Mohebban Fatemeh

The principle of Tawheed is such an important concept is Islam, that if it’s not fully understood, gradually doubts and uncertainties can enter our hearts and eventually it will lead us towards disobeying Allah (S.W.T). So this week we decided to talk about Tawheed in more depth…

We asked this question that why some people worship idols, and where does the desire of idol worshiping comes from?

So we said that all human beings have a need to worship something and at the same time they like to touch, see and sense their surroundings in order to understand and believe in something.

So we start examining both of these needs and desires, asking the question where dose the need of worshiping something comes from. Last week we said that Allah (S.W.T) has given us an innate nature to worship Him. This nature has been given to us before we entered this world. As Allah says in the Quran “that no creation is in this world, except that its worshiping Allah”. So this desire to worship a God is part of our creation and all beings are sensing it. That’s why people in the past and even today, were always looking for something to worship;as some worship the sun, the moon, rocks and some worship the true Allah.

At the same time people want to describe what they are worshiping, because it will be easier for them to understand it. Thats where the idea of making a God out of rocks comes from; the same reason Christians need a sculpture of Jesus when they want to pray. They need to see what they are worshiping at that TIME and at that SPACE, they need to describe it in order to believe in it……

When we want to define an object, that object is limited to time and space and that’s the reason why were able to describe it. For example we can think of a cup. The reason we see this cup is because that cup is occupying a certain amount of space at a particular time; this is what it means by being limited to time and space. Whatever we see around us is because it is limited to time and space, and since its limited we are able to describe it. The moment we are describing a cup, we say for example its blue, meaning that it will not be red, yellow etc anymore, so the moment we describe something we are limiting that thing. But for Allah, He is infinite, meaning we cannot describe Him, because He is not limited to time nor space. The reason we see objects around us is because we are able to surround that object; but the case of Allah is that He is the one who is surrounds everything….

Another example is that if we are setting in a room and a continuous rhythm (like as your tapping your finger on a table) is being played…. The tapping will create the same rhythm each time… if we are in a room that this sound is being played all the time, we will not be able to notice the sound, because the sound is continuously surrounding us… and that is the case of Allah who “surrounds everything” and He is present everywhere and all the times… that’s another reason why Allah says “believers are those who believe in the unseen”.

We cannot see Allah, but we can see His signs, the signs of Allah are all the things He has created….we are His signs, so if we deny the existence of Allah, we have denied our own existence.

We see that the sun rays approach us during the day, not us approaching the sun rays. and thats how we know sun exists… same with Allah(S.W.T), Allah is the one who will approach us; He will show Himself to us through His signs ; He will give us the nature to know Him, but once we know Him, then it will be our turn…and our turn is nothing but to submit to Him.

This week Mohebban girls were talking about Usool-e-Deen and Froo-e-Deen. We said that Usool-deen is beliefs in Islam, while Froo-e-deen is actions. Shia Muslims believe in 5 Usool-e-deen which are Tawheed( Oneness of Allah), Nabuwat ( prophet hood), Qiyamat ( Day of Judgment), Adl( Justice) and Imamat ( leadership). Sunni Muslims only believe in the first three principles…. We continued our discussion by saying that every Muslim needs to reach certainty about the Usool-e-deen in Islam, meaning that we are allowed to question these principles. Every muslim needs to have a clear understanding of their Usool-e-deen, or else their actions can be easily questioned… because our actions or Froo-e-deen (like Prayer, fasting etc) which are considered as rituals in Islam, are all performed because we believe in Usool-e-deen… so having faith in the oneness of Allah make us to pray and obey His commends as for example we fast during the month of Ramadan…. another example is our belief in the day of Judgment , which make us to become better people, give charity, and once again obey Allah…. If our Usool-e-deen is not fully understood, is the same as if our beliefs are incomplete….

So we continued by talking about the first principle of Usool-e-deen which is the concept of Tawheed or the oneness of Allah. All Mohebban girls were asked this question that why they believe in God and why they believe that God is only one?

Some came up with good answers, reminding all of us about the first debate we had in our Mohebban class,( the Atheist vs theist debate)…Sara said God is like air, we can’t see Him but we feel Him, or love which we can’t see it but all humans can feel it… Marzieh said if there was more than one God then there would be a lot of conflict in creating this world….. Maryam also added to this discussion that this world is so well organized and that s because there is a creator who created this world so perfectly…. All three of them were correct, for example what Marzieh said is based on a verse in the Quran and also what Maryam said is similar to some verses in the Quran where Allah(S.W.T) asks people that why don’t they(the people) think about their creation… meaning that this creation and this world is so perfect that it cannot be made by itself…

so to complete this discussion we said, Belief in God is an innate tendency that Allah has given all human beings… thats one of the reasons why some people and groups start worshiping idols in the past…it all because all humans have this desire to worship something or someone….. so as Sara said we feel God although we can’t see Him… Also we said that if we look at the world from a scientific point of view we would see so much perfection…. no randomness takes place in this world and it’s all because there is a divine power controlling it….This world, our own creation is indeed an indication and sign for the existence of God… as in the Quran says,”but for those who take heed “….

So for next time we will talk more about this principle in Islam, about why some people despite the natural tendency they have to worship a God, still they become atheists or why some people worship idols? inshallah we will compare these different schools of thoughts with Islam’s concept of Tawheed….

Today we will begin Surah Ekhlaas:

In the first line of Surah Ekhlaas Allah (SWT) says:

قُل هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ (١)

The word  ٱللَّهُ comes from the word وَلِحَ which means some thing that you wonder about, and from this definitions scholars say that in this surah when it is saying ٱللَّهُ it means that Allah the god that we worship has creations and all the creations wonder about him and this is just one way that the quran is showing how great Allah SWA is.

Also the word وَأَحَدٌ and أَحَدٌ the word have a difference. They have a difference because وَأَحَدٌ is used for second and third tense, but أَحَدٌ is used for first person or thing tense and since in this ayah it is saying أَحَدٌ when it is refering to Allah which shows that Allah is one and there is no other one of him which relates back to tawheed because again tawheed is when their is only one of something and you beleive that their is only one of something so this ayah is showing the tawheed of Allah that is why it is also known as surah Tawheed.

We pray five times a day and normally like to recite the shorter Surahs in our prayer, particularly Surah Towheed, or Ekhlas, or Qol Howallaho Ahad.  I always wondered, what does this Surah really mean.  Could it just be four ayahs that I recite, or is there a deeper meaning to this Surah?  I found a book by Hujjatol Islam Qaraati, who was able to put in very simple terms the meaning of these verses.  I hope to exploare them in the coming weeks.  Please check for updates.

Allah (SWT) describes tawheed in the quran in surah Ekhlaas. Surah Ekhlaas is a surah brought to the people to show that Allah (SWT) has no father, no mother, no brother, no sister, nor child/children; and proves that He is one and there is no other one like Him. This is related to tawheed because tawhweed is when you beleive in one god or thing and only one god or thing as your god and when the quran is saying that Allah (SWT) has no family members and when he has no family members it means that he is one.

Beleiving in Him as your God is following tawheed which is first of our usool-od-deen.

The Prophet says that if you recite surah Ekhlaas one time it is like reciting one third of the Quran, and reciting it twice it is like reciting two thirds of the quran, and when you recite surah Ekhlaas three times it is like reciting  the whole Quran. Also the Prophet says that Imam Ali is like surah Ekhlaas because who ever likes Imam Ali with there heart has completed one third of their Iman, and who ever likes Imam Ali from their heart and listens to what he says has completed two thirds of their Iman, and who ever likes Imam Ali from their heart, listens to what he says and follows the commands that Imam Ali gives has completed all of their Iman.

Also many hadiths about surah Ekhlaas say that if you do not forget to recite surah Eklaas after every salaat Allah (SWT) will  will give the best of this world and the next to him and his family.

Insha… we will begin the surah in the next post.  Please check back soon.

The pillars of our religion: Towheed, Adl, Nubowwat, Imamat, Ma’ad.

We have been taught these five things ever since we were very young, but how many times have we actually sat and THOUGHT about them.  Memorizing these things is one thing, but to develop an understanding of them is the ma’refat that Allah (SWT) wants us all to gain.

Towheed – Belief in one God.

Adl – This One God that we believe in must be just or fair in all aspects of life.

Nubowwat  – This God must provide us with Prophets to guide us towards him.

Imamat – Following the prophets there must be Imams that will uphold the religion and ensure the rules are enforced.

Ma’ad – The belief in the Day of Judgment.  When all is said and done, we must all return to Him.

amiro133 has taken it upon himself to give us detailed looks into each one of these pillars from the perspective of the Quran and ahadith.  That is not an easy task, but we wish him all the best and thank him for his help.  May Allah (SWT) help him and us gain a better understanding of this great religion.