Category: Worship (Ibadah)

Sharh-ul-Usool-ith-Thalaathah : Lesson 21
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzan | Dawud Burbank [Audio|English]

[Souncloud Audio Link] 

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Islaam and Eemaan and Ihsaan and the Proof for Each

Imaam Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhaab (rahimahullaah) said: 

وأنواعُ العبادةِ التي أَمَرَ اللهُ بها: مثلُ الإسلامِ، والإيمانِ، والإحسان

And all the types of worship which Allaah has commanded such as Al-Islaam, and Al-Eemaan and Al-Ihsaan ¹¹

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[11]: Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzan’s Explanation:

And the Shaikh, rahimahullaah, he quoted some examples for worship, as a case of quoting examples, not as a case of restriction because they are more than what he mentioned. And it would not be possible to mention them all in a brief treatise. However he mentioned some examples.

And Shaikh-ul-Islaam (Ibn Taymiyyah) has a separate treatise which is called Al-‘Uboodiyyah (worship and servitude), which researches the matter of worship and the types of worship and an explanation of the deviations which occurred from the Soofees and others with regards to worship, and it is a valuable treatise which the student of knowledge needs to read.

His saying rahimahullaah, “such as Islaam, and Eemaan and Ihsaan”: these three types are the greatest of the types of worship, and an explanation of them will follow in the speech of the Shaikh rahimahullaah with regard to the second fundamental principle. And he mentioned them here because they are from the types of worship.

So Islaam with its five pillars, the two testifications of faith, and establishment of the prayer and giving the zakaat and fasting Ramadaan and making Hajj to the sacred House of Allaah – these are all acts of worship which are maaliyyah (relating to wealth) and badaniyyah (relating to the body).

And likewise Eemaan with its six pillars, it is from the actions of the heart, eemaan in Allaah and in His Angels and in His Books and in His Messengers and in the Last Day and eemaan in Al-Qadr (pre-decree), the good of it and the bad of it, this is worship of the heart.

And likewise al-Ihsaan which is a single pillar, and it is that you worship Allaah as if you are seeing Him, and even though you do not see him, then He certainly sees you. This is the highest of the types of worship, because al-Ihsaan is the highest of all the types of worship.

And these are called the levels of the religion, since together they are the religion, because Jibreel when he asked the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam in the presence of his Companions, and the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam responded to the question about Islaam and Eemaan and Ihsaan, he then said:

هذا جبريل أتاكم يعلمكم أمر دينكم

“This was Jibreel, he came to you to teach you the affair of your religion”

[Reported by al-Bukhaaree (4777) and reported by Muslim (8, 9 and 10) from a hadeeth of Aboo Hurayrah radiy Allaahu ‘anhu.]

 So he called these three the religion.

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Ad-Du ‘aa (Supplication) its Categories and its Proof. 

Imaam Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhaab (rahimahullaah) said: 

ومنهُ الدعاءُ، والخوفُ، والرجاءُ، والتوكلُ، والرغبةُ، والرهبةُ، والخشوعُ، والخَشيةُ، والإنابةُ، والاستعانةُ، والاستعاذةُ، والاستغاثةُ، والذَّبْحُ، والنذرُ، وغيرُ ذلك من أنواع العبادةِ التي أَمرَ اللهُ بها كلُّها لله تعالى

And from it is ad-Du‘aa (supplication) and al-Khawf (fear) and ar-Rajaa’ (hope and longing) and at-Tawakkul (trust and reliance) and ar-Raghbah (fervent desire) and ar-Rahbah (dread) and al-Khushoo‘ (reverence and humility) and al-Khashyah (awe) and al-Inaabah (turning repentantly) and al-Isti‘aanah (appealing for aid and assistance) and al-Isti‘aadhah (seeking refuge) and al-Istighaathah (seeking deliverence and rescue) and adh-Dhabh (sacrificing) and an-Nadhr (making vows), and other than that from the types of worship which Allaah has commanded, all of them are to be done exclusively for Allaah the Most High. ¹²

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[12]: Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzan’s Explanation :

His saying, “and from it is ad-Du‘aa (supplication)”: meaning and from the types of worship is ad-Du‘aa (supplication); he began with it because it is the greatest of the types of worship.

And ad-Du‘aa (supplication) is of two categories: Du‘aa of worship and Du‘aa of making request:

Du‘aa-ul-‘Ibaadah (Du‘aa of worship): is to praise and extol Allaah, the Perfect and Most High, just as occurs at the beginning of Al-Faatihah:

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ

All Praise is for Allaah the Lord of the whole of creation, the Extremely Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy, the Sovereign Owner of the Day of Recompensing, You Alone do we worship, and Your Aid alone do we seek [1:2-5]

All of that is Du‘aa of worship.

اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ

Guide us upon the straight path [1:6]

to the end of the soorah, this is Du‘aa of request.

Du‘aa-ul-Mas’alah (Du‘aa of making request): it is to request something from Allaah the Mighty and Majestic, such as requesting guidance and requesting provision and requesting knowledge from Allaah, and requesting for at-Tawfeeq (the granting of success in attaining what is correct).

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Imaam Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhaab (rahimahullaah) said: 

And the proof is His saying, He the Most High:

وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا

And that the places of prayer are to be for Allaah alone, so do not invoke or call upon anyone along with Allaah [72:18] ¹³ 

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[13]: Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzan’s Explanation :

“Al-Masaajid”: this word is used to mean the places where prostration is made, and those places where the prayer is performed, and they are the most beloved place to Allaah the Mighty and Majestic, and there occurs an encouragement with regard to building them and preparing them, so he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:

من بنى مسجدا لله كمفحص قطاة أو أصغر بنى الله له بيتا في الجنة

“Whoever builds a mosque for Allaah like the nesting-place of a sand grouse or even smaller, then Allaah will build for him a house in Paradise” [1]

Allaah says:

إِنَّمَا يَعْمُرُ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ

That the mosques of Allaah are to be maintained only by those people who truly believe in Allaah and in the Last Day [9:18] 

Maintaining means physical maintenance and spiritual maintenance, maintaining them by clay, and whatever it needs so that it can shelter those who pray, and can shade them from the heat, and can shelter them from the cold and maintaining them through worship, by the prayer and the recitation of the Qur’aan and the remembrance of Allaah the Mighty and Majestic.

And this word masaajid is also used to mean the seven parts of the body which prostrate, and they are: the forehead and the nose, and the two hands and the two knees and the tips of the two feet, because they perform prostration to Allaah. And the aayah covers both meanings. “And the Masaajid”: meaning the places where prayer is performed, and the parts of the body which perform prostration for Allaah the Mighty and Majestic.

فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا

So do not invoke or call upon anyone along with Allaah [72:18]

Do not make these places of prayer, and these places, a place for shirk and for calling upon other than Allaah. Rather it is obligatory that the mosques be purified from any shirk, so there can be no graves in them, and there can be no calling upon other than Allaah in them, and there can be no innovations in them and no newly introduced affairs and no innovated soofee circles.

It is obligatory that the mosques are purified from innovations and from shirk and from sins because they are for Allaah the Mighty and Majestic alone, so there cannot be in them except that which is pleasing to Allaah the Mighty and Majestic, so do not call upon anyone besides Allaah in these mosques, or utilise the parts of your body in prostrating to other than Allaah the Mighty and Majestic – because this is major shirk just like the person who prostrates to an idol or to a grave or who prostrates to some false object of worship – this is prostrating to something other than Allaah the Mighty and Majestic.

So the witness is in His saying:

فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا

So do not invoke or call upon anyone along with Allaah [72:18]

This is a command so make supplication purely for Him alone.

And His saying, “ahadan (anyone)”: this is general and it covers everything which is called upon besides Allaah, whether it be an Angel or a Prophet or a walee (beloved righteous servant) or a tree or a rock – it covers everything which is called upon besides Allaah the Mighty and Majestic – then this will be major shirk.

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Imaam Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhaab (rahimahullaah) said: 

So whoever directs anything from them to other than Allaah, then he is a mushrik (person of shirk), a kaafir (disbeliever), and the proof is His saying, He the Most High:

وَمَن يَدْعُ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَٰهًا آخَرَ لَا بُرْهَانَ لَهُ بِهِ فَإِنَّمَا حِسَابُهُ عِندَ رَبِّهِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَا يُفْلِحُ الْكَافِرُونَ

And whoever worships any other object of worship along with Allaah, which he has no proof for, then his reckoning will be with his Lord, indeed the disbelievers will not prosper [23:117]

And in the hadeeth there occurs:

“Supplication is the core of worship” [2]

And the proof is His saying, He the Most High:

وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ

And your Lord said, “Call upon Me, I will respond to you. Those who are too haughty and proud to worship Me will enter Hell-fire in disgrace.” [40:60] ¹⁴

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[14]: Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzan’s Explanation :

.. وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ

And your Lord has said … 

Meaning, your Lord has commanded you and said:

ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ

Invoke and call upon Me, and I will respond to you [40:60]

He has commanded making du‘aa (supplication) to Him, He the Perfect, and He has promised to respond, and this is from His generosity, He the Perfect and Most High, because of He has no need at all of our supplication, rather we need to make supplication to Him, He the Perfect and Most High. So He is commanding us with something which we need and which will be to our welfare. And He the Perfect becomes angry if you abandon making request of Him, whereas with regards to the creation, the creation becomes angry if you make request of him – therefore the poet said:

Allaah becomes angry if you abandon asking Him
But the children of Aadam, when you ask, he becomes angry.

And another one said:

So if you were to ask the people only for some soil, they would almost
When it was said, “Give it”, become irritated and withhold it

So the people are of three categories:

1. The first: are those who do not make du‘aa to Allaah at all, so he is too proud and haughty to worship Allaah.
2. The second: is the one who makes du‘aa to Allaah, however, he makes supplication to other than Him also, so he is a mushrik (a person of shirk).
3. The third: is one who makes du‘aa to Allaah, making du‘aa purely and sincerely for Him, so he is a muwahhid (a person of tawheed).

And there occurs in the hadeeth that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:

الدعاء مخ العبادة

“Du‘aa is the core of worship”

And in one narration:

الدعاء هو العبادة

“Du‘aa is worship” 

So this shows the tremendousness of du‘aa and that it is the greatest of the types of worship because the Messenger sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:

… مخ العبادة

“… it is the core of worship”

And in one narration:

الدعاء هو العبادة

“Du‘aa is worship”

And the second narration is more authentic than the narration: الدعاء مخ العبادة  “Du‘aa is the core of worship”

And the meaning is one and the same.

So the hadeeth with its two narrations clearly shows how tremendous du‘aa is, and that it is the greatest of the types of worship. Just as he sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said:

الحج عرفة

“The Hajj is ‘Arafah”[3]

Meaning that the standing in ‘Arafah in Hajj is the greatest pillar from the pillars of the Hajj. It doesn’t mean that the whole of the Hajj is just ‘Arafah, but rather that the standing in ‘Arafah is the greatest of the pillars of the Hajj and likewise, worship is not restricted to just being du‘aa, but rather supplication is the greatest of its types. Therefore he said:

الدعاء هو العبادة

“Du‘aa is worship”

To show the greatness of supplication, and to clearly show its status.

And then the Shaikh rahimahullaah mentioned the proofs for the different types of worship which he mentioned, and they are al-Khawf (fear) and ar-Rajaa’ (hope and longing) and at-Tawakkul (trust and reliance) and ar-Raghbah (fervent desire) and ar-Rahbah (dread) and al-Khushoo‘ (reverence and humility) and al-Khashyah (awe) and al-Inaabah (turning repentantly) and al-Isti‘aanah (appealing for aid and assistance) and al-Isti‘aadhah (seeking refuge) and al-Istighaathah (seeking deliverence and rescue) and adh-Dhabh (sacrificing) and an-Nadhr (making vows), and other than that from the types of worship which Allaah has commanded, all of them are to be done exclusively for Allaah.

Footnotes:

[1] Reported by Ahmad from a hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas radiy Allaahu ‘anhumaa and reported by Ibn Maajah and Ibn Khuzaimah from a hadeeth of Jaabir ibn ‘Abdillaah radiy Allaahu ‘anhumaa, and was declared saheeh by Shaikh Al-Albaanee

[2] Reported by at-Tirmidhee from a hadeeth of Anas ibn Maalik radiy Allaahu ‘anhu. Shaykh Al-Albaanee mentioned in his checking of Al-Mishkaat that the hadeeth with this wording, its chain of narration is weak, because it contains Ibn Lahee’ah who had a poor memory. What is correct is the hadeeth of An-Nu’maan ibn Basheer radiy Allaahu ‘anhumaa who said Allaah’s Messenger sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam said, “Supplication, it is worship”, and then the Prophet sallallaahu‘ alaihi wa sallam recited the aayah, “And your Lord said, “Call upon Me, I will respond to you” [40:60]”, reported by Ahmad and the four Sunan, declared saheeh by Shaykh Al-Albaanee.

[3] Reported in the four Sunan (Aboo Daawood, At-Tirmidhee, An-Nasaa’ee and Ibn Maajah) from a hadeeth of ‘AbdurRahmaan ibn Ya‘mar ad-Daylee radiy Allaahu ‘anhu declared authentic by Shaykh Al-Albaanee.

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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

Related Links:

• https://abdurrahman.org/dua
• https://abdurrahman.org/ibadah-worship