Qawa'id al Arba'a - Third and Fourth Principles

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Qawaa’id al arba’a – Wasim Kempson

The Third Principle

That the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wa sallam encountered people differing in theworship. Among them were people who worshipped angels, some who worshipped theprophets and the righteous men and others who worshipped stones, trees, the sunand the moon. The messenger of Allah sallalahu alayhi wa sallam fought them anddid not differentiate between them. And the proof is the saying of the MostHigh :

And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and shirk) and the Deenwill be only for Allah [Anfaal:39]

And the proof of the sun and the moon (being worshipped) is the saying of theMost High: 

And from His signsare the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate to thesun or the moon. [Fussilat:37]


And the proof of the angels (being worshipped) is the saying of the MostHigh: 

Nor would he (Muhammad) order you to take angels and prophets for lords (gods) [Aali‘Imran:80]

And the proof of the prophets (being worshipped) is the saying of the MostHigh: 

And when Allah will say (on the Day of Resurrection) “Ya ‘Isa ibn Mariam didyou say to men, ‘Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah’?” He willsay, “Subhanaka! It was not for me to say that which I have not right (to say).Had I said such a thing You would surely have known it. You know what is in myinner-self thought I do not know what is in Yours; truly You are the All-Knowerof all that is hidden. [Ma’idah (5):116]

And the proof of the righteous (being worshipped) is the saying of the MostHigh:

Those who they call upon desire (forthemselves) means of access to their Rub (Allah), as to which of them should benearest and they hope for His Mercy and fear His Torment  [Al‘Israa:57],
and the proof of the trees and the stones (being worshipped) is the saying ofthe Most High:

Have you considered al Laat and al ‘Uzza. And Manaat, theother third? [Najm:19-20]

And the Hadith of Abu Waaqid Al Laythee who said: “We departed with the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wa sallamtoHunayn and we had recently left kufr (disbelief). The Mushrikeen (polytheists)used to have a tree they used to devote themselves to and hang their weaponsupon, they called it Dhat Anwaat. So we passed by a tree and we said: ‘YaRasoolullah appoint for us a Dhat Anwaat like they have a Dhat Anwaat.’
So the Messenger of Allah sallalahu alayhi wa sallam said: ‘Allahu Akbar! ByHim in Whose Hand is my soul, verily you have said just s the Bani Isra’eelsaid to Moosaa:
Appoint for us a god, just like theyhave gods, he (Moosaa) said: Verily you are an ignorant people.[A’raf:138]
Verily you will follow the ways of those before you.’ ”

The particular point here, theProphet didn’t differentiate between anyone who worshipped other than Allahregardless of what they worshipped. Be it a tree or an idol, the Prophet foughtagainst all of them. The author mentioned a number of evidences in the Quran insupporting this. Allah mentioned the diff types of ibaadah that they had.

This particular point is importantbecause shirk is not restricted to idols but other objects.

The author mentioned the ayah fromthe Quran and the hadith stating all these types of worship. 

The Prophet wassent to a people who varied in their types of worships. The fact that they areassociating partners with Allah, there is no difference between those whoworship stones and those worship Angels. They were fought against their disbeliefin Allah. This principle is a refutation is against those who say ‘he whoworships idol is not the same as one who worships Angels.’ There should be nodifference in dealing with these types of people. There is no distinctionregarding this shirk, whether the person is a righteous person or it is astone. Allah says in surah an Nisa:36

The first proof the authormentions is (Anfal:39). Here Allah is commanding the believers and the Prophetsallalahu alayhi wa sallam to fight against the fitnah. The meaning of fitnahis shirk. Here the Prophet sallalahu alayhi wa sallam is commanded by Allah tofight against anything which is considered shirk (that which is taken besidesAllah)

The next evidence, in surah alFussilat, Allah affirms people used to worship the sun and the moon but theyare only signs from Allah, even though they have great benefit to us. Weworship the One who created them. The Prophet sallalahu alayhi wa sallamprohibited the salah at sunrise and before sunset because as we know there werepeople who used to worship the sun.

The next ayah from surah al Maidah,is a refutation for those who worship graves.

The next verse the author mentionsis about those who take righteous people as a means of worship. This versetalks about waseelah. The Arabs of jahiliyyah used to do this, the wrong way.They wanted to get close to Allah but they used to say that they weren’t pureenough. Using a waseelah to get close to Allah is baatil. The meaning of theword waseelah, according to the deviant people is to make an intermediarybetween you and Allah so you can convey your message, which is then passed onto Allah?! Fear Allah as much as you can! As person should have hope that whatyou are offering will be accepted from you. You are ALLOWED to ask the livingto make dua for them but the dead cannot do this. The dead wishes he could comeback to life just to say subhanAllah. One is allowed to seek a means ofcloseness to Allah through His Names and Attributes. There are some thingspeople do that may not be shirk but may fall into bidah; for example, gettingcloser to Allah using the status of the Prophet. Is this allowed?

The ulama have a number ofapproaches. It is not necessarily shirk but it is not something the Prophetencouraged therefore one should avoid it.

When Allah mentions the idols insurah an Najm, He is rebuking it. These were the three biggest idols for theArabs.

The last evidence mentioned wasthe hadith: The Prophet rebuked them saying these are the way of other peoplenot from us. We take from this hadith, the dangers of imitating kuffar

Next benefit, seeking blessingsfrom rocks, trees or righteous people is shirk. The changing of names doesn’tchange the reality of the matter, regardless of what names people give tothings.

The Fourth Principle


That the Mushrikeen of our time areworse in their shirk than the Mushrikeen who came before. This is because thosewho came before committed their shirk during times of ease and made theirworship purely for Allah during times of hardship. However, the shirk of theMushrikeen of our time is continuous, during times of ease and hardship. Theproof is the saying of the Most High: And when they embark on a ship theyinvoke Allah making their faith pure for Him only, but when He brings them safelyto land, behold, the give a share of their worship to others. [Ankabut:65.]

The Mushrikoon in our time areworse in shirk than those that were in the Prophet’s sallalahu alayhi wa sallamtime. The previous mushrikoon would become sincere to Allah when life wasdifficult and they would not invoke anyone else but Allah, because of theirknowledge because no-one can save you except Allah. As for the mushrikoonduring the time of the Shaykh, they would commit shirk in times of ease anddifficulty and then they stay upon that shirk. For this reason, he says themushrikoon of this day and age are much worse than that which preceded, Theyare all mushrikoon, and they will all be in the fire but the level ofassociating partners is that much worse in this day and age than that wasbefore.

Summary:

During the Prophet, they used toturn to Allah in times of difficulty. As for the mushrikoon of this times, theycommit shirk in both times.


And Allah, Subhanahu, knows best. And may the prayers of Allah be upon Muhammad,his family and his companions.

We complete the book and seekAllah’s reward. All good you take from here is from Allah and any mistakes are from myself.