Four Basic Quranic Terms (Quran ki Char Bunyadi Istalahein) By Syed Abul-Ala Maududi
Four Basic Quranic Terms
(Quran ki Char Bunyadi Istalahein)
By Syed Abul-Ala Maududi
Preface
Introduction
Four Basic Terms
Importance
Why the Misapprehensions
The Consequences
Chapter
1: ILAH
Dictionary Meanings
The Pre-Islamic Concept
The Criterion for Godhood
The Qur'anic Approach
Chapter
2: RABB
The General Meanings
Qur'anic Uses of the Word
False Notions about Rububiyyah
Hazrat Nuh's People
The 'Aad People
The Thamud
The People of Hazrat Ibrahim and Namrud
Lot's People
Shu'aib's People
The Pharaoh and his People
The Jews and Christians
The Meccan Pagans
The Message of the Qur'an
Chapter
3: IBADAH
The Qur'anic Use of the Term
Chapter
4: DEEN
First and Second Sense
The Third Sense
The Fourth Sense
As a Comprehensive Term
PREFACE
Those
of us who have been familiar with Maulana Maududi's writings from the beginning
are aware that, at the start, he confined himself mainly to the fundamentals,
trying to scrub away the centuries old crusts which had dimmed the true Islamic
concepts and to remove the misunderstandings that had spread gradually
regarding the basic principles and purpose of Islam. His book, Qur'an Ki Char
Bunyadi Istilahen, which originally appeared in his monthly Urdu magazine,
Tarjuman-ul-Qur'an, was one such effort, the intention being to remove the
misunderstandings which had come to prevail widely concerning four basic
Qur'anic terms, Ilah, Rabb, Deen and 'Ibadah, and to bring out their true
connotations by reference direct to the Qur'an itself.
Although
it took us some time to get round to the job, we on our part were able to start
bringing out an English translation of the book in the Academy's monthly
journal, The Criterion. We are glad that it has since been possible for us to
bring out the whole translation in book form, after an extensive revision which
we hope would have helped in improving the sense and making it clearer.
I
feel sure that this book will help all those who wish to acquaint themselves
with Qur'anic teachings as to the sense in which Muslims should regard Allah
Almighty as the Ilah and the Rabb, His Deen as the way of life meant by Him for
man, and 'Ibadah as the primary purpose of His creation of man.
Brother
Abu Asad, a research fellow in the Academy has done a nice job-and quite
painstaking too in rendering the book into English. May Allah accept and reward
his efforts.
A.H.
Syed Manawar Hasan
C.E. Secretary General
Islamic Research Academy
Karachi
Introduction
Four Basic Quranic Terms
Ilah,
Rabb, Deen and 'Ibadah, are four terms basic to the whole teaching of the Qur'an.
Through-out its pages, it stresses again and again that Allah Almighty is the
Rabb and the Ilah ;that there is no ilah but He, nor is there any other rabb,
nor does He share with anyone else the qualities and attributes implied by
these terms. He, and He alone should therefore be accepted as one's Ilah and
Rabb, and no- one else should in the least be believed to possess the
attributes which these words imply. It also demands that we should give our
ibadah to Him and Him alone, and not to anyone else, and make our deen
exclusive to Him and reject all other deens !
And
to every Messenger We ordained before you (O Prophet), the message which We
gave for himself and for others) was none other than that "There is no
Ilah but Myself, and therefore give your 'ibadah to Ms alone. " (Quran
21:31)
....,And
(they) were not Ordered except to give their 'ibadah to one Ilah, only ; there
is no ilah except He, (end) He is free of (the taint of) what they attribute to
Him by their shirk (that is, by associating others with Him in His exclusive
qualities and attributes). (Quran 9 : 31)
Verily
this Brotherhood of the Prophets is single Brotherhood, and I am the Rabb of
you all, wherefore give your 'ibadah to Me alone. (Quran 21:92)
Say'
to them (0 Prophet) : Would you have me seek-for rabb any other then Allah, and
He the Rabb of everything there is ! (Quran 6 : 164)
So,
whosoever yearns to meet his Rabb, let him do good deeds, and let him not mix
up his ibadah of Him with that of any other(s). (Quran 18:110)
And
indeed we raised a Messenger in every people that they should give their
'ibadah to Allah, and abstain severely from giving it to taghoot. [ Literally,
this word can apply to a person who commits any kind of transgression. In the
sense in which it is used in the Qur'an it denotes a person who transgresses
the limits prescribed by his status as a creation of God, who sets himself up
as a god and makes the people treat him as such. There are three degrees of
transgression or rebellion of a human being vis-a-vis God. The first is that,
so far as the principle of the thing is concerned, a person believes in
obedience to God to be the right course, but when it comes to deeds, he
disobeys. This is known as fisq ... The second is that he should give up
obedience to God as a matter of principle and either do as he pleases or obey
someone else (in the sense in which one owes obedience to God). This is Kufr.
The third is that not only does he rebel against God, denying Him and His right
to lay down the law for man but also begins to make his own law prevail in the
land. It is the person who reaches this third stage who is a Taghoot and no
person can be a Mu'min of Allah in the real sense unless he repudiates Taghoot.
A.A. Maududi (Note by the Translator: From the point of view as last explained
all those "Muslim" heads of state who deliberately substituted any
portion of Islamic by non-Islamic law fall naturally to the category of
Taghoots, no matter how much they might protest their devotion to Islam and
their professed desire for the glory of Muslims, though in the latter case the
glory, actually sought is only that of their own notion and the means advocated
are often either a return to their pre-Islamic culture or the adoption of the
present day decadent Western culture. Abu Asad)] (Quran 16 : 30)
Do
you wish for some deen other than' Allah's, (and this despite the fact that to
Him submits all there is in the Heavens and in or upon the Earth, willingly or
unwilling, and all are to return unto Him? (Quran 3 : 83)
Say
(O Prophet) :The Injunction laid upon me is to give my 'ibadah to Allah, and
reserve my deen exclusively for Him. (Quran 38 : 11)
Verily
Allah is my Rabb, and is yours too; therefore, give your worship to Him
alone-that (truly is the only real) straight path. (Quran 3 :61)
The
verses quoted above are just by way of example, and not the only ones of their
kind. Whosoever makes more than a cursory study of the Qur'an will soon realize
that the entire contents revolve round these four terms only, and that the
central idea of the whole book is that : Allah is the Rabb, and the Ilah ;
No-one else possesses the qualities and attributes implied by these terms;
Wherefore men should give their 'ibadah to Him and Him alone ;and one's deen
should be exclusively for Him with no share of it for any other.
Importance
It
should however be obvious even from the quotations given that it is essential
for proper comprehension of the teachings of the Qur'an fully to understand the
implications of these four terms. The Qur'an will in fact lose its whole
meaning for anyone who does not know what is meant by ilah or rabb, what
constitutes 'iba'dah, and what the Qur'an means when it uses the word deen. He
will fail to learn what Tawhid (belief in the One-ness of Allah in the fullest
sense) is, or what constitutes its anti-thesis, that is, shirk (the attribution
to others, either wholly or partially, of any of Allah's exclusive qualities or
attributes).
It
will not be possible for him to make his 'ibadah, or his deen, exclusive for
Allah alone. And little better than such a completely ignorant man would be the
one who has only a vague idea of what the terms imply, because in that case the
whole teaching of the Qur'an will remain vague and incomplete for him, and both
his belief and his conduct will fatally leave much to be desired. He will no
doubt keep on reciting the words of the kalimah, and even explain that it means
that there is no ilah but Allah, and yet, in practice, he will keep treating
many another to be an ilah too. He will go through life proclaiming that there
is no rabb but Allah, and yet for all that there will be many whom he will be
treating as rabbs. He will protest, and affirm, with all seriousness and
sincerity, that he does not give his 'ibadah to any but Allah, and will yet keep
giving to others unknowingly, If anyone even so much as hints that he has any
other deen, he would feel offended enough to come to blows with the accuser,
and yet in practice. he will unwittingly be giving his allegiance to many
another deen. No-one will ever hear him actually use the words Allah or rabb in
respect of any but in the specific sense in which the words have been employed
in the Qur'an, but he will be conducting himself as if he had many an ila'h and
many a rabb though without realizing this just like the person who never
realized until he was specifically fold that he had been uttering prose all his
life; If someone were to tell him in so many words that he was giving his
'ibadah to others, and thus committing shirk, he might resent this strongly and
even quarrel violently, but according to the criteria applicable he will
unconsciously have been living as a worshiper of others as an adherent of the
deens of others, without ever suspecting that in fact was the case.
Why the Misapprehensions ?
The
reason why the misapprehensions hinted at above have come into existence is a
historical one. When the Qur'an was first presented to the Arabs they all knew
what was meant by ilah or rabb as both the words were already current in their
language. They were not new terms, nor were any new meanings put upon them.
They knew fully well what the connotations were and so, when it was said that
Allah alone is the IIah, and the Rabb and that no-one has the least share in
the qualities and attributes which the words denote, they at once comprehended
the full import, understood completely without any doubt or uncertainty as to
what specifically was being declared to Pertain to Allah exclusively and what
was being hence denied to others. Those who opposed the precept were. very
clear in their minds as to the implications of denying others than Allah to be
ilahs or rabbs, in any sense, while those who accepted it knew equally well
what they would have to give up by their acceptance and what they would forgo.
Similarly,
the words 'ibadah and deen were in common use, and the people knew what was
meant by 'abd, what state was implied by 'uboodiyyah (the state of being an
'abd) what kind of conduct was referred to when the word 'ibadah was used, and
what was the sense of the term deen. So, when they were told to give up the
'ibadah of all others and reserve it exclusively for Allah, and give up all
other deens and enter into the Deen of Allah only, they felt no difficulty in
concluding what the Qur'anic d'awah (message) implied and the drastic
revolution in their way of life it sought to bring about.
But
as centuries passed, the real meanings of these terms gradually under went
subtle changes so that, in course of time, instead of the full connotations,
they came to stand for only very limited meanings or restricted and rather
vague concepts. One reason was the gradual decline of interest in the Arabic
language and the other that the words ceased to have the same meanings for the
later generations of Muslims that they had for the original Arabs to whom the
Qur'an had been revealed. It is for these two reasons that in the more recent
lexicons and commentaries many of the Qur'anic words began to be explained not
by their original sense but by what they had by then come to stand for, e.g.,
The word ilah, as used in respect of others than God, came to be synonymous
with idols or gods; The word rabb came to mean only someone who brings up or
rears or feeds another or provides for his worldly needs ; 'Ibadah began to be
understood as the performance of a set of rituals of "worship" ; Deen
began to mean a religion, or belief in some precepts ; and The word Taghtoot
began to be translated to mean an idol or the Devil.
The
result obviously was that it became difficult for people to get at the real
message of the Qur'an. The Qur'an asks people not to regard any other than
Allah as an ilah. People thought that since they had actually given up the
worship of idols or of others regarded as gods, they had fulfilled the
requirements, although in practice they have in fact gone on treating others as
gods, but without the least suspicion crossing their minds that they were
actually doing so. The Qur'an had asked that men should not acknowledge any
other than God as rabb. The people thought that since they did not profess
anyone else to be a rabb, they had complied with the full requirements of the
concept of Tawhid. True enough, their oral professions or even their own
understanding of their beliefs and actions, denoted that for them Allah was the
one and only Rabb, but they little realized that by their actions they were
instead according to many another too the status of rabb. They protested that
they no longer worshiped the idols, that they uttered curses on the Devil, and
prostrated themselves before Allah only, and so here too they were doing all
that the Qur'an required of them. And yet, how far they were from that ! All
they did was to give up the idols shaped by the hands of men, but not any of
the other Taghoots, and as for 'ibadah, here too, except for the formalities
generally associated with worship, they continued giving it to many others
besides Allah. The same has been the case with deen. To reserve it exclusively
for Allah -came to mean to profess only the "religion of Islam," and
not any of the other religions known as such, and this was all that was
required and whosoever did this had satisfied the criterion of exclusiveness,
although when looked at from the wider connotation of the word deen the
majority fall far, far short of the criterion.
The Consequences
This
being the case, is it any wonder that, through the mist that has come to
surround the precise sense of the four terms in question, more than
three-fourths of the teachings of the Qur'an, or rather, the real spirit
thereof, have become obscured, and this is the main cause of the shortcomings
that are to be seen in peoples' beliefs and acts despite the fact that they
have not formally given up the faith of Islam but are still in its fold. It is
therefore of utmost importance that in order to have a full and complete
understanding of the Qur'anic teachings and of their central idea, one should
know, as a fundamental to being a good Muslim, what these terms really mean.
Although
I have given explanations of these terms in many earlier writings, they are not
enough to remove all the misconceptions in peoples' minds, nor are they likely
to satisfy everybody because, in the absence of full semantic explanations
based on recognized Arabic usage, and quotations from the Qur'an itself, I might
be taken as expressing my own opinion only, an opinion which in any case will
not appeal to those who differ with me on other issues. I shall therefore
endeavor, in the forthcoming discussions, to extensively quote the dictionary
sense of the words, and not say anything which I cannot base either on
recognized usage, or the Qur'an. The order I shall follow will be Ila'h, Rabb,
Ibadah, and Deen.
Chapter 1. ILAH
Dictionary Meanings
The
root of this word consists of the three letters, alif, lam, and ha and the
connotations of various derivations, as one finds in lexicons are as follows:
•
Became confused or perplexed.
•
Achieved peace and mental calm by seeking refuge with someone or establishing
relations with him.
•
Became frightened of some impending mishap or disaster, and someone gave him
the necessary shelter.
•
Turned to another eagerly, due to the intensity of his feelings for him.
•
The lost offspring of the she-camel rushed to snuggle up to its mother on
finding it. Became hidden, or concealed. Also, got elevated.
•
Adored, offered worship to.
If
we reflect upon these original meanings, we can gain the necessary idea of how
the verb came to mean the act of worship and the noun to denote the object of
worship. There are four considerations to bear in mind in this connection:
1.
Foremost among the factors which engender a sentiment of some degree of
adoration for some one is a person's own state of being in distress or need. He
cannot even conceive of worshiping someone unless he has reason to believe that
someone to be in a position to remove his distress, to fulfil his needs, to
give him shelter and protect him in time of danger, and soothe his troubled
heart.
2.
It goes without saying that the above belief is accompanied by a belief also in
the superiority of the other in status, power, and strength.
3.
It is also a matter of fact that where any of the needs of a human being are
met under the ordinary process of give and take, which takes place perceptibly
before one's own eyes, it leads to no sense of reverence, much less of
adoration, for the other. For example, if I should be in need of money and,
having applied for, and been given a job, am paid for it, since the whole
transaction would take place within the full ken of my senses, and I would be fully
aware of the circumstances or the reason for giving me the money, I would
experience not the slightest desire to offer my employer any adoration. That
sentiment arises only when there is some element of mystery surrounding the
personality, the power, or the ability of the other to fulfil peoples' needs or
to influence events. That is why the word chosen to denote an object of worship
includes in its meanings the senses of mystery, perplexity, and superiority in
status, etc.
4.
Lastly, it is only natural that if one believes another to be in a position to
fulfill one's needs, to provide shelter and protection, to soothe a disturbed
heart and fill it with peace and calm, one turns eagerly to that person as a
matter of course.
We
may therefore safely conclude from the above that the connotation of the word
ilah includes the capacities to fulfil the needs of others, to give them
shelter and protection, to relieve their minds of distress and agitation,
superiority, and the requisite authority and power to do all these, to be
mysterious in some way or hidden from men's eyes, and the turning of men
eagerly to him.
The Pre-Islamic Concept
Having
discussed the various literal senses of the word, let us now see what the
pre-Islamic concepts of ilah were, and which of these the Qur'an strove to
reject:
And
they have taken for their ilahs others than Allah, that they may according to
their reckoning be a source of strength to them (or that coming under their
protection may confer security). (Quran 19 : 81)
And
they have taken others than Allah as their ilahs hoping that they might be
helped when needed. (Quran 36:74)
From
these two verses we learn that the Arabs of the Jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic
period of Ignorance) believed that those whom they regarded as ilahs were their
patrons, would come to their rescue in time of danger or difficulty, and that
by placing themselves under their protection they rendered themselves safe from
fear, molestation or harm.
And
when the Decree of your Lord had gone forth (and the time came for its
execution), the ilahs they used to invoke instead of Allah proved of no avail
to them and contributed only to their doom. (Quran 11 : 101)
And
those whom the people call to instead of Allah have not created aught, but are
themselves creatures. Dead they are, and not alive, and they know not when they
would be raised from their state, the real ilah is the One and Only Ilah.
(Quran 18 : 20-21)
Invoke
not; or pray to, any ilah along with Allah. There is no ilah but He. [ It
should be borne in mind that the word Ilah is used in the Qur'an in two
different senses, namely, the object or being, etc., to whom worship is
actually being given, irrespective of whether rightly or wrongly, and the Being
who is really worthy of worship. In this verse, the word is used in the first
sense on the first occasion and in the other sense on the second. -A.A.Maududi]
(Quran 28 : 88)
....And
those who, instead of praying to Allah, pray to His supposed associates do but
follow suppositions and idle guesses. (Quran 10:66)
These
verses point to three aspects. The first is that the Arabs used to address
their prayers to those whom they regarded as their ilahs and invoke them in
times of distress or for fulfilment of any of their needs. The second is that
these ilahs included not only Jinns, angels, and gods, but dead humans too, as
one can see from the second of the above verses. The third is that they
believed that these ilahs could hear their prayers and could come to their
rescue.
It
seems desirable to clear up one point, at this stage, about the nature of the
prayer made to the ilah or ilahs and the help or succour sought of them. If I
feel thirsty, and call to my servant to give me some water, or am unwell and
call for a doctor for treatment, my summons to them does not constitute du'a,
that is, it has no similarity to a prayer sent up to a deity, nor does this
make either the servant or the doctor into an ilah. Both these are common, in
everyday happenings, with nothing of the supernatural about them. However, if I
should, while feeling thirsty or unwell, call to some saint or god instead of
the servant or a doctor, that obviously would amount to treating the saint or
god as an ilah and to my addressing a du'a to him. Addressing a prayer to a saint
confined to his grave hundreds or even thousands of miles away [ In point of
principle, it makes no difference if the distance were of a few feet only, the
significant point being the act of addressing a prayer to someone who is dead
and is believed to possess, even in, or perhaps because of that state, some
extraordinary powers not only of hearing the prayer but also of granting it if
he so chooses. It is also believed that the saint may, if he cannot himself
grant the prayer, pass it up to God with a recommendation. A.A.Maududi] clearly
indicates that I believe him- though dead--to be possessed of the power to
listen to a prayer at such a distance or to otherwise being aware of things so
far off or, if one may use the appropriate Arabic words, to be both samee and
baseer [ Literally, these words, which are actually two of Allah's personal
attributes, mean, the All-Hearing the A11-Seeing, respectively. God's knowledge
transcends everything, and He is aware of everything that is happening
anywhere. This is not the case with His creatures, whose capacities in these
respects are severely limited. To believe someone other than God to have power
to physically hear prayer offered out of his hearing or to see things happening
out of his sight amounts to attributing to him powers which are God's only, and
which He has never given to any of His creatures. A.A.M.]. My action would
clearly imply belief in their exercising such a way over the realm of creation
as to be able to have water reach me or to make me recover from my illness. In
the case of a god, my prayer would mean that I believe him to possess power
over water and over health and sickness, and to therefore arrange, by
supernatural means, to fulfill my needs. Thus, the basis on which a prayer is
addressed to someone includes necessarily a concept of his being possessed of
some supernatural authority and power.
And,
verily, We did destroy the places of which you see ruins about you, and We
showed them Our signs in diverse ways that they might turn (away from their
wrong ways to Us). So why did not those whom they had made their ilahs, and
presumed to have access to Us, help them in their hour of doom? Far from
helping, they abandoned them and made themselves scarce, exposing the hollowness
of their falsehoods and fabrications. (Quran 46 : 27, 28)
And
wherefore should I not give my worship to Him who created me and to Whom all of
you will return? Should I take for myself ilah other than Allah Who, should He
Who is also Ar-Rahman wish me any harm, will avail me naught by their
intercession, nor will they be able to come to my rescue? (Quran 36 : 22-23)
And
those who have taken others than Allah as protectors or helpers say, "We
do not worship them except that they may bring us closer to Him." Allah
will decide for them on the Day of Judgement regarding that in which they
differ. (Quran 39 : 3)
And
they worship other than Allah those who have power neither to harm nor benefit
them, and they say that they are their intercessors with Him. (Quran 10 : 18)
What
we learn from these verses is, firstly, that it was not that the Arabs believed
their ilahs to account for the whole of divinity among themselves or that there
was no Supreme Being over and above them. They quite clearly believed in the
existence of such a Being for whom they employed the special Proper name of
''Allah." As for their ilahs, their belief consisted essentially of the
concept that they enjoyed some share in the divinity of the Supreme God, that their
word carried some weight with Him, and that their intercession could result in
some gains or ward off some harm or loss. It was on these grounds that they
regarded them as ilahs besides Allah and, considering their precept and
practice, we may say that it was the belief about someone to have power to
intercede with God, the act of addressing of prayers to him for help, the
performing of certain devotions indicative of respect and reverence and
adoration, and the making of offerings, that constituted in their terminology,
the treating of Him as ilah. And God said: "Do not make two ilahs; there
is but one ilah; So, fear Me alone." (Quran 16:51)
And
(Ibrahim said to them): I fear not those you associate with God. Any harm can
come to me only if He should will it, and not otherwise (through any or all of
your supposed gods). (Quran 6 : 81)
(And
said Hud's people to him:) All we think of you is that you are under the curse
of someone or other of our ilahs. (Quran 11 : 54)
According
to these verses, the Arab belief about their ilahs was that if they should give
them any cause for offence or should otherwise be deprived of their favors and
attentions, they would suffer epidemics, famine, lose of life and property, or
other calamities.
They
made their religious scholars and rabbis their rabbs instead of Allah, and
Jesus son of Mary too into one, although they had been told to worship but one
ilah only, besides Whom there is no ilah at all. (Quran 9 : 31)
Have
you noticed the men who has made his selfish desires his ilah? Can you assume
any responsibility about such a one? (Quran 25 : 43)
And
in this wise did the supposed gods of pagans make infanticide appear an
approved act in their eyes. (Quran 6 : 138)
What!
Have they partners in godhood who have established for them some religion
without sanction from Gods? (Quran 42 : 21)
Here
we have yet another concept of ilah very different from those dealt with above.
Here there is no element of the supernatural. The ilah here is some human
being, or man's own selfish ego or selfish desires. No prayers are offered to
it, nor is it regarded as being in a position to will any harm or benefit to
someone nor is it looked to for help or succour. It is an ilah in the sense
that its dictates are accepted and obeyed to such extent that that which it
declares to be permitted or prohibited is treated as such, and it is deemed to
have an inherent right to make us do or not do certain things, with no higher
or superior authority whose approval might be necessary for its orders or which
might be appealed to against them.
The
first verse we have quoted here (Quran 9:31) speaks of religious scholars and
rabbis having been made into ilahs. We get a very lucid explanation of this in
Hadith. Hazrat 'Adi bin Hatim once asked the Holy Prophet, on whom be peace,
about the verse, and in reply the Prophet told him that whet was characterized
as taking as ilahs was the practice of accepting as permitted or prohibited
anything pronounced as such by the scholars or rabbis, without caring to
ascertain what God had actually said about it.
As
for the second verse, (Quran 25:43) the meaning is clear enough. He who obeys
only the dictates of his selfish desires or inclinations or, rather regards his
personal views as the only law, in effect makes his self his ilah instead of
God.
The
last two verses use the word shuraka which we have translated as supposed gods
or partners, in godhood, but although the word ilah has not been used, the
implication clearly is that to treat any beings, etc., as shuraka amounts, in
effect, to believing them to have a share in divinity. The import of these
verses is that those who regard any custom or rule or practice as permissible
although it has no divine sanction, are guilty of treating the originators of
the custom, etc., as having a share in divinity, i. e., of treating them as
ilahs.
The Criterion for Godhood
There
is a clear logical inter-connection between all the different concepts of ilah
set out above. Whosoever regards any other person or being to be his helper or
patron in the supernatural sense, or capable of solving his problems or
fulfilling his needs, of hearing and granting his prayers, or of doing him harm
or good, does so only because he believes that Person or being to enjoy some
measure of authority in the management of the universe.
Similarly,
if a person's avoidance of certain actions or performance of others is governed
by the hope or fear that they would win him the pleasure or displeasure of some
other person or being, he does so obviously because of belief that that person
or being possesses some kind of supernatural authority in shaping the affairs
of men. As for him who believes in God and yet turns to others for the
fulfilment of his needs, he too can do so only because he believes them to have
some share in God's authority. And, lastly, no different is the case of the
person who accords the status of law to the commandments of someone other than
God, and binds himself to obey the injunctions or prohibitions of that someone,
for he in effect thereby accords him supreme authority. We can therefore safely
conclude that the essence of godhood is authority, whether it is conceived as
sovereignty of a supernatural kind over the whole universe, or on the basis
that man is bound by God's law in his worldly life and that all of His
injunctions are to be complied with because they emanate from Him.
The Qur'anic Approach
It
is this very concept of authority on the basis of which the Qur'an expends the
whole force of its argument in rejecting the claims to godhood of all others
than God, and affirming it to vest exclusively in Him. It categorically asserts
that there is only One Being in the heavens and the earth Who possesses and
exercises all the powers and all the authority. All Creation is His, and
subservient to Him, all grace and blessings flow from Him alone, His alone is
the Word, and in Him alone vest all power and authority. Everything that
exists, whether animate or inanimate, is bound by the laws made by Him and is,
to that extent, subservient and submissive to Him, willingly or unwillingly. No
one besides Him is possessed of any such authority, nor does anyone else
dispose of the affairs of the universe. No one else knows the secrets of the
Creation or its organization or the manner of its proper management. Nor,
lastly, does anyone have the least share in His Sovereignty and Authority.
Therefore, the only reality is that there is no ilah but He and, this being so,
anything that men do on the supposition of anyone else being an ilah in any
sense whatsoever is by its very nature utterly wrong, whether it be the act of
praying to someone, seeking refuge with him, turning to him with hope or fear,
seeking his intercession with God, or treating him as the final authority. All
such relationships which people establish with others ought to exist solely and
exclusively with Allah Almighty, because He alone is the Sovereign of the
Universe.
Let
us now see the Qur'anic treatment of the matter in some detail: And He alone is
the Ilah in the heavens and the Ilah in the earth; and He alone is the
all-Wise, the all-Knowing (that is, He alone possesses the wisdom and the
knowledge required for governing such a Domain). (Quran 43 : 84)
Can
He Who creates, and he who does not, be alike? Have you not sense to realize
this simple fact? ...And those whom the people pray to other than Allah, do not
create anything and are themselves creatures; your ilah is only one Ilah.
(Quran 16 : 17-20)
O
mankind: Call unto mind the grace of God unto you; is there any Creator besides
Allah, to give you sustenance from heaven or earth; there is no ilah but He;
how, then, are you deluded from Truth? (Quran 35 : 3)
Say
(O Prophet) : "Think you, if God took away your hearing and your sight,
and sealed up your hearts (that is, hardened them to the acceptance of any
sensible precept), which ilah is there, besides Allah, who could restore them
to you ?" (Quran 6:46)
And
He is Allah--the God: no god there is but He; To Him alone is due all praise,
in this world and the next; His alone is the Command and Sovereignty, and to
Him alone will you be returned. Say (O Prophet): "Have you ever thought
that, if Allah should make the night continue till Doomsday, which ilah is
there besides Him who could bring you any light? Do you not hearken?" Say
(to them, 0 Prophet): "Has it ever occurred to you that if Allah should
make the day perpetuate over you till Doomsday, who is the ilah other than He
who can give you back night that you may rest in it? Do you not see?"
(Quran 28 : 70-72)
Say
(O Prophet): "Call upon the others whom you fancy, besides Allah; they do
not own even an atom in the heavens or on earth; no sort of share have they
therein, nor is any of them a helper to God. No intercession can avail with
Him, except where He himself permit it in anyone's favor..." (Quran 54 :
22-23)
He
(God) created the heavens and the earth with Truth; He makes the night overlap
the day, and the day overlap the night; He has subjected the sun and the moon
(to His law); each one follows a course for a time appointed... He created you
all from a single person (that is, brought human life into existence); then
created out of him his mates; and sent down for you eight heads of cattle in
pairs; He makes you, in the wombs of your mothers, in stages, one after
another, in three veils of darkness; such is God, your Lord and Creator; to Him
belongs all dominion; there is no god but He; how then, do you get turned
another way?" (Quran 39 : 5-6)
Who
is it who has created the heavens and the earth, and who sends down rain from
the sky? Yea, with it We cause to Brow well-planted orchards full of beauty and
delight; it is not in your power to cause the growth of the trees in them. Can
there be another ilah besides Allah? Nay, they are a people who swerve from
reality. Who has made the earth firm to live upon, made rivers in its midst,
act thereon mountains immovable, and made a separating bar between the two
bodies of flowing water? Can there be another ilah besides Allah? Nay, most of
them know not. Who listens to the (soul) distressed when it calls to Him, and
who relieves its suffering, and make you (mankind) inheritors of the earth-that
is, gives you authority to utilize your purposes? Can there be another ilah
besides Allah? Little it is that you heed. Who guides you through the depths of
darkness on land and sea, and who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings,
of His Mercy in the form of rain? Can there be another ilah besides Allah?--High
is God above what they associate with Him! Who originates Creation, then
repeats it, and who gives you sustenance from heaven and earth? Can there be
another ilah besides Allah? Say, "Bring forth your arguments, if you be in
the right " (Quran 27 : 60-64)
He
(is the One) to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth; no son
has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion; it is He Who created all
things, and ordered them in due proportion. Yet have people taken, besides Him,
gods that can create nothing but are themselves created, that have no control
over harm or good to themselves; nor can they control Death nor Life nor
Resurrection. (Quran 25: 2-3)
To
Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth. How can He have a
son when He had no consort? He it is Who created all things, and He alone has
full knowledge of all things; That is God, your Lord! No god there is but He,
the Creator of all things; Then give your worship to Him; And He it is Who
looks after the safety and wellbeing of all. (Quran 6 : 102-103)
Yet
are there men who take (for worship) others besides God as equals (with Him).
They feel the love for them which they should for God. If only the unrighteous
could but see. Behold, they would seethe penalty: (they then will see) that to
God belongs all power, and God will strongly enforce the Penalty. (Quran 2:165)
Say
(O Prophet): "Do you see what it is you invoke besides God? Show me what
it is they have created on earth, or have they a share in the heavens?...And
who is more astray than one who invokes besides God such as will answer him not
(though he call to him till) the Day of Judgement" (Quran 46 : 4-5)
If
there were, in the heaven and the earth, other gods besides God, there would
have been confusion in both! But glory to Allah, the Lord of the Mighty Throne:
High is He above that they attribute to Him. None there is who can question Him
for His acts, but they (certainly) yet will be questioned for theirs. (Quran 21
: 22-23)
No son
did God beget, nor is there any god alone; with Him: (if there were many gods),
behold, each god would have taken away what he had created and some would have
lorded it over others! (Quran 23 : 91)
Say
(O Prophet): "If there had been other gods with Him as they say- behold,
they would certainly have sought ways for capturing His Throne. Glory to Him!
He is High above all that they say! --Exalted and Great (beyond measure).
(Quran 17 : 42)
It
will be seen that there is one central idea running through all these verses,
and that is that godhood and authority are inextricably interconnected and are,
in essence and significance, one and the same thing. He who has no authority
can be no god, and it is but fitting that he should not be so. And He Who has
all due authority, He alone can be, and ought to be, God, because all the needs
which one might refer to a god, or the experiencing of which might turn one's
thoughts to someone supposedly gifted with divinity can only be fulfilled if
the person or being involved has in fact the power and the authority to be able
to meet them. Hence, we must conclude that it is meaningless to regard anyone
without the necessary power and authority to have any part of godhood: it is
absolutely contrary to reason and reality, and it is quite absurd as well as
useless to turn to these for help.
The
full argument of the Holy Qur'an, based on this central idea will be clear from
the following premises and the deductions which it sets forth:
1.
The fulfilment of the needs of human beings, the removal of their distress, the
grant to them of refuge or protection, the extension of any needed help or
assistance, their bringing up or preservation, and the acceptance of their
prayers-none of these matters are so simple as people seem to assume them to be
and hence mistakenly regard them as within the competence of human beings. All
are dependent, inextricably and ultimately, upon the creative power and the
controlling and managing authority being exercised over the entire universe by
its One and only Lord and Master. Even the smallest need depends, for its
fulfilment, on the combined results of a vest multitude of factors. Take for
example the provision of just one glass of drinking water, or even just one
grain of wheat used by men for food. Neither would come about but for
incalculable and multifarious and, in many cases, get hidden activity on the
part of the sun and the earth and the oceans and the winds. Therefore, the
authority or power which is actually required for listening to our prayers is
no ordinary authority but, rather, super-extraordinary and unique authority or
power, not less than that required for creating the heavens and earth and for
ordering the movement of the heavenly bodies and of the winds and of causing
rain, and so on--in short, that needed for governing the entire universe
itself.
2.
This authority is indivisible. It is not possible that, while the control over
creation should rest with one authority, that of providing for its food and
drink should be with someone else; or that-the sun should be -under the control
of one authority and the earth that of another; or that while one has the power
to create, that of preserving health or causing illness should be possessed by
another and that of ending life rest with still another. Had there been such
division of authority and power, there would certainly-have been utter
confusion and chaos in the universe and it could never have ordered the way it
has been operating all along. Hence, it is essential that all authority and
power should and does vest in one, central authority, in One Sovereign. 3.
Since all authority and power vests in one Sovereign only, with no- one else
having the least share in it, it must equally logically follow that godhood is special
and exclusive to Him alone, and in this too there is absolutely no share.
Nobody other than He has the power to listen to men's plaints or grant any of
their prayers, grant them refuge and protection, be their helper and patron, or
do them good or harm. Therefore, whatever be anyone's conception of ilah, there
is no ilah but He, so much so that there is no ilah even in the apparently less
important sense of someone being close enough to God to be able to intercede
with Him. No-one has the least power or authority to interfere with His rule
over His universe or His ways, and it is entirely up to Him whether to accede
to, or reject, any intercession because no-one-unlike the viziers or ministers
of earthly monarchs--occupies any position or status which would lend weight
enough to his word. It is also of the essence of the Unity of the Supreme
Authority that all the various manifestations of sovereignty or over-lordship
should, ultimately, he centered in one and only one Supreme Sovereign, and not
even the tiniest factor of such authority should vest in anyone else. Since God
is the Creator, and no-one else has had a share in the act of Creation, and
since He alone is the Provider and no-one else shares this attribute with Him,
and since He alone is the Controller and Administrator of the entire system of
the Universe, and there is none to share these capacities with Him, it follows
that He alone should also be the one to lay down the law, and that His word,
and no-one else's should prevail, for there is no reason at all why anyone else
should have a share here either. Just as if also is wrong, in principle and in
fact, for anyone else to listen to others' prayers and expect to deliver them
from distress and be their protector, in just1 the same way is it wrong for
anyone else to be the absolute authority and the sovereign and to have any
intrinsic authority to legislate for mankind. Whether it be creation, or
providing of sustenance, the giving or taking away of life, the ordering of the
sun and the moon and the heavenly bodies, the bringing of the night to overlap
the day and of the day to overlap the night, the ordaining of peoples'
destinies and the apportionment of their lots, or being ruler or monarch, or
laying down the law or indicating the right and the wrong, all are different
facets of a single, autocratic authority and sovereignty which is absolutely
indivisible. If anyone regards the word of someone else to be deserving of
obedience without any sanction from God, he is as much guilty of the offence of
shirk as the one who prays to or worships someone other than God. And if
someone regards himself as the lord and master and absolute monarch of any part
of the earth in the political sense, his act too amounts as much to a claim to
godhood as it would if he were to tell people that he was their helper and
patron and guardian in the supernatural sense. [ The Translator feels tempted,
at this stage, to point to the fact that all those who indulge in such
pretensions turn out invariably to be the worst oppressor, and exploiters of
human beings, and the farther they are from belief in God, the more this
happens to be the case. On the other hand, the more a ruler is God-fearing the
greater is his beneficence towards not only his own people but even towards his
enemies Abu Asad] That is why the Qur'an emphasizes, wherever it speaks of
creation or of the destinies of creatures or the management of the universe,
that:
-To
Him belongs the ultimate dispensation of men's affairs (and of other things in
creation too)
-
His is the Kingdom
-
There is no sharer in His Suzerainty
All
of which clearly shows that godhood includes monarchy and rulership. And it is
also that Tawheed necessarily requires that in this sense too no-one should be
believed to have any share with God:
Say
(O Prophet): O God! You are the Lord of all the Domains; It is You who grant
kingdom to whom you please; and take it away from whomsoever You will; It is
You who confer honor on whomsoever You please, and take it away from whomsoever
You will. (Quran 3 : 20)
Right
and Mighty is Allah, the True Sovereign; then, is no ilah but He, the Lord of
the Sublime Throne. (Quran 23 : 116)
Say
(O Prophet): I seek refuge with Him who is Rabb of all mankind, the Sovereign
of all mankind, and the Ilah of all mankind. (Quran 114 : 1-3)
And
then there is another verse which makes the point even clearer: The Day when
the secrets of everyone of them will be laid bare; when it will become manifest
to men that none of their actions is hidden from God, the call will go out: To
whom belongs the Dominion this Day? And the answer will invariably be: To none
but Allah alone, Allah Whose power and authority transcend that of all others.
(Quran 40 : 16)
This
verse is excellently explained in a Hadith narrated by Imam Ahmed (ra) on the
authority of Hazrat 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with both) that,
on one occasion the Holy Prophet (on whom be peace) stated, in the course of a
sermon, that: God will take both the heavens and the earth in His hand, and
will proclaim to all before Him: I am the King; I am the Mighty one: I am the
Self-exalted one; Where are the people who used to style themselves kings upon
the earth, those who called themselves mighty, and who were 'their Majesties'?
Hazrat
Abdullah (with whom Allah be pleased) narrates that while the Holy Prophet
(peace be upon him) was repeating these words, his body trembled so much in awe
of Allah Almighty that we were really afraid that he might fall from the pulpit.
CHAPTER 2. RABB
The
General Meanings [ We have omitted the numerous examples of usage, as one finds
them in the lexicon, and which Maulana Maududi gave in the original in great
detail because they may not interest the English reader end in any case do not
matter except for some crass doubter-Or someone bent on finding fault simply
because it is Maulana Maududi who is saying something. Abu Asad]
The
three radicals of this word are the letters (r, b,b) and the basic meaning is
to bring up. If we take into account the wider meaning of the root word and its
various derivatives, we find that it has following connotations:
1.
One who brings up, rear, fosters or nourishes, or is responsible for doing all
or one or more than one of these;
2.
Guardian, patron; one who supervises or is responsible for carrying out
improvements;
3.
One who occupies a central or focal position, who himself gathers people round
himself of his own or round whom people gather out themselves;
4.
Leader, head, chief, or lord; one whose word is obeyed, and whose supremacy or
overlordship acknowledged, and who has authority to dispose of men or things;
5.
Owner ; master.
Qur'anic Uses of the Word
In
the Qur'an the word is used in all of the above meanings, sometimes in only one
sense, sometimes is in two, and sometimes in more, or even all the five, as the
following examples will show:
(i)
And Yousuf (Joseph) said (to Potiphar's wife, when she tried to seduce him):
May God forbid! He is my Rabb [
Many
commentators have taken this word, as used here, to mean "master; v and to
refer to Potiphar. I, however, hold differently. According to my thinking, the
pronoun "who" is related to its immediate antecedent,
"Allah" (God) and I think it is unnecessary straining of the sense to
seek to relate it to a person who is sot mentioned at all. A. A. Maududi] Who
has provided handsomely for me (and shall not behave as an ingrate sinner.
(Quran 12:23)
(ii)
(And Ibrahim said to his people:) (These gods whom you worship) they are
enemies to me; not so Allah, the Rabb of all the worlds, Who created me, Who
gives me guidance, Who gives me food and drink, and Who, when I am ill,
restores me to health. (Quran 26:77-80)
(iii)
And there is not any good thing except that it comes from Allah, and whenever
any mishap befalls yen, it is to Him you turn in your distress; but when He has
removed it, there are those among you who associate others with their Rabb (as
having also contributed to your provision or health). (Quran 16:53-54)
(iv)
Ask them (O' Prophet): Should I seek any rabb other than Allah and He the Rabb
of all creation? (Quran 6:165)
(v) He is the Rabb of the East and the West;
there is no deity but He, and so take Him as the ultimate Disposer and Arbiter
of all your affairs. (Quran 73:9)
(vi)
He is the Rabb of all of you, and it is unto Him that you shall return. (Quran
11:34)
(vii)
And then shall your return be to your Rabb. (Quran 39:7)
(viii)
Say (O' Prophet) Our Rabb will gather and then decide between us, your group,
and ours together. (Quran 34:26)
(ix)
And there is not an animal in the world, or a bird which flies on two wings but
all form parts of communities like you; We have not omitted any detail about
them in the Book of destiny; and they too will all be gathered unto their Rabb.
(Quran 6:38).
(x)
And the Trumpet shall be sounded when, behold, they will all rush out from
their graves (or wherever their "Last Remains" be) towards their
Rabb. (Quran 36:51)
(xi)
They (the Jews and the Christians) made their scribes and their monks their
rabbs instead of Allah. (Quran 9:31)
(xii)
And (let us also agree that) let not either of us (that is either you the
people of the Book, or we, the Muslims) take anyone other than Allah to be our
rabb. (Quran 3:64)
In
the last two verses, the actual word used in the original is arbab, which is
the plural of rabb, and which is employed in respect of those religious
leaders, etc., whom different people had raised to the position of final
authority, whose word was unquestioningly accepted as law, and who were
regarded as having, so to say, a sovereign, inherent right to lay down what
might, or might not, be done.
(xiii)
(And Yousuf said to his two fellow prisoners): As to one of you he (will be
freed and reinstated and) will (again) serve his rabb (lord, master) as wine
bearer ... and to the one whom he thought to be likely to be freed, he said:
“Speak
of me to your rabb (Pharaoh), your master" but
Satan
made the man forget to mention him (Yousuf) to his rabb (Pharaoh, his master),
(Quran 41:42)
(xiv)
And when (Pharaoh's) messenger came to Yousuf, he said: Go back to your rabb
(lord, Pharaoh), and ask him what transpired in the case of the women who cut
their hands; verily (He who is) my Rabb (God) is fully aware of their wives.
(Quran 12:50)
In
the verses quoted at (xiii) and (xiv) Hazrat Yousuf employed the word rabb in
respect of the Pharaoh because, since the Egyptians did in fact believe him to
possess absolute sovereignty and the right to lay down the law and his word
could not be questioned, this in effect amounted to their treating him as their
rabb in the full sense of the word, that is, a god. As against this, however,
Hazrat Yousuf regarded Allah alone as the Rabb, and made this clear by saying
" My Rabb."
(xv)
So (the Meccans) ought to worship the Rabb (lord, master) of this House-(The
Ka'aba) (that is,) He Who has provided for their sustenance and relieved them
of their fear and ensured their peace and safety. (Quran 106:3-4)
(xvi)
Glorified be your Rabb (O' Prophet), the (Rabb, i.e.,) Fountain-head of all
honour and authority, Who is free of the taint of all the faults and
shortcomings they attribute to Him. (Quran 37:180)
(xvii)
So glory be to Allah, the Rabb (Master) of the Mighty Throne, Who is free of
all that they attribute to Him. (Quran 21:22)
(xviii)
Ash them (O Prophet): Who is the rabb (mater)of the seven heavens and the rabb
(master) of the Mighty Throne? (Quran 23:86)
(xix)
He, Who is the Rabb (Master) of the heavens and the earth, and what is between
them, and the Rabb (Master) of all that the sun shines upon. (Quran 37:5)
(xx)
And verily He is the Rabb (Lord, Master) of Sirius also. (Quran 53:49)
False Notions about Rububiyyah
The
above examples clearly bring out the meanings of the word rabb, and we may now
proceed to look at those false notions which existed among the misguided tribes
and people about rububiyyah (that is, the qualities and attributes of one who
is a rabb) which the Qur'an sought to refute, and what are the beliefs that the
Qur'an advocates. This can perhaps best be done by taking up, one by one, the
cases of those particular nations or people who find mention in the Qur'an, and
thus get a clearer idea of the wrong notions which they entertained.
Hazrat Nuh's People
The
earliest of such people dealt with in the Qur'an were those among whom Hazrat
Nuh (Noah, peace be upon him) was raised as Prophet. It is clear from the
Qur'an that these people did not deny the existence of God, cf. the following
comment about him by their leaders:
He
is but a man like any of you, who only wants to establish his own hold over
you. If God had really wanted (to send any messenger) He would surely have
chosen angels instead. (Quran 23:24)
Nor
did they deny that Allah was the Creator of the universe and the Rabb in the
first and second senses of the word. Among the exhortations to them by Hazart
Nuh were:
He
is your Rabb, and unto Him shall you be returned. (Quran 11:34)
Seek
the forgiveness of your Rabb, (for) verily He is Oft- Forgiving. (Quran 71:10)
Do
you not see how, Allah has made the seven heavens one above the other, and made
the moon a light in their midst, and the sun a (glorious) lamp? And (it was)
Allah (Who) created you from the earth. (Quran 71:15,16)
It
is to be noted that no one says in reply that they do not believe Allah to be
their Rabb or that He did not create the earth and the heavens and themselves,
or that He was not managing the affairs of the universe.
Nor,
may it be added, did they deny Allah's being their Ilah either. That is why
Hazrat Nuh, in asking them to return to the ways of God, said, "You have
no Ilah but He" (7:58), whereas if they had believed otherwise, what he
would have said would have been: "Make Allah your ilah."
This
therefore naturally raises the question as to what in fact was the basic
dispute between Hazrat Nuh and his people, and it seems from the Qur'an that
there were two main points of difference, as follows:
(i)
What Hazrat Nuh wanted was that they should give their worship, in the full
sense of the word, wholly to Allah, the Creator and Cherisher of the universe
(Rabb-al-'aalameen), because He alone was the Provider and the only Ilah. There
was no other being who could grant their prayers and give them aid and comfort,
and therefore He alone deserved their full and entire submission and
supplication, cf: O' my people, give your 'ibadah to Allah, (for) you have no
ilah but He. And I am a messenger unto you from the Rabb of all the worlds, and
convey to you the messages of my Rabb. (Quran 7:59-60). The people, however,
were adamant that, notwithstanding Allah's being the Rabb of all the worlds,
there were other gods too who had a share in the affairs of the world, who too could
answer some of the prayers, and whom too therefore they could and would
continue to regard as ilahs, cf:
And
they said: Abandon not your gods ; abandon neither Wadd nor Suwa, neither
Yaguth nor Ya'uq, nor Nasr. (Quran 71:23)
(ii)
The other was that they regarded Allah as the Rabb only to the extent of
believing in Him as the Creator, the Lord of the earth and the heavens, and the
Supreme regulator of the affairs of the universe, but did not agree that His
Sovereignty extended also to such matters as morality and moral principles,
social relations, culture, politics, and other worldly affairs. They did not
acknowledge Him as the only rightful and ultimate source of law in such
matters, in which they actually behaved as commanded by their chiefs and priests.
Thus according to them the status of rabbs is that, in such matters, it was
their word, which was the law. Hazrat Nuh protested that rububiyyah was not a
thing which could be split apart and distributed, and that they must regard
Allah as the Rabb in all the different meanings of the word, and follow all of
His laws and commandments, conveyed through himself as His accredited
representative:
I am
to you an apostle worthy of all trust. So fear God, and obey me. (Quran
26:107-108)
The 'Aad People
The
next in line were the 'Aad. They too did not deny the existence of God, or His
being the Ilah but at the same time they too believed in Him as the Rabb to the
same extent and in the same sense as had Hazrat Nuh's people. And so the points
of disagreement between them, and the Prophet sent to them, Hazrat Hud, were
the same too:
And
to the Aad (We sent) their brother (that Is kinsman) Hud, who said to them :
"O'
my people, give your 'ibadah to Allah (because) there is no ilah but He; will
you not fear Him?"...(And) they said: "Have you come to us to make us
give all of our 'ibadah to Allah alone, exclusively, and give up those to whom
our ancestors used to give theirs?" (Quran 7:65-70)
They
said: "If our Rabb had wanted, He would have sent down angels (instead of you,
a human like us)". (Quran 41:14)
These
then were the 'Aad, who refused to obey the commands of their Rabb, who did not
obey His messengers, and who (instead) obeyed every despotic transgressor
(against Truth) (Quran 11:59)
The Thamud
Then
there were the Thamud, the worst transgressors after the 'Aad. Basically, their
deviation was the same as of the people of Hazrat Nuh and the 'Aad. They also
believed in the existence of Allah and His being the Ilah and the Rabb but they
did not agree that He was the only ilah, that He alone was worthy of all
'ibadah, and that He was Rabb in all the senses of the word. They insisted that
there were others, besides Allah, who too could accept prayers, grant favours,
and remove distress, and in moral and cultural matters they took their law from
their chiefs and priests instead of following Divine guidance. It was this
which made them into a tragically misled people and brought down on them
Allah's punishment:
And
(O' Muhammud) if they turn away (and do not listen to what you say) then say to
them: I am warning you of a punishment the like of that which visited the 'Aad
and the Thamud, to whom Prophets came repeatedly telling them not to give their
'ibadah to any but Allah, and whose only reply was: 'If our Rabb had wanted, He
would surely have sent down angels, (but since He did not), we reject the
message which you bring'. (Quran 14:13-14)
And
to the Thamud (we sent) their kinsman Saleh, who said to them, "O' my
People: 'give your 'ibadah to Allah; you have no ilah but He."...They
replied, "O' Saleh, we had great hopes of you (and now you spear
strangely); Do you mean to forbid us to give our 'ibadah to those to whom our
ancestors used to give their?" (Quran 11:61-62)
When
their kinsman Saleh said to them: "Do you not fear (God)? I am verily an
apostle worthy of trust where fore fear God, and obey me and not obey all the
words of transgressors who cause strife in the land and who do not mend their
ways." (Quran 26:142-143, 150-152).
The People of Hazrat Ibrahim and Namrud
Next
in importance are the people of Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham, may peace be upon
him), and the significance of their case is that it is commonly thought that
their King, Namrud (Nimrod), did not believe in God but claimed himself to be
God instead. The fact, however, is that he did believe in God, and also
believed Him to be the Creator and the Regulator of the affairs of the
universe, and his own claim to be a rabb was only in the third, fourth, and fifth
senses of the term. Another common misconception is that these people had no
belief in God nor in his being the Ilah and the Rabb, although in fact their
beliefs on these points were little different from those of the people of
Hazrat Nuh and the Thamud. They did believe in the existence of God, and also
knew Him as the Rabb, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the Supreme
Ruler of the universe. Nor, for that matter, did they deny His right to man's
worship. Where they were mistaken was in regarding the heavenly bodies as
partners with him in rububiyyah in the first and second senses of the term and
hence in associating them with God to that extent. As for the third, fourth,
and fifth meanings of the term, here it was their kings whom they treated as
the rabbs. The Holy Qur'an is so clear on these points that it is surprising
how the misconceptions just mentioned originated and came to be so widely
accepted. Take for example the story of Hazrat Ibrahim's search for the truth
as told in the Qur'an:
When
night came upon him, he saw a star, and he said, "This is my rabb;"
but when the star set, he said to himself, "I do not like those who
set." When he saw the shining moon he said, "This is my rabb,"
but when the moon also set, he said "If my Rabb does not guide me, I am
afraid I too will become one of those who have bone astray." Then, when he
saw the sun he said, "This is my rabb; this is the biggest (of them
all);" but when the son also set, he cried out, "O' my people, I disown
all those whom you associate with God; I turn away from them all and towards
Him who created the heavens and the earth, and I shall not be of those who
associate others with Him" (Quran 6:77-80)
The
portions italicised clearly show that the people among whom Hazrat Ibrahim (on
whom be peace) had been born did have a conception of a Being Who had created
the heavens and the earth and of His being a Rabb as distinct from the heavenly
bodies. And how could it be otherwise, considering the message of Hazrat Nuh,
and that other Prophets had continued to be raised after him, in particular
among related or neighbouring people, the 'Aad and the Thamud. One can
therefore safely presume that Hazrat Ibrahim owed his belief in God as the
Creator to his own people. What puzzled him, how-ever, even at the tender age
at which the above incident occurred, was the validity of the belief in the
heavenly bodies as being partners in divinity and hence worthy of men's 'Ibadah
along with God. [ It might be mentioned in this connection, that according to
architectural excavations in Ur -which was Hazrat Ibrahim's home-it seems that
the people of that area worshipped the moon whom they called
"Nannar." In the land next to theirs, it was the sun which was
worshipped, and was called "Shammash." Hazrat Ibrahim's country had
been founded by a King called Uranmuw, a word which was arabicised into Namrud,
and this word later came to be the title of the Kings in just the same way as,
for example, much later, the successors or Nazam-ul-Mulk, who founded the state
of Hyderabad India, came to be called Nizams. A. A. Maududi] And it was his own
search for the truth and His observation of the stars and the moon and the sun
and of the phenomenon of their rising and setting, which, helped of course or
strengthened by Divinely inspired intuition, provided the answer, and led him
rightly to conclude that there is no Rabb at all other than the Creator of the
universe. [ Maulana Maududi has, to his Tafhim-ul-Qur'an also dealt with the
point which puzzled some as to why, since the rising and the setting of the
heavenly bodies is a daily phenomenon, the Qur'an says, -"When night came
upon him...' and why did not Hazrat Ibrahim notice the phenomenon earlier; and,
in older to get over the point, the story was made out that he had been born
and brought up in a cave and that is why he had not seen the stars and the moon
and the sun until the event described occurred. The fact, however, is that
there are many daily occurrences which one sees but whose significance escapes
one until, at some moment chosen by God, it suddenly strikes one, and then,
afterwards, the whole world also accepts the same explanation. After all, the
apple is not the only fruit which falls from a tree, and all the various fruits
had surely been falling from trees-as also all other objects thrown up-for God
alone knows how long, and yet it was left to Newton to infer the law of
gravity. And surely no one can say that Newton had not himself before that seen
any apple or other fruit to fall from a tree. Abu Asad] That is the reason why,
when he had seen the moon to set, he had said he was very much afraid that if
his Rabb, that is, Allah Almighty, did not give him His own guidance, he to too
might fail to get at reality and be deceived by the heavenly phenomenon as had
been hundreds of thousands of others around him.
When,
later, he was ordained prophet, and began his mission of calling men to God, he
ended one of his discourses to them with the words:
And
why should I have any fear of those, whom you associate with God while you
yourselves feel none at making them His associates even though He has given no
sanction for making them sharers in His Divinity. (Quran 6:81)
On
other occasions, he said:
I
repudiate and reject all whom you pray to others than God (Quran 19:48)
The
only rabb there is He, Who is the Rabb of the heavens and the earth, He Who
creased them. Do you then give your 'ibadah to others than Him, who have not
the slightest authority or power to do you any good or harm? (Quran 21:56-66)
Who
are these you are giving your 'ibadah to? Wou1d you rather give it to ilahs
whom you fancy as such? If that be so, what think you of God, the Rabb of all
creation? (Quran 37:85-87)
(As
for me and my fellow Muslims), we have nothing at all to do with you and all
those others than Allah to whom you give your 'ibadah. We reject your ways as
false, and there will henceforth ever be only hatred and hostility between you
and us unless and until you change your creed and come to believe in Allah
alone (as the 'Ilah and the Rabb) (Quran 60:4)
It
is clear from these words that those addressed were not totally ignorant of God
nor disbelieved in Him or that they had no idea of His being the Rabb of all
creation and the Ilah. Where they went wrong was in assigning to others the
role of partners in godhood and, in the first and second sense of the term, in
Rububiyyah too. This is the reason why, in the whole of the Qur'an there is not
a single address by Hazrat lbrahim which would show that he had been trying to
convince his people of the existence of God or of His being the Ilah and the
Rabb. His entire effort lay in emphasising that God alone is the Rabb and the
Ilah, to the exclusion of all or any others in all the senses of both the
words.
Consider,
for example, the argument between him and Namrud, the king, which is described
in the Qur'an as follows:
Do
you (O' Muhammad,) know the story of the one who argued with Ibrahim regarding
Him Whom Ibrahim believed to be his Rabb, -(argued) because His kingship, a
gift from Allah to him, had given him pretensions! When Ibrahim said, "My
Rabb is He, Whose power are life and death," he replied "I too have
power over life and death." Then Ibrahim said to him "(Granted that
that be so; but) Allah makes the sun rise in the East, so, (if you are a rabb)
cause it to rise in the West," which completely nonplussed the
disbeliever. (Quran 2:258)
The
polemic here also appears, from the way it is described, to have been not as to
whether God existed or not, but as to who it was whom Ibrahim regarded as his
Rabb. The reason was, firstly, that the king came of a people who believed in
the existence of God. Secondly, unless his senses had left him entirely, he
could obviously not make so foolish a claim as to be the creator of the heavens
and the earth or the one who made the sun and the moon to move in their orbits.
All he claimed was that within his own domain he was the rabb. And this claim,
be it added, was not in the first and second senses of the term, because
rububiyyah in those senses was attributed to the heavenly bodies; the senses in
which he claimed to be rabb were the third, fourth, and fifth, and that too
within the confines of his own realm only. In other words, what his claim
amounted to was: "I am the lord of this land. All its people are my
bondsmen. I am the sovereign because they all acknowledge me as such, and my
word is therefore law for them. There is no higher authority than mine."
It is clear from the verses last quoted above that his claim rested solely on
the pretensions he had given himself for being the king. When, therefore, he
learnt that a youth by the name of Ibrahim (may peace be upon him) believed
neither in the rububiyyah of the heavenly bodies in the supernatural sense nor
in the king's in the temporal and social sense, he naturally felt surprised,
and sent for him and asked as to who, after all, was the one whom he
acknowledged as his Rabb. Hazrat Ibrahim's first answer was: "He who has
power of life and death." But the significance of this was lost upon the
king, who countered with the claim that he too had the same power: he could
cause anybody to be put to death, and could spare of the life of anybody he
chose. Then Hazrat Ibrahim gave the second reply which, in effect, meant:
"I acknowledge only God as my Rabb. For me He alone is the rabb in all the
senses of the term. How can there be any rububiyyah for anyone else when no one
else can alter in the least the way the sun rises or sets?" This argument
opened the king's eyes, and he at once realised that Allah being the Sovereign
of the universe, his own claim to be a rabb was nothing but a false pretension.
However, his selfishness and vested family interests overcame his better sense
and, despite 'the dawning of Truth on him, he could not bring himself to climb
down from the high status of being fully his own master and to follow the path
he had been shown by God's Prophet. It is on this account that, after
recounting the event, the Qur'an add: "And Allah does not show the right
path to transgressors," that is, after having seen the Truth the king
ought to have bowed to it but since he did not, and chose instead to continue
his autocratic rule and proclaimed his word be the ultimate law, against his
own real interests, God too did not show him further light, because He does not
thrust His guidance on any who does not sincerely seek after the truth.
Lot's People
The
next in historical order are the people of Sodom, the task of whose reformation
was entrusted to Hazrat Ibrahim's nephew, Lot (may peace be upon both). From
the Qur'an we know about these people too that while they neither denied the
existence of God nor His being the Creator and the Rabb in the first and the
second senses of the word, they refused to acknowledge Him as such in the
third, fourth, and fifth senses, and also repudiated the authority of the
Prophet Lot as His trusted representative to lay down the law for their
conduct. What they wanted was to be left to do as they pleased, and this was
their real crime and the reason for their bringing God's wrath upon their
heads. This is what the Qur'an says about them:
When
their kinsman Lot said to them, "Will you not fear God? Look! I am a
trusted messenger to you (from God). Therefore (believe what I say and) try to
save yourselves from Divine wrath, and do as 1 tell you, I ask no regard for
myself, because my reward lies with God. Do you, unlike the whole of the rest
of humanity, turn to boys (for your Sexual satisfaction) and leave aside the
wives your Rabb has created for you for the purpose? Surely, you are the worst
of wrong-doers". (Quran 26:161-166)
Obviously
these words can have only been addressed to a people who did not deny the
existence of God or His being the Creator and the Provider. And that is why
they did not counter by asking who was God, or how could He claim to be the
Creator, or how did He become their Rabb. What they did say instead was,
"Listen, Lot, if you do not stop your preachings, you will surely find
yourself turned out from the land." (Quran 26:167)
In
another place, the matter is put in the following words:
And
(we sent) Lot (to his people as Our messenger and) when he said to them,
"You commit an obscenity which no one in the world has ever committed
before. You satisfy your sexual urge with boys, commit highway robberies, and
openly indulge in obscenities in your gatherings". Their only answer was:
If you are so right in what you say, then bring down the wrath of Allah upon
our heads". (Quran 29:28,29)
Can
these words have been uttered by a people who did not believe in the existence
of God'. Clearly, their real crime was not the denial of His being the Ilah and
the Rabb but that, while believing in Him to be both in the supernatural sense,
they refused to follow His law and to accept the guidance of His messenger in
the moral, social, and cultural spheres.
Shu'aib's People
Next
come the people of Madyan and of Aika (the ancient name of Tabuk), to whom
Hazrat Shu'aib (peace be upon him) was sent as prophet. We know that these
people were descendants of Hazrat Ibrahim (on whom be peace) and so there can
be no question of their not knowing God of or not believing in him to be the
Ilah and the Rabb. They were in fact a people who had originally been Muslims
but whose beliefs as also conduct had become corrupted through the passage of
time. It would even appear from the Qur'an, that they claimed to be believers,
because Hazrat Shu'aib repeatedly says to them; "If you truly
believe"; "If you truly are believers." An examination of his
discourses and of their answers clearly shows that they both believed in Allah
and acknowledged Him as the Ilah and the Rabb, but went wrong on two points.
Firstly, in the supernatural sense they associated others with Him as also
being ilahs and rabbs and 'so did not give Him their 'ibadah exclusively and,
secondly, they held that His being the Rabb did not extend to His having
authority to lay down the law for regulating moral, social, economic and
cultural behaviour, or they claimed freedom of action for themselves so far as
these spheres were concerned:
And
to (the people of) Madyan We sent their kinsman Shu'aib (who said to them):
"O my people, give your 'ibadah to Allah (alone), for there is no ilah but
He; verily, there has come to yonu clear guidance from your Rabb, so give
people just measure and weight and do not deprive them of their rightful due,
nor (by these means) cause mischief in the land after it has been purged of
corruption; this is the better course for you if you be true believers... And
if a group among you believe in the guidance with which I have been sent, and
another one not, then wait till God decides between us, and He alone is the
best of all judges. (Quran 7:85-87)
(And
Shu'aib said to them): "O' my people, give full measure and weigh justly,
and do not cause loss to people, nor go about creating mischief in the land;
the profit left to you through God's grace is more beneficial for you, if you
(really) believe; and (of course) I am no guardian of your morals". All
they could say was: "Does your praying to God (in your own special way)
give you O'Shu'aib the right to tell us to give up those whose worship has come
down from our ancestors, or that we do not conduct our business transaction, as
we please? You are indeed the forbearing and right-minded one!" (Quran
11:85-87)
The
words italicised bring out clearly that the error of these people lay in misunderstanding
the scope of God's rububiyyah, which they thought had limited scope.
The Pharaoh and his People
Next,
we come to the Pharaoh and his people, regarding whom there are even greater
misconceptions than in the case of Namrud and his people. The view generally
held is that the Pharaoh not only denied the existence of God but himself
claimed to be God, that is, that he had become so misled as to presume to be
the creator of the heavens and the earth, and that his people too were so
bereft of reason as to unquestioningly subscribe to such claim. The Holy Qur'an
and history both show, on the contrary, that there was little difference
between his people and those of Namrud in regard to their beliefs about God as
both the Ilah and the Rabb. The only difference was the existence of a racial
bias against the Bani-Israel which prompted the Egyptians to refuse, to openly
acknowledge God as the Ilah and the Rabb, although they knew that He existed,
as do also many a professing atheist in our own day.
The
facts are that, after being vested by the king with high authority, Hazrat
Yousuf (on whom be peace) had striven to the utmost to bring the people to the
path of Islam, and the impact of his efforts had lasted right down to the time
of Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him). Even though everybody had not come to
embrace the true faith, there was nobody after Hazrat Yousuf's time entirely
ignorant of God's existence or of His being the sole Creator of the heavens and
the earth. Not only that, but Hazrat Yousuf's teachings had also inculcated in
everybody the notion of His being both the, ilah and the Rabb in the
supernatural sense, so that there was none who denied His existence. As to
those who had stuck to their beliefs, even their error consisted in associating
others with Him. And the impact of these teachings had not quite died out even
till the time of Hazrat Musa (Moses, on whom be peace) [ If one were to believe
in what is slated in the Old Testament, it would appear that about one-fifth of
the population of Egypt had come to accept, over the course of time, the faith
of Hazrat Yousuf (on whom be peace). The total number of the Israelities who
left Egypt with Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace) is stated to have been about two
million, while the total population of Egypt armor at that time have been more
than a hundred million. Unfortunately all these two million are referred to, in
the Old Testament as the children of Israel, which seems impossible because,
surely, the descendants or the twelve sons of Hazrat Yaqoob (Jacob, on whom be
peace) cannot have risen to two million even in about four centuries. The only
plausible inference one can draw from this is that a large number of
non-Israelis too had accepted the religion of the Israelis-which, of course
was, essentially, the religion of Islam-and had left the country along with the
Israelis. (The number, incidentally, shows pointedly the extent of the tabligh
work done by Hazrat Yousuf and his successors). A. A. Maududi]. This fact is
clearly proved by the speech made by a Coptic noble at the court of the
Pharaoh, who had become a Muslim but had not declared his faith openly and who,
on learning of the Pharaoh's determination to have Hazrat Musa (on whom be
peace) put to death, protested boldly in the following words:
Would
you people kill a person for the reason only that he says that his Rabb is
Allah alone, and despite the fact that he comes to you with manifest signs from
your Rabb? If he lies, then upon him be his lies. And if be should be telling
the truth, then surely some of what he warns you against is bound to smite you.
Verily, Allah does not guide aright any who exceeds all limits in lying. True,
my people, the land is yours, but who will save us if Allah's chastisement
should come down upon us? I fear grievously that you may suffer a fate the like
of that which overtook, mighty nations before, like the people of Nuh, the Aad
and the Thamud, and others after them (who wont wrong)... And there was also
the time that Yousuf came to you with clear signs (from God) but you continued
to harbour doubts , but when he died you said that Allah would not send another
prophet after him. .. And, is it not strange, my people, that while I call you
to the path of salvation you call me to the one which leads to (the) fire (of
Hell)? What you would have me do is to commit kufr in regard to Allah, and to
associate those with him regarding whom I know not for sure that they are His
associates; My call to you is that you turn to the One (God) Who is the Mighty
and the Oft Forgiving ! (Quran 40:28-40)
This
whole speech bears witness that despite the passing of several centuries, the
impact of the great personality of Hazrat Yousuf (on whom be peace) had
persisted and, due to his teachings, the Egyptians had not yet sunk so low in
ignorance as to be entirelv unacquainted with the existence of God or to not
know Him as being the Rabb and the Ilah, or that He is the Lord and master of
all Nature and that His wrath is something to be feared. The last sentence in
fact clearly shows that they did not deny God's being the Ilah and the Rabb
totally but that they erred in associating others with him.
The
only thing which might tend to cast doubt on the above explanation is that,
when Hazrat Musa use (on whom be peace) had announced to the Pharaoh that he
and his brother Hazrat Haroon (Aaron, peace be upon him) had been sent to him
as the messengers of the Rabb-al'aalameen (the Lord of the worlds), He had
countered with the question, "And who might this Rabb-al-'aalameen
be?" He had also ordered his minister, Haman, to build him a skyscraper
that he might look at Hazrat Musa's Ilah from its heights, had threatened to
put Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace) in jail if he took anyone other than him
(the Pharaoh) as his Ilah had caused it to be proclaimed to all the people
throughout the land that he was their supreme rabb (obviously lest their
beliefs be affected by Hazrat Musa's teachings), had told his nobles that he
knew of no-one but himself to be their ilah, and so on. Utterances like these
might no doubt give the impression that he denied the existence of God
altogether, had no conception of Rabb-al-aalameen, and regarded himself as the
only ilah (in the world).
The
fact, however, seems to be that his whole attitude was inspired by his racial
prejudices. Hazrat Yousuf (on whom be peace) had not only been the cause of the
spread of Islam, but the prestige of his high office had also been instrumental
in the Israelis' coming to occupy a dominant position in the land which they
had held for three or four hundred years. Then germs of Egyptian nationalism
had begun to sprout, until at last the Israelites were dethroned from their
position and a nationalist Egyptian dynasty became the ruler. The new rulers
did not stop at merely downgrading the Israelites. They also took deliberate
steps to wipe out all vestiges of the times of Hazrat Yousuf (on whom be peace)
and to revive the civilisation and culture of their own former Age of
Ignorance. Therefore, when against this background Hazrat Musa, an Israeli,
presented himself as messenger from God, they naturally apprehended that the
Israelis might recover their former prestige and dominance and they themselves
lose their newly retrieved authority. It was because of these fears and the
Egyptian's nationalist and racial prejudices and the consequent natural
hostility between the two peoples that the Pharaoh attempted repeatedly to
confuse and perplex Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace) so as to abort his mission.
When, for example, he asked, "And who might this Rabb-al-'aalameen
be?" It was not that he did not know what the words meant or Who was
referred to. He certainly did know, as his own words on other occasions show.
For example, once, in trying to reassure his own people that Hazrat Musa (on
whom be peace) was not a Divine messenger, he raised the objection:
(And
if he be a prophet), why have not golden bracelets been sent down for him, or
why did not angels follow him in procession? (Quran 43:53)
Can
such words have been uttered by a person devoid of any notion of God or the
angels? On yet another occasion, the following words passed between him and
Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace):
Then
said (the Pharaoh) to him: “I can only think that you have lost your
reason." (To which) Musa replied; "You know very well that it is none
other than the Lord of the Worlds Who has sent down these manifest, signs, and
I (on my part,) believe that you, O Pharaoh, are doomed." (Quran
17:101-102)
In
another place in the Qur'an God describes the mental state of the Pharaoh's
people in the following words:
And
when our signs became absolutely manifest to them, they said: "This surely
is magic." Inwardly, their hearts had become convinced (that it was not
magic but the Truth), but they refused to acknowledge this out of sheer
mischief and wilful rebellion. (Quran 27:13,11)
Also:
Then
Musa said to them: "Woe unto you; Forge not a lie against God; for (if you
do) He will destroy you by chastisement; and whoever has committed forgery has only
suffered frustration. On hearing which they began to dispute among themselves
and held secret counsels, wherein it was said: "This surely is a pair of
magicians aiming at driving you away from your land and doing away with your
cherished traditions and way of life." (Quran 20:61-63)
They
could only have begun to dispute, on being warned of Divine chastisement and of
the punishment for forging lies, because there still endured in their hearts
some remnants of the notion of God's greatness and might and some fear of Him.
But when the ruling racist nationalists spoke of a possible political
revolution in case they adopted the faith of Musa (on whom be peace) and raised
the spectre of fresh Israeli domination over Egypt, their hearts became
hardened once again, and they unanimously decided to defy both the Prophets.
This
point having been settled, we can now easily get at the real basis of the
dispute between Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace) and the Pharaoh, see wherein lay
the latter's error and of his people, and in what sense did he claim to be ilah
and rabb. In this connection, the verses in the Qur'an which appear to be
relevant, are set out below:
1.
On one occasion the war-mongers among the courtiers asked the Pharaoh:
Would
you give Musa and his people free rein to spread disruption in the land to give
up your ilah? [ Some commentators have read the word aalihatika in verse 7:127
as ilahatika on the supposition only that the Pharaoh himself claimed to be the
Lord of the world, and have interpreted the word ilaha to mean worship. In
other words, they translate the verse to mean "to give up yourself and
your
worship”. However, in the first place, this reading of
the
word is rare and contrary to the general reading. In the second, the very
supposition on which it is based is wrong ab initio. In the third, ilaha can,
besides worship, mean goddess also, and this word was in fact used in Arabia in
the Age of Ignorance for the sun. We know that to the Egyptians it was the sun
which was the supreme god, whom they called Ra, and the word Pharaoh actually
meant descendant, or incarnation, of Ra, so that the Pharaoh, claimed to be
incarnations of the Sun god Ra. A. A. Maududi] (Quran 7:127)
As
against this, the one who had affirmed belief in Hazrat Musa (on whom be
peace), said to the others What you want is that I deny God, and associate
those with Him regarding whom I have no valid proof (of any divine status).
(Quran 40:42)
When
we study these verses against the background of what we know from
archaeological research, we can only conclude that both the Pharaoh himself and
his people associated some of their gods with the One God who is the only Rabb,
in the first and second senses of rububiyyah, and gave their worship to them on
that basis. Obviously, if the Pharaoh had claimed to be god in the supernatural
sense, that is, if he had presumed to be the ruler of the entire universe and
believed in none other than himself to be the ilah and the rabb of the earth
and the heavens, he would not have needed to worship any god at all.
2.
The Qur'an also reports the Pharaoh to have said:
(i)
To his nobles: "(As for me) I know of no ilah for you except myself."
(Quran 28:38)
(ii)
To Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him): "If you take anyone other than me to
be your ilah I shall surely throw you in prison." (Quran 26:29)
These
words do not mean that the Pharaoh denied the existence of any ilah but
himself. He meant only to reject the call of Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace).
This call was to God not only as the Ilah in the supernatural sense but also as
the Supreme Sovereign and the ultimate Law-giver in all matters whether
political, cultural, or social. The Pharaoh on the other hand held that there
was no ilah but himself in political and cultural and social matters, and at
the same time threatened Hazrat Musa that if he took anyone else as his ilah in
this sense he would find himself in prison.
These
verses also show, and this again is borne out both by history and
archaeological discoveries, that the Pharaohs of Egypt did not stop at claiming
absolute sovereignty but, by claiming kinship with gods, had also pretensions
to a special sanctity, so as to further strengthen their holdover men's minds
and hearts. In this, of course, they were not exceptional, because there have
been many dynasties which too have, besides assuming absolute sovereignty, laid
claim to a measure of divinity, and made it incumbent, on their subjects to
perform various acts of worship before them. However, this was actually
something of secondary importance only, because the real purpose was always to
consolidate their own authority and the claim to possess a degree of divinity
was only a means towards that end. And that is why the godhood of all these
dynasties came forthwith to an end, in Egypt and elsewhere, the moment their
temporal rule ended. If at all, the spiritual overlordship was transferred to
the new occupants of the throne.
3.
The Pharaoh's real claim was not to godhood in the spiritual, but in the political
sense. It was in the third, and fifth senses of rububiyyah that he claimed to
be the overlord of Egypt and its people, to be master of the country and all
that there was in it, to the exclusion of all others and to have the absolute
right to rule as he pleased. His alone was the supreme authority, and he alone
the fountain-head of all cultural and social life in Egypt. None else had the
right to speak in these matters, and to say what people might do, and what they
might not. The basis for the claim, according to the Qur'an, was as follows:
And
the Pharaoh proclaimed throughout Egypt: "Am I not the lord of this land?
And do not the rivers in this country flow under me? Do you not all see this
(and believe in what) I say!" (Quran 43:51)
This
was the same basis on which Namrud had rested his claim to be a rabb-“(He
having pretentions of his own) disputed with Ibrahim as to He Whom the latter
regarded as his Rabb and on the basis only that Allah had bestowed him with
kingship"-and on the same basis too had the king who ruled Egypt during
the time of Hazrat Yousuf (on whom be peace) held himself out as the rabb of
his people.
4.
The real dispute which lay between Hazrat Musa, (on whom be peace) and the
Pharaoh and his nobles, etc., was that the former called the people to believe
in no-one as being in any degree an ilah or a rabb, in any sense of these
terms, except Allah, the Lord of the Worlds (Rabb-al-'aalameen), Who alone was
the Ilah and the Rabb in the supernatural sense and in political social and
cultural matters too. He alone was worthy of worship, and His Word alone was
the Law. Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace) also announced that it was none other
than Allah Who had sent him to the Pharaoh and his people as His representative,
to make known His Commandments through him. The reins of authority should
therefore be in his hands and not in those of the Pharaoh (who, be it
remembered, was a rebel against God). And this led the Pharaoh and his nobles,
naturally, to claim that the two brothers (Hazrat Musa, and Hazrat Haroon, may
peace be upon both) wanted to dispossess them of their authority and to rule
over the land themselves, to root out the existing creed and culture, and
install their own:
And
We indeed sent Musa with our Signs, and clear tokens of authority to the
Pharaoh and his nobles but the people obeyed the word of the Pharaoh, though he
(certainly) was not in the right. (Quran 11:96-97)
And
We had previously put Pharaoh's people through a test; a noble prophet had come
to them, and said to them: "Make over authority over Allah's creatures to
me; 1 am to you a Divine Messenger and worthy of all trust, and so be not
arrogant against God, for I come to you with authority (which is)
manifest." (Quran 44:17-19)
(And,
O people of Makkah:) Verily We have sent to you a messenger, who will bear
witness over you, in just the same way that We sent a messenger to the Pharaoh;
then the Pharaoh disobeyed the messenger, and (for this) We seized hold of him
most woefully. (Quran 73:15-16)
The
Pharaoh asked: "(And, if you do not acknowledge either our gods or the
Royal family to be your rabbs, then who, after all, is your Rabb?")
"The same," replied, Musa, "Who gave everything in creation its
own peculiar structure, shape, and qualities, and then taught man how to put
them to his use." (Quran 20:49-50)
The
Pharaoh asked, "And who might this Rabb-al' aalameen (Lord of the Worlds)
be?" And Musa, replied: "The Lord of the heavens and the earth, and
whatever is between them-if you were only to believe." Do you hear?"
the Pharaoh asked those around him. "The Lord of all of you," added
Musa, "and of all your predecessors too." "This (self-styled
Divine) messenger," remarked the Pharaoh, is verily a mad person."
"The Lord of the East and of the West," retorted Musa, "and of
all that is between them if you only had the true understanding". To which
the Pharaoh could only reply, "Take heed, O' Musa If you dare take anyone
other than me as your ilah, you certainly shall find yourself in prison."
(Quran 20:23-29)
The
Pharaoh asked. "Have you come to us that you should drive us out of our
land, with (the help, or the threat of the use of) your magic, O Musa?"
(Quran 20:57)
And
the Pharaoh said "Let me do with Musa as I wish -to have him put to
death-and then let him call to his Rabb to save him, for I very much fear that
he will change your creed or disturb the peace of the land." (Quran 40:26)
They
(the Pharaoh's nobles) said: "They (Musa and Haroon) are both (nothing
but) magician, who wish to drive you out of your land by the force of their
magic, and to do away with your most excellent way of life." (Quran 20:63)
The
above verses bring out clearly the fact that in the land of the Nile too there
prevailed the very same misconception with regard to rububiyyah as had existed
among other peoples of old, and that the message of Hazrat Musa and Hazrat
Haroon (on whom both be peace) to the Egyptians was also the same as of the
prophets before them to their own respective people.
The Jews and Christians
After
Pharaoh's people, the next in historical order are the Israelites and those
people who adopted the Jewish religion or Christianity. In their case, there
can obviously be no question about their either not acknowledging the existence
of God or not believing in His being the Ilah and the Rabb. The Qur'an itself
affirms their belief in Him on the point and the question which therefore
arises is of the particular error for which they were characterised in the
Qur'an as "those who went astray". (Quran 1:7)
A
brief answer is:
Say
(O' Muhammed): "O' people of the Book: Do not exaggerate concerning your
faith, and adopt not the wrong notions of those who have gone astray before
you, who misled many others, and themselves too strayed from the straight
path." (Quran 5:77)
From
this, one may conclude that, in essence, the Jews and Christians too were
guilty of the same error into which others had fallen earlier, and that in
their case this arose out of exaggerated piety. Let us go into the matter in
some detail, with the help of the Qur'an:
(i) And the Jews said: "Uzair (Ezra) is
son of God, while the Christians said, "Isa (Jesus) is son of God."
(Quran 9:30)
(ii)
It was kufr on the part of Christians, to say that God was the same as Jesus
son of Mary; though Jesus had himself said, for a fact, "O' sons of
Israel, give your 'ibadah to Allah. Who is also your Rabb and my Rabb."
(Quran 5:72)
(iii)
Verily those who said 'that God is one of three, committed kufr, for there is
but one Ilah and there is no ilah but He. (Quran 5:73)
(iv)
And there will come a time (the Day of Judgment) when God will ask "O'
Jesus, son of Mary, did you tell people to take you and your mother as ilahs
besides Myself?" to which Jesus will reply, "Glory be to you! How
could I have dared say that which I had no right to utter!" (Quran 5:116)
(v)
It is not for any person that, after being given the Book, and being endowed
with hikmah [ Literally, this word means wisdom; but when used in reference to
a Prophet, it means that special wisdom which comes automatically after
investment with the office of Prophethood, and which enables the Prophet to
understand and expound the implications, and requirements of the Divine
Injunctions. A. A. Maududi] and invested with prophethood, he should go about
telling people to give up God and instead give their allegiance and 'ibadah to
him. Far more fitting it is that he should say: "Believe firmly in Allah
as the Rabb (in every sense of the word), as you find it written in His Book,
and as you learn of yourselves and teach others." Nor, again, is it for a
prophet to tell the people to regard the angels and the prophets as rabbs.
Would he enjoin kufr to you after you have become Muslims? (Quran 3:79-80)
What
we learn from the relevant verses is that the first error of the Jews and
Christians was to raise their Prophets, and saints, and the angel, etc., to the
status of divinity out of exaggerated regard for them, to believe them to have
a say in the ordering of the universe and its affairs, to worship and address
their prayers to them, treat them as partners in rububiyyah and in godhood in
the supernatural sense, and to believe that they could remit their sins and
come to their rescue and protect them from misfortune and disasters.
Their
second error lay in their making even their scribes and hermits into rabbs,
besides God (cf.9:31). In other words, the people whose real function was to
expound God's law to others, and to reform the people morally and spiritually
to make their conduct conform to Divine precepts were gradually assigned
authority to determine, on their own, what was to be treated as forbidden and
what as permitted, without reference to what was said in the Book. They could
forbid any practices they did not approve, and institute any others they
fancied. And in this way both Jews and Christians fell into the same two basic
errors as that into which the people of Prophets Nuh and Ibrahim (on whom both
be peace), the 'Aadites and the Thamud and the people of Madyan and others had
fallen earlier. Like them, they too made the angels and their religious leaders
to be partners with God in Rububiyyah in the supernatural sense, and in moral,
cultural and political spheres too. And so they began to take their cultural,
economic, moral and political principles from human beings, disregarding the
Divine injunctions, until they reached a stage about which the Qur'an says:
Have
you noticed the people who were given a portion of the Book of God, but who
(instead of making it the basis for their conduct), believed in jibt and
taghoot? (Quran 4:51)
Say
(O' Muhammad): "Shall I tell you who are worse as to their ultimate fate
with Allah than even the fasiqs [ A fasiq, according to the Qur'an is one who
breaks his covenant with Allah, who severs the ties between Him and His
creatures and between man and man, and who creates mischief upon earth (cf.
note in Tafhim-ul-Qur'an. Vol.1. p.61. relative to 2-27-2). A. A. Maududi]. It
is those who drew the curse of God upon them, those who invited His wrath, and
of whom many were turned into apes and swine by His Command, and who gave their
worship to taghoot; they are the lowest in degree, and the farthest astray from
the straight path." (Quran 5:60)
The
word jibt is a comprehensive term for all myths and superstitions, embracing
such superstitious things as magic, the art of the occult, black magic,
necromancy, witch-craft, soothsaying, divination, the belief in talismans or
lucky stones or unlucky colours or numbers or natural phenomena, etc., or in
the influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs. As for taghoot, this
term applies to every person, or group of persons, or organisation or
institution which, instead of submitting to God and His Injunctions, rebels
against them and virtually sets up himself or itself as god instead, or is so
set up by people. So when the Jews and Christians committed the two errors
indicated above, the result of the first was that different kinds of
superstitious beliefs took hold of their minds and of the second that their
scribes and hermits, etc., gradually came to assume the same right to tell
people what to do and what not as had been presumed by those who were open
rebels against God.
The Meccan Pagans
Last
of all, we come to the Meccans, to whom Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon
him), was sent as God's Messenger and to whom therefore the Qur'an's message
was immediately addressed. What was the nature of their error? Were they
ignorant of God, or did they deny His existence, and was the Holy Prophet (on
whom be peace), sent as God's Messenger to make them acknowledge His existence?
Or did they deny His being the Ilah and the Rabb, and was it therefore the
purpose of the Holy Qur'an to persuade them of His godhood and Rububiyyah? Did
they hold that He was not worthy of worship and adoration, or did they
disbelieve His being able to listen to their prayers and grant their
supplications? Did they think that Lat, Manat, and Uzza and Hubal and their
other supposed gods were the real creators, masters, planners and organisers
and administrators of the universe and the providers for all the creatures in
it? Were their gods, according to them, the sources of all law and moral and
social codes? When we study the Qur'an, we find all such questions answered in
the negative. The pagans of Arabia not only acknowledged the existence of God
but they also believed Him to be Creator and Master of the universe as well as
of their own gods, and also the Ilah and Rabb. It was to Him that they
addressed all their prayers in the last resort, when all else failed, and they
acknowledged His right to their worship and adoration. As for their gods, they
believed them neither to be their own creators and masters nor of the universe
nor able to provide guidance in the social and moral affairs of life, cf.
(i)
Say to them O 'Prophet, "Whose is the earth and all who are in it? Tell
me, if you know." Their reply will be: "It all belongs to
Allah," Ask them then, "And still you do not
listen?"
Ask, “Who is the Rabb of the seven heavens and of the Mighty Throne," and
they will say, "It is Allah." Ask them then, "And still you do
not fear?" Ask, "Whose is the Sovereignty over everything, and who is
it who grants shelter but against whose displeasure there is no protector? Tell
me, if you know." And they will say, "Allah alone has this
attribute." Ask them then, "If that is all so, what makes you go
astray?" The fact indeed is that We have given them the Truth, but they
practice falsehood. (Quran 23:84-90)
(ii)
It is He, Allah, Who enables you to travel over the land and the seas; you
board your ships and sail on them and rejoice at favourable winds and then, all
of a sudden there comes a stormy gale, and the waves buffet the ship from all
sides, and you find yourselves caught in a storm; you then pray to Allah, most
devoutly, with hearts filled with faith in Him only and say, 'Deliver us from
this storm, ('O Lord,) and we shall be Your truly grateful creatures." But
when He has delivered you from the storm, there you go again, turning your back
upon the Truth and spreading rebellion in the land. (Quran 10:22-23)
(iii)
And when disaster overtakes you while on the sea, all those you worship other
than God fail you, (and it is certainly He alone who delivers you), but when
you are safe again upon the land, you turn away from Him. Truly, man is a rank
ingrate! (Quran 17:67)
As
to their beliefs about their gods, the Qur'an brings these out in their own
words, as follows:
(i)
Those who take others than God as protectors say: "We only give them of
our worship that they may bring us closer to God (or intercede with Him)."
(Quran 39:3)
(ii)
And they say, "They (our gods) are our intercessors with God." (Quran
10:18)
That
they had no pretensions about their gods being in any way capable of providing
guidance in the affairs of life, is clear from the following verse:
Ask
them, O' Prophet: "ls there any among those you associate with God, who
will guide you towards Truth?" (Quran 10:34)
But
when the question is asked it begets nothing but silence. None dares answer
that Lat, or Manat, or Uzza, or any of the other gods provide guidance to right
thinking and conduct, or teach the ways of justice, peace and harmony, or
provide knowledge of basic realities of the universe. And so, receiving no
reply, the Qur'an makes the Prophet (on whom be peace) add:
(So
much then, for you gods. As for) Allah, (He) indeed guides to Truth. And so,
who is worthier of being obeyed- He who guides towards Truth, or he who does
nothing of the kind? What is wrong with you? Why can't you be sensible, and how
do you come to your baseless conclusion? (Quran 10:34)
This
being so, we again come up against the question as to what was their real error
about rububiyyah which was sought to be removed through the Holy Prophet (on
whom be peace), and for which purpose Allah revealed the Holy Qur'an. When we
look into the Qur'an for an answer to this, we find that in their case too the
basic errors were the same two which had occurred among those before them,
viz.,
(i)
Insofar as godhood and rububiyyah in the supernatural sense are concerned, they
associated others with God, and thought that in some way or other the angels,
the men of piety, and the heavenly bodies, had also a share in the realm of
cause and effect. And that is why, in matters of worship, and making
supplications, and seeking help, etc., they turned not only to God but also to
those others they supposed to be gods.
(ii)
As for mundane affairs like culture and politics, etc., they did not regard God
as the Rabb with regard to such matters, but instead assigned the right to lay
down the law to their priests, their chiefs, and the elders of their clans or
tribes and followed their dictates. As to the first, error, here is what the
Holy Qur'an says:
And
there are among men some who give their 'ibadah to Allah, as it were, on the
verge; if good befalls them they are well content; but if it is trying
circumstances, they turn away-losers in this life and the next-a sheer and
utter loss. Then, having turned away from Allah, they call to those who have no
power to do them either harm or good-and this is straying far indeed, for they
call those for help whose being thus sought brings more loss than gain. How
useless is the (supposed) helper, and how evil a companion! (Quran 22:11-13)
And
instead of Allah they give their 'ibadah, to those who cause them neither
profit nor harm, and they claim they are their intercessors with Allah. Ask them,
O' Prophet, "Do you presume to tell Allah of something of which you think
He is not aware either in the heavens or in the earth? Glory be to Him, and He
is free of what they associate with Him." (Quran 10:17-18)
Say,
(O' Prophet:) "Do you give your 'ibadah to those other than Allah who have
power neither to do you aught of harm or of good, while Allah is the
All-Hearing, the All- Knowing?" (Quran 5:76)
And
when in distress man calls to his Rabb whole heartedly, but when He has
bestowed His favour upon him, he forgets that which had made him pray to Him,
and begins to treat others as co-partners with Him, as if they too had a share
in his change of fortune or as if their special powers or at least intercession
alone brought it about, thus to mislead others from Allah's (True) Path. (Quran
39:8)
And
any good thing of life you have is but the bounty of Allah and when any harm
befalls you, it is to Him that you address your prayer, but when He has turned
it away from you, there are some among you who begin to assign a share to
others in your deliverance, to return ingratitude for Our favour. So be it, and
do what you like, for soon will you know the outcome. These are the people who
attribute to other, out of ignorance, a share in the granting of bounties which
are Ours, wholly and solely. By God, (all) you (who do so) will (one day)
certainly be taken to task for the falsehood you commit. (Quran 16:53-56)
As
for the second error, this is the charge which the Qur'an makes in proof of it:
And
in this wise was for many a pagan the slaying of their own children made to
look a worthy act by those they associated with God, to lead them to their Doom
and cause confusion in their religion. (Quran 6:138)
Obviously,
the `associates' referred to here are not the idols or gods but those leaders
and chiefs who had made the killing of one's own children seem like a noble act
in the eyes of the pagans, and had thus contaminated this abominable act into
the pure faith that had come down from Hazrat Ibrahim and Hazrat Isma'il (may
peace be upon both). And, further, these leaders are not characterised here as
`associates' in the sense of their being regarded as having a say in the
affairs of the universe, nor did the pagans worship or pray to them. Certainly,
this was not so. But they are dubbed as associates in rububiyyah and godhood
because the pagans treated them as having the absolute right to lay down the
law, as they pleased, in cultural and social and moral and religious matters:
Have
they taken for themselves supposed associates with God who have given them laws
in the way of Deen [ The "d" sounds like "th" in"
the". Abu Asad], having no sanction from Allah? (Quran 42:21)
We
shall discuss the full significance of the term deen later and comment also in
detail on this verse, but what is clear here is that laying down of the law by
the leaders and chiefs in those matters which formed part of deen, and the
pagans' acceptance thereof as binding codes did constitute, in effect, the
leaders and chiefs being treated as associates with Allah both in godhood and
in rububiyyah.
The Message of the Qur'an
The
foregoing detailed exposition of the misguided conceptions of various
pre-Islamic people make it patently clear that from earliest times to the
revelation of the Qur'an, none of those whom it mentions as the transgressors,
the misguided, and the astray, actually denied the existence of God, or His
being the Rabb and the ilah. All, however, went wrong in much the same ways in
dividing the attributes of rububiyyah, in its five different senses, into two
separate compartments.
Insofar
as such attributes of Allah as His being the Cherisher, the Provider, and the
Protector and Helper of the creatures in the transcendental sense were concerned,
the people regarded them as something apart from the rest. And, although in
this sphere they did regard Allah as the Supreme Rabb, they also believed that
the angels and various gods, the genii, and invisible forces, the stars, and
other heavenly bodies, the Prophets and saints and other holy men, also had
different shares in this rububiyyah.
As
for the remaining attributes, namely, Allah's being the Supreme Sovereign, the
Fountainhead of authority, the Supreme Law-giver, and the Supreme Lord of all
creation etc., the people either assigned these roles wholly to particular
human beings or, while assigning them to God in theory, in practice treated the
entire rububiyyah in moral, cultural, and political spheres as vesting in these
beings.
It
was for the task of removal of both these types of misconceptions that there
were ordained all the different Prophets from time to time (may peace be upon
them) and, finally, Allah sent Muhammad (peace be upon him), as His last
Prophet. All of the Prophets called to man to believe that there was but one
Rabb, that is, Allah, in all of the various senses of the word, and that
rububiyyah was not divisible nor was any portion of it available to any
creature. The management and control of the universe, they emphasised, was
centered is One Authority only, the Authority Who alone had created it,
entirely to His own Grand Design and purpose, and Who exercised both de jure
and de facto rule over all its affairs, and no-one had any share either in the
creation or the running of the universe. As the Centre of all authority, God
alone was and is the Rabb, in all the senses of the word, both in
transcendental matters and the temporal affairs of men. He alone was and is
worthy of all worship, of being made the focus of all adoration and prayer. He
alone listens to all prayers and He alone is worthy of our reliance and capable
of providing for the needs of all too. He alone is at the same time the King,
the Lord of the Universe and the source of all law and authority, and He alone
has therefore the right to lay down what is right and what is wrong and what
ought or ought not to be done. It is in the very nature of things a
misconceived notion to think of rububiyyah as something which could be split up
into compartments. It is an essential, and exclusive attribute of Allah and;
hence, obviously and necessarily indivisible.
This
call of the various Prophets (on whom be peace), is brought out in the Qur'an
in many a place, e.g.:
Verily,
your Rabb is Allah (alone)-He Who created the heavens and the earth in six
days, and then established Himself on the Mighty Throne; He it is Who draws the
night as a veil over the day, each seeking the other in rapid succession; the
sun and the moon, and the stars are all subservient to His Law and Commands;
Verily, it is patent that all creation is His, and authority too vests in Him,
and Most Blessed is he, the Lord of all the Worlds. (Quran 7:54)
Ask
them (O Prophet), "Who is it who provides sustenance for you from the heavens
and the earth? Is it He in Whose power are hearing and sight, and Who brings
forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living, and Who rules and
regulates all affairs?" (If you ask) they will say, "It is Allah (Who
does all this)." Ask them, then, "Wherefore, then, do you not fear
Him (and change your ways)?” (Say): “Such is Allah, your real Rabb and true,
and, apart from Truth, what remains but error, and so wherefore do you get
turned astray?’ (Quran 10:31,32)
He
(it is Who) created the heavens and the earth in Truth; He it is Who makes the
night overlap the day and the day overlap the night, and made, the sun and the
moon subservient (to His Law), each one following a course till an appointed
time … such is God, your Rabb; His is the Kingdom and there is no ilah but He;
and why, then, do you keep getting turned away? (Quran 39:5-6)
Allah
it is Who made the night for you that you may find rest and peace in it, and
the day in which you are enabled to see ... Such is Allah, your Rabb Creator of
every thing. There is no ilah but He; so why are you deluded into straying? ...
Allah it is Who made the earth a place for you to live and rest upon, and the
sky a roof over you, and gave you shapes; and good shapes at that, and provided
for your provision good and wholesome food; such is Allah, your Rabb, and, so,
blessed be He, the Lord of all the Worlds. He alone is the Living (One); there
is no ilah, but
He
and to Him alone then address all your prayers. (Quran 40:61-65)
And
Allah (it was Who) created you from clay…He merges night into day and day into
night, and made the sun and the moon obey His Law, each following its course
until an appointed time. Such is Allah, your Rabb; in Him vests all
Sovereignty, while those; on call to besides him possess no such authority; and
if you call upon them, they hear not your call and if they did they would not
make any reply and, on the Day of Judgement, they will (to you discomfiture),
(but) repudiate (and disown) your association of them with God. (Quran
35:11,13-14)
And
to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth, and all are abjectly
obedient and subservient to Him..., He propounds to you a similitude from your
own (experience): Has any of your slaves a share in owning any of the things
which We have bestowed upon you? Do they equal right, with you in the ownership
and use of these things? Do you fear them as you fear your equals? Thus do we
expound arguments to point the way to reality to those with wisdom and understanding,
but wrong-doers merely follow their own baseless notions… Therefore (O'
Prophet, and those of you who believe in him), set your face steadily and truly
to the Faith; establish God's handi-work according to the pattern on which He
has read, mankind; no change let there be in the work wrought by Him. This is
the straight and correct road, but many among mankind know this not. (Quran
30:26,28,29,30)
And,
(the wrongdoers) did not appreciate God (and His attributes) in proper measure,
and (they will see that) on the Day of judgment He will hold the earth in his
fist, and the heavens will be rolled-up in His right hand; blessed is He and
far above the (supposed) partners they associate with Him. (Quran 39:67).
And
praise all is due to Allah alone, the Rabb of the heavens and the Rabb of the
earth, and Rabb of all the Worlds; and to Him belongs all Greatness and Glory
throughout the heavens and the earth; and He is exalted in Power, and the
All-Wise. (Quran 45:36,37)
He
is the Rabb of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them; so give
your 'ibadah to Him (O' Prophet) and remain steadfast in your worship of Him;
(and) do you know of aught like Him? (Quran 19:65)
And
Allah (alone) knows the hidden realities of the heavens and the earth, and to
Him are referred all matters, so give your 'ibadah to Him (alone), and rely not
upon any but Him. (Quran 11:123)
He
is the Rabb of the East and of the West; No ilah there is but He, and so
entrust all your affairs unto Him (alone). (Quran 73:9)
Verily
this brotherhood of yours (that is, of all the prophets) is a single
brotherhood, and I am your Rabb, wherefore give your 'ibadah to Me. Men have
apportioned rububiyyah and the duty of 'ibadah on their own (without any
sanction from Us), and all of them will, ultimately, return to Us. (Quran
21:92-93)
Obey
that which has been sent down to you from your Rabb, and do not obey others
besides Him (as supposed protectors or guardians). (Quran 7:3)
Say
(O Prophet): "O people of the Book: Pledge your creed to that which is
common between us and you, that we do not give our 'ibadah to any but Allah and
that we associate none with Him, and that we do not asks any human being a rabb
besides Him. (Quran 3:64)
Say
(O Prophet): I seek refuge with the (Sole) Rabb of all mankind, the (Sole)
Monarch over all mankind, and the (Sole) Ilah of all." (Quran 114:1-3)
So
whosoever looks forth to meeting his Rabb let him do pious deeds, and associate
not any with his worship of Him. (Quran 18:110)
The
foregoing verses bring out as clearly as possible that the Holy Qur'an uses
rububiyyah as exactly synonymous with sovereignty, and the concept of Rabb it
presents is that Allah is the Absolute Monarch of all creation, and its sole
Lord and Master, and, as such:
He
is our Cherisher and Provider and Sustainer, and of all that constitutes
creation; It is He Who looks after all our needs, governs all our affairs, and
is alone worthy of our entrusting all our affairs to His discretion; It is by
virtue of this very attribute that faith in Him is the only right basis on
which to build up the structure of human life in proper manner, and attachment
only to His central Personage is capable of bringing together different
individuals and groups and forming them into an Ummah.
He
alone is worthy of the 'ibadah, and submission, and worship, of all humanity
and other creatures; and He alone is the Lord, Master, and Ruler, of ourselves,
and all else besides.
The
pagans, whether Arabs or others, have always committed the error, which continues
even today, of splitting up the comprehensive concept of rububiyyah into its
five facets as if they could exist separately or be vested in different beings.
The Qur'an lives most cogent and irrefutable arguments that the Universe is
one, and that there is no room in it at all for Supreme Authority and
rububiyyah vesting in any but the same Being. The very fact that the universe
is subject to one supreme law shows that rububiyyah is reserved solely for
Allah, Who alone brought the universe into existence. Therefore, whoever
attributes any portion of rububiyyah to any but Him seeks but to depart from or
ignore the ultimate fundamental Reality, to turn away from the Reality of the
universe, to rebel against Truth, and, by thus going against what exists, only
brings loss to himself and ultimate disaster.
CHAPTER 3. 'IBADAH
Like
the other two basic terms already dealt with, the term 'ibadah too has several
different meanings, though all related to each other. The basic concept implied
by the root word, 'abd, is that of acknowledging someone other than oneself as
holding supremacy or enjoying overlordship and of abdicating one's freedom and
independence in big favour, of relinquishing any resistance to or disobedience
of him, and of surrendering oneself totally to his authority. Since slavery or
bondage too are tantamount to similar status, the first sense the word conveys
to the mind of any Arab is of this very factor, namely, slavery or bondage.
Also,
since the primary role of a slave is to obey his master and carry out his
wishes, the word also carries the sense of submission and obedience. Next, a
slave not only submits himself to the will of his master physically, but
mentally too he accepts his supremacy, and if he at the same time has feelings
of gratitude for his kindnesses and favours, he is inclined spontaneously to go
out of his way in extolling the master and in showing respect and regard for
him. He expresses and demonstrates his obligation in many ways to show his deep
attachment, in a manner amounting almost to worship although, obviously, this
comes into play only when, in addition to physical bondage, there is mental
attachment too.
There
are two other senses also in which the word or its derivatives are employed,
but they are secondary, and hence it is not necessary to go into them at this
stage.
The Qur'anic Use of the Term
On
studying the Qur'an we find that, the word is used wholly in the three senses
explained above, except that on occasion both the first and the second senses
are implied, on others the second only, on still others the third only and, in
yet other places, all the three. Here are examples of use in the first and
second senses:
(i)
Then We sent Musa and his brother Haroon, with clear proofs of their prophethood
to the Pharaoh and his nobles, but they treated them with disdain because of haughtiness
born of power. "Should we," they said, "believe in two mere
humans like ourselves, and that too of a nation which is in bondage to
us?" (Quran 23:-45-47)
(ii)
And the Pharaoh reminded Musa of having reared him from his childhood, (to
which Musa replied): "As for the obligation you remind me of, is it not a
fact that happened only because you had made the Bani Israel your slaves (but
for which fact I may never have come into your household)?" (Quran
26:18-23)
The
words 'aabidoon and 'abbadta employed respectively in the two verses imply
bondage, submission, and obedience. When the Pharaoh used the first word in
respect of Hazrat Musa and Hazrat Haroon's nation, what he meant was that the
Bani Israel were in bondage to the Egyptians and fully subservient to them.
And, when Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace), used the second word in reply to the
Pharaoh, he meant that the latter had enslaved the Bani Israel and made them do
his bidding.
(iii)
O' you who believe! Eat of the clean and good things We have bestowed on you,
and render due gratitude to God, if you do truly give 'ibadah to Him alone.
(Quran 2:172)
The
background of this verse is that, in the pre-Islamic period, the Arabs imposed
various kinds of restrictions upon themselves in the matter of eating and
drinking, in deference to the dictate, of their priests or due to
superstitions, which had come down from their ancestors. When, however, they
embraced Islam, the Qur'an demanded that if they now really felt that they owed
'ibadah to Allah alone, they should forget all those restrictions, and eat
without hesitation all that was permitted by Islam. The idea, clearly, is that
if they had now really submitted their will to that of God, they should shed
all the taboos imposed by their priests or ancestors, and instead observe only
the Islamic injunctions in the matter of eating and drinking.
(iv)
Say (O' Prophet): Shall I tell you of a fate worse than this? It is the fate of
those whom Allah placed under His curse, who drew His wrath upon themselves,
and of whom many were turned into apes and swine, and who rendered 'ibadah to
taghoot. (Quran 5:60)
(v)
And We sent Prophets unto all the peoples (to teach them) to give' their
'ibadah to Allah and not to taghoot. ... (Quran 16:36)
(vi)
And there are good tidings for those who gave up the 'ibadah of taghoot and
adopted that of Allah (instead). (Quran 39:17)
In
all these three verses, 'ibadah of taghoot means bondage to any or all of what
the latter term stands for, that is, every state or authority or leadership,
etc., which, in transgression against God, makes its own word prevail in the
land, whether by the use of force or intimidation or through temptation and so
on. And according to the Qur'an to submit to the dictates of all such authority
and do its bidding amounts to no less than the 'ibadah of taghoot. [ Nasser in
Egypt and Bhutto in Pakistan, were glaring recent examples of Taghootdom. There
have been others before elsewhere, and there are many another contemporaneously
making their word prevail against Allah’s and invoking personality or secular
cults as the better alternatives forgetting that, that they will one day have
to render account to Allah shorn of all earthly authority, actually a bounty
from Him for their trial. Abu Asad]
Now
we come to some of the verses in which the word is used in the second sense
only, that of submission or obedience:
(i)
O' Sons of Adam, did I not enjoin on you that you do not give ibadah to Satan,
for he is your avowed enemy? (Quran 36:60)
As
everybody knows, no-one really worships Satan in the formal sense, and in fact
he is cursed by the whole world, and hence the above charge, which will be made
upon mankind on the Day of Judgement, means that people who obeyed the commands
of the Devil and allowed themselves to be misled to the path shown by him
thereby in effect gave their 'ibadah to him.
(ii)
(And when it will be the Day of Judgement, God will say): "Gather together
all the wrongdoers and their associates, as also the gods other than Allah to
whom they gave their 'ibadah and show them to the door of Hell ...”
And
they will turn to one another in dispute. The worshippers will say, "It is
you who used to come to us from the right hand (of power and authority)!"
Those worshipped will reply, "Nay, (now you are blaming us) but is it not
that you yourselves had no Faith and were in obstinate rebellion (to
God)." (Quran 37:22,23,27-30)
If
we reflect on the accusation and cross-accusation between those who gave their
'ibadah and those to whom it was given, we find that the latter do not here
comprise any gods or idols but those religious or other "popular"
leaders who came to the people in the garb of well- wishers or saviours of the
nation or liberators, etc., and led them along the wrong path. The reference is
to people who put on sanctified airs, and, while claiming to be friends, caused
mischief in the land. It is blind obedience to such people that is here
characterised as 'ibadah.
(iii)
They (Jews and Christians) made their learned men and priests their rabbs
instead of Allah, and Jesus son of Mary too, though they were not bidden except
to give their 'ibadah to Allah alone. (Quran 9:31)
Here
making of the learned men and priests into rabbs and the giving of 'ibadah to
them does not mean believing them to be gods, but making them the sole
authority for deciding what to do and what not to do, and obeying their behests
without caring to look for any divine or prophetic sanction behind them. This
is the explanation, which was given by the Holy Prophet himself (may peace be
upon him) when, on an occasion, the question was put to him by a convert who
had previously been a Christian.
As
to the third sense, of worship, this has two aspects: the first is that of
performing one or more of the various rites of worship, such as bowing before
the person or thing, standing in his or its presence with hands folded across the
breast, of offering sacrifices before it, etc., irrespective of whether the
person, etc., involved is regarded as god in his own right or as someone able
to intercede with a major god or having a share in the running of the universe
under the control of that god.
The
other is to believe in the person, etc., as having control over the realm of
cause and effect, and praying to him, invoking him in times of distress or
trial, and seeking his protection against danger or disaster.
Both
kinds of acts amount, according to the Qur'an, to worship, e.g.,
(i)
Say, (O'prophet):'I have been forbidden to worship those whom you people
worship other than Allah now that I have clear guidance from my Rabb."
(Quran 40:66)
(ii)
(And Ibrahim said to his people): "And I part company with you and turn
away from you (all) and from those whom you invoke other than Allah, and I
shall call on my Rabb instead " And when he had turned away from them and
from those they worshipped other than Allah, We blessed him with a son Ishaq
(Isaac) …(Quran 19:48-49)
(iii)
And who is more astray than one who calls on those other than Allah who will
not make him any answer till Doomsday and who are in fact unaware even of being
invoked; and when the people shall be gathered on the Day of Judgement, those
so invoked will turn hostile to them and will repudiate their acts of worship.
(Quran 46:5-6)
In
all these three verses, the Qur'an itself clarifies that by 'ibadah here is
meant calling on the supposed gods or invoking them for help.
(iv)
On the other hand, they used to worship the jinn, and many believed in them.
(Quran 34:41)
This
worship of Jinns (genii) is explained later as Follows:
(v)
And some there are among men who seek the protection of some among the jinns.
(Quran 72:6)
In
other words, to seek the protection of the jinn amounts to giving them worship
and believing that they have the power to grant such protection.
(v)
On the Day when Allah will gather them and the gods they used to worship other
than Him, He will ask the latter whether it was they who had misled the people
or it was the people who had themselves gone astray. And they will reply
"Glory be to you! How could it have been fitting for us to take for
protectors others besides You?" (Quran 25:1718)
The persons
referred to here as having been worshipped are, obviously, the saintly and the
pious, while worship of them implies belief in their possessing some of the
attributes which are actually divine and in their being capable of listening to
and granting the prayers of someone far away, and the showing of respect for
them in such manner amounts to worship.
(vii)
And on the Day when Allah will gather them together, and will say to the
angels: "Are you those they worshipped?" and they will reply,
"Glory be to you what have we to do with them? It is You Whom we regard as
our Protector." (Quran 34:40,41)
Here
the `ibadah of the angels means their worship, for which purpose their idols
were kept in places of worship, and various acts of worship were gone through
in the hope of pleasing them and winning their favours and enlisting their help
in worldly affairs.
(viii)
And they used to worship, other than Allah, those who had not the power to do
them either harm or good, and used to say, "These are our intercessors
with God." (Quran 10:18)
(ix)
And those who have taken others than God as their helpers, and say: "We do
not perform acts of worship towards them except that they bring us nearness to
God." (Quran 39:3)
Here
too the particular acts of worship amount to ibadah, and the particular manner
in which it did is also indicated.
All
the above examples illustrate the use of the word 'ibadah (or one or more of
its derivatives) in one or other of the three senses, and we have now to give some
examples of the comprehensive use of the word, embracing all the three. But
before we do so, it seems desirable to be clear about one point.
In
all the verses cited above, there is reference to the worship of others than
Allah. Where worship ('ibadah) implies bondage and submission, those worshipped
are, either the Devil, or those rebels against God who have become taghoots and
who, instead of making people give their obedience to God, make it exclusive
for themselves; or those leaders (whether political or religious) who ignore
the injunctions of the Qur'an and make the people follow the ways devised by
themselves [ e.g., the upholders of "Kemalism", and
"Panchshila", two heretical secularist concepts, both preferred
openly to Islam, the pure Muslims being persecuted and even maligned as enemies
of the country. Abu Asad.]. Where the word does mean worship-that is,
performance of various rituals of worship, etc. -those worshipped happen to be
either the saints or other pious people, or the Prophets who were raised to the
status of godhood in varying degrees contrary to their own teachings; or the
angels or the jinns who, through a misconception, were believed to have a share
in divinity; or idols or imaginary powers or other physical representations which
became the objects of worship through the insinuations of Satan. The Holy
Qur'an pronounces all such gods or objects of worship to be false, and their
`worship' to be wrong, irrespective of whether it amounts to bondage, or
obedience, or the actual observance of the ritual of worship. All, insists the
Qur'an, are God's creatures and his slaves. They have no right to be given any
kind of worship, nor does this worship beget anything but frustration, and
debasement. Allah alone is the Lord of all, whether it be these gods or the
rest of creation, and He alone has all the power and the authority and, hence,
He alone is deserving of worship in any of the senses of the word:
(i)
Verily those you worship are God's creatures like you, so call them, and let
them make reply to you (that is, grant your prayers), if you are in the
right."...And those to whom you call besides Him, can neither help you nor
(for the matter of that) even themselves. (Quran 7:194,197)
(ii)
And they say that Rahman (the God of Mercy) has taken a son now Himself. Far
above is He of such a thing! They (the supposed sons) are, actually, His
creatures whom He has honoured. (And yet, despite this honor) they dare not
open their mouth on their own to make any submission to Him. They only do as He
bids. He knows what is visible to them, and also what is hidden from them. They
cannot intercede with Him in behalf of anyone (at all) save where He Himself
wishes to accede to any intercession. And they are constantly in awe of Him.
(Quran 21:26-28)
(iii)
And they have made goddesses of angels, who are actually creatures of
Ar-Rahman, The Merciful God. (Quran 43:19)
(iv)
And they have assumed some blood relationship between God and the jinns, though
the jinn, know for themselves that they will one day have to appear before Him
to account for their conduct. (Quran 37:158)
(v)
Neither did Jesus consider it beneath his dignity to be a slave of Allah, nor
do the angels; and whosoever considers it beneath him to give himself in
bondage to Allah, (then where can he escape from Him, and) He will gather them
all to Himself. (Quran 4:172)
(vi)
The Sun and the Moon both follow courses (exactly) computed; and the plants and
the trees both (alike) bow in adoration and submission to Allah (their
Creator). (Quran 55:5-6)
(vii)
The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, proclaim His Glory;
there is not a thing but celebrates His praises, except that you understand it
not. (Quran 17:44)
(viii)
And to Him belongs all beings in the heavens and the earth, and all are
subservient to his commands. (Quran 30:26)
(ix)
And there is not a creature that moves but He has grasp of its forelock (that
is, complete control over it). (Quran 11:56)
(x)
There is not a single being in the heavens and the earth but will come to (God)
Most Gracious as a bonded slave; He does take account of them (all), and has
numbered them (all) exactly. And everyone of them will come to Him singly on
the Day of Judgement. (Quran 19:93-95)
(xi)
Say (O' Prophet): "O God! Lord of Power (and Rule), You Grant power to
whom You pleases, and shed Power from whom You please; You endue with honour
whom You please, and You bring low whom You please. In Your hand is all Good [
That is, no good can come to any being unless Allah wills it so. Abu Asad].
Verily, You have (all the) power over everything. (Quran 3:26)
Having
thus clarified categorically that all who are worshipped besides Allah in any
form were or are no more than His creatures and slaves with no power or
authority of their own at all, the Qur'an demands of all human beings and jinns
that 'ibadah must, in whatever form it take, be reserved exclusively for Allah.
All bondage, submission, and worship should be to or of Him alone, and there
should not be even the slightest semblance of these for anyone else:
(i)
And We sent a messenger to every people with the message that they give their
'ibadah to Allah and forbear from giving it to taghoot. (Quran 16:36)
(ii)
Good tidings are for those who turned away from the 'ibadah of taghoot, and
turned to Allah instead. (Quran 39:17)
(iii)
Did I not enjoin upon you, O' sons of Adam, not to give your 'ibadah to Satan,
for he is an open enemy to you, but to give it to Me instead and that is the
straight path? (Quran 36:60-61)
(iv)
They made their learned men and praises into Rabbs, although they were not
bidden except to give their 'ibadah to Allah alone. (Quran 9:31)
(v)
O' you who believe! If you have really made your 'ibadah exclusive for Us, then
eat without hesitation of the clean and good things We have bestowed upon you,
and render gratitude to God. (Quran 2:172)
In
these verses the 'ibadah which is ordered to be reserved exclusively for God is
that which amounts to bondage or slavery and submission and obedience, and the
implication clearly is that men are being told to forbear giving their
submission and obedience to taghoot, to Satan, to the priests and rabbis, and
to fathers and forefathers, and to give it instead to Allah alone:
(i) Say (O' Prophet): "Forbidden it is
for me to give my 'ibadah to those to whom you call instead of God. Clear signs
have I received from my Lord, and I have been bidden to bow to the Will of the
Lord of all the Worlds " (Quran 40:66)
(ii)
And your Rabb has said: 'Call to Me, and I shall hear your prayer [ This does
not mean that all the prayers will necessarily be granted the way one wishes.
The Holy Prophet is reported to have stated on one occasion that no prayer ever
goes waste. Either Allah Almighty grants it, or He bestows something better-may
be after some times-or He averts some harm or disaster instead. It must be
understood, however, the point does not need any argument that the prayer must
be for something good. It would be the height of depravity, for example, for
some misguided fool to pray that Allah enable him to make a huge profit in a
black-marketing transaction, and so on. And he certainly can have no right to
feel ungrateful to Allah for not granting his Prayer. Abu Asad.] -and as for
those who go against My Commands, they will surely be flung into (the fire) of
hell." (Quran 40:60)
(iii)
This is Allah, the Rabb of all of you. All Power is His alone, and as for those
you call to others than Him, they do not own any power; if you call to them,
they do not listen to your prayer, and if they could listen they would not be
able to respond, and on the Day of Judgement they will simply repudiate your
association of them with God! (Quran 35:1314)
(iv)
Say (O' Prophet):' Do you give 'ibadah to those, other than Allah who have
power to do you neither harm nor good, (whereas) Allah alone is the
All-Hearing, All- Knowing." (Quran 5:76)
In
these verses the emphasis is on making 'ibadah exclusive for Allah, in the
sense of worship, and there is also evidence that the sending up of prayers to
someone is also an act of ‘ibadah, while the verses that precede and follow
those quoted above speak of these supposed gods who were treated as co-sharers
with Allah in His rububiyyah in the supernatural sense.
It
should not therefore be difficult for anyone with even the least sense to
understand that wherever the Qur'an speaks of the `ibadah of Allah, and it does
not appear from the context that it is used specifically in one or other of its
three different senses, it encompasses all the three, namely, bondage,
submission, and worship, e.g.
(i)
Verily, I am Allah; there is no ilah but I; therefore give your 'ibadah to Me
(alone). (Quran 20:14)
(ii)
This is Allah, your Rabb; there is no ilah but He-the Creator of all that
exists; therefore give your 'ibadah to Him (alone), and He it is Who looks
after every thing and its needs. (Quran 6:102)
(iii)
Say (O' Prophet): "O People, if you are in doubt as to what my deen is,
then let it be clear to you that I do not give my 'ibadah to those other than
Allah to whom you give yours instead, I give mine to Allah, Who causes you to
die, and I have been commanded to be of believers (in Him)." (Quran
10:104)
(iv)
Those to whom you give your 'ibadah others than, Allah, they are nothing but
things or beings whom your forefathers and you yourselves have, under false
notions, come to believe as invested with divinity. Allah Himself has not sent
down any proof therefor. To Allah alone belongs all Power and the Realm.
Clearly has He ordained that to none but Him may one give one's 'ibadah, and
that (alone) is the straight path. (Quran 12:40)
(v)
And Allah alone knows the realities unseen by man; with Him alone rests
ultimate dispensation; therefore give your 'ibadah to Him, and in Him alone
place your reliance. (Quran 11:123)
(vi)
To Him (alone) belongs all that is on front of us or behind us or in between;
nor is your Rabb given to lapses of memory; He is the Rabb of the heavens and
the earth and whatever is in between; therefore give your ibadah to Him alone,
and keep steadfast in such 'ibadah alone. (Quran 19:64-65)
(vii)
So, whoso wishes to meet His Rabb, then let him do pious deeds, and not mix up
the 'ibadah of his 'Rabb with that of any other. (Quran 18: 110)
There
truly seems not the slightest reason for taking the word 'ibadah as used in
these verses to have only one or other of the three senses, of worship,
bondage, or submission. Actually, the Qur'an puts its whole d'awah and its
import in verses like these and, obviously, its whole d'awah is none other than
that our bondage, our submission, and our worship should all be for Allah,
wholly and solely. Therefore, the restriction of the meaning of the term, in
the above verses, to just any one of the three senses amounts to placing a
limitation on the d'awah of the Qur'an and the logical result of this would be
that those who embrace the Islamic faith with such a restricted understanding
of the Qur'anic d'awah will be able to achieve only a sub-standard compliance
with its precepts and will remain defective in their Iman.
CHAPTER 4. DEEN
Usage and Meaning
Like
the three terms already dealt with, the fourth, and last of the basic Qur'anic
terms, namely, deen, had different connotations among the Arabs, and their use
of it and its various derivatives revolved round one or other of the following
four basic concepts or relationships, etc., namely:
1.
Dominance, or sway, on the part of someone in authority;
2.
Obedience, servitude, or worship on the part of the one submitting to the
authority;
3.
Laws, rules or regulations or code imposed, and required to be observed, in the
context of the above relationship; and
4.
Calling to account (for obedience or non-obedience to the Authority or for
compliance or non-compliance with its dictates), passing judgement, and
pronouncing reward or punishment.
The
word had not, however, attained the status of a formal term as such before the
revelation of the Qur'an. The Arabs were not very clear in their minds as to
the concepts involved nor were their ideas lofty in this context and that is
the reason why the word had not found its way into the terminology of any
systematic and recognised school of thought. It was in the Qur'an in which,
obviously because the word was particularly suited to its purpose, that it was
given very clear-cut and definite connotations, and it was this aspect which
made the word one of the most important in the Qur'anic terminology. In that
terminology, it stands for the entire way of life, of which the composite
factors are:
1.
Sovereignty and supreme authority;
2.
Obedience and submission to such authority;
3.
The system of thought and action established through the exercise of that
authority; and
4.
Retribution meted out by the authority, in consideration of loyalty and
obedience to it, or rebellion and transgression against it.
And,
as in other cases, the Qur'an employs the term, on different occasions, in one
or more of the above four senses, but where the intention is to imply the whole
way of life, it uses the definite article 'al' before the word, to make it read
'al-Deen' Examples of such different uses are as follows:
First and Second Sense
It
is Allah Who has made the earth as a resting place for you, and the sky a
canopy, and has given you shape-and what a piece of work it is!-and has
provided for your sustenance things pure and wholesome; such is Allah, your
Lord. So Glory be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. He is the Living (One);
there is no god but He; so address your prayers to Him, making your deen
exclusive for Him. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. (Quran 64:65)
Say
(O Mohammad): "I have been bidden to give my 'ibadah to Allah, making my
deen exclusive to Him, and bidden to be the first of His
obedient-servants."… Say (O' Mohammed): "It is Allah to Whom I give
my 'ibadah, making my deen exclusive for Him; (and as for you,) give yours to
whoever or whatsoever you may wish to give it to (if you will not listen to me
but wish to continue in your wrong ways)"... And as for those who are
careful and wise enough not to give their 'ibadah to taghoot, and who turn to
Allah alone, there (surely) are glad tidings for them. (Quran 39:11,14,17)
Verily
We have sent down to you (0' Muhammad) Book, with Truth; therefore, make your
deen exclusive for Allah, and give your ibadah to Him alone. Hark! Deen
pertains exclusively to Him (and Him alone). (Quran 39:2-3)
And
to Him belongs all, there is in the heavens and the earth, and Deen is (rightly)
His alone. Why is it, then, that you fear others the way you should fear Him
(alone)? (Quran 16:53)
Do
(the non-believers) want some deen other than Allah's, and this despite the
fact that to Him are subservient, willingly or unwillingly, all the creatures
and thing, that constitute the universe and to Him it is that they shall (all)
return'? (Quran 3:83)
And
they were not bidden except that they give their 'ibadah to Allah, making their
deen exclusive for Him (and Him alone). (Quran 98:5)
In
all the above examples the word has been employed to signify the vesting of the
Supreme authority in Allah alone, tacit acknowledgement of that fact, and
complete unquestioning obedience and submission to that authority. The making
of one's deen exclusive for Allah means that one should not treat anyone other
than Allah as having the ultimate authority, domain, and rulership over the
universe and should so make one's obedience and submission exclusive for Him
that there is no association of anyone else with Him in this respect. What is
required is that there should not be even the slightest element of association
and treatment of anyone else as having sovereignty or authority and being
entitled to obedience and submission as of independent right. [ The implication
here is that any submission to anyone other than Allah should only be in
pursuance of and in conformity with the obedience and submission due
exclusively to Him, and with scrupulous regard for the limits prescribed by
Him. Anything done by a son in obedience to the commands of his father, by a
wife to those of her husband, by a slave or a servant to those of his master,
and all other manifestations of obedience constitute, notwithstanding the
nature of the relationship if in pursuance of Allah's Injunction and within the
limits prescribed by Him, submission to Him in practice and, as such acts of
'ibadah. If, however, they do not satisfy this criterion, and obedience is
rendered to someone as if it was dire to him as of independent right, they
amount to sin, and rebellion against Allah's Commands. In a State founded and
run in accordance with His Law, it is the religious duty of every Muslim to
obey the state and all its commands. If it is not so founded and run, then it
is sin too obey. A. A. Maududi]
The Third Sense
Say
(O' Muhammad): "If you suffer from any doubts as to the details, or
validity or rationality of my deen, then let it be known to you that I
do
not give me ‘ibadah to anyone other than Allah He Who (having
alone
the power in this regard) causes you to die, and I have been bidden to be of
the believers (in Him), and to set my conduct and coarse wholly and solely
according to the Deen and not to become one of those who associate others with
Allah. (Quran 10:104-105)
Authority
vests in Allah alone. (And) He has Commanded that we do not give our 'ibadah to
any accept Him; this is the Deen, right and proper. (Quran 12:40)
And
to Him belong all who are in the heavens and the earth. All are subservient to
Him, ... He has propounded to you a similitude from your own (experience). Is
any of your slaves a partner with you in the bounty We have conferred upon you?
Do you make them equal partners in your ownership of your possessions? ... The
truth is that these misguided people follow their own wrong and baseless
notions, ideas and desires without proper knowledge... So you (O' Muhammad) set
your face straight upon the Deen, and follow the natural course meant by Allah
for men [ What is meant is that it is Allah alone Who has created man, and
provided for his sustenance and others of his needs, that there is no god but
He, and that He alone is man's Master and the only authority rightfully
deserving of his worship. Therefore, it would be fitly in accordance with this
natural fact that man should believe, and behave, as only Allah's creature and
servant and not anyone else's at all. A.A.Maududi]. It is not right that
Allah's Design be interfered with. This is the right and proper Deen and yet
many a people know this not. (Quran 30: 26,28-30).
The
adulterer, and the adulteress, let them both be given a hundred stripes each,
and let not pity overcome you in a matter of Allah's Deen [ Adultery, in Islam,
is the commission of the sexual act between a male end a female not married to
each other. The fact that it has been committed through mutual consent is no
mitigation of the offence. The punishment here prescribed is that in the case
of persons who are unmarried. In the case of a married person (who would have
less reason to commit adultery), the punishment is that be or she be stoned to
death, and there are categoric orders that this be done in public and be
witnessed by a crowd (so as to serve as a lesson to others). In fact all bodily
punishments are required, by the Shari'ah to be inflicted in public. There is
far more psychology in this than in all the writings of those who decry
whipping or death sentences, in the name of humanness. Abu Asad]. (Quran 24:2)
In
Allah's Writ, the number of months has always been twelve to a year, from the
day He erected the heavens and the earth; of which (twelve) four are sacred;
this is the true and straight deen (usage). (Quran 9:36)
And
thus did those whom they associated with Allah make it appear a commendable act
in the eyes of the mushrikeen [ That is, the people guilty of shirk, the
association of others with God. A.A. Maududi] to slay their children in order
to lead them to their own destruction, and cause confusion in their deen.
(Quran 6:138)
Have
they taken some people to be partners (with Allah) who prescribe ways for them
in the nature of deen, for which they have had no permission from Allah. (Quran
42:21)
For
you, your deen, and for me mine own. (Quran 109:6)
In
all these verses, the word deen has been used to mean the law, rules or
regulations, shari'ah, or code of conduct, or that system of thought and action
which a person subscribes to and lives by. If the ultimate authority for the
law or code, etc., which is followed, is God Himself, then the person concerned
in observing Allah's deen; if it owes us itself to the commandments of a
monarch, then he is in the monarch's Deen; if it is prescribed by some priests
or pundits or other religious leaders then he is observing their deen; and if
it has been laid down by the family, the clan or the tribe, or the national
bodypolitic, then he is following their deen. In other words, the basic,
critical factor as to the deen a person follows is the ultimate authority
responsible for it.
The Fourth Sense
Verily,
that which you are promised (that is, life after death) is true, and deep (the
reckoning and the judgement and retribution) must indeed come to pass. (Quran
51:5-6)
Have
you noticed the person who denies Deen (the life after death)? He is one who
spurns the orphan, and does not urge people to feed the needy and the indigent.
(Quran 107:1-3)
And
what do you know of the Day of Deen? Yea, what (little) do you know of the Day
of deen. That is the Day when no human being shall be able to be of any service
to another, the Day on which all authority and dispensation will tangibly be in
the hands of Allah. (Quran 82:17-19)
Obviously,
in these verses, the word has been used to imply both the final reckoning when
men shall have been raised from the dead as well as the reward or punishment
which will follow.
As a Comprehensive Term
In
the examples given above, the word has been used more or less in the four
different senses in which the Arabs employed it before the advent of Islam. It
remains to give a few examples of its use to mean a whole way of life in which
a person gives his submission and obedience to someone whom he regards as
having the ultimate authority, shapes his conduct according to the bounds and
laws and rules prescribed by that being, looks to him for recognition honour,
and reward for loyal service, and fears the disgrace or punishment that could
follow any lack on his part. There is perhaps no word in the terminology of any
country or people-other than Muslims-which would comprehensively embrace all
these factors. The word `state' as employed in our own day does, to some
extent, approximate to the sense, but even this word lacks the far wider
connotation which would bring it on a par with the word Deen. Examples of the
Qur'anic use of deen in this comprehensive sense are as follows:
Fight
those people who do not believe in Allah, nor in the Day of Judgement, nor do
they treat as forbidden that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Prophet,
and who do not make the true deen their deen; fight them until they decide to
submit and agree to pay the 'jizya. [ This was a tax paid by all non-Muslim,
who submitted to Islamic rule and were therefore entitled to its protection.
Its incidence was light and a was only paid by those who were capable of
bearing arms and had the means to pay. In return, they were excused from
military service; which is obligatory on the Muslims. Abu Asad] (Quran 9:29)
Here,
the word deen obviously embraces belief in Allah, as the Supreme Authority, and
submission and obedience to Him as a logical requirement following on from such
recognition, the raising after death and calling to account, pronouncing
judgement, and pronouncing and implementing reward or punishment, as also the
code which prescribes what is permitted and what is forbidden. It is after
having detailed these four factors that the Qur'an accuses the people involved
of not making the true deen their deen too.
And,
said the Pharaoh: Leave me to slay Musa, and then let him call upon his Rabb
(to save him). (I must slay him for) I am very much afraid that he might change
your deen or disturb the peace of land. (Quran 40:26)
In
the light of all the details contained in the Qur'an of what transpired between
the Pharaoh and Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace), it is clear that the word deen
as used here does not stand only for `religion' but covers also the whole
politico-social and cultural set-up. The Pharaoh's contention was that if
Hazrat Musa (on whom be peace) succeeded in his mission, there would come about
a revolutionary change in which the prevailing way of life with the Pharaoh as
the ultimate authority, together with all the laws, rules, and customs etc.,
would be uprooted, and either a whole new way of life would take its place on completely
new foundations, or no new way of life would establish itself at all and the
land would fall a prey to anarchy.
Insofar
as Allah's scheme for man goes, the only Deen for him is 'Islam' and none
other. (Quran 3:19)
And whosoever
seeks any deen other than `Islam', it shall never receive acceptance. (Quran
3:85)
It
is He-Allah-Who sent his Messenger with true Guidance, and with the True Deen
to make it triumph over other deens, caring naught what annoyance this may
cause to those who associate others with Him. (Quran 9:33)
And
continue the fight against them until all mischief is effectively destroyed and
the only deen holding away is Allah's deen and none other. (Quran 8:39)
When
Allah's help arrives, and victory results, and you see people joining in
Allah's deen in crowd, then Glorify your Rabb, and beg forgiveness of Him, for
He is the Oft-Forgiving? [ Perhaps the more correct translation than the one I
have acutely chosen would be when Allah's special help arrived, and victory
resulted, then it is your duty that you Glorify your Rabb (Who sent the help
and gave you the victory) and that you seek forgiveness of Him (for any failing
you may have unwittingly committed); Verily He is the Oft-Forgiving. Abu Asad]
(Quran 110:1-3)
In
all these verses, the word Deen stands for the complete way of life, including
man's beliefs, his moral principles, and his behaviour in all walks of life.
In
the first two verses it is said that the right and proper way of life intended
by God for man is that founded on obedience to Him and conformity to His Laws.
Any other way of life, based on someone else's supposed right to ultimate
authority and submission to it, has not the slightest place in Allah's scheme
for man and is hence as wholly unacceptable to Him. And this is but natural.
Man is God's creature and lives in His Domain and God is his Master and
Sustainer. How then, can God be expected to consent that man may spend his life
in obedience to someone else similarly His creature and dependant, and look to
that someone for guidance?
The
third verse proclaims that Allah sent His Messenger (may peace be upon him)
with the true Deen, the way of life meant by Him for man, which is known as
Islam, and it was the primary purpose of the Prophet's mission that he should
make this Deen prevail in their stead and triumph over all other ways of life.
In
the fourth, the believers have been ordered to fight all non-believers until mischief-that
is, every system of thought, belief, and action which is not based on
recognition of Allah as the Supreme Authority, and which therefore will
perpetually remain the source of all strife and unrest-has been wiped out, and
entire humanity adopts the approved way of life, Allah's Deen.
The
fifth verse was revealed when, after 23 years of prolonged struggle the Islamic
Revolution had overcome all resistance in Arabia, when Islam had established
itself and been universally accepted as a system of belief, thought, morality,
culture, etc., in all its details and in all walks of life, and delegation
after delegation from all parts of the country was arriving to pledge
allegiance to it, and the Holy Prophet (on whom be peace) was thus witnessing
the fulfillment of his mission. After referring to this, the verse goes on to
tell the Prophet (on whom be peace) not to let any sentiments of vanity or
pride arise in his mind and make him feel that he owed the success to himself.
Allah, the Rabb of all, and of the Prophet too (peace be upon him), is alone free
of all shortcomings and failings and complete and perfect in every respect.
Therefore, any credit for the success which crowned the Prophet's efforts, was
due rightfully to Him alone, and the Prophet should Glorify Him, and utter His
praises, and beg forgiveness for any possible shortcomings that might have
occurred during his 23 years long term of service to his Lord. [ May Allah's
choicest peace and blessings be upon this most pious and perfect of human
beings, our intercessor with Allah, on the Day of Judgement! May Allah forgive
the translator for any failing or short-coming is this humble effort to present
His Deen. Abu Asad]
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