner. And science shows
that this is being done in the world.
temper and wrong deeds
will be punished severely.
Allâhu ta’âlâ, with His
Justice, will torture some Muslims for their small sins and He will, with His
Mercy, forgive grave and small sins of some other Muslims whom He wills. Except
disbelief (kufr) and polytheism (shirk), He will forgive every sin if He wills,
and He will torture for a small sin if He wills. He declares that He will never
forgive disbelief and polytheism. Disbelievers with or without a heavenly Book,
that is, those who do not believe that Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is the
Prophet for all human beings and who disapprove even one of the rules [orders
and prohibitions] he communicated, will certainly be put into Hell and tortured
eternally.
On the Day of Judgement,
there will be a Mîzân (‘balance’),
different from those we know, for weighing deeds and conduct. It will be so
large that one of its scales can hold the earth and the sky. The scale for good
deeds will be bright and to the right of the ’Arsh where Paradise is, and the
scale for sins will be dark and to the left of the ’Arsh where Hell is.
Actions, words, thoughts and looks that are done in the world will take shapes
there, and the good deeds in bright figures and the evils in dark and ugly
figures will be weighed on this balance, which does not resemble worldly
balances; it was said that the scale carrying the heavier load will go up and
the one carrying the lighter load will go down. According to some scholars,
there will be various balances. And many others said, “It was not shown clearly
in Islam how and how many the balances will be, so it would be better not to
think of it.”[1]
There will be a bridge
called Sirât, which will be built over Hell upon Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
command. Everybody will be ordered to cross that bridge. That day, all prophets
will entreat as, “O Allah! Give safety!” Those who are to go to Paradise will
cross the bridge easily and reach Paradise. Some of them will pass with the
speed of lightning, some with that of wind, and some others like a galloping
horse. The Sirât Bridge will be thinner than a hair and sharper than a sword.
Adapting yourself to Islam in this world has a similar aspect; adapting
yourself precisely to Islam is like crossing the Sirât. Those who withstand the
difficulty of struggling with their sensual desires (the nafs) here will cross
the Sirât easily there. Those who do not follow Islam because of the nafs will
---------------------------------
[1] In other words, it would be useless to try to
make a picture of the balance or balances in your mind.
cross the Sirât with
difficulty. For this reason, Allâhu ta’âlâ called the right path, pointed out
by Islam, the “Sirât al-Mustaqîm.” This similarity in names shows that staying within
Islam’s path is like crossing the Sirât. Those who deserve Hell will fall off
the Sirât down into Hell.
There will be a body of
water called Hawd al-Kawthar reserved for our master Muhammad Mustafâ (sall-Allâhu
ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam). It will be vast like a journey of one month. Its
water will be whiter than milk, and its scent will be more pleasant than musk.
The drinking glasses around it are more plentiful than stars. A person who
drinks its water would never become thirsty again even if he were in Hell.
It must be believed that
there will be shafâ’a (intercession). Prophets, Walîs, pious Muslims, angels and
those who are allowed by Allah will intercede for the forgiveness of the venial
and grave sins of those Muslims who die without having repented, and their
intercession will be accepted. [Our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa
sallam) declared, “I will make shafâ’a (intercession) for those who commit grave sins of my
umma.” In
the next world, shafâ’a will be of five sorts:
Firstly, the sinful, becoming
tired of the crowd and of waiting so long at the place of Judgement, will wail
and ask that the Judgement commence as soon as possible. There will be shafâ’a
for this.
Secondly, there will be shafâ’a so
that the questioning will be done easily and quickly.
Thirdly, there will be shafâ’a for
the sinful Muslims so that they shall not fall off the Sirât into Hell and so
that they shall be saved from Hell’s torture.
Fourthly, there will be shafâ’a for
taking gravely sinful Muslims out of Hell.
Fifthly, there will be shafâ’a for
the promotion of Muslims to a higher grade in the Paradise where, though there
will be innumerable favours and an eternal stay, there will be eight grades and
every person’s grade will be in proportion to the degree of his îmân and deeds.
Paradise and Hell exist
now. Paradise is above the seven heavens. Hell is below everything. There are
eight paradises and seven hells. Paradise is larger than the earth, the sun and
the heavens, and Hell is much larger than the sun.
6. The last of the six
fundamentals of îmân is “to believe in
qadar, [that is] that good
(khair) and evil (sharr) are from Allâhu ta’âlâ.” Good and evil, advantage
and harm, profit and loss coming upon human beings are all by Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
Will. ‘Qadar’ means ‘measuring a quantity; decision, order; muchness and largeness.’
Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Eternal Will for the existence of something is called qadar (predestination). The
[instance of] occurrence of qadar, that is, the thing willed, is called qadâ’. Qadâ’ and qadar are also
used interchangeably. Accordingly, qadâ’ means Allâhu ta’âlâ’s predestination in eternity of
things that have been and will be created from eternity in the past to the
everlasting future, and qadar means the [instance of] creation of anything just
compatibly with qadâ’, neither less nor more. In eternal past, Allâhu ta’âlâ
knew everything that would happen. This knowledge of His is called qadâ’ and
qadar. Ancient
Greek philosophers called it al-’inâyat al-azaliyya (the eternal favour). All
creatures came about from the qadâ’. Also the creation of things according to
His knowledge in the past eternity is called qadâ’ and qadar. In believing
qadar we should know for certain and believe that if Allâhu ta’âlâ willed in
eternity to create something, it certainly has to exist exactly as He willed,
neither less nor more; nonexistence of things He determined to create, or
existence of things He determined not to create, is impossible.
All animals, plants,
non-living creatures [solids, liquids, gases, stars, molecules, atoms,
electrons, electromagnetic waves, every movement of every creature, physical
events, chemical and nuclear reactions, relations of energy, physiological
events in the living creatures] existence or nonexistence of everything, good
and evil deeds of human beings, their punishment in this world and in the next
world and everything existed in Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Knowledge in eternity. He knew
all in eternity. Things that happen from eternity in the past to everlasting
future, their peculiarites, movements and every event, are created by Him in accord
with what He knew in eternity. All the good and evil deeds of human beings,
their belief or disbelief in Islam, all their actions, done willingly or
unwillingly, are created by Allâhu ta’âlâ. He alone is the One who creates and
makes everything that happens through a sabab (cause, means, intermediary). He
creates everything through some means.
For example, fire burns.
In reality, Allâhu ta’âlâ is the One who creates burning. Fire does not have
anything to do with burning. But His Custom (’Âdat) is such that unless fire
touches something
He does not create
burning.[1] Allâhu ta’âlâ alone is
the One who burns. He can burn without fire as well, but it is His Custom to
burn with fire. If He wills not to burn, He prevents burning even in fire. He
did not burn Ibrâhîm (’alaihi ’s-salâm)) in fire; because He loved him very
much, He suspended His Custom.[2]
If Allâhu ta’âlâ had
willed, He could have created everything without means, burning without fire,
nourish us without us eating and make us fly without an airplane and hear from
a long distance without a radio. But He did men the favour of creating
everything through some intermediaries. He willed to create certain things
through certain intermediaries. He did His works under intermediaries. He
concealed His Power behind intermediaries. He who wants Him to create something
holds on to its means and thus obtains it.[3]
---------------------------------
[1] Fire does nothing
except to heat up to the ignition temperature. It is not fire that unites
carbon and hydrogen with oxygen in
organic substances or that supplies electron movements. Those who cannot
realize the truth presume that fire does these. It is neither fire, nor oxygen,
nor heat, nor the electron movement that burns or makes this reaction of
burning. Only Allâhu ta’âlâ is the One who burns it. He created each of these
as means for burning. A person lacking knowledge thinks that fire burns. A boy
who finishes elementary school disapproves of the statement “fire burns.” He
says, “The air burns,” instead. A person who finishes junior high school does
not accept this. He says, “The oxygen in the air burns.” A person who finishes
high school says that burning is not peculiar to oxygen, but any element
attracting electron burns. A university student takes into consideration energy
as well as matter. It is seen that the more a person knows the closer he gets
to the inside of a matter and realizes that there are many causes behind the
things regarded as causes. Prophets (’alaihimu ’s-salâm), who were in the
highest degree of knowledge and science and who could see the reality of
everything, and the ’ulamâ’ of Islam, who, following in their footsteps,
attained drops from their oceans of knowledge, pointed out that each of the
things supposed to be combustive or constructive today was an incapable and
poor causal means put as an intermediary by the Real Creator.
[2] As a matter of fact,
Allâhu ta’âlâ created substances to prevent the burning of fire. Chemists
discover these substances.
[3] He who wants to light
a lamp uses matches; he who wants to extract oil from olive uses crushing
tools; he who has a headache takes an aspirin; he who wants to go to Paradise
and attain infinite favours adapts himself to Islam; he who shoots himself with
a pistol or who
If Allâhu ta’âlâ did not
create His works through intermediaries, no one would need anybody else;
everybody would ask everything directly from Allâhu ta’âlâ and would have
recourse to nothing; there would not be social relations between people such as
the superior and the subordinate, foreman and workman, pupil and teacher and so
forth, and thus this world and the next would be in disorder and there would
not be any difference between the beautiful and the loathsome, good and evil,
the obedient and the disobedient.
If Allâhu ta’âlâ had
willed, He would have created His Custom in some other way and He would have
created everything according to it. For example, if He had willed, He would put
disbelievers, those who are addicted to pleasures in the world, those who hurt
others and the deceitful into Paradise, and He would put the faithful,
worshippers and the benevolent into Hell. But âyats and hadîths show that He
did not will so.
He is the One who creates
all optional or voluntary and involuntary actions and movements of human
beings. He created ikhtiyâr (option) and irâda (will) in born slaves for His creating their
optional, voluntary actions, and made this option and will a means for creating
their actions. When man wants to do something, Allâhu ta’âlâ creates this
action if He wills, too. If man does not want or will and if Allâhu ta’âlâ does
not will, either, He does not create. Allâhu ta’âlâ creates upon not only man’s
wish; He creates if He wills, too. Allâhu ta’âlâ’s creating man’s optional
actions is similar to when fire touches something, He creates burning of that
thing, and if fire does not touch it, He does not create burning. When a knife
touches something, He creates cutting. It is not the knife but He who cuts. He
has made the knife a means for cutting. In other words, He creates man’s
optional actions for the reason (sabab) that he opts, prefers and
.
---------------------------------
.drinks poison will die; he who drinks water when in a sweat will lose his health; he who commits sins and loses his îmân will go to Hell. Whichever intermediary a person applies, he will obtain the thing for which that intermediary has been made a means. He who reads Islamic books learns Islam, likes it, and becomes a Muslim. He who lives amongst the irreligious and listens to what they say becomes ignorant of Islam. Most of those who are ignorant of Islam become disbelievers. When a person gets on a vehicle, he goes to the place it has been assigned to go.
wills these actions.
However, the movements in nature do not depend on man’s option, but are created
through some other causes when only Allâhu ta’âlâ wills. There is no creator
besides Him, who alone creates every motion of everything, of suns, particles,
drops, cells, germs and atoms, their substances and properties. Yet there is a
difference between the movements of the lifeless substances and the optional,
voluntary actions of man and animal: when a man or an animal opts, prefers and
wills an action and if He wills, too, He makes him or it act, and He creates
his or its action. Man’s action is not in man’s power. In fact, he does not
even know how he acts.[1] There is no option in
the movements of the lifeless. Allâhu ta’âlâ creates burning when fire touches
something, and it is not through fire’s preferring or opting to burn.[2]
Man’s optional actions
happen after two circumstances. First, his heart’s option, will and power are
involved. For this reason, man’s actions are called kasb (acquirement), which is
an attribute of man. Second, Allâhu ta’âlâ’s creation takes place. Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s orders, prohibitions, rewards and tortures are all because kasb has
been given to man. In the ninety-sixth âyat of the sűrat
as-Sâffât, He
says, “Allah created you and He created your actions.” This âyat not only shows
the existence of kasb, or the heart’s option and irâdat
juz’iyya (partial
free will) in the actions of man and the nonexistence of any compulsion –for
this reason, [actions may be attributed to man and] it may be said “man’s actions”
as we say, “Ali hit and broke”– but also points out that
---------------------------------
[1] His each action is a result of so many
physical and chemical events.
[2] Allâhu ta’âlâ, too, wishes and creates the
good, useful wishes of those slaves of His whom He loves and pities. He does
not wish or create the realization of their evil and harmful wishes. Always
good, useful deeds are done by those beloved slaves. They regret having been
unable to do many things, but if they thought and knew that those deeds were
not created because otherwise they would have been harmful, they would not be
sorry at all. Instead, they would be pleased with it and would thank Allah, who
willed in eternity that He would create men’s optional, voluntary actions after
their hearts’ opting and willing them; He willed it so. If He had not willed it
so in eternity, He would always create even our optional actions by force,
involuntarily, without our wishing them. His creating our optional actions
after we wish them is because He willed it so in eternity. Then, the only
dominant factor is His Will.
everything is created
with qadâ and qadar.
For the creation of man’s
actions, first his heart has to opt and will it. Man wills actions which are
within his power. This will or wish is called kasb (acquirement). The late Âmidî said that the kasb
caused and had effect in the creation of actions. But it is not wrong to say
that kasb does not have any effect in the creation of an optional action since
the action wished by man and the one created are not different from each other.
Then, man cannot do whatever he wants; things which he does not want may
happen, too. If man did everything he wanted and if anything he did not wish
would not happen, then he would not be a man but one who would claim divinity.
Allâhu ta’âlâ pitied and favoured His human creatures and gave them power and
energy only as much as they would need to observe His commands and
prohibitions. For example, a person who is healthy and rich enough can perform
hajj once in his life; he can fast [during the days of] one month a year when
he sees the Ramadân moon in the sky; he can perform the five-times-a-day, fard
salât; he who has as much money or property as the amount of nisâb can give
one-fortieth of it in gold or silver to Muslims as zakât one Hijrî year after
his money or property surpasses nisâb. So, man does his optional actions if he
wants and he does not if he does not want to. Allâhu ta’âlâ’s greatness is
realized here, too. Because the ignorant and idiots cannot comprehend the
knowledge of qadâ’ and qadar, they do not believe what the scholars of Ahl
as-Sunna said and doubt the power and option in man. They think that man is
incapable and compelled in his optional actions. Seeing that man cannot act
optionally in some cases, they speak ill of Ahl as-Sunna. This wrong conduct of
theirs shows that they do have will and option.
Ability to do or not to
do an action is a matter of qudra (power). Preferring, choosing to do or not to do an
action is called ikhtiyâr (option). Wishing to do what is opted is called irâda (will). [The inclination]
to accept something or not to disapprove of it is called ridâ’ (consent). When power and
will come together where ‘will’ is effective in the occurrence of something, Khalq (Creation) takes place.
If they come together without being effective, it is called kasb (acquirement). Anyone who
opts is not necessarily a creator. Similarly, it is not necessary to give
consent to everything willed. Allâhu ta’âlâ is called Khâliq (Cerator) and
Mukhtâr (One having Option), and man is
called kâsib (possessor
of acquirement) and mukhtâr (one having option).
Allâhu ta’âlâ wills and
creates the ’ibâdât and sins of His slaves. Yet He likes ’ibâdât and dislikes
sins. Everything comes into existence by His Will and Creation. In the 102nd
âyat of the sűrat al-An’âm, He declares: “There is no god but Him. He alone is
the Creator of everything.”
The Mu’tazila, being unable to see the
difference between will and consent, were confused and said, “Man himself
creates the action he wishes.” They denied qadâ’ and qadar. The Jabriyya were
altogether confused; they could not understand that there might be option
without creation. Thinking that there was no option in man, they likened him to
stone and wood. They said –may Allâhu ta’âlâ forfend!– “Men are not sinners. It
is Allah who makes all sins committed.” If there were not will and option in
men and if Allâhu ta’âlâ caused evils and sins to be done by force as the
members of the Jabriyya said, there would not be any difference between the
movements of a man who is thrown down from the mountain with fastened hands and
feet and those of a man who walks down looking around. As a matter of fact, the
former is compelled to roll down by force and the latter descends with his will
and option. Those who cannot see the difference between them are the
short-sighted people who also disbelieve the âyats. They consider Allâhu
ta’âlâ’s orders and prohibitions unnecessary and out of place. To presume that
man himself creates what he wishes, as this group called the Mu’tazila or
Qadariyya believed, is to disbelieve the âyat-i-kerîma, “Allâhu ta’âlâ
alone is the Creator of everything,” as well as to ascribe man a partner to Allâhu
ta’âlâ.
The Shî’ites, like the
Mu’tazila, say that man himself creates what he wants. As a support they say
that the ass does not cross the rill though it is thrashed. They do not ever
think that if a man wills to do something and if Allâhu ta’âlâ does not will it
to be done, these two wills cannot happen at the same time: if what Allâhu
ta’âlâ wills happens, then what the Mu’tazila say is wrong, that is, a man can
neither create nor do everything he wants; if whatever man willed happened,
like they say, then Allâhu ta’âlâ would have been incapable and unsuccessful.
Allâhu ta’âlâ is far from being incapable. Only what He wills happens. He is
the only One who creates everything. And such is Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is very
loathsome to say and write words like, “Man created this,” “We
created that,” or “They created
that.”[1] It is rudeness towards
Allâhu ta’âlâ. It causes disbelief.[2]
---------------------------------
[1] As explained above,
man’s optional actions happen through many physical, chemical and physiological
events, which do not depend on his will and which he is not even conscious of.
A reasonable scientist who has realized this subtlety would be ashamed to say,
“I have done,” let alone saying, “I have created,” about his optional actions.
He would feel modest towards Allâhu ta’âlâ. A person with little knowledge,
understanding and modesty, however, does not feel ashamed to say anything at
any place. Allâhu ta’âlâ has mercy upon all people on the earth. He creates
whatever they need and sends them to everybody. Obviously He notifies them of
what they should do so that they can live in this world in peace and happiness,
and attain the endless bliss of the next world. He guides to the right path
whomever He wishes among those who left the true way and followed the way to
kufr (infidelity) and heresy as a result of being deceived by their own nafs
(human desires), bad friends, harmful books, and media. He pulls them towards the
right path. He does not bestow this blessing upon those who are cruel, and
exceed the limits. He lets them stay in the swamp of disbelief where they
dropped in and liked and desired.
[2] The translation of the
book I’tiqâd-nâma is completed here. Haji Fayzullah Effendi, who did
this translation, was from Kamâh, a town of Erzincan. He lectured as a
professor in the town of Söke [in Turkey] for many years, and passed away in
1323 [1905 A.D.]. Mawlânâ Khâlid-i Baghdâdî ’Uthmânî (quddisa sirruh), the
author of the book, was born in the hegira year