all praise belongs to Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him), only the mistakes are mine.
SECTION ONE:
.001: Tawhid in the actions (of Allah) and the benefits of belief in this
Text of the Hadith:
قال ابن عباس قال،قال رسول الله (صلي الله عليه و آله و سلم):من انقطع إلي الله كفاه كل مؤونة،ومن انقطع إلي الدنيا و كله الله إليها.و من حاول أمرا بمعصية الله كان أبعد له مما رجا و أقرب مما اتقي،و من طلب محامد الناس بمعاصي الله عاد حامده منهم ذاما.و من أرضي الناس بسخط الله و كله الله إليهم،ومن أحسن سريرته أصلح الله علانيته.ومن عمل لاخرته كفي الله أمر دنياه
English translation:
It has been narrated from Ibn `Abbas that the Messenger of Allah (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) has said, The one who keeps his hopes only upon Allah, He will be sufficient for him in all affairs of his life, and the one who keeps his hopes on the material world, Allah will leave him to be (with the world). And the person who wishes to reach to his goals through disobeying Allah, surely he will be the furthest away from that which he wishes (to achieve) and will be the closest to difficulties. And the person who seeks to please the people through disobeying Allah, He will convert the pleasure (of the people) to him to his disgrace (amongst the people). And the person who seeks to please the people while gaining the displeasure of Allah, Allah will appoint those people to be above him (to rule him). And the person who seeks to please Allah while making others displeased by him, Allah will be sufficient for him for the evil of the people (Allah will protect him from their evil). And the person who does right with that which is between him and Allah, Allah will make sufficient that which is between him and the people. And that person who makes right that which he performs in secret, Allah will correct that which he performs in the open and the person who works for his next life, Allah will make sufficient the affair of the life of his life in this world.
Commentary of Hadith:
One of the important issues in the discussion concerning Tawhid is in relation to Tawhid-e-Af`ali (belief in the oneness of the Actions (of Allah)) and if a person was to possess correct belief in regards to this issue, then it would surely have a very profound impact on his life.
The issue of Tawhid-e-Af`ali tells us that: everything and everyone that exists in the entire universe - even the leaves of a tree moving due to a breeze - all stem from Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him). Not a single thing can take place without His command and order the cutting which a sword performs, the burning which a fire produces and - all of these come from His command. In one sentence, just as it has been mentioned in Biharul Anwar, we can state that:
لا مؤثر في الوجود إلا الله
There is no one effector in the creation except Allah.2
Even our own choices and freedom also stem from Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) and if He had not given us such a power of choice, then we would not be able to perform any task and thus, He has given us freedom and has not imposed things upon us.
When a person has such a belief deep within himself and the issue of Tawid-e-Af`ali takes seat deep within him and he understands that the only independent determination and will is the will of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) and the determination which we have has merely been given to us by Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) to test and examine us, then he would definitely not humble himself to other people just to seek closeness to them. A person would realize that the source of acquiring the goodness of this material world is not in the hands of other people and a person would not look to covet the goods of others!
In addition, with such a belief, a person would not seek to approach near the obedience and pleasure of the creations if this meant that he would have to transgress the laws of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him). In addition, he would not seek others to help him solve his problems since he knows that the true meaning of There is no one effector in the creation except for Allah goes against all of these issues.
If we were to have true faith in the verse of the Quran which states:
أنما أمره إذا أراد شيئا أن يقول له كن فيكون
Surely His command when He intends to do something is the saying of Be and it is.3
Then these paths which lead to becoming mislead would definitely not have any meaning for us.
The reason why the source of all reformations goes back to reformation of the theological beliefs is due to this same reason. Even when all of the Prophets of Allah (blessings be upon all of them) were appointed, the very first action that they did was to instil the correct set of beliefs within the hearts and minds of the people. once the beliefs and faith is corrected, then all of the roots and branches (of the faith) too will become reformed and corrected.
The hadith which we have quoted in the beginning shows us that all of our actions must return back to the issue of Tawhid-e-Af`ali.
The meaning ofأنقطاع إلي الله
is that we cut off hope from all others and attach ourselves only to Him; we close our eyes to everyone else and focus ourselves only on Him. If a person was to reach to this station, then Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) alone would be sufficient for him during all of his difficulties.
It is then mentioned thatومن انقطع إلي الدنيا و كله الله إليها
however, if a person were to leave reliance upon Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) and were to rely solely on the material world and expected both respect and dishonour only comes from the hands of people, or assumed this his sustenance comes from this physical ground through his cultivation or through trading and business, then Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) would leave this person to the whims of the material world.
Of course, we are not opposed to the world of cause and effect, however we must pay attention that behind this world, there is a hand of the one who occasions things to happen (the actual Cause). Sometimes, in order to not forget that there is a Causer for everything, people make up and create reasons and rationale (for things happening around them) and it is because of this reason that sometimes people state that, All the doors were closed to me and then all of a sudden, a way out was found or sometimes the opposite of this is also said!4
If a person was to lose the Causer for everything that happens and was to rely solely on this frail spiders web (the material world), then Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) too would leave this person alone within this frail web just as it has been mentioned in the Quran:
مثل الذين اتخذوا من الله أولياء كمثل العنكبوت اتخذت بيتا و أن أوهن البيوت لبيت العنكبوت لو كانوا يعلمون
The similitude of those people who take other than Allah as their protectors and guardians is as the example of the spider who takes his web as being his (frail) house. And surely the most weakest of houses is the house of the spider if only these people had knowledge of this (fact).5
The intelligent person does not rely upon the frail house of the spider since the person who relies solely upon the chief Causer of all actions (Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him)) will be needless of all other things.
It is mentioned in our hadith that:
أللهم، لا تكلني إلي نفسي طرفة عين أبدا
O Allah! Do not ever leave me to myself for even the period of the blinking of the eye.
And this hadith points to this same fact that, O Allah! I appeal to you to always be my Protector; I appeal to you that Your yourself become my Guardian.
In the line of this hadith which statesمن حاول ذمرا بمعصية الله
we see that another aspect of this same issue has been explained.
For example, we see that a person has planned that he is to reach to a specific goal and to reach to this aim of his, he seeks help through the forbidden means. This person must know that he shall never reach to his ultimate aim and it is exactly that thing which he surely fears that will actually come back to him, and thus it must be said to a person like him that: You who well know that the only will which exists is the will of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) and that He is the sole Sovereign over all things thus, why do you still resort to making use of the means which are not permitted?
The next line readsو من طلب مجامد الناس
and in this part of the hadith, the Messenger (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) has alluded to the backing of other people. In relation to the advancement of the scared principles of the faith, society, politics, etc it is important to take into account the thoughts of the general populous and thus, the people of the society must help out and assist so that all can reach to the desired goals however we must not confuse this and think that these are issues are only of the people since we want people to come forward and assist but for the sake of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) not that we want Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) for the sake of the people and it should not be that one day we see that in order to attract the people, we end up displeasing Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him)!
The Messenger (blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) has stated here that the outcome of the person who seeks to gain the praise of the people through disobeying and sinning against Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) is that those same people who are now praising him will one day end up censuring and condemning him (and instead of this person having any sort of impact or influence on the society, he will end up being detested by the people). This is the fact since the person who places attaining the pleasure of people over attaining the pleasure of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him), Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) will leave such a person to be at the whims of the people and will remove the hand of His grace from such a person.
A point which is very important here is that the person must know very well that he himself is weak and as long as the assistance of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) is not there, he is not able to perform any deed. It is because of this fact that we must perform all our tasks for Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) even if the people are not pleased at this and become upset with us. If we act in this manner, then surely Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) will remove the evil of the people from reaching us.
The true believer must pay attention to this verse of the Quran which states:
تؤتي الملك من تشاء و تنزع الملك ممن تشاء و تعز من تشاء و تذل من تشاء بيدك الخير إنك علي كل شيء قدير
He bestows the kingdom to whom He so pleases and He withdraws the kingdom from whom He pleases and He grants honour and dignity to whom He pleases and He disgraces whom He pleases. In His hands is all goodness and surely You (Allah) have power over all things.6
And he (the true believer) must state that, O Allah! Everything lies in Your hands. Even if we go towards the world of causes, we do this through Your permission and with complete trust and reliance upon you.
We must never be like the people who say, In the name of Allah and in the name of the heros of humanity as this is a form of worship of two entities and we are not of this sort of people since we are believers who also want for the creations but from Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him).
In the Quran we read that:
إن ينصركم الله فلا غالب لكم و إن يخذلكم فمن ذا الذي ينصركم من بعده و علي الله فليتوكل المؤمنون
If Allah were to assist you then there would be none who could overcome you and if He were to leave you alone, then who is there that could assist you after Him and upon Allah do the true believers solely rely upon. 7
If everyone in the world were to try to gather together but He did not want this to happen, then not a single action could take place. The opposite of this is also true that if the entire world were to gather together to humiliate a person, or to strike a blow to some person but Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) did not want this to happen, then it would not be fulfilled.
Thus, the belief in the oneness of Allah of ours is just as has been mentioned and we must also perform our actions in this same way (as we have belief of it in our hearts).
For the believing person, what is important is that anytime an issue comes in front of him, he first ponders upon it carefully and thinks to himself, What would Allah want from me in this situation?
Once we correct our relationship between ourselves and Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him), then everything else will be easy and will fall into place. We should not be such people that in order to please others, we end up earning the wrath and anger of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him). For example, in order for us not to put others through difficulties, we put forth truth as falsehood and falsehood as truth as if this is done, then a persons friend ends up becoming his idols (of worship) and this sort of an idol is even worse than those that the polytheists worship since at least when the polytheists worship their idols they do so in order to achieve proximity to Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him). In the Quran we read that:
ما نعبدهم إلا ليقربونا إلي الله زلفي
We do not serve them save that they may make us nearer to Allah.8
However this issue is not present in relation to the worship and following of our friends!
The line of this hadith which reads, من أحسن ما بينه و بين الله كفاه الله ما بينه و بين الناس the person who corrects and perfects the relation between himself and Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him), Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) too will perfect and correct his relations with the people.
However as the Hadith also tells us من أحسن سريرته أصلح الله علانية و من عمل لاخرته كفي الله أمر دنياه meaning that the person who strives to perfect his hidden thoughts and beliefs, Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) will perfect his outer thoughts and beliefs, and the person who seeks to work for his next life, Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) will be sufficient for him for his worldly matters.
As we stated, more than any other thing, the Prophets (blessings be upon all of them) sought to correct the theological beliefs of the people since if the theological beliefs of the people are not correct, then they could not expect proper actions to come forth from them and this is the exact situation which we see in the world today!
The people of the world today have no affinity to religion and the issues of the faith. For example, humanity has made laws which state that people must not perform such and such deed or action, nor are they permitted to even busy themselves with how that act should be carried out (if they wanted to perform it) however we see that the opposite of this is the case in regards to the invitation of the Prophets where they have called others to the inner aspects and to the outer aspects (of deeds).
From the past, there is a very remarkable expression which was used in relation to the Usul and Furu` of the Din which stated that the complete faith (of Islam) can be compared to a tree which is made up of three parts: the roots, branches and the fruits. The roots of the tree were the theological beliefs; the branches were the actions of the person while the fruits of this tree were the complete and perfect human being!
There are some people who think that actions and beliefs can be separated from one another however this is not the case. By this we mean that a person is not able to from the point of view of his inner belief remain healthy and safe, however have incorrectness in his actions neither can the opposite of this be true. It is not possible that from the point of view of the perfection and traits of humanity, a person reaches to the highest points and pinnacles of greatness, however he does not reach to such levels in his theological beliefs. Keeping in mind this explanation, the meaning of the hadith becomes thus, Anytime a persons inner self is corrected, at this point in time does Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) correct his outer self. Thus does Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) place a cause and effect between the outer self and the inner self of the person.
It is from this belief that in many instances and due to the fact that there exists a relationship between the cause and effect that Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) is placed in between outcomes and Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) is attributed with the performance of certain tasks. For example we state أضله الله or Allah has deluded him and by this we mean that in the performance of a wicked and despicable act, Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) has placed this outcome or effect which has lead to the misguidance of the person not that it was Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) who initiated the misguidance!
Therefore, we are able to draw this conclusion that if our actions are not correct, then this will result in our inner self becoming polluted.
Thus, in the beginning we must correct our own belief in Tawhid and must destroy all the internal idols which we possess. In the Noble Quran we read that:
أرايت من اتخذ إلهه هويه أفانت تكون عليه وكيلا
Have you seen the person who takes his lower desires to be his god? Do you have any authority to guide such a person (or to rise up in defence of him!?)9
There are people who only outwardly worship Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him), however in reality they are actually polytheists since their Allah is their own soul and inner desire. Thus, we can deduce that polytheism actually has many different branches to it.
In Biharul Anwar it has been mentioned that:
ألشرك أخفي في العمل ،من دبيب النملة السوداء علي الصخرة الصماء،في الليلة الظلماء
Polytheism is more hidden in actions than the footprints of a black ant on a dark rock walking in the dark of the night10
In addition, we see that Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) has taken a pledge and promise from mankind that they do not worship Shaitan, and in the Quran we read:
ألم أعهد إليكم يا بني آدم أن لا تعبدوا الشيطان
Did I not take a pledge from you, O children of Adam that you would not worship Shaitan?11
However, it does not seem that those who are being spoken to in this verse are the (official) Satan Worshippers, who are very small in number in the world rather, those who are being spoken to in this verse are human beings and thus, it becomes clear that the worship of Shaitan is a tribulation which a great number of people fall into.
It is possible that there are some people who would take the last line of the hadith under discussion which reads, Whoever works for the next life, Allah will make the life of this world easy for him and from this line would understand that if a person does not put forth any toil for the life of this world and focuses all of his attention on performing actions for the next life, that all of his affairs for this life will be put in order however this is definitely not the case! Rather, we must also put forth an effort for the life of this world.
The summary of this entire discussion is this:
If we wish to correct our actions and our etiquette, we must first start with correcting and reforming our theological beliefs. Therefore, if all of the people become true believers in the oneness of Allah (Glory and Greatness be to Him) and become true Muslims (in the real sense of the word), then all forms of atrocities and corruption would be removed from the Earth. If we see that in the world, day by day it is becoming more and more corrupt, then it is due to a lack of firm belief or little belief. Thus, in order for our actions to be correct, we must also have correct theological beliefs since every action good or bad is a reflection of the actions which we perform.
And
Notes
از قضا سر كنگبين صفرا فزود روغن بادام خشكي مي نمود
از هليله قبض شد اطلاق رفت آب آتش را مدد شد همچو نفت
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Author: Ayatullah Seyyed Muhammad Shirazi
