Sharh-ul-Usool-ith-Thalaathah : Lesson 18 (7:48 – 33:25)
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzan | Dawud Burbank [Audio|English]
The Proof for His Lordship and His Divinity and Right to All Worship, He the Perfect and Most High
Imaam Muhammad ibn ‘Abdil-Wahhaab (rahimahullaah) said:
And the proof is His saying, He the Most High:
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ ۚ لَا تَسْجُدُوا لِلشَّمْسِ وَلَا لِلْقَمَرِ وَاسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
And from His signs are the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate to the sun nor to the moon, but rather prostrate to Allaah, the One Who created them if you truly worship Him. [41:37] 7
[7]: Shaykh Fawzan’s Explanation:
This is a proof for His Ruboobiyyah (Lordship) and Ilaahiyyah (Divinity and Right to Worship), He the Perfect and Most High.
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ
And from His signs are the night and the day and the sun and the moon [41:37]
The sun and the moon: the sun is the tremedous star which gives light to the creation, as a lamp burning and shining, just as Allaah the Most High said:
وَجَعَلْنَا سِرَاجًا وَهَّاجًا
And We have made it (the sun) a lamp, burning and shining. [78:13]
And the moon is a light which brightens the night-time and gives light to the pathway of the people. And from their benefits also is the well-being of the creation through its trees and its fruits and oceans. So if the sun were hidden away from the creation, then the creation would suffer harm, and many of the means of livelihood and their welfare would be corrupted and if the moon were hidden away, then likewise. The moon also brings about benefit for their fruits and their trees, along with what it contains also from awareness of reckoning (of time periods). He the Most High said:
هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ
And We made the moon a light and appointed set phases for it so that you should know the number of years and the reckoning of the months days and hours. [10:5]
And He the Most High said:
يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْأَهِلَّةِ ۖ قُلْ هِيَ مَوَاقِيتُ لِلنَّاسِ وَالْحَجِّ
They ask you about the crescent moons, then say: They are signs to mark fixed periods of time for mankind and for the Hajj [2:189]
So the crescent moons bring benefit for awareness of time-periods and deadlines, deadlines for debts and deadlines for the waiting periods of the women, and the set times for acts of worship and fasting and Hajj, all of them are known by reckoning based upon these two lights, the sun and the moon. So the solar reckoning and the lunar reckoning contain many benefits for all of the creation.
And from those things which He has created are the seven heavens. He the Most High said:
اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَمِنَ الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ
Allaah is the One Who created seven heavens, and their like from the earth. [65:12]
الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا
Allaah the One Who created seven heavens in levels (one above the other) [67:3]
Each being above the other, the lowest heaven, then the one which follows it up until the seventh one. And above them all is the Throne of the Most Merciful, He the Perfect and Most High.
And the earths are seven just as He the Most High said:
الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ
And their like from the earth [65:12]
So they are seven levels or layers also, and every level from the levels of the seven heavens and the earths have inhabitants and occupants. And whatever planets and stars are in the heavens the sun and the moon and whatever is in the earth from created things from animals with their different types and from mountains and trees and rocks and minerals and oceans. These are from the signs of Allaah the Perfect and Most High, the creational signs, which are seen and witnessed.
He rahimahullaah said: and the proof is His saying, He the Most High:
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ وَالشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ ۚ لَا تَسْجُدُوا لِلشَّمْسِ وَلَا لِلْقَمَرِ وَاسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
And from His signs are the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Do not prostrate to the sun nor to the moon, but rather prostrate to Allaah, the One Who created them if you truly worship Him. [41:37]
And from His signs is the night: meaning from His signs which prove Lordship and His Ability and His sole right to worship to the exclusion of all else besides Him, is the night which brings darkness, and the daytime which brings light to the whole of the creation. This is from the amazing signs of Allaah, the Perfect and Most High.
So who can make the whole of the creation dark, all at once, and then make the whole of the creation bright, all at once? He is Allaah the Perfect and Most High. If all of the creation were to gather together to make one part of the earth bright, they would not be able except to make a restricted area bright, if they brought all the electrical generators which are in the world, all of them, they could not make bright except a restricted portion of the earth. As for the sun and the moon then they bring light to the whole of the earth, the night and the day follow each other in succession, and the sun and the moon likewise.
He the Most High said:
لَا تَسْجُدُوا لِلشَّمْسِ وَلَا لِلْقَمَرِ وَاسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
Do not prostrate to the sun nor to the moon, but rather prostrate to Allaah, the One Who created them, if it is He that you truly worship. [41:37]
This is a nullification of shirk: Do not prostrate to created things. Since from the greatest of the created things are the sun and the moon, and because the people of shirk, they used to worship the sun and prostrate to it, and from them were those who used to worship the moon and the stars, such as the people of Ibraaheem, they would build for them temples in the form of the stars and they would worship them. So His saying, He the Most High:
لَا تَسْجُدُوا لِلشَّمْسِ
Do not prostrate to the sun [41:37]
As-Sujood means placing the forehead upon the ground in humble submission to the one who is worshipped, and it is the greatest of the types of worship, and Allaah’s Messenger sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallaam said:
أقرب ما يكون العبد من ربه وهو ساجد
“The closest that the servant comes to his Lord is whilst he is in prostration” [1]
[1] Reported by Muslim (482) from a hadeeth of Aboo Hurayrah radiy Allaahu ‘anhu. [And the narration of Muslim has a completion at the end, “So therefore make plentiful supplication.”]
So the greatest of the types of worship is prostration upon the ground, since your face is the thing which you cherish the most, you have placed it for Allaah upon the ground, as an act of worship for Allaah and in submission before Him, He the Perfect and Most High. This is true prostration, and it is not befitting to perform it as worship except for Allaah.
As for prostrating to the sun and the moon, then it is prostration to a created thing, which does not have the right to be prostrated to. So it is not permissible to prostrate to created things, but rather prostration is only for the Creator of the created things. As for the created things, then they are just like you, something created, something managed and controlled. Would you prostrate to a created being who is incapable, just the same as you? This is not permissible. Where have the intellects gone?
Prostration is only deserved by the Creator, He the Perfect and Most High, who is not rendered incapable by anything. So prostration is the right of Allaah the Mighty and Majestic, it is not the right of the creation, no matter how great and large the created being is, it is still a created being who is weak and managed and controlled.
لَا تَسْجُدُوا لِلشَّمْسِ وَلَا لِلْقَمَرِ وَاسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ الَّذِي خَلَقَهُنَّ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
Do not prostrate to the sun nor to the moon, but rather prostrate to Allaah, the One Who created them, if it is He that you truly worship. [41:37]
So what is obligatory is that we do not worship except Allaah. So if you make prostration to Him and you also prostrate to other than Him, then you are not worshippers of Allaah with correct worship. Rather you are worshipping Him along with shirk, and shirk corrupts and destroys worship.
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Sharh-ul-Usool-ith-Thalaathah. Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles of Imaam Muhammad ibn ‘Abdil-Wahhaab by Shaykh Saalih ibn Fowzaan al-Fowzaan hafizahullaah. Translated by Daawood Burbank, rahimahullaah
Posted with kind permission from Dawud Burbank rahimahullaah
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Listen to the Full Audio Series:
Sharh Usool-ith-Thalaathah – Shaykh Fawzan | Dawud Burbank
Book Study Resources – Three Fundamental Principles
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