The
Messenger informed Mu'adh bin Jabal, when he was going to the land of Yemen, "You
are going to a people from the People of the Book. Let the first thing that you
call them to be the worship of Allaah. If they acknowledge Allaah, then inform
them that Allaah has obligated upon them five prayers during their days and nights."
[al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
This
hadith is clear. It does not require much of an explanation. The Prophet
applied this principle in his practical calling to Islam. He stayed in Makkah
for thirteen years to each the people eemaan and to educate his Companions on
this point and to correct the beliefs of the people. That is the pattern upon
which the Companions were brought up.
Jundub
Ibn Abdullaah al-Bajaly said, "We learned eemaan (faith) and then we
learned the Qur'aan and it increased our eemaan."
Abdullaah
ibn Umar said, "We lived during an instant of time in which one of us
would receive faith first before receiving the Qur'aan and when the surahs were
revealed we would learn what they permitted and what they prohibited and what
they forbade and what they ordered and what should be the stance towards them.
But I have seen many men from whom one is given the Qur'aan before eemaan and
he reads it from the opening of the Book to its closing and he does not know
what it orders and what it forbids and what should be his stance towards it. He
is like someone who is just throwing out dates [i.e., he does not get any
benefit from his recital]."
That
is the manner in which the Prophet brought up his companions: Eemaan first and
then the Qur'aan. This is similar to what Imaam Abu Hanifa pointed out:
Understanding in the religion first (i.e. tawheed) and then understanding in
the science (i.e. the sharee'ah).
The
beliefs must be corrected first, then follows all of the other aspects of the
religion.
And
Imaam ash-Shafi'ee said, "That a servant meets allaah with every sin
except Shirk is better say than meeting Him upon any of the innovated
beliefs."
al-Aqeedah
linguistically is derived from the term aqada. In Arabic, one states,
"Aqada the rope" when the rope is tied firmly. And, "Aqada the
sale" or "He settled the sale" when the person ratifies and
contracts a sale or agreement. And Allaah says in the Qur'aan,
"And as for those whom your right hands have made a
covenant (Ar.,aqadat)" [al-Nisa 33]. And Allaah also says,
"But He will take you to task for the oaths which you swear
in earnest (Ar., aqadtum)" [al-Maida, 89] which means asserted and
adhered to, as proven in the verse,
"And break not oaths after the assertion of them" [an-Nahl, 91]. If
one says, "Aqadtu such and such," it means his heart is firm upon
such and such.
Therefore,
al-aqidah or al-itiqad according to the scholars of Islam is: The firm creed
that one's heart is fixed upon without any wavering or doubt. It excludes any
supposition, doubt or suspicion.
Imaam
Abu Hanifa called this great subject al-Fiqh al-Akbar ("The Greater
Understanding") and the understanding of the religion. He called the
science of law (Ar., sharee'ah) the understanding of the science. Many scholars
of Islaam use the word tawheed for all matters that a person must believe in.
This is because the most important of these matters is the basic tawheed that
is contained in the phrase, "There is none worthy of worship except
Allaah."
Tawheed,
according to them, may be divided into two categories: tawheed of cognition and
affirmation and tawheed of purpose and deeds.
Tawheed
of cognition and affirmation is the tawheed of the Oneness of the Creator and
the tawheed of His Names and Attributes [i.e. He is Unique in His being the
only Creator and the only One with His names and attributes]. Tawheed of
purpose and deeds s tawheed of lordship or that none should be worshipped
except Allaah [i.e., He is the only One worthy of worship].
The
scholastic theologians (Ar., kalaamiyoon) - and what will explain to you who
the scholastic theologians are - call this great subject "the root of the
religion" and they call the law "the branches of the religion".
This is their terminology. We also have a dispute with them in this matter but
this is not the place to discuss it. all of them give it a name or adjective
according to their needs.
But
what is the name the Qur'aan gives to this matter?
The
Qur'aan gives the grave matter the name eemaan. Allaah says in the Qur'aan,
"And thus We inspired in You (Muhammad) a Spirit of Our
command. You did not know what the Scripture was, nor what the Faith was. But
we have made it a light whereby We guide whom We will of our bondmen..." [al-Shura, 52].
The
general concepts that the heart of the believer must be firm about are the
"pillars" of this faith. But one will not be called a believer just
by knowing and understanding these pillars but he must come to the level where
he submits and implements what is described, in the hadith of Gabriel, as
Islam. Eemaan, in this manner, incorporates Islam.
If
eemaan was simply knowing the facts in one's heart, then its companion would be
equal to Satan and Pharaoh [Note: The Satan was the most knowledgeable of his
Lord but he was destroyed because of his pride and envy. And Pharaoh, even
though he claimed to be the lord, knew that the lord is Allaah and that none
has the right to be worshipped but Him. Allaah says,
"He
said: In truth you know that none sent down these portents save the Lord of the
heavens and the earth as proofs..." [al-Isra, 102]. - Although they knew
the truth, they did not put it in practice by turning their 'ibadah to Allaah
Alone].
In
the hadith of Gabriel, the Prophet explained the pillars of this faith in which
every human must believe, when he was asked, "What is eemaan?", he
said, "To believe in Allaah and His angels and His books and His
messengers and the Last Day and predestination of good and evil."
It
is a must for every person to know these pillars and to learn them with a
correct understanding and to believe in them in the manner that he pious
forefathers understood and believed in them, in the same manner that the
Companions of the Prophet believed and understood them, as well as their
Followers and those who followed on their path. This includes the four Imaams,
Sufyan Al-Thauri, Sufyan ibn Uyaina, Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak and others similar
to them, as well as Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhaaree, Muslim ibn Al-Hajjaj,
Shaikh al-Islam ibn Taymiya and al-Hafedh ibn al-Qayyim. And scholars similar
to them who followed the same manner of understanding and believing in these
pillars.
This
is the first obligation upon the responsible human being. There is no
difference of opinion on this question among the scholars whose opinions are
worth following. Imaam Abu-Hanifa said, "The understanding of faith is
better than understanding of the science." What he meant by faith is
tawheed and what he meant by science is the sharee'ah. He put the understanding
of tawheed before the understanding of the sharee'ah.
And
Shaikh al-Islam al-Haruwi al-Ansari (d. 481 AH) stated at the beginning of his
book, Itiqad ahl al-Sunnah, "The first obligation upon the slave is the
knowledge of Allaah. This is proven by the hadith of Muadh, when the Prophet
said to him, 'You will come to a people from the People of the Book. The
first thing that you should call them to is the worship of Allaah. If they gain
the knowledge of Allaah, then tell them that Allaah obligates upon them five
prayers during the day and night...' "
From
this premise did the great scholars of Islam precede. Ponder, for example, what
Imaam Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhaaree did in his book al-Jami al-Sahih, which
is the most authentic book after the Book of Allaah; one will see that from his
detailed knowledge and understanding of this religion, this great Imaam began
his book with "The Beginning of Revelation" and then he followed it
with chapters on faith, followed by the chapters on knowledge. As if he means,
may Allaah have mercy on him, to point out that the first obligation upon a
human being is faith or Eemaan and the way to attaining faith is knowledge. And
the source of faith and knowledge is revelation. So he began by showing how the
revelation occurred and what it was like. Then he followed by mentioning faith
and knowledge. This arrangement is no accident; by it he makes some important
points.
This
is the sum of what we wish to mention and what we wish to raise our voices
about. The matter of aqeedah is the first priority. Faith and knowledge are the
means of attaining it. And the source of knowledge and faith is the Book and
Sunnah.
