Taking other entities as means of love for Allah

[M H Kahn]

Generally speaking, by Muslims ( submitters to Allah) we mean people who believe in the six pillars of faith and adhere to the four pillars of worship. But alongside these basic faith and duties, some people, the number is alarmingly on the increase, call other good people, who have passed away, and request them to ask Allah for their welfare in this world such as for giving wealth, victory in a case in the court, a child and so on. Some people pray directly to the grave-dwellers to fulfil their demands themselves (the grave-dwellers). These people generally visit the their graves and address them as "Father". Approaching near the grave, they say maybe like this:"O Father ! Ask Allah to give me a son, wealth, relief from illness" or like this: "O Father ! Give me a son, give me this or that." A third category people maybe praying from near the saints' graves like this: "O Allah I have come near to your beloved slave whom you have loved. O Allah give me a son, so and so for his sake." These are the people who take others as their intercessors to Allah in this world. This is tantamont to worshipping those saints in addition to the worship of Allah.

Allah says:
"And there are some among men who take for themselves objects of worship besides Allah, whom they love as they love Allah, and those who believe are stronger in love for Allah and O, that those who are unjust had seen, when they see the chastisement, that the power is wholly Allah's and that Allah is severe in requiting (evil)." [2:165]

"And they worship besides Allah things that hurt 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 be He above all that which they associate as partners with Him! " (10:18)

How they will face Allah in the Hereafter:
"And truly you have come unto Us alone (without wealth, companions or anything else) as We created you the first time. You have left behind you all that which We had bestowed on you. We see not with you your intercessors whom you claimed to be partners with Allah. Now all relations between you and them have been cut off, and all that you used to claim has vanished from you. " [6:94]

[Dawud_uk]

assalaamu alaykum,

i was told that Sheikh ul islam - ibn Taymiyyah said asking Allah on behalf the deeds of another was a blameworthy innovation but not shirk?

has anyone else heard this or not?

assalaamu alaykum,
Daw'ud

[M H Kahn]

Some scholars say that asking anything to Allah for the sake of some entities in His creation is an innovation, not shirk. But, as warned by Mohammed (pbuh), every innovation is a misguidance. My question is why should a believer take recourse to innovation wherefrom originates most of the shirks and kufr and which brings no good but sins?

If you believe that Allah is all-powerful over all things here and hereafter and He has no assistant or partner with any power shared with Him, and after knowing this when you ask Allah for something for the sake of others, you practically reject through your acts the declaration of Allah that he has no partner in His power. This is an indirect association of partners with Allah.

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

:sl:

Kitaab At-Tawheed, Chapter: 29

Allah's Words: And Among the People Are Those Who Take [for Worship] Partners Besides Allah

Allah , says:

" And among the people are those who take [for worship] partners besides Allah; they love them as they should love Allah, but those of faith are greater in their love for Allah. If only the evil-doers could see. Behold! They would see the punishment: That to Allah belongs all power, and Allah will strongly enforce the punishment" (Qur'an 2:165)

Allah , Most Glorified, Most High, informs us in this verse that some of the people set up partners with Allah , whom they love and glorify as they do Allah . Then Allah makes it clear that the Believers love Allah more, for their love is a pure unadulterated love, which is only for Allah , while the love of the polytheists is corrupted and spoiled by their equal love of the other deities whom they have taken as partners with Allah . Then Allah warns that those polytheists, when they see the punishment that is theirs on the Day of Resurrection, will know that all power belongs to Allah and that His punishment is condign.

Benefits Derived From This Verse

1. That love of Allah is a form of worship.
2. The love of the polytheists for Allah does not benefit them at all because of their shirk.
3. That shirk invalidates one's deeds.
4. That pure love for Allah is sign of true faith.
5. Confirmation of Allah's Divine Attribute of Power.

Relevance of This Verse to the Subject of the Chapter and to the Subject of Tawheed

That it proves that whoever loves someone or something as much as Allah , has set up a partner with Allah and this is an act of shirk.

Important Note
In order that there should be no confusion in this matter, it is important to point out that love falls into two categories: (i) That which is pure, and that is worshipful love which necessitates humility, submissiveness, exaltation and complete obedience; none has the right to such love except Allah ; (ii) The second kind of love is shared love: This includes natural love, such as the love of certain foods, certain aromas, etc., the love of family, such as that of a child for his parents and vice versa, and the love that a person may have for a friend. Such love may come and go, strengthen and weaken, unlike the first category, for it is incumbent upon us to love Allah to the utmost of our ability.

..ooOOoo..

Allah , says:

" Say: "If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline and the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard, and fighting in His Cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision - and Allah guides not the rebellious" (Qur'an 9:24)

In this verse, Allah , Most Glorified, Most High, commands His Prophet, Muhammad

to make plain to the people that whoever places his love of worldly things above his love of Allah , and His Prophet

and defence of his religion, verily, he will see what awaits him of chastisement from Allah , because Allah does not grant success to those who do not submit themselves to Him Alone.

Benefits Derived From This Verse

1. The forbiddance of placing one's love of worldly things above one's love of Allah .
2. The permissibility of love for such things as long as it does not interfere with one's love for Allah .
3. That love of Allah and His Messenger

are both obligatory, and love of one without the other is not acceptable.
4. That the guidance of success comes only from Allah and no other.

Relevance of This Verse to the Subject of the Chapter
That it proves the prohibition of placing one's love of worldly things above that of Allah .

Relevance of This Verse to the Subject of Tawheed
That it proves the obligation to love Allah and His Messenger

; therefore, this kind of love is an act of worship, and directing worship to other than Allah is shirk.

..ooOOoo..

On the authority of Anas , it is reported that Allah's Messenger

said:

"None of you truly believes until I am more beloved by him than his sons, his father and all of mankind." (Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim)

Allah's Messenger

informs us in this Hadith that none has complete faith, nor can he achieve the necessary level of faith by which he may enter Paradise without punishment, unless and until he places his love of the Prophet

before his love of parents, children and all mankind. This is because love of the Messenger of Allah

means love of Allah , for the Messenger

is the one who brings to us Allah's Revelation and Guidance to His Religion and love of Allah and His Messenger

is not true unless it leads to the implementation of all of Allah's Laws and abstinence from all that He has forbidden - and love of Allah's Messenger

is not demonstrated merely by singing his praises or by celebrating his birthday, which is a despicable innovation unknown to the Prophet

and his Companions.

Benefits Derived From This Hadith

1. That the negation of complete faith in this Hadith does not necessitate exclusion from the fold of Islam.
2. That deeds are a part of faith, for love is an action of the heart.
3. The obligation to place one's love of the Messenger

before love of parents, children and all of mankind.

Relevance of This Hadith to the Subject of the Chapter
That it proves the obligation of placing one's love of Allah and His Messenger

before love of all others.

Relevance of This Hadith to the Subject of Tawheed
That it proves the obligation of placing one's love of Allah and His Messenger

before that of all others; this proves that love is an act of worship and directing an act of worship to other than Allah is an act of worship.

..ooOOoo..

Also reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Anas (ra) is that he said: "Allah's Messenger

said:

"Whoever possesses the following three qualities will have the sweetness of faith: (i) The one to whom Allah and His Messenger

are more loved than anything else; (ii) the one who loves a person purely and solely for Allah's sake; and (iii) the one who hates to return to kufr after Allah has saved him, as he would hate to be thrown into the Fire." and in another narration: "None of you will find the sweetness of faith until..."

Allah's Messenger

informs us in this Hadith that faith has a sweetness, and that this sweetness will not be experienced by any except him who places his love of Allah and His Messenger

before that of all others and who does not love anyone except for Allah's sake and none other, and who hates disbelief and the idea of returning to it as much as he hates the Hell-fire and as much as he would hate to be thrown into it.

Benefits Derived From This Hadith

1. Confirmation of the sweetness of faith and that it is not achieved by every Believer.
2. The obligation of placing love of Allah and His Messenger

above love of all others.
3. The permissibility of referring to Allah and His Messenger

together.
4. That loving a person for Allah's sake is a part of faith.
5. The obligation to hate kufr and its adherents.

Relevance of This Hadith to the Subject of the Chapter

That the Hadith proves the obligation to love Allah and His Messenger

more than all others.

Relevance of This Hadith to the Subject of the Chapter

That the Hadith proves that placing one's love of Allah and His Messenger

before love of all others is an obligation which shows that love is a form of worship and directing an act of worship to other than Allah is shirk.

..ooOOoo..

It is reported on the authority of Ibn `Abbas (ra) that he said: "Whoever loved for Allah's sake and hated for Allah's sake and befriended for Allah's sake and showed enmity for Allah's sake, will achieve by this Allah's friendship and the slave will not attain the real taste of eemaan (faith), even though he may pray much and fast much, until he does all these things. Today, most of the people maintain relationships and love only for some worldly reason, but this will not profit them anything (on the Day of Judgement)." (Narrated by Ibn Jareer At-Tabari)

Relevance of This Narration to the Subject of the Chapter and to the Subject of Tawheed
That it shows that Ibn `Abbas considered that love is a form of worship and directing an act of worship to other than Allah is shirk.
Ibn `Abbas (ra) said, concerning Allah's Words:

" And all relations between them would be cut off" (Qur'an 2:166)

that it refers to relations of love.

Relevance of This Narration to the Subject of the Chapter and to the Subject of Tawheed

That it shows that Ibn `Abbas (ra) explained this verse as follows: That if love is not for Allah's sake, it will be wasted and a source of loss to the one who loved on the Day of Judgement for it is tantamount to shirk.

:w:

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[M H Kahn]

What about calling the grave-dwellers as "Father" like the grave of Khwaja Mainuddin Chisti (ra) at Ajmeer in India where millions of devotees, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, go singings "None comes back empty-handed from the court of Father Khwaja................"?

[al-fateh]

father?

it sound more like a christian term

however in india their is a big debate going around how much culture and religion mix like no other country

[Ibn Abi Ahmed]

What about calling the grave-dwellers as "Father" like the grave of Khwaja Mainuddin Chisti (ra) at Ajmeer in India where millions of devotees, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, go singings "None comes back empty-handed from the court of Father Khwaja................"?

:sl:

heh...u shud watch QTV...every other minute their talking about it. All of these shrines ought to be broken down to the ground and the graves levelled with the earth.

"Do not leave any image without erasing it, nor any elevated grave without leveling it to the ground." (Narrated by Muslim)

:w:

[snakelegs]

A third category people maybe praying from near the saints' graves like this: "O Allah I have come near to your beloved slave whom you have loved. O Allah give me a son, so and so for his sake." These are the people who take others as their intercessors to Allah in this world. This is tantamont to worshipping those saints in addition to the worship of Allah.
]

i am not here to argue - i don't know enough - but i'm confused.
i can't understand how the above could possibly be shirk. it would be like non-muslims sometimes accuse muslims of worshipping the ka'aba. in this example, the worship is clearly to god alone - he is clearly not addressing the saint - he is clearly worshipping god. how is he elevating the saint to a partner to god?
i would agree that an intercessor is not necessary, but why is it wrong when the intercessor is clearly not the one prayed to or worshipped?
so is this why the saudis have destroyed so many graves of important figures in islamic history?

[M H Kahn]

Do not leave any image without erasing it, nor any elevated grave without leveling it to the ground." (Narrated by Muslim)

Subhanallah! There is a clear Hadith on the matter, which I did not know.Thanks for the pain taken to inform of this, while your real reward is with Allah !