A Lesson About Tawhid and Moderation of Islam
Translated by Riad Nachef
I start with the name of Allah, the Merciful to the believers and non believers in this world the Merciful to the believers in the Hereafter.
I praise Allah the Owner of the worlds and I ask Allah humbly to raise the rank of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, and the ranks of all of his brethrens among the Prophets and Messengers and to protect their nations and companions from what they feared for them.
Allah the Exalted said in the Glorious Qur’an:
{ يا أيها الناسُ اتقوا ربَّكُم إنَّ زلزلةَ الساعةِ شىءٌ عظيم}.
This Ayah means: O people be God fearing for the rocking of the Day of Judgment is a grand matter.
The Glorified Owner of all who is absolutely clear from likeness to the creation orders us to be pious and God fearing. He warns us from a Day when ones wealth and children shall not be of benefit, but rather ones heart which is sound with belief shall be of benefit; on that Day the person shall flee from ones brother, mother, father, wife and children when each shall be occupied with ones own burdens. Allah orders us with God fearing ness so we may be admitted to paradise.
Allah, who endowed upon us many obvious and internal endowments, deserves that we worship Him alone and to not associate partners with Him and to employ what he made subservient for us in the routes of goodness and not in establishing evil.
Among the obvious endowments that Allah endowed upon us is this earth which Allah made suitable for us to live on and made the mountains as kegs to make it stable, and made in it oceans and rivers and plains and facilitated for us rain so that vegetation would grow and people may eat from its fruits and of what Allah made lawful among the livestock on it and to benefit from its meat, bones, wool and hair.
The obvious endowments that Allah gave us are many. As to the internal endowment of having the belief it is unparalleled and topped by naught. The endowments of health, offspring and wealth put together are not equal to the endowment of having belief.
The endowment of health, offspring and wealth are among the obvious endowments which we have to use obediently to Allah, because it is reported that the person will be asked on the Day of Judgment to answer to the following question: Have We not made your body healthy and made you drink cold water.
O beloved ones, it is great for Godfearingness to join with Belief for there is no belief without believing in Allah and His Messenger and there is no God fearing ness without believing in Allah and His Messenger. Believing in Allah and His Messenger must be accompanied with good deeds among performing the obligations and refraining from the prohibitions so that the slave may be on the path of piety and Godfearingness.
The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, corroborated urging us to adhere to the Creed of the majority of this nation which is the same Creed that all the Prophets , peace be upon them, have called for. The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said: “the one who wants the opulence of Paradise let him adhere to the Creed of the majority of the nation.”
Every Prophet has called his people to the creedal statement ‘ No one is God except Allah.’ The meaning of which, in brevity, is no one deserves to be worshipped except Allah. This means no one deserves to be ultimately aggrandized, submitted to and humbled to except Allah. Allah is attributed with every befitting perfection, exists unlike other existing things, does not resemble anything of this universe, is not a thin body such as light and air, is not a thick body such as the human being and inanimate bodies, is not attributed with the attributes of bodies such as motion, immobility, sitting, occupying a place and a direction.
He is unlike all of the aforementioned; whatever you can imagine in your mind Allah is different from it; this statement was made by Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal and Imam Dhun-Nun al Misri.Both where among the most astute pious scholars whose tongues poured out jewels of knowledge. They took their statement from the Qur’an, Allah the Exalted said:
{ليس كمثله شىء}.
This Ayah means: Absolutely nothing is like Him in any way.
The Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, said, “Do not pursue the Reality of Allah by thinking.” No matter how hard a person thinks one will not achieve the Reality of Allah. We are ordered to not think about the Reality of Allah but rather to think about the creations of Allah the exalted. Allah is indivisible and one in that He is clear of having partners in God hood and none deserves to be worshipped except Him, He is Eternal in that His existence is without a beginning and Everlasting in that His existence does not come to an end, He does not annihilate and does not die, Allah said: { هُوَ الأَوَّلُ وَالآخِرُ}, this Ayah means: He is Eternal and Everlasting.
Allah is alive without having a soul, flesh and blood, Allah the Exalted, said:
{ اللهُ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ }
This Ayah means: Allah is the one whom no one is God except Him, who is Alive, and who needs none.
He does not need any one and every one is need of Allah. He is the Creator who brought this universe from a state of non existence into a state of existence, He is the Creator of good and evil; Allah said: { وخلق كل شئ }; this Ayah means: and He created everything.
He is the Sustainer who makes the sustenance reach His slaves. He knows about everything and nothing escapes His Knowledge. He has Power over all things and nothing makes Him powerless. He Does whatever He Wills. Whatever Allah Willed to be shall be and whatever Allah did not Will to be shall not be.
The meaning of Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah is that Muhammad who is the son of ^Abdillah from the tribe of Quraysh who is a Hashemite is the prophet of Allah and is truthful in all what he conveyed from Allah the Exalted.
Allah sent him with truth and guidance and as a mercy to the humans and jinn and supported him with astonishing miracles that reflect his truthfulness, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam. He ordered with justice, benevolence, generosity toward the kin, and he prohibited abhorrent practices, unlawful matters, injustice, exceeding the acceptable boundaries of the religion, and abhorrent extremism.
The religion of Islam is a religion of justice and moderation and guidance and mercy. Islam is the religion of peace.
Delighted shall be the one who adheres to it and defends it.