Introduction:
The Messenger informed
Mu'adh bin Jabal, when he was going to the land of Yemen, "You are going to
a people from the People of the Book. Let the first thing that you call them to
be the worship of Allah. If they acknowledge Allah, then inform them that Allah
has obligated upon them five prayers during their days and nights."
[Al-Bukhari, Muslim]
This hadith is clear.
It does not require much of an explanation. The Prophet applied this principle
in his practical calling to Islam. He stayed in Makkah for thirteen years to
each the people iman and to educate his Companions on this point and to correct
the beliefs of the people. That is the pattern upon which the Companions were
brought up.
Jundub Ibn Abdullah al-Bajaly
said, "We learned iman (faith) and then we learned the Quran and it
increased our iman." Abdullah ibn Umar said, "We lived during an
instant of time in which one of us would receive faith first before receiving
the Quran and when the surahs were revealed we would learn what they permitted
and what they prohibited and what they forbade and what they ordered and what
should be the stance towards them. But I have seen many men from whom one is
given the Quran before iman and he reads it from the opening of the Book to its
closing and he does not know what it orders and what it forbids and what should
be his stance towards it. He is like someone who is just throwing out dates
[i.e., he does not get any benefit from his recital]."
That is the manner in
which the Prophet brought up his
companions: Iman first and then the Quran. This is similar to what Imam Abu
Hanifa pointed out: Understanding in the religion first (i.e. tauheed) and then
understanding in the science (i.e. the shariah).
The beliefs must be
corrected first, then follows all of the other aspects of the religion.
And Imam Ash-Shafi`i
said, "That a servant meets Allaah with every sin except Shirk is better
say than meeting Him upon any of the innovated beliefs."
Al-Aqeeda
linguistically is derived from the term aqada. In Arabic, one states, "Aqada
the rope" when the rope is tied firmly. And, "Aqada the sale" or
"He settled the sale" when the person ratifies and contracts a sale or
agreement. And Allah says in the Quran, "And as for those whom your right
hands have made a covenant (Ar., aqadat)" [Al-Nisa
33]. And Allah also
says, "But He will take you to task for the oaths which you swear in
earnest (Ar., aqadtum) [Al-Maida, 89] which means asserted and adhered to, as
proven in the verse, "And break not oaths after the assertion of them"
[An-Nahl, 91]. If one says, "Aqadtu such and such," it means his heart
is firm upon such and such.
Therefore, al-aqeeda or
al-itiqad according to the scholars of Islam is: The firm creed that one's heart
is fixed upon without any wavering or doubt. It excludes any supposition, doubt
or suspicion.
Imam Abu Hanifa called
this great subject al-Fiqh al-Akbar ("The Greater Understanding") and
the understanding of the religion. He called the science of law (Ar., shariah)
the understanding of the science. Many scholars of Islam use the word tauheed
for all matters that a person must believe in. This is because the most
important of these matters is the basic tauheed that is contained in the phrase,
"There is none worthy of worship except Allah."
Tauheed, according to
them, may be divided into two categories: tauheed of cognition and affirmation
and tauheed of purpose and deeds.
Tauheed of cognition
and affirmation is the tauheed of the Oneness of the Creator and the tauheed of
His Names and Attributes [i.e. He is Unique in His being the only Creator and
the only One with His names and attributes]. Tauheed of purpose and deeds is
tauheed of lordship or that none should be worshipped except Allah [i.e., He is
the only One worthy of worship].
The scholastic
theologians (Ar., kalaamiyoon) - and what will explain to you who the scholastic
theologians are - call this great subject "the root of the religion"
and they call the law "the branches of the religion". This is their
terminology. We also have a dispute with them in this matter but this is not the
place to discuss it. All of them give it a name or adjective according to their
needs.
But what is the name
the Quran gives to this matter?
The Quran gives the
grave matter the name iman. Allah says in the Quran, "And thus We inspired
in You (Muhammad) a Spirit of Our command. You did not know what the Scripture
was, nor what the Faith was. But we have made it a light whereby We guide whom
We will of our bondmen..." [Al-Shura, 52].
The general concepts
that the heart of the believer must be firm about are the "pillars" of
this faith. But one will not be called a believer just by knowing and
understanding these pillars but he must come to the level where he submits and
implements what is described, in the hadith of Gabriel, as Islam. Iman, in this
manner, incorporates Islam.
If iman was simply
knowing the facts in one's heart, then its companion would be equal to Satan and
Pharaoh [Note: The Satan was the most knowledgeable of his Lord but he was
destroyed because of his pride and envy. And Pharaoh, even though he claimed to
be the lord, knew that the lord is Allah and that none has the right to be
worshipped but Him. Allah says, "He said: In truth you know that none sent
down these portents save the Lord of the heavens and the earth as
proofs..." [al-Isra, 102]. – Although they knew the truth, they did not
put it in practice by turning their `ibadah to Allah Alone].
In the hadith of
Gabriel, the Prophet explained the
pillars of this faith in which every human must believe, when he was asked,
"What is iman?", he said, "To believe in Allah and His angels and
His books and His messengers and the Last Day and predestination of good and
evil."
It is a must for every
person to know these pillars and to learn them with a correct understanding and
to believe in them in the manner that he pious forefathers understood and
believed in them, in the same manner that the Companions of the Prophet
believed and understood them, as well as their Followers and those who
followed on their path. This includes the four imams, Sufyan Al-Thauri, Sufyan
ibn Uyaina, Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak and others similar to them, as well as
Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari, Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj, Shaikh al-Islam ibn
Taymiya and al-Hafedh ibn al-Qayyim. And scholars similar to them who followed
the same manner of understanding and believing in these pillars.
This is the first
obligation upon the responsible human being. There is no difference of opinion
on this question among the scholars whose opinions are worth following.Imam Abu-Hanifa
said, "The understanding of faith is better than understanding of the
science." What he meant by faith is tauheed and what he meant by science is
the shariah. He put the understanding of tauheed before the understanding of the
shariah.
And
Shaikh al-Islam al-Haruwi al-Ansari (d. 481 AH) stated at the beginning of his
book, Itiqad ahl al-Sunnah, "The first obligation upon the slave is the
knowledge of Allah. This is proven by the hadith of Muadh, when the Prophet said
to him, 'You will come to a people from the People of the Book. The first thing
that you should call them to is the worship of Allah. If they gain the knowledge
of Allah, then tell them that Allah obligates upon them five prayers during the
day and night..."
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