Qawa'id al Arba'a - Importance of the way of Ibrahim alayhis salaam

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Qawaa’id al arba’a – Wasim Kempson

Importance of the way of Ibrahim alayhis salaam

The next part of the text, the author talks about ‘alhanafiyyah’ and it is connected to Ibrahim alayhis salaam.

The Islamic meaning: The religion of Ibrahim alayhi salaamand that is you worship Allah alone and make the deen sincere for him alone.

The Hanif, the person is the one who accepts the deen ofAllah and rejects everyone else. He accepts Allah with the heart, deeds,intentions and their goals. A person who is Hanif is one who submits to Allahwill all of the above.

Al Hanafiyyah is primarily mentioned with Ibrahim

And strive for Allah with the striving due to Him. He haschosen you and has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty. [It is]the religion of your father, Abraham. Allah named you "Muslims"before [in former scriptures] and in this [revelation] that the Messenger maybe a witness over you and you may be witnesses over the people. So establishprayer and give zakah and hold fast to Allah . He is your protector; andexcellent is the protector, and excellent is the helper. [Hajj:78]

Here Allah tells us about the ‘milla’ (way of religion) thatwe are obliged to strive upon this particular way. Here Allah commands us tofollow the way of our father Ibrahim. Know may Allah guide you to His obedience,that Hanafiyyah is the religion of Ibrahim: That you worship Allah making thereligion sincerely for Him alone. It is NOT JUST to worship Allah but tomake the deen purely for him, alone. Allah has commanded the whole of mankindto submit to Allah.

Linguistically hanafiyyah means someone will turn away fromsomething while being firmly upon what he has diverted to. E.g. away from shirkand more upon tawheed.

Other places Allah, tells us to follow the deen of Ibrahim:

Say, "Indeed, my Lord has guided me to a straight path- a correct religion - the way of Abraham, inclining toward truth. And he wasnot among those who associated others with Allah." [An’am:161]

 We find in manyplaces in the Quran that al Hanafiyyah is associated with Ibrahim. Why Ibrahim?

Ibrahim alayhi salaam, at his time was like a nation. He wasalone standing upon the tawheed of Allah. When all others called to the worshipof Allah, he stood alone therefore he was a nation upon himself. This is why hehas a great status amongst the anbiya al mursaleen. That is why he is called ‘abulanbiya’ in Surah An Nahl Allah says that Ibrahim is an example to follow:

Indeed, Abraham was a [comprehensive] leader, devoutlyobedient to Allah , inclining toward truth, and he was not of those whoassociate others with Allah . [Nahl:120]

The author then mentions the verse in the Quran

As He, Ta’aala, said:
{And I have not created the jinn andmankind except to worship Me (alone).} Adh Dhaariyaat (51):56

When someone is pondering, this is one of the most importantayats. First and foremost Allah tells us that he created us to worship Himalone. The hukm we take, we take from this ayah.

When you acknowledgethat Allah created you to worship Him, then you know that worship is not(regarded as) worship except with Tawheed.

Now the author is establishing a premise. This is a veryclear way of defining matters. Now we have extracted our purpose Allah in theway Ibrahim worshipped Allah. How are we going to define Ibaadat? There aremany types but is every type accepted by Allah? Many people think they canworship God in their own way but is it this ok?

Am I offering worship how I like or how the CREATOR likes?

The author gives an example:

Just as prayer is not(regarded as) prayer except with purification. So when shirk enters intoworship it corrupts it just like impurity when entered into purity (i.e.-itinvalidates it).

This is a logical approach. Allah did not create you so youcan earn for Him but to worship him. An act of worship is not consideredworship unless two conditions are fulfilled:

1. Purely and solely for Allah alone.
2. When it is purely for Allah, in what manner will I offer it? It must be upon the way of the Messenger of Allah ( "Whoever performs an action not in accordance with our matter, then it is rejected." [Saheeh Muslim]) When you offer an act of ibadah has to be upon the manhaj of the Messenger

Without these conditions, the actions are consideredrejected by Allah. We take a further benefit, that we are obliged to followAllah with that what we find in the Quran and that we are obliged to follow theMessenger of Allah, sallalahu alayhi wa sallam:

O you who have believed, obey Allah andobey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And if you disagree overanything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you should believe in Allahand the Last Day. That is the best [way] and best in result. [Nisa:59]

The author then says,                            

So when you realizethat if shirk enters into worship, it corrupts it, negates all the actions andthe one who does it is forever in the Fire, then you will realize the mostimportant matter (obligatory) upon you: knowledge and awareness of this fact,so that Allah may save you from the abyss of committing shirk with Him, ofwhich Allah, Ta’aala, said of it:

{Verily, Allah forgives not thatpartners be set up with Him in worship, but He forgives except that(i.e.-anything else) to whom He pleases}An Nisaa (4) :116)

If a person repents before they die, Allah may forgive them.Therefore we recognise the importance of shirk so we don’t only study theimportance of tawheed but the dangers of falling into shirk. The companions hadbalance in their questions. The danger of shirk is so great, it would forbidthat person from entering into Jannah:

They have certainly disbelieved who say, " Allah is theMessiah, the son of Mary" while the Messiah has said, "O Children ofIsrael, worship Allah , my Lord and your Lord." Indeed, he who associatesothers with Allah - Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is theFire. And there are not for the wrongdoers any helpers. [ Ma’idah:72]

When Allah told us to establish worship, there is details onHOW we are supposed to worship Allah. The matter has not just been made for usto make it up as we go along.

With this we finish the introduction. All good is from Allah and any mistakes are from myself