Explanation of Tajrid al-Tawhid al-Mufid — Lesson 2 شرح تجريد التوحيد المفيد — الدرس الثاني

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. To proceed: this is the second of the lessons of His Eminence Shaykh Sulayman ibn Nasir al-Alwan, may Allah preserve him, containing the explanation of the book Tajrid al-Tawhid al-Mufid by the Shaykh, the erudite scholar Ahmad ibn 'Ali al-Maqrizi al-Shafi'i. The subject of this lesson is from his statement, "And know that the most precious of deeds and the greatest in rank is the tawhid of Allah, the Exalted," until his statement, "This tawhid is the station of the siddiqin." This lesson was delivered on the eighteenth day of the month of Rajab in the year one thousand four hundred and twenty-one.

The text

Explanation

All praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his family and companions. The author, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "And know that the most precious of deeds and the greatest in rank is the tawhid of Allah, the Exalted." The author, may Allah have mercy on him, said "And know" to draw attention to the importance of what is coming. "That the most precious of deeds": the most precious of anything is its noblest, greatest and best, and "deeds" (a'mal) is the plural of 'amal. "And the greatest in rank": "greatest" is conjoined to "most precious". "Is the tawhid of Allah, the Exalted." Tawhid is the most important of important matters and the most emphasised of obligations. It is the first [thing] in the call of the messengers, the first thing by which the servant enters Islam, and the last thing with which he departs from this world. Tawhid is the first matter and the last of it.

Tawhid is the most just of justice. Tawhid is the verbal noun of wahhadahu, yuwahhiduhu, tawhidan, so he is one who affirms the oneness of Allah, the Exalted. The expressions of the imams differed in defining tawhid. The author of al-Manazil said: "Tawhid is declaring Allah transcendent above what is originated" — declaring Allah transcendent above what is originated. This is nothing, and it does not indicate the tawhid with which the messengers were sent, for whose sake the books were revealed, for whose sake jihad was legislated, and over which people divided into the wretched and the fortunate. Declaring Allah transcendent above originated things is one of the types of tawhid al-rububiyyah, which many of the polytheists affirmed. The tawhid that the author of al-Manazil mentioned is not the tawhid with which the messengers were sent; so this definition is not correct.

Al-Junayd said: "Tawhid is distinguishing the Eternal from the originated" — tawhid is distinguishing the Eternal from the originated. This is a definition that needs further explanation and clarification, for this distinguishing is of two types — since he says "distinguishing the Eternal from the originated". The first type is distinguishing in belief, such that one affirms the names and attributes of Allah without likening or comparing [Him to creation], for likening the attributes of Allah to the attributes of His creation is a defect and an attack on this distinguishing. The second type is distinguishing the Eternal from the originated in worship: in devotion, love, submission, turning in repentance, reliance, fear, vows, slaughter and the like. With this detail the meaning becomes clear, though some may not grasp the wording. Since tawhid is what the messengers were sent with and what the books were revealed for, its definition should be clear to everyone; for the more intense the need to know something, the more necessity calls for it and the natural disposition (fitrah) responds to it, the clearer it should be, with no ambiguity in it.

Tawhid is singling out Allah in worship. He, the Exalted, said: "Worship Allah" — that is, single out Allah — "you have no deity other than Him"; this is tawhid. And He, the Exalted, said: "O mankind, worship your Lord," that is, single out your Lord [in worship]. And He, the Exalted, said: "Worship Allah and avoid taghut": "worship Allah" means single Him out in worship. Worship is a comprehensive term for everything that Allah loves and is pleased with, of statements and actions, outward and inward. This is the definition of Shaykh al-Islam and a group of the people of knowledge for the meaning of worship.

It has been said that tawhid is of three types. Tawhid al-uluhiyyah: it is the foundation with which the messengers were sent and for whose sake the books were revealed, and it is singling out Allah in worship. The second type is tawhid al-rububiyyah: singling out Allah and affirming His oneness in His actions, such as creating, providing, giving life, causing death, disposing of affairs, and the like. The third type is tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat, because Allah has names and attributes that must be believed in and affirmed, and it is forbidden to distort them or to deviate concerning them. He, the Exalted, said: "And to Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them." These types of tawhid are the well-known ones among Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah; they are types with no ambiguity in them, indicated by the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ. And when Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, and others mentioned that tawhid is of two types — tawhid in knowledge and affirmation, and the second type, tawhid in seeking and intention — he included the three preceding categories and types within two categories, and made them two categories.

His statement "However, tawhid has two husks": the husk (qishr) in the language is the covering of a thing — the husk in the language is the covering of a thing. Here he said that tawhid has two husks, and since the husk is the covering of a thing, we understand from the wording of the expression that there is a tawhid beyond that which is more complete than what he mentioned, because he expressed it here with "husk", and he only expresses with what the language indicates. His statement that tawhid has two husks — all of this speech belongs to Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in the Ihya', near its beginning. I went back to it and found that the author had transmitted it letter by letter, with slight changes in some expressions that do not affect the meaning. I have not seen this expression from any of the earlier imams, nor from any of the verifying imams such as Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on them both.

For the author said that tawhid has two husks: he made the first husk the statement of the tongue, and the second husk the belief of the heart, and he made something beyond and above that to be the kernel. Even though the author's intent is clear, and the meaning he wants to convey to people's understanding is a clear meaning, there is an objection to his wording. When we go back to the meaning of "husk" in the language, which is the covering of a thing, we find that the belief of the heart is not part of the covering — unlike the utterance of the tongue. This is the first matter. The second matter is that the foundation to which the messengers called is what the author called the husk, namely that you say with your tongue, "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah," because what the author called the kernel of tawhid is included implicitly in the meaning of the husk.

In the expressions of some of the later writers there occurs the division of the religion into husks and kernel. At times they say of the husks — as the author said here — that it is something important and something more important; and at times they express the husks as the trivial thing which has no value, or which should not be paid attention to — when the matter may have come in the Book of Allah or in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Tawhid is greater than that, and everything that has come from Allah or from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ must be magnified, honoured, ennobled and revered.

Tawhid is by the heart, the tongue and the action of the limbs. If any of that is impaired entirely, the person is not judged to be Muslim. If he uttered and believed but did not act, he would be a disbeliever, because he has abandoned the genus of action (jins al-'amal) entirely. This person is a disbeliever by the agreement of Ahl al-Sunnah — contrary to the extremists of the Jahmiyyah and the Murji'ah and their followers in this era, who do not declare one a disbeliever for abandoning the genus of action. Let him enjoy following the Jahmiyyah! And if he said it with his tongue and acted with his limbs but did not believe with his heart, he has not entered Islam; this is a pure hypocrite.

The author said: "The first" — that is, the first husk — "is that you say with your tongue, 'There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.'" This is what the messengers called to. However, when the messengers called to the meaning of "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah", they did not want mankind to utter it without action; for they used to know the meaning, because they were Arabs, and each prophet addressed his people in their language; they knew his speech and knew what was meant by his words. No prophet called his people to this word and they found its reality or its meaning problematic, and it was never reported from anyone at all that he said, "We believe this word without acting," or, "We utter it without believing." This never occurred in their speech.

Clearer than that is what came in the two Sahihs from the narration of al-Zuhri from Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib from his father, who said: When death came to Abu Talib, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to him, and with him were 'Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah and Abu Jahl. The Prophet ﷺ said to him: "O uncle, say 'There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah', a word by which I can argue for you before Allah." His evil companions said to him: "Will you turn away from the religion of 'Abd al-Muttalib?" They were in Jahiliyyah, in the mire of shirk and idolatry, yet they knew that if Abu Talib said "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah", it would mean that he was disowning the religion of 'Abd al-Muttalib. So they said, "Will you turn away from the religion of 'Abd al-Muttalib?" — because "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah" contradicts it. [They knew] the wording of the address and understood what was meant. The Prophet ﷺ repeated it to him, and the two of them repeated [their words].

This is also clarified by what came in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad by way of Shayban al-Nahwi from Ash'ath ibn Abi al-Sha'tha' from a man of Banu Malik, who said: I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the market of Dhu al-Majaz, moving through it and saying, "O people, say 'There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah' and you will succeed." And there was a man following him, saying, "O people, do not listen to this one who has abandoned his religion (sabi')" — and he was Abu Lahab. This man — the Prophet ﷺ — was addressing the nations and peoples with this word, and they automatically understood what its meaning intended. No one said, "O Muhammad, does this word mean abandoning the worship of idols? Does this word mean singling out Allah in judgement? Does this word mean singling out Allah in love, submission, dread and worship?" They knew automatically that the word, by what it was coined for, requires singling out Allah in worship.

"La ilaha": ilah is a generic noun upon which la [of negation] has entered, so it negates everything that it denotes other than Allah, majestic and exalted is He. "La ilaha illa Allah": the Noble Name is a substitute (badal) for the omitted predicate, which is estimated as "true" (haqq): "There is no true deity…" — contrary to whoever said that the omitted, estimated predicate is "for us" — for the grave-worshippers have deities, which are the deities [they worship]; or whoever said, "There is no deity existing" — the deities exist and are many: "[Are] separate lords [better]?", "Is there a deity with Allah?" So we must estimate the omitted predicate [as "true"]. If someone said, "There is no true existing deity except Allah," he would be correct — he would be correct. What matters is that he brings [the word] "true": "That is because Allah is the Truth, and what they call upon besides Him is falsehood." Everything that is worshipped besides Allah is falsehood.

That is why we say that among the merits of tawhid is singling out Allah in worship, such that the servant worships none but Allah. Tawhid is that the servant worships none but Allah. The means to shirk are many, but among the greatest of them is that the servant becomes abased before a created being. Tawhid takes you out of the abasement of servitude to human beings into abasement to Allah, the One, the Subduer. And this abasement alone is not enough until you add love to it — abasement together with love; these two are the pillars of servitude.

The author, [may Allah have mercy on him,] said: "The first husk is that you say with your tongue, 'There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.'" Beneath this word are meanings, beneath it are sentences, and beneath it are many things which the muwahhid cannot do without. The author said: "This statement is called tawhid" — by it one enters Islam, but he must add to it the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. For the Christian says, "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah," and the Jew says, "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah," but they do not testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. All the messengers came with "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah", and every nation that believes in its messenger says, "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah": the Jews in the time of Musa — Musa is the Messenger of Allah; in the time of 'Isa — there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, 'Isa is the Messenger of Allah.

After the sending of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, if a person said, "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, 'Isa is the Messenger of Allah," or, "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah," or, "I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that 'Isa is the Messenger of Allah," or "…Musa is the Messenger of Allah," he would be an apostate, or one who has not entered Islam. If he said it before entering Islam, we say: this sentence does not enter you into Islam. And if he said it after entering Islam, we judge him to be an apostate; he is asked to repent three times, and if he repents [well and good], otherwise he is executed, because the Prophet ﷺ, in the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas in al-Bukhari, said: "Whoever changes his religion, execute him." So if he testifies that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, he enters Islam, and then he must perform what Allah has commanded and avoid what Allah has forbidden.

He said: "This statement is called tawhid, and it contradicts the trinity which the Christians believe." For the Christians say that Allah is the third of three, as they made the Messiah a deity and his mother a deity; the deities according to the Christians are three: Allah, 'Isa and his mother — exalted is Allah above what they say, greatly. He, the Exalted, said: "The Jews say, 'Uzayr is the son of Allah,' and the Christians say, 'The Messiah is the son of Allah.' That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before. May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded? They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah, and [also] the Messiah, son of Maryam. And they were not commanded except to worship one Deity; there is no deity worthy of worship except Him. Glorified is He above what they associate [with Him]." This is shirk that Allah does not forgive except through repentance. He, the Exalted, said: "Indeed, whoever associates partners with Allah, Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire, and for the wrongdoers there are no helpers."

The author made this word a contradiction of the trinity which the Christians believe, but it is greater than that. I see a deficiency in the author's expression, for this sentence is greater than that: this word negates shirk from its root — this word negates shirk from its root — neither the shirk of the Jews, nor the shirk of the Christians, nor the shirk of Quraysh, nor anyone else's; it requires singling out Allah in worship. This tawhid, which the author called a contradiction of the trinity, also contradicts the shirk of the Magians — and also contradicts the shirk of the Magians — who attribute evil events to darkness and good events to light. Events, their good and their evil, must be attributed to Allah, majestic and exalted is He; Allah is their Creator: "Allah is the Creator of everything." Attributing good to light and evil to darkness — this is the "tawhid" of the Magians. This word is a disavowal of the "tawhid" of the Christians, a disavowal of the "tawhid" of the Magians, and a disavowal of the "tawhid" of the polytheists who used to say, "Here I am, O Allah, here I am. Here I am, You have no partner — except a partner who is Yours; You own him and whatever he owns."

His statement "This tawhid also issues from the hypocrite": that is, in the sense that the hypocrite utters with his tongue what he does not believe in his heart. The author defined the hypocrite as "the one whose inward state contradicts his outward." But this word is not truly applied to the one who says it except one who believes it and what it indicates, because the default regarding whoever utters it is that he believes what it indicates, as long as the contrary has not become clear. From here the people of knowledge were keen to mention pillars and conditions for this word. Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan Al al-Shaykh, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned conditions for this word — some of them may overlap, and some of them also have details and are not unrestricted — but I will mention what he said.

The first condition: knowledge of its meaning and what it indicates of negation and affirmation, because Allah, majestic and exalted is He, says: "So know that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah." If he says "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah" while not knowing its meaning — not knowing disavowal of shirk or of the polytheists, not disavowing the worship of graves or the worshippers of idols, not knowing that Allah is One with no partner, not knowing tawhid al-uluhiyyah, nor tawhid al-rububiyyah, nor tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat — then what meaning has he said? We have gained nothing from a mere utterance that carries no belief and meaning, when it is greater than this world and all that is in it.

The second condition: certainty. The third: truthfulness. The fourth: sincerity. The fifth: love. The sixth condition: compliance. The seventh condition: acceptance. Some of the people of knowledge added an eighth condition, which is disbelief in whatever is worshipped besides Allah, majestic and exalted is He, though that could be included under acceptance; for whoever accepts this word disavows everything else. When you say "la ilaha", this word, by what it was coined for, requires disavowal of every object of worship other than Allah. This is indicated by the earlier hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ said: "O uncle, say 'There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah', a word by which I can argue for you before Allah." Abu Jahl — while upon his disbelief — and Ibn Abi Umayyah knew that this word is a disavowal of every object of worship other than Allah, majestic and exalted is He.

His statement "and the second husk": it preceded that the husk in the language is the covering of a thing, and — as preceded — I do not see [the correctness of] calling this tawhid a husk, because it is the foundation with which the messengers were sent; for the kernel that the author mentioned goes back, in origin, to what he called a husk, since in his view [the kernel] is that one sees all matters as coming from Allah, then cuts off turning to intermediaries. And is the word anything but an indication and an affirmation of this meaning? The proof is that the Prophet ﷺ and all the messengers called to this word, and in its reality it indicates taking refuge in Allah and holding fast to Him. Even so, in his saying "cuts off turning to intermediaries" there is a generality; I will explain this generality, if Allah wills, when we come to it.

His statement: "The second husk is that there be in the heart no opposition to, nor denial of, the meaning of this statement; rather, the heart contains belief in it and affirmation of it. This is the tawhid of the common people." His saying "that there be in the heart no opposition": such that he says "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah" with his tongue while in the heart there is resort to the occupants of graves, idols and deities, or a belief that the universe has two creators, or that there is a disposer of affairs alongside Allah, and the like. "Nor denial of the meaning of this statement": such that he says it with his tongue while believing in his heart the opposite of what this word indicates. So he denies this word in his heart, and believes that there are other deities alongside Allah, or holds the creed of the trinity or the creed of the Magians, and says it only to protect his blood and wealth, or to corrupt the Muslims' religion for them. For the hypocrites are in the lowest depth of the Fire, and they are worse than the polytheists, the Jews and the Christians.

These people say "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah", conceal themselves under the name of Islam, and may testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, but in the innermost stirrings of their hearts and beliefs they do not believe this word nor what it indicates, nor do they believe in the truthfulness of Muhammad ﷺ nor what he brought. These are pure hypocrites who entered Islam for aims and purposes: either to corrupt the Muslims, or to cast doubt among them, or so that their blood and wealth would be protected and they could remain in their lands. This was in the time of the Muslims' strength. But now that everything has become confused — Allah is the One whose help is sought. The hypocrite now is honoured and esteemed, while the believer hides his religion.

His statement "rather, the heart contains belief in it": that is, the reality of this husk is that the heart contains belief in this word, affirmation and knowledge. The author called this husk "the tawhid of the common people." It preceded that the servant enters Islam by pronouncing the two testimonies, and is free of hypocrisy by believing what they indicate. If they say it with the tongue and do not believe with the heart, they are hypocrites, worse than the disbeliever, but outwardly counted among the Muslims as long as the contrary has not become clear. If he believed with his heart but did not utter it with his tongue, he has not entered Islam. If he says it with his tongue and believes it with his heart, this is the muwahhid, and there is nothing beyond that — because tawhid varies in degree.

Tawhid varies in degree, just as the tawhid of the prophets and messengers also varies: the messengers of firm resolve (ulu al-'azm) are greater in their tawhid of Allah than others. The messengers are greater than the prophets, and the messengers of firm resolve are greater than the others. The messengers of firm resolve are five, in chronological order: Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, 'Isa, and the last of them, our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who is the greatest of them and the greatest of them in tawhid. Superiority is only according to tawhid: the stronger a person is in tawhid, the nearer he is to Allah, majestic and exalted is He. The prophets are greater in tawhid than the common people. [There are] levels: the messengers are the greatest of people in tawhid; they are greater than the prophets, and the prophets are greater than the common people; and after that, people vary. The tawhid of Abu Bakr is greater than that of others, and the tawhid of 'Umar is greater than that of those who came after him.

His statement "and the kernel of tawhid": the kernel (lubab) in the language is the pure part — the kernel in the language is the pure part. The author says of this kernel that it is "that one sees all matters as coming from Allah, the Exalted, then cuts off turning to intermediaries, and that he worships Him, glorified is He, with a worship in which he singles Him out and worships none other." His statement "and that he worships Him, glorified is He, with a worship in which he singles Him out and worships none other": this is among the meanings of "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah"; this meaning, which he made the kernel, [goes back] to the first husk. His statement "that one sees all matters as coming from Allah": this goes back to the [second] husk, which is the belief of the heart. And his statement "then cuts off turning to intermediaries": Shaykh al-Islam, may Allah have mercy on him, said — in what Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, transmitted from him in al-Madarij — "The perfection of tawhid is that nothing at all remains in the heart for other than Allah." The meaning of tawhid is that nothing at all remains in the heart for other than Allah, and this is among the meanings of "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah."

The author's statement "then cuts off turning to intermediaries" contains generality and broadness in his wording, and he does not mean by it abandoning the means, because this is not part of tawhid in any way — even if the speech of groups of the Sufis entails that. The Sufis make abandoning outward means one of the loftiest meanings of tawhid, and this, in its reality, is ignorance of tawhid and ignorance of what the messengers were sent with. The author's statement "then cuts off turning to intermediaries" is to be understood as [referring to intermediaries] that lead to attachment to created beings — bearing in mind that attachment to a created being is not disbelief absolutely: some attachment is major disbelief, major shirk; some attachment is minor shirk; and some attachment is among the sins. So they made this the kernel in their view, while we know that the call of the prophets was the call to "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah", without these symbols and without these expressions in which there is a kind of excessive delving and affectation, which occur frequently in the terms of the Sufis.

As I told you, all of this speech now belongs to al-Ghazali, and al-Ghazali was influenced by the Sufis. Among the meanings of "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah", in applying it, acting upon it and upon what it requires, is that one sees all matters as coming from Allah. This is among the meanings of "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah": if anything of that is impaired, his tawhid is diminished, and with its completeness tawhid is complete. So there is no sense in making this the pure kernel of tawhid, or in making this the tawhid of the elite of the elite, while the first and what precedes it is the tawhid of the common people — what precedes it being that by which the servant enters Islam.

On the whole, this resembles the statement of the author of al-Manazil when he divided tawhid into three categories. He said: the first category is the tawhid of the common people, which is validated by evidences — by proofs and demonstrations. The second tawhid is the tawhid of the elite, which is established through realities. The third tawhid is a tawhid subsisting through eternity, the tawhid of the elite of the elite. It is what the people of spiritual exercise and the masters of states aspire to; the people of veneration aim at it; and at it all allusions are effaced. Then no tongue has spoken of it — can the tongue express it with a comprehensive expression? — and no expression has pointed to it. The author of al-Manazil claimed that a glimmer of it has shone forth — that is, that Allah, majestic is His majesty, caused a glimmer of it to shine upon the secrets of a group of His chosen ones; that this tawhid, which is specific to the elite of the elite, Allah caused a glimmer of it to shine forth, giving it — majestic and exalted is He — to a group of the choicest of His creation. He said: the common people do not know this tawhid. This is tremendous ignorance of tawhid.

His statement about the tawhid that is validated by evidences — by proofs, signs and demonstrations — being the tawhid of the common people: this is the tawhid that the messengers brought, as Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, pointed out in the third volume of Madarij al-Salikin. And his statement about the tawhid of the elite of the elite: this is the tawhid of the theologians — this is the tawhid of the theologians. Al-Ghazali's definition of tawhid is clearer than the definition of the author of al-Manazil, and the author's definition is drawn from al-Ghazali's definition. However, these divisions at times distance [people] from knowing tawhid as it truly is. Tawhid — as I told you — since the need for it is pressing and the messengers came with it, its meaning should be clear; and everything that the ummah needs has a clearer meaning than other things. Tawhid is clear. Dividing tawhid into two husks — a husk of the tongue and a husk of the heart — then making a kernel for it, and taking the kernel outside the husk, is not correct, as preceded.

His statement "Excluded from this tawhid" — "Excluded from this tawhid is following desire; for whoever follows his desire has taken his desire as an object of worship." His statement "Excluded from this tawhid" [means]: what contradicts it, or what negates its obligatory perfection. The author made the expression general, and it would have been better to give details. Following desire has degrees: among them are the polytheists. Among them are the people of innovation, and they are of two kinds: an innovation that reaches minor shirk, and an innovation less than that. Among them are the people of sins, and they are of two kinds: those who commit major sins and those who commit minor sins. All of these are people of desires. Those of the first category, the polytheists, are disbelievers. The second category, the people of innovation, are not disbelievers by agreement — unless the innovation is a major innovation that takes its holder out of Islam. Those who commit major sins are not declared disbelievers, by agreement. So whoever follows his desire in a sin, or in an innovation that does not take him out of Islam, still bears the name of tawhid in general, but does not bear the name of pure tawhid.

"For whoever follows his desire has taken his desire as an object of worship": there is an objection to this unrestricted statement — there is an objection to this unrestricted statement — since not everyone who desires something worships it; not everyone who desires something worships it. As for his citing the verse "Have you seen the one who takes as his deity his own desire?", it is said: according to the correct view, the verse [means] that the ilah is the one worshipped. That is, regarding the meaning of the verse "Have you seen the one who takes as his deity his own desire?": he made the object of worship that he worships the thing he desires — not that he made what he desires an object of worship. There is a difference between the two expressions. The author erred in his expression when he said, "For whoever follows his desire has taken his desire as an object of worship"; rather, it should be said: whoever takes an object of worship, it is what he desires. So we say, regarding the meaning of His saying, the Exalted, "Have you seen the one who takes as his deity his own desire, and Allah has sent him astray due to knowledge, and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil?": the meaning of this verse is that the created being made the object of worship that he worships the thing he desires; he did not make what he desires an object of worship — he did not make what he desires an object of worship. Then the author's error in generalising the expression becomes clear.

His statement "And when you reflect" — and when you reflect on it, that is, on what has preceded of his affirmation and mention — "you know that the idol-worshipper did not worship it; rather, he worshipped his desire" — rather, he worshipped his desire. And desire is the inclination of the soul toward what is familiar: when he became familiar with the religion of his forefathers, he inclined to it, and this inclination is desire. To clarify the author's words — because the author, may Allah have mercy on him, speaks in general terms on these great issues — it is said regarding his statement, "And when you reflect, you know that the idol-worshipper did not worship it; rather, he worshipped his desire": he does not worship the idol, the statue or the created being except because he believes that it brings him a benefit that returns to him, or repels harm. So in reality he is a worshipper of his own interest, such that he is fully ready — fully ready — to worship any created being from which he obtains benefit. Consequently he is a worshipper of desire: everything he desires, he does, without regard for the command of Allah or His prohibition.

His statement "and the inclination of the soul toward what is familiar" is one of the meanings expressed by "desire"; however, the inclination of the soul includes what is major shirk, what is minor shirk, what is among the major sins, what is among the minor sins, and what is among the permissible things. The inclination of the soul toward wealth, if it does not distract him from obeying Allah, and the inclination of the soul toward wives, are among the permissible things — indeed, this is among the ways of the prophets and messengers — and this is an inclination of the soul. If the soul inclines toward a righteous, beautiful woman, is he considered, if he inclines to her, to have worshipped her? No. If she does not turn him away from obeying Allah, this is among the good things and the righteous things that help him in worshipping his Lord. This world is an enjoyment, and the best of its enjoyment is a righteous wife; and the righteous woman is part of the servant's happiness in this life and in this world. So not everything a person desires does he worship. A person may desire permissible things; he may desire disliked things, so that his act is disliked; he may desire major sins, so that his act is a major sin; and he may desire shirk, so that he is a polytheist if he does that.

His statement "Excluded from this tawhid is displeasure with the creation": we will stop here. This also needs explanation, and there is generality in his words. This needs explanation and qualification; we will clarify it, if Allah, the Exalted, wills, in the next lesson. And Allah knows best.

النص العربي الأصلي