LET’S GO BACK TO THE BASIS by Abu Mus’abilkhayr Abubakr Yusuf Ozemoya Irekpita
Seires 2: believing in the oneness of Allah
To believe in ALLAAH, you have to disbelieve in anything worshiped beside ALLAAH. Being it making du’aa to other than HIM, seeking protection from other than HIM, absolutely asking help from other than HIM, absolute obedience to other than HIM, absolute love for other than HIM, deifying other than HIM and so on. HE Alone deserves all of these. Going to a witch doctor (baba-lawo) for any reason contradicts this belief, and may take you beyond the pale of Islaam. Calling on Ibrahim Inyass or any other thing, even Angels, Prophets, when in traffic or in a problem contradicts this and may mar your belief.
“Enter into Islaam wholeheartedly, and do not follow the footsteps of the shaytan. He is an obvious enemy to you”.
For our servitude to ALLAAH to be accepted, it needs to conform with two things:
1. Sincerity of worship and
2. Being in accordance with the Sunnah (practices) of the Prophet, no more, no less!
If however, these two conditions are not fulfilled, then forget it, our worship is futile. If one is steadfast in one’s attendance of the Mosque simply to impress a sister, such action, for an instance, it deflates one’s worship. Sharing ALLAAH’s right with another person (His creation, to even say) defiles one’s worship and servitude.
Again, if one performs an act of worship for which one wishes to be rewarded by, but it never conforms with the way of the Prophet, such action, likewise, is due for rejection by the Almighty ALLAAH.
Brethren! Please, let’s be devoted to our worship and do it solely to seek ALLAAH’s pleasure. And again, let us strive to make such actions conform with the way of our Prophet صلي الله عليه وسلم just as he has guided us through them. ALLAAH says, “Whoever does a deed (and) then share it with me and (one) other than me, I am free from him and the deed (that) he has shared with other than me”.
We say we are Muslims and yet, how much do we know about the FIVE PILLARS of our Religion? To believe that ALLAAH Alone is worthy of worship, one needs the following;
1. KNOWLEDGE: you need to know and understand the implications of believing in only ALLAAH as the rightful deity to worship. When you know HIM and all HE wants from you, then, you would have known that HE is worthy of your servitude. It is then you get to understand that every other thing can not be worshipped and/or absolutely obeyed. Only ALLAAH must be worshipped; HIS commandments are unquestionable and so unquestionably followed, with pleasure.
2. CERTAINTY: As you have believed in ALLAAH alone and have submitted to HIM in worship, you must declare this anywhere; believing this testimony with your heart and having no doubt about your declaration. This, incontrovertibly, is what will earn you HIS Paradise.
The first verses of Al-Baqarah, talk about the signs of a Believer (s good Muslim). The first of them posits that they are “those who believe in the unseen (with certainty).” So, invariably, we could infer from the above verse that not being in the certainty about one’s knowledge of ALLAAH would invalidate one’s belief as a Muslim. And it renders it useless. This, unquestionably, is the more reason a Muslim needs to seek knowledge about his religion; to learn more about it constantly, so as to be rightly guided and become conscious. The words of لا إله إلا الله i.e. “no deity is worthy of worship but ALLAAH” should be firm upon his tongue and be ingrained upon his hearts! We ask ALLAAH to forgive our shortcomings and accept us as HIS righteous servants!
3. ACCEPTANCE: You have to accept that there is no god worthy of your servitude but only ALLAAH. This would mean that anything else that contradicts this concept, you reject and abandon it. You can’t make a compromise about this! To accept that you are slave of ALLAAH, you need to know more about HIS commandments. And this is what makes the seeking of knowledge incumbent on every Muslim. Of course, logically, one doesn’t accept a thing for “no reason” or, to aptly say, for no knowledge!
4. SUBMISSIVENESS; For a Muslim to worship ALLAAH properly, he must submit to HIM wholeheartedly, without questioning HIS ordainment and commandments. If HE says that “all disbelievers will go to hell”, a Muslim (or in fact, any of HIS creation) has no right to ask of the reason behind this. And by this, in Islaam, we have truly submitted. ALLAAH says,
“Whoever surrenders his face to ALLAAH, and is nice to others, then he has held firm to the strongest hold…”
In light of what we’ve taken, it is incumbent on the Muslims to also be;
5, “TRUTHFUL with the laa ilaaha illa LLAAH” : It means that one must be truthful to the implications of this saying, believing it in totality as it should flow swiftly upon one’s tongue and be ingrained in one’s heart. Only those who are Munaafiquun (hypocritical in their belief) say this word but are not truthful to it! When a Bedouin came to inquire about the pillars of Islaam from The Prophet صلي الله عليه وسلم, and having said he will not add more than those already mentioned, The Prophet cautioned, “he will succeed if he is truthful”. Let’s be truthful in our obedience to ALLAAH and HIS Prophet. This would include sincerity to him, in our beliefs and actions.
“No one bears witness that there’s no deity worthy of worship but ALLAAH alone and that Muhammad is HIS Messenger, being truthful with this in his heart, except that ALLAAH forbid Hell from him” Saheehayn.
6. SINCERITY in one’s service to ALLAAH is one of the greatest means of getting one’s deeds accepted. We have talked about this in the earlier nuggets we have had. Sincerity is to purify one’s deeds from all stains of polytheism, as ALLAAH accepts nothing from whom there is no sincerity in his deed. For an instance, a Muslim who proclaims Islaam in the open but is insincere to himself with his proclamation has not truly believed. And in fact, his action is hypocrisy. And we know what the Qur’aan says about hypocrites (Q4:145)! May we never be amongst a populace worse than disbelievesr; those condemned to the bottommost part of hell.
Sincerity (in worship) counts for the opposite of hypocrisy. One must not accept Islaam for the sake of worldly gains. This, surely, negates sincerity. “And the one who declares ‘laa ilaha illa LLAAH,’ seeking the face of ALLAAH through it, ALLAAH forbids Hell for him”. Saheehayn. The Prophet also said: “The happiest person from amongst those that will benefit from my intercession on the Day of Judgement is the one who declares that “there’s no deity worthy of worship except ALLAAH”, and is sincere with this within his heart”.
May ALLAAH not count us among the munaafiquun.
Now that we know we must be SINCERE with the testimony of faith, we should hold well to it; BE CERTAIN about it, ACCEPT it, SURRENDER to its requirements and be entirely TRUTHFUL about it.
So, having had that under the belt, one must also;
7. LOVE the testimony and the whole message it brings. You have to love ALLAAH, HIS Religion, HIS Prophets and HIS Holy Books and prioritize this over all affairs of your lives. There are people who love their wealth, friends and associates much more than they love ALLAAH. سبحانه و تعالى!
If a person missed Salaat because of his chase after wealth, then he has preferred the such over ALLAAH. Staying up with friends who don’t forbid one from evil and sharing delight in their companionship is loving them more than ALLAAH (and HIS scriptures and Prophets).
If one loves ALLAAH, one will obey HIM and repent to HIM when one sins. You will cry to HIM in fear, and in hope of HIS benevolence and blessings.
“Among people are those who make associates with ALLAAH, loving them as equally as HIM. Those who believe (would) love ALLAAH the most…”.
May ALLAAH bless us with guidance and love for what pleases HIM.
You should NOT also believe in anything that opposes all the preceded conditions of “laa ilaha illa LLAAH”. You must disbelieve in whatever ALLAAH has asked you to disbelieve in. Whatever does not align with the dictates of Islaam is “Taaghuut or طَاغُوت”. A leader who commands with other than ALLAAH’s rule is a Taaghuut. Fir’awn is a Taaghuut. Osun festival is Taaghuut. Donald Trump is a Taaghuut. Whatever it is that stops or halts the propagation of Islaam and Sunnah is Taaghuut. Disbelieving in all Taaghuuts as not being true, is among the conditions some ‘Ulamaa’ have mentioned as one of the requisite of the Testimony of Faith (Shahaadah). Making them all eight in number.
In the same vein, prohibiting what ALLAAH has permitted or vice versa is an act of Taaghuut.
ALLAAH says:
“Whoever disbelieves in the Taaghuut and believes in ALLAAH, he indeed has hold onto the firmest handle, which shall not break off,…”. Baqarah, verse 256
English 