BASIC TEACHINGS OF ISLAM-ISLAMIC MONOTHEISM

1. 1 TAWHEED BASIC TEACHINGS OF ISLAM Part-1 ISLAMIC MONOTHEISM

2. 2 BASIC TEACHING OF ALL THE PROPHETS THE TRUE GOD IS ONE WORSHIP HIM ALONE AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS

3. 3 God sent messengers and prophets to accomplish several tasks and missions, some of which are: To receive guidance from God and deliver it to their people. To convey the message that ''GOD IS ONE" to their people. To be good examples to their people. To instruct their people to fear God and keep His commandments. To teach their followers important things like religious and moral matters. To Guide those who deviated, disobeyed God, or worshipped other gods or idols. To tell people about their final destination (the Last Day) and what leads to Paradise or Hellfire

4. 4 WHAT WAS THE BELIEF OF THE JAHILIYA COMMUNITY (MUSHRIKOON OF MAKKAH) 'And if you were to ask them: 'Who has created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon?' they will surely reply: 'Allah'. How then are they deviating (as polytheists and disbelievers)?' Quran 29:61 'And if you were to ask them: 'Who sends down water (rain) from the sky, and give life therewith to the earth after its death?' They will surely reply: 'Allah'. Say: 'All the praises and thanks be to Allah!' Nay, most of them have no sense' Quran 29:63

5. 5 WHAT WAS THE BELIEF OF THE JAHILIYA COMMUNITY (MUSHRIKOON OF MAKKAH) 'Say (O Muhammed): 'Who provides for you from the sky and the earth? Or who owns hearing and sight? And who brings out the living from the dead and brings out the dead from the living? And who disposes the affairs?' They will say 'Allah'. Say: 'Will you not then be afraid of Allah's punishment (for setting up rivals in worship with Allah)?' Quran 10:31 'Say: 'In Whose Hand is the sovereignty of everything (i.e. treasures of everything)? And He protects (all), while against Whom there is no protector (i.e. if Allah saves anyone, none can punish or harm Him; and if Allah punishes or harms anyone, none can save him), if you know? They will say: '(All that belongs) to Allah'. Say: 'How then are you deceived and turn away from the truth?'. Quran 23: 88-89

6. 6 Doesn't it astonishing to note that their belief was exactly the same as ours? Why were they then called Mushrikoon, if they believed in the one true God, Allah? In spite of their correct belief they deviated from the sincere worship of Allah by seeking the help of idols of good, pious people who lived before. Laat, Uzza, Manat and many other idols were installed within the Kaaba to remember the good pious people lived earlier. In fact they had idols in the name of Prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Ismail (peace be upon both of them). The Holy Quran explains why they erected idols and performed many rituals.

7. 7 'And they worship besides Allah things that harm them not, nor profit them, and they say: 'These are our intercessors with Allah'. Say: 'Do you inform Allah of that which He knows not in the heavens and on the earth?' Glorified and Exalted is He above all that which they associate as partners (with Him)!' Quran 10:18 'Surely, the religion (i.e. the worship and the obedience) is for Allah only. And those who take Auliya (protectors, helpers, lords, gods) besides Him (say): 'We worship them only that they may bring us near to Allah'. Verily, Allah will judge between them concerning that wherein they differ. Truly, Allah guides not him who is a liar, and a disbeliever.' Quran 39: 3

8. 8 'And indeed it has been revealed to you (O Muhammed), as it was to those (Allah's Messengers) before you: 'If you join others in worship with Allah, (then) surely, (all) your deeds will be in vain, and you will be certainly be among the losers' Quran 39:65 'Verily, Allah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners (in worship) with Him, but He forgives whom He wills, sins other than that, and whoever sets up partners in worship with Allah, has indeed strayed far away' Quran 4:116 '…Verily, whosoever sets up partners (in worship) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden Paradise to him, and the Fire will be his abode. And for the Zalimun(polytheists and wrongdoers) there are no helpers.' Quran 5:72

9. 9 Let us see another incident recorded in Sahih Bukhari, where we may find an authentic evidence which contradict our giving righteousness to many dead good Muslims & call them as Auliyaullah . Narrated Kharija bin Zaid bin Thabit Um Al-'Ala an Ansari woman who had given a pledge of allegiance to Allah's Apostle told me, "The Muhajirin (emigrants) were distributed amongst us by drawing lots, and we got 'Uthman bin Maz'un in our share. We made him stay with us in our house. Then he suffered from a disease which proved fatal. When he died and was given a bath and was shrouded in his clothes. Allah's Apostle came, I said, (addressing the dead body), 'O Aba As-Sa'ib! May Allah be Merciful to you! I testify that Allah has honored you.' Allah's Apostle said, 'How do you know that Allah has honored him?' I replied, 'Let my father be sacrificed for you, O Allah's Apostle! On whom else shall Allah bestow His honor?' Allah's Apostle said, 'As for him, by Allah, death has come to him. By Allah, I wish him all good (from Allah). By Allah, in spite of the fact that I am Allah's Apostle, I do not know what Allah will do to me.' " Um Al-'Ala added, "By Allah, I will never attest the righteousness of anybody after that." Sahih Bukhari

10. 10 Say (O Muhammad): "I invoke only my Lord (Allâh Alone), and I associate none as partners along with Him." Say: "It is not in my power to cause you harm, or to bring you to the Right Path." Say (O Muhammad): "None can protect me from Allâh's punishment (if I were to disobey Him), nor should I find refuge except in Him. (Mine is) but conveyance (of the truth) from Allâh and His Messages (of Islâmic Monotheism), and whosoever disobeys Allâh and His Messenger, then verily, for him is the Fire of Hell, he shall dwell therein forever ." Quran 72: 20-23

11. 11 'Verily, those whom you call upon besides Allah are slaves like you. So call upon them and let them answer you if you are truthful' Quran 7:194 'O mankind! A similitude has been coined, so listen to it (carefully): Verily, those on whom you call besides Allah, cannot create (even) a fly, even though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly snatches away a thing from them, they will have no power to release it from the fly. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought' Quran 22:73 To believe that someone more pious and saintly would be able to save us is to act completely against the teachings of Islam. Prophet Lut, peace be upon him, was unable to save his wife from the punishment. 'Then we saved him (Lut) and his family, except his wife; she was of those who remained behind (in the torment).' Quran 7:83

12. 12 Prophet Noah, peace be upon him, was unable to save his unrighteous son and wife. 'And Noah called upon his Lord and said: 'O my Lord! Verily, my son is of my family! And certainly, Your promise is true, and You are the Most Just of the Judges. He said: 'O Noah! Surely, he is not of your family; verily, his work is unrighteous, so ask not of Me that of which you have no knowledge! I admonish you, lest you should be one of the ignorant'. Noah said: 'O my Lord! I seek refuge with You from asking You that of which I have no knowledge. And unless You forgive me and have Mercy on me, I would indeed be one of the losers'. Quran 11:45-47 Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, was unable to save his father as he was not a believer in the Islamic Monotheism. On the Day of Judgment Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, will intercede with Allah for the pardon of his father and Allah would reply 'I have forbidden Paradise to the heathens' (Sahih Bukhari). So saying, the intercession of Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, will be rejected.

13. 13 'Narrated by Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said in his last illness before death: 'The curse of Allah be upon the Jews and the Christians who took the graves of their prophets as places of worship'. He is also reported to have said (in his prayers): 'Do not make my grave into an idol for (people) to worship' Sahih Bukhari/Muslim. Reported by Jandub Bin Abdallah Al Bajli, may Allah be pleased with him, that he heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, saying five days before his death: 'Those who went before you took the graves of their prophets as mosques. I definitely forbid you to do that' Sahih Bukhari. Reported by Marthad Al Baghwi that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: 'Do not sit on the graves, and do not pray keeping them in the front' Sahih Muslim.

14. 14 As most of the people visit graves of Auliya to make Du'a, let us see the Islamic rulings on this. Du'a (supplication) is undoubtedly a part of worship, as IbnAbbaas said, "The best form of worship is the du'a" [Munthir and IbnHaakim]. Calling upon the dead represents a hollow attempt to seek help from a creature who can benefit the caller nothing. Allah Says: "If you call upon them, they hear not your call, and if (in case) they were to hear, they could not grant it (your request) to you. And on the Day of Resurrection, they will disown your worshipping them" Qur'an 35:14 The argument of the Jahiliya community was similar to that of today's people: they only invoked their idols as a means or intermediary towards reaching Allah "We only worship them so that they may bring us closer to Allah." Quran 39: 3.

15. 15 Similarly, the Walis (saints) and Sheikhs and Prophets are still called upon by those seeking need, in the hope that they could fulfill their needs. Yet this practice was never done by the righteous predecessors or the companions, but rather was done by Hindus and other pagans who Muslims came in contact with during later conquests.

16. 16 We have given a very brief introduction about Tawheed and its anti-thesis Shirk. Insha Allah, we will present different aspects of Tawheed in our future presentations.