Shia Islamic Belief System 9/46

'A'udhu bil-Lahi, min al-Shaytan, al-rajim. Bismillah, Al-Rahman, Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulil-Lahi Rabbi 'l-Alameen, wa as-salatu wa as-salam 'ala Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina, Abul Qasim al-Mustafa, Muhammad, wa 'ala Ahlih, at-tahirin.

Al-hamdulil-Lah, we are beginning another session of Mizan live, and I would like to welcome everyone who is tuning in to this session. Al-hamdulil-Lah this, this week, we held a course in Atlanta. I just want to thank the brothers and sisters who were there and made it happen for their hospitality.

It was a wonderful, I had a wonderful time. I love it when the community is a lively one and energetic, asks questions and all that and to be honest, just I just like it when they give me a hard time. So I just want to thank everyone for that. Continuing our discussions on the, Shi'a Imamiyah doctrine, we have gotten to, we've covered almost about 30 of the articles of the Book of Ayatullah Subhani. Salamun 'alaikum, everybody who is tuning in. Sister Mahnas, Sister Safeena, Brother Bilal, everybody and welcome.

So last session what we covered, we covered about three or four articles. Number one, I was, article number 29 about Tawhid and qualities and the Allah having one essence and many qualities derived from him. And that was explained how this whole idea of this whole issue in the past and classical theology that we've had where some people thought that since God's qualities are eternal, just like His essence, then He must have, there must be more entities out there, in addition to His own essence.

And so we have seven or eight of the, of eternal entities like that. So as I said before, I don't know. I don't think anyone will have that issue in this day and age. We look at God's essence, so to speak, and we're able to derive certain qualities from that essence of His. It doesn't mean that now His essence multiplies, or anything like that. So that was an Article 29. Article 30 was Tawhid in creation and how God, when He is the only one who actually creates and we have some verses on that.

And then also the fact that God creates and God is the cause of everything coming into existence doesn't go against the law of causality either. That was also explained. Salam alaikum Sister Zainab and Sister Sharmeen and welcome.

And then we had a verse that, one verse. I mean, there's many verses in the Qur'an, but a verse that he brought to, to support the idea that the law of causality is not affected negatively in any way and is not disproven in any way. If we believe in Tawhid in creation and that God is the, is the only independent creator, OK.

And the last point that he made in that article was that we don't want, we want, we don't want to sound like man has no free will neither. Look, when, when we say God is the number one creator, He might be the creator, but also there's another part to the cause of things coming into existence. Sometimes it's our our will, too. So God will create things out of His own will, but then when it comes to our actions, for example, and things that we do, our will and our decisions, our choices also will play a role in that. So we are part of the cause as well. But we can't ever think that we're the independent cause either.

Article 31 spoke about and entered the whole topic of Tawhid and Rububiyah, Tawhid in managing the affairs of this dunya and running the show, so to speak. Right, so that was spoken about. Now managing and running affairs is of two types. Number one, it can be either Takwini or it can be Tashri'i. In Article 31, he spoke about the Takwini form of management of the universe.

So, for example, everything that's working, all the fine tuning that we see in the universe, all of that goes back to Him, and He's the only one behind all of it. "Yumsik al-sama' an taka'a 'ala al-ardh" (22:65), He says, for example, 'I'm the one who hold the heavens from collapsing or the sky to collapse on the Earth'. So while we think that, OK, it's gravity, gravity and orbit and all of that, that keeps things from crashing into each other.

At the end of the day Allah and the Qur'an says, look, I'm at the top of all of this, I am the one running the show, I am the one managing the affairs of creation in this universe, in this material realm. All right. So Takwini, Takwin comes from kawn existence. Then running, the management of existence is on Him. OK. Then we moved on to article, there are lots of verses that we covered here, by the way, about how Allah is the one who runs everything.

We have stories from Prophet Yusuf, we have stories from our Prophet, we had verses that spoke about how some people, the mushrikin of the past, their problem wasn't that they put gods and idols next to Allah in all of His attributes. The problem with the people of that time was that they believed that the idols, or whatever it was that they were worshiping, are independent when it comes to having an effect on this physical material universe.

Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala says, no, no, no everything, I am also involved. You cannot ascribe partners to Me when it comes to the Rububiyah of this Earth, of this Earth and of this universe. Yeah. They would pray to the idols, thinking that the idols are the ones running the show God created. So it's interesting. There's a misunderstanding that people have sometimes is that they think that mushrikin of that time of the Holy Prophet, they believe in more than one god, meaning there is other gods next to Allah in all of His attributes, even when it came to creation, for example.

But the verses of the Qur'an told us that, no. If you ask the mushrikin, if you ask the mushrikin who created, they'll say Allah. OK, well, if Allah created, He's also the one who manages. Why do you go to idols when it comes to now running the show, when it comes to managing the affairs of the universe? No. If He created creation and management are going to be part and parcel of the same entity and you can't separate the two unless that Lord delegates to others.

But Allah, in the Qur'an, clearly states that I haven't told you to worship these idols, who said these idols are in charge of anything. You made them out of your own hands. So how can they even, they don't even have free will, let alone anything else?

So Brother Bilal asks, so, whose contribution adds greater to the cause and ultimately leads to the effects or consequences, God's will or our free will? Very, very good question. Right now as we speak theoretically and conceptually, right, Allah as part of the cause, we are also part of the cause. In other words, if I don't, will it, it's not going to happen. Allah has given permission for things to happen in this universe, but they'll only happen sometimes if my will and my choice, my decision is behind it as well. So I'm part of it, He's part of it.

Take me out of the equation. It won't happen, take Allah of the equation it won't happen. So that's on paper, brother. That's in theory. OK. But there are great individuals and 'urafa that reach a certain point where they'll see how much of an influence God has on everything. For me and for a person like me, for now, all I need to know is, OK, my decision plays a role. But those who are 'urafa', those who are 'abids of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, they reach through servitude of Allah, through worship of Allah, through obedience of reach it, of Allah reach, a point where they feel how much God has a say in everything.

Right. And if you were to explain that to someone who hasn't reached such a level, they'll say, oh, there is no free will anymore. Yeah. So these are levels that people have to reach to understand. For now, in the books, this is how, this is how it's going to be. When we read, they'll tell us that we are part of the illah, part of the cause, Allah's will is also there. You can't neglect that, OK?

All right, so lots of verses we had regarding how the mushrikin would take muddabirs other than Allah's Subhana wa Ta'ala, and that was the main problem. "Ma na'buduhum la yiqarribun illa Allahi zulfa" (39:3), 'we only worship because they get us closer to Allah'. Allah says, hey, who told you that? You can't make stuff up like that. Until today, the Shi'a do certain things and they say, oh, this is just for us to get closer to Allah. But those things are maybe even culturally made and innovated. They're not something that Islam has necessarily, necessarily prescribed.

So we have to be very careful to stick to our 'ulama, who, of course, they themselves they stick to the ahadith and the Qur'an and they understand what Allah wants from us and what can get us closer to Him and what, you know, has not been prescribed by the religion. OK, so that's a quick overview of what we covered last time. Salaam Alaikum, Sister Nazneen, and welcome. All right. So we move on now to Article 32. So if anyone tunes in just now, they haven't missed anything new, we are moving into our discussion.

Article 32 is a continuation in reality of Article 31. Article 31 spoke about Tawhid rububi, Tawhid of God being Rabb and the One who runs everything in the universe and takes care of everything in the universe, but the Takwini side of it. Now we want to talk about the Tashri'i side of things that Allah is also the muddabir, He is also the Lord, He is also the Rabb when it comes to the Tashri'i side of things.

God's legislative commands, God saying the do,s and the don'ts, God allowing certain things and not permitting certain things. Brothers and sisters, let me quickly explain this, you've probably heard this before. There's a difference between Takwin and Tashr'i. Tashr'i has nothing to do with our free will. It's how Allah does things when it comes to creation and existence.

For example, when Allah commands for something to be and it is: "illa arada shay'an al-yaqulu lahu qun fa yaqun" (36:82). Allah commands that be and then it is. I ask you, when Allah makes that command, does that thing have any choice, any decision in coming into existence or not? Of course it doesn't. When Allah will is something it happens. That's in the realm of Takwin, in the dimension of Takwin. But there are some commands of Allah that are not Takwini commands, they are Tashri'i commands. They, it comes from Shari'ah, OK. It is the do's and don'ts, it's the laws.

When it comes to those things, we have a choice we can choose to obey and we can choose to disobey, it's up to us. These are Tashri'i commands. OK. So Allah says do salat, Allah says fast. OK. Now we want to see who has the right to do tashri', who has the right to issue do's and don'ts to people. Is it anyone but Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala? Article 32 talks about this one. It says, it talks about Tadbir and Tashri'i or the Tashri'i authority of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala that Allah is the only one who can say that certain things are to be done and certain things aren't to are not to be done are to be refrained from.

Allah has the right to governance and to rule, He has the right to legislate and prescribe, He has the right to be obeyed or it is not right, He has the authority to be obeyed. He has also the authority to do shaf'i, to allow shafa'a and intersession of others or to not allow it. He's the one who, well, can forgive and cannot forgive. All of these fall under that jurisdiction of Allah, to Tashri'i jurisdiction of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

Brother asks the laws of science and universe, is that Tashri'i? No, no. That is Takwini. So, for example, it has to do with existence, has to do with laws of nature, it has to do with the universe and creation and existence. When you let something go, all right, gravitational pull will pull it, it drops. These are Takwini laws, okay, Takwini laws.

Tahri', just always remember, if you want to be able to tell the difference between the two, ask yourself, when a command like this comes or when a law like this comes, is there, is there a possibility of going against that law or not? OK. So when you drop something it falls, unless you catch it with your other hand. Right. Or you put something under it, you know, but if there's nothing under an object that you're holding and you drop it, it falls.

That's gravitational pull. These are Takwini laws all the way to the point, even when it comes to the existence of things, when God wants something to come into existence, He says be and it comes into existence. He doesn't have to verbalize be (kun), He wills it and it comes into existence. This is a Takwini command. It has to do with the existence of that thing versus legislative laws, legal laws that we have that are binding on us.

But at the end of the day, we can or cannot go by them. Yeah. So like salat, like fasting and those things, these legal rights and laws. OK. I hope that, that clears it up a little bit if you want to tell the difference between these two. OK.

And if you need me to explain more, please don't hesitate. All right, so Allah has authority when it comes to all of these things, who to forgive, whose intercession to allow and permit and so on, who, who to, who to command to do things and who not to command, to do things like that. All of that belongs to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

He brings a verse. He brings a verse to explain that even if the Prophet is the one telling you what to do and what not to do, that's even with the permission of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. So if Allah has the authority to legislate, He has that authority, He can delegated to the Holy Prophet, He can delegated to anyone He likes. But independently and originally, it belongs to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

You see how much how Tawhid digs its roots deep into every aspect of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. He's the only one in everything. He's the only one to be the origin of, of laws, of commands that are Tashri'i. He's the only one when it comes to existence itself, nothing else independently, He's the only one that exists when it comes to the qualities, His qualities are derived from Him or else it's just Him, Him, Him, it's all just one, and that's Allah.

OK, so, he gives this example in Surah Nisa' verse 80, he says, "fa man yuti'a ar-Rasul faqad ata'a Allah" (4:80), to explain and to show, illustrate how, even if the Prophet is to be obeyed, it's because obeying him is equal to obeying Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. "fa man yuti'a ar-Rasul faqad ata'a Allah" (4:80). So 'whomever or whosoever obeys the Rasul and the Messenger, "faqad ata'a Allah". They have, verily, indeed, obeyed Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala .

Why? Because Allah, as the origin of all authority and all legislation has delegated this to the Holy Prophet and that oh Prophet, you let the people know what they have to do and what they're supposed to refrain from. So if you obey him, because I've given him permission, you've obeyed me, Allah. Yeah.

Another verse that he brings, "wa ma arsalna min Rasulin, illa li yuta'a bi idhni Allah" (4:64). Oh man, so beautiful. Really, it corroborates what Ayatullah Subhani is saying here, that Tawhid, when it comes to legislative authority, means that He's the only One. And if anyone else is doing that, it's because of His authority, because of Allah's original authority, "wa ma arsalna min Rasul". We did not send a messenger, any messenger except, "illa li yuta'", except that for the purpose of them being obeyed. OK. But obeyed, why? Because he's an authority Himself, no, no, no. illa li yuta'a bi idhni Allah", by the permission of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. It's beautiful, Surah Nisa' verse 66 [64]. In other words, if the permission of Allah wasn't there, who was the prophet even to think that he has to be obeyed? OK.

He goes on, he says, we have a question, let me just read it first and then. Brother says, Sheikh, I've always been curious when Allah will's something into existence, where does it come from? What does that mean out of nothing? Oh, man, that's a tough one. How creation works. Yeah. I mean, in the Qur'an, the word 'Fatir' is used. When you look at fatir versus khaliq, fatir and fatara means to bring out of nothingness, to split, to cut into non-existence as if and bring out of non-existence existence. Salamun 'alaikum Brother Nadir. Last week he said salam I forgot to say salam back to him, so I'll say salam twice. Wa 'alaikum as-salam Brother Nadir. All right.

Fatir versus khaliq, there's a difference between the two. Khaliq means create. OK, so you can all you can also create things out of I don't know, you can create a table out of wood so to speak, right. But when it comes to fatir it means, usually in the tafasir, when you look, this is how they do tafsir, they say, to bring out of nothing, something. So Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, He brings out of nothingness, something. Now someone might ask, well, does that mean everything that exists right now was created like that? No. Right. This giraffe, this baby giraffe came out of its mommy. So the mommy was the one who gave birth to it. True. But let's go all the way back. The number one thing that was created was created in this way, so to speak. Right.

And that was all of matter together, the material universe, together, all together was created. Now, some might believe in the Big Bang, some might believe in other things, whatever it is that number one point where we start creation starts, it came out of nothing at the end of the day. Now, there's a lot more to say here. And I'm, you know, trying to keep it simple. Right. Was there a time that there was no matter. No, we have to talk about that, you know, but those are all that has to do with more details. And that's more of an EIS thing that needs to be covered. So I'll leave it at that. I'll leave it at that. How creation works itself is something very beautiful, I think. And it's something that's worth looking into reading more. Our 'ulama have books on those, Inshallah maybe someday in the future we can cover things more in detail.

OK, so going back to what we were talking about. He says, Ayatullah Subhani, goes on to say since, Allah is the one to legislate, then no one has the right to judge except by what Allah has prescribed. "Wa man la yahkum bi ma anzala Allah, fa ulaykum ul-kafirun" (5:44). You can't just be like, OK, God sent down laws, but when it comes to me living my life or judging people, judging or, you know calling, calling shots and stuff, I'm just going to do it the way I want to do it. No. If God is the number one and original and primary authority and only sole authority, that means, when it comes to anything that has to do with people, when it comes to judgment and all of that, also, it has to be judged by what Allah has said, "wa man lam yahkum", who in whomsoever judges or whomsoever doesn't judge by what Allah has revealed and sent down. So those are the kafirun, those are the ones who are kafir. OK.

And once again, this verse that he brings, there's a lot more explanation here about judgment and you know, where, where our God's laws are supposed to be implemented and so on. In the West right now, I mean, it's irrelevant. Uh, God's laws are and things like that. It's talking about, I mean, the primary place where that happens is where the majority are Muslim and they want, they want Islamic law to be implemented there. OK, that was Surah Ma'ida verse 44.

He gives another verse, another example for shafa'a and for, um, the forgiveness of sins through intercession. He gives, Surah Baqarah verse 255 as an example, "man dalladhee yishfa'u 'andahu illa bi idhnih" (2:255), this is famous, we know, Ayat al-Kursi. Who, who is the one? In other words, no one can do shafa'a and intercession in the presence of Allah except with His permission, can't mess around on the Day of Judgment. People can just intercede just like that.

Everything happens through Him and His permission. Salamun 'alaikum Brother Dawud and welcome brother, welcome. Or Surat Anbiya verse 28, "la yashfa'una illa min al-irtadha" (21:28), they can't do shafa'a and intercession except for the, except the ones whom Allah is satisfied with them doing intercession and gives permission to them, or else, who are you to do intercession? In other words, when it comes to these things, there's also Tawhid, the origin. In reality, in reality, it's as if Allah is the one who is doing shafa'a, but He's doing it through others and giving permission to others.

So He's on the top. Tawhid, even in shafa'a, even in forgiveness of sins. And so it's interesting how Ayatullah Subhani here, he takes advantage of this, of this part of the discussion that we're in and he says, hey, if Allah is, if, if Tawhid is in, in shafa'a as well and allowing intercession and forgiveness of sins, so it's very clear that we don't believe in what the Christian faith promotes, where we have confession to the father or to the priests and so on. We don't believe in that.

And he brings a verse, "fa astaghfareeu li dhunbihim" (3:135), so ask forgiveness for their sins, "wa man yaghfir adh-dhunub illa Allah" (3:135), and who is it, who is the one who is to forgive sins, except them, except Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Allah is the One who forgive sins. So he uses this verse to disprove what we have in the Christian faith. But, personally, personally, very humbly, I'm going to say this, that I don't, I think we need to look into what the Christian faith says more, even when a person comes and confesses to the, to the, to the priest, do they really believe that he is forgiving their sins or no? He's a means through God forgiving their sins and God has given this permission in their faith. Of course, we don't believe in this, but in their faith. Is it that God has given permission for the priest to forgive their sins?

Anyway, we don't want to, we don't want to be unfair here. Yeah, but all in all, of course, this we all know that when it comes to confession, this is not something that is sanctioned in Islam and in the Islamic faith. All right.

So to wrap it all up, even when it comes to, when it comes to authority of and legal legislation and who's calling the shots when it comes to the do's and don'ts of the people and judgment and all of these things, plus forgiveness of sins plus shafa'a and intersession and all the good stuff, all of this goes back to Allah and Allah alone. He's the only independent entity that can allow any of that. And since He is the only independent entity that allows any of that, everything that happens by the means of others, with His permission, in reality, is His and belongs to Him, originally.

So he concludes with this line, let me read off of the book in English with this line. It says: 'taken into consideration what has been said, a believer and the oneness of God must recognize that God alone is the source of authority and the soul governor in respect of all matters concerning religion, unless God Himself appoints someone to enforce and explain the religious obligations laid down by Him'. That's beautiful. Al-hamdulil-Lah.

All right. This is a, this is what, this is what the believers, what the 'urafa', what the spiritual wayfarers are after, just Tawhid, reach a point where you understand, where you experience, you taste that He is everything. That's what we're after. And it doesn't happen overnight, it doesn't happen with reading books. It happens through continuous obedience of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala and fulfilling His will till He feels that, OK, you're ready and deserving now and He gives us that light and puts it in our heart, or else you can't, we cannot obtain this experiencing and tasting of Tawhid through reading books or Mizan live sessions.

All right, article 33. Article 33 talks about another form of Tawhid, and that is Tawhid fil 'ibadah, Tawhid in worship. If you remember I said last week, I kind of just, you know, passed by and just in passing I said it, how some others, other Muslims sometimes, will falsely accuse the Shi'a school of shirk. Yeah, unfortunately. And the reason for that is they'll tell it, they'll tell us that, oh, you're calling on your saints. Yes. You're calling on your Imams or the Holy Prophet to and to to do things for you or to fulfill certain needs of yours. Yeah. This is against Tawhid and Rububiyah.

Now, of course, the Shi'a school has answers to that, but this is not the place for it. So that's one form of false accusation that we have towards us. Now to make things even worse, this form of Tawhid, sometimes the Shi'a school is accused of not having and failing to secure Tawhid fil 'ibadah. Once again, if, if people were to understand what the Shi'as, how the Shi'a school looks at things and sees things, although I do have to admit some of the practices of the Shi'a lay people sometimes are not very kosher when it comes to Islam and might give, might give Shi'ism a bad name, unfortunately.

But all in all, if people out there were to understand what the scholars of the faith are saying, they would see that Tawhid, as a matter of fact, the deepest versions of Tawhid, the deepest and, and, and purest forms of Tawhid, the Shi'a school enjoys that. OK. So anyway, having said that, let's talk about this a little bit. This form of Tawhid, Tawhid fil 'ibadah, Tawhid in worship, he says that it is common amongst all Abrahamic faiths again.

So you see that concept again, he's repeating himself. We had this Tawhid in essence, if I remember correctly, and now we have it in Tawhid in worship, that look, when it comes to worship of God, all Abrahamic faiths, this is, this is a common theme in all of them, that they all the Abrahamic faiths came down to tell the people that you worship one God and one God alone. And by the way, this Tawhid in worship and Tawhid in lordship and Rububiyah and governance and management of the universe, these two are going to be very intertwined, as you shall see.

OK. So keep that in mind. It says, it brings a verse in the Qur'an, from the Qur'an, to, you know, to support this idea. "Wa laqad ba'athna fi kulli ummatin Rasulan, anya'bud Allaha, wa ajtanibu at-taghut" (16:36), that 'we sent in every nation and among every nation a messenger with what message: "anya'bud Allah", worship Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. So here he is translating: "anya'bud Allah", in this verse as worship Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Surah Nahl verse 36.

Salamun alaikum Brother Shuja'a, welcome. All right, or Surah Fatiha that we recite every day, ten times, at least, in our wajib salat, "Iyyaka na'budu" (1:5), only you do we worship. That's one of the most important themes of Islam. Such, to the extent that it is repeated at least ten times because we read Surah Fatiha in every one of our five daily salats, we recite it at least twice. So that's two times five equals ten.

So brother asks, can you summarize Tawhid subabiha again? I don't know what that means, subabiha. Is that a typo? I don't know. If you could explain what you mean by that. All right. So this is Tawhid in, in, in 'ibadah, in worship. Now, let me read off of the book here. I like the, I like the wording. He says. I'm just trying to find it. OK, he says, therefore. OK, Brother, Brother Bilal, you're saying it was a typo subabeeha. I still don't know what you're saying. I'm sorry we haven't, uh we haven't, uh, covered anything like that so far, never heard that word, so if you can explain more. All right.

So he says: 'therefore, there is no doubting the fact that God alone is to be worshiped and that the worship of anything else is prohibited. Nobody opposes this fundamental principle of religion insofar as there is debate on this subject, it concerns the status of other acts'. This is important here. Says, look, no one has a problem, has an issue and, and objects to the fact that you are not supposed to worship anything other than Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Everyone knows that. Salam Brother Mohammad Hussein, welcome.

Everyone knows you're supposed to only worship Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, but there are certain things people do that might cause issues. They might label them as people who do not have Tawhid when it comes to worship of God. That's why he says: 'insofar as there is debate on this subject, if there is any debate on this subject, it concerns the status of other acts, namely whether the poor performance of these acts be considered as evidence of worship of other than God or not. In order to arrive at a definitive judgment as regards this question, we must provide first a logical definition of worship and then clearly separate those acts, which can probably we can which can properly be assumed within this definition from those acts which pertain on the contrary to veneration and revering, ta'zim and ta'krim'.

All right, let me explain. So what's going on here is, what's going on here is that, um, he says, look, if we want to figure out these acts that certain people do sometimes and see if they are shirk or not and if they compromise Tawhid in worship or not, but we have to do is first define worship itself. Then once we define worship itself, we can make the decision. We can dis, we can dis, we can discern between what it falls under worship and what falls under no, ta'dheem veneration, ta'krim to honor and revere. So he says, let's talk about the definition first. What is the definition of 'ibada of worship, important.

Who says let me bring it up. Says worship means that worship which only Allah deserves and no one else should be worshipped through, is when a person exhibits humility, exhibits loneliness. In front of something else with this intention and this understanding with this, this, with this conviction that that in that thing, that object, that person, that whatever it is, has an independent say in what happens in this world or maybe, let me add to that in the hereafter.

Any independence, if in your mind, for the mo, for a split second, you have this understand you have this conviction that this person that I am, for example, prostrating to, this person is independent when it comes to my felicity, in this world or the hereafter, is independent when it comes to affecting me and my life in this world or the hereafter. If you have that in mind as you are exhibiting humility. Yeah. And you're, for example, prostrating, if you have that in mind, that's where we have a problem, that's called worship. To have that in mind while you're doing something, doing an action, usually it's prostration or bowing down or things like that. Right.

So this doesn't mean, for example, if someone has takes karate lessons or taekwondo lessons, you know, and before they actually spar with each other, they bow down to each other or something like that, or sometimes they even fall to their knees that this is, you know, shirk necessarily. Why? Because what they're doing is not with that conviction or that intention or that understanding that this individual is independent when it comes to my felicity. As a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, the guy bows to the other guy and beats the heck out of him when they're sparring with each other. You know what I'm saying? It happens in MMA, too. They kill each other, like they get close to destroying each other and their bloody head to toe when, by the way, look how low mankind has fallen, that this is how mankind is entertained now to watch these things.

But anyway, anyway, that's beyond our discussion right now. They beat each other up so much. So this bowing down, of course, is not because this person believes that or the person that I'm bowing to is independent when it comes to my felicity, independently can have an effect on my life and on the universe or anything like that. But this was the problem with the mushrikin of the Prophet's time. So this is where you see the Tawhid in Tadbir or the Tawhid and lordship and being Rabb is intertwined with Tawhid in worship.

They would worship them with one intention, with what conviction? That these idols actually have an independent effect on, on the Earth that we live on or the universe and the skies that we're under. Yeah, so that was the problem. And in effect, their Tawhid of 'ibadah is affected as well.

All right, let's read on now. He says, taking full cognizance of this principle, this is very important, I'm going to read a lot here and explain as I go on, super important. 'Taking full consideration of this principle, one is in a better position to evaluate the respect and veneration accorded by Muslims in holy places to the saints awliya', not the New Orleans saints, the saints, meaning awliya' Allah. Those brought close to Allah, the close ones up to Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala.

OK, if we keep this principle of mind, he says, that's when we can understand why people do certain things that they do. 'It is obvious that the kissing of the holy tomb of the Prophet or expressing joy on the anniversary of his birth'. For God's sake, like this kills me every time I hear about it then. Celebrating the Prophet's birthday is shirk. What kind of shirk? We're happy that the Prophet was born, man. It's not, nothing complicated. We're not worshiping anything or anybody. Like what? 'Or expressing joy on the anniversary of his birth or on the anniversary of the advent of his mission, the bi'thah or the mabh'ath, all are, all are aspects of the reverence and love which are due to the Prophet. They are not in the least derived from any belief in his divinity. In like manner, of such acts as the chanting of poems, praising the exemplary lives, or lamenting the death of the saints, the preservation of all monuments left as traces of the prophetic mission like the harams of the imams and so on, the building of the mausoleums above the graves of Holy Personages'.

'None of these acts can be called shirk, nor can they be called bida'a. They are not to be equated with shirk because their source is love and affection for the saints of God and not a belief in their divinity. This is, this is the underlying principle here for something to become shirk, is if there is any form of divinity involved. But there is no, for those who revere these people in their life after their life, it's not with the intention or conviction that these are, their divinity or deities, na'udhu bi Llah, we seek refuge in Allah from all of that. The most someone can say, let me just say this, by the way, the most someone can say, is, that wait, these things are not shirk, but Allah doesn't want us to do them. I'll talk about that later a little bit if we get a chance. All right.

So Brother Ma'un is saying, is asking, what is the name of the book that you're reading? This is what it's called, Doctrines of Shi'a Islam by Ayatollah Subhani. There is a digital version online somewhere. Hopefully you can find it. But some people have heard of this online, too. And and they have received it. Brother Shuja' what was the prostration of the angels and the prostration of Yusuf? That's also something we'll explain.

'They are not to be equated with shirk because their sources love and affection for the sense of God and not a belief in their divinity, neither can they be regarded as bida'a, says these actions are rooted in a principle enshrined in the Qur'an and hadith. That is the necessity of loving and honoring the Prophet and his family. Our acts of reverence towards the Prophet on the occasion of his birthday and the onset of his mission in the bi'tha, are but the expression of the outpouring of our love for him'.

'And this is in stark contrast, in stark contrast to this is the prostration of the polytheists before their idols', what I was talking about a few minutes ago, 'which is rejected and forbidden, precisely because it springs from a belief in the divinity and authority of the idols and from the false supposition that they exercised control over a part of man's destiny'. That's the important part. 'For the idolaters to believe, for the idolaters believe that their idols have, at the very least, the power to glorify or abase, to forgive and to grant intercession and that is only for Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, that's the problem with the polytheists'.

Brothers Shuja' you asked about the angels and the prostration of Yusuf, alayhi as-salam. I think he also mentions this, I don't know if I skipped it or not. Let me see if I can find it real quick, give me a second. Yeah, he does mention it. He says when he's talking about how this conviction wasn't there, when the angels prostrated or when prophet Yusuf prostrated. Prophet Yusuf prostrated, the Qur'an says, but it doesn't say prostrated towards his father because he's worshiping his father or he feels that his father is divinity and deity. No.

That's the way, even right now when we pray towards the Ka'ba, brothers and sisters, are we praying towards the Ka'ba because we worship the Ka'ba or no? It's a command by Allah that we should worship in that direction. We worship in that direction, and we don't believe that those stones there are divinity or that that's God's house or something. No. It's a place that is blessed, Allah has blessed and Allah has has, has prescribed that we pray in the direction of. Very simple.

So once you take out that understanding, that misunderstanding of divinity, deity, independent effect and all of that from that which you are revering and venerating, it doesn't become shirk anymore because the Tawhid 'ibadah is there. Why? Because it's not 'ibadah to begin with. You're not doing 'ibadah, it's not worship. The only time you have compromised Tawhid in worship is when you are worshiping other than Allah. But if you're doing something else for other than Allah, which is not worship, then you have Tawhid and 'ibadah, you have not compromised that. OK.

Having said all of that, though, I do have to make one point here. Sometimes, something in and of itself is not shirk. I want you to pay attention to this. Oh, look at that, one of the brothers put the the link there to the PDF. All right. So sometimes you, sometimes you, what you're doing in and of itself is not shirk, what you're doing in and of itself is not 'ibadah. Right. Why? Because you don't have the intention of worshiping, you don't have the intention of this person deserving worship, you're just doing it for respect.

So, for example, you might, as I said, in a karate match or something, you might bow down to the guy that's in front of you. Right. OK, but just because something in and of itself is not shirk and does not compromise your Tawhid in worship, doesn't mean that it's, it, it's necessarily a halal act either. OK, let me explain a little more. Sometimes what I do is worship because I have that intent, that wrong intention, OK, that goes to the side. Sometimes I don't have that intention.

It's a karate match and I'm just bowing down. All right. That is not shirk, but some of our hadith or verses of the Qur'an might tell us that don't do such a thing, don't do such a thing. In other words, if you do it, you have committed a haram act, you have committed a haram act. You haven't become mushrik, you have not compromised your Tawhid because you didn't have that intention or a conviction that, oh, I'm worshiping.

But for example, Islam might say, this is just, I'm just speaking theoretically here, I'm not saying this is necessarily the case. Each person has to see what their marja' taqlid says, but it's not unlikely, it's not impossible for the Imams or the Prophet or the Qur'an to tell us don't do certain acts when it comes to people. For example, hey, can I just out of, you know, just play, do sajdah towards my friend. Yeah. Islam might say, don't do that at all. It's haram to do something like that. Not because it's shirk. If you have the intention of worshiping then it's shirk definitely it's a problem.

But even if you don't have the intention of worship and deity and divinity, still, Islam might make it haram to do such a thing. Now, it might be haram in and of itself, like Islam might just say, hey, it's haram to prostrate towards anybody, OK. Or Islam might say, it's haram to prostrate towards anybody if it is deemed or is seen as worshiping that person, even if you didn't have that intention. Yeah. So here Islam might still make something haram, even though it's not shirk OK.

Having said all that, am I trying to say that we have such a law in Islam? I'm not saying that at all, right now. That's something that we have to go and ask our maraj' taqlid to see if there is anything in Islam that says that. OK, so that's that's one thing. What I can be, what I can say for sure, though, is this, that sometimes you don't have that intention, you don't have that conviction and understanding of divinity.

But Islam will say if it gives Islam a bad an image or if it gives the Shi'a a bad image, to the extent that people say that we, what we're doing is worship of something that Islam might say, OK, to preserve the image of Shi'ism, stop that mustahab practice. Maybe, maybe, maybe. I'm just speaking theoretically here. It really depends, we have to see what the fatwas and the verdicts of our maraj' are in this regard.

OK, having said all of that, I'm going to wrap it up, I'm not going to move on to the next, to the next article. As a matter of fact, we move into part three of the book. Part three has to do with the qualities of God. So we're moving on from Tawhid, which had different forms and categories, now moving on into His qualities. So he's going to talk about His knowledge, Allah's knowledge, Allah's power and so on.

OK, so that is a new discussion I'm going to leave for our next session. Now, brothers and sisters, please just remember this coming Wednesday, next week, we're not going to have a session because I have, I have, we have a program in our center that I have to go to. So next Wednesday, the 20th of February, there is no Mizan live session. The next session will be, InshaAllah, February 27th, and that's where we will continue, where we left off tonight.

So Brother Mohamed Hussein, you saying, so if it seemed as if you're worshiping something, then it's not recommended, even if that's not your niyyah. That's all I'm saying is that's something to ask your marja'. Salamun alaikum, my dear beloved marja' taqlid. If I am doing something that is deemed as worship of something else, even though I am not, I don't have that intention, is that OK or not? You write that down, send it to your marja's office online, they all have MashaAllah websites, now.

You ask that question, see what the answer comes, and you might want to give some examples as well. Right. Now, for example, I think some, maybe in the Sunni, some Sunni schools of thought of fiqhi Sunni schools of thought, maybe some of them will say even the karate bow, you know, when they bow to each other in karate, maybe that's not even permissible. I don't think that's that's a problem in Shi'a school. I don't think I'm not a hundred percent sure. As I said, these are things that we have to ask our marja' taqlid, see what the fatwa is in that regard.

This is very important. What I spoke about was just theoretical. I wasn't trying to say that Islam doesn't allow it anyway. No, we have to see. I mean, right now, when you go to the haram of the Imams, for example, you will see and you and I do it, too, we fall, we fall to the ground when we reach the, the blessed grave of the Imam and we kiss it.

Yes. Now, someone might see that and say, oh, that's a problem, or this, that, no, not necessarily. We follow our maraja', we have to see what they say. I don't think any marja' says if you fall down to kiss the entrance of or the door of the grave of, for example, Imam al-Ridha, alayhi as-salam, that that's going to be a problem. I don't think that's the case. Every case is different, you need to ask your marja' taqlid on that.

The only point I wanted to make was to dissect this for you a little bit and show that there's different layers to this. Sometimes it's shirk, that's if you have the intention that the polytheists had during the Prophet's time. Of course, none of the Muslimeen can have such an intention in this day and age. Now, the next one, next layer was you don't have the intention, and what you're doing, though, is seen as shirk. OK, I said that might be a problem sometimes, although it's not shirk for you, yeah, in your heart.

It might be a haram act only and sometimes it might not even be a haram act. I give you the example of karate, I give you the example of the zaree' of the Imams and so on and so forth. Each case is different. It has to be asked from your marja' taqlid. OK. Once again, I thank all of you for tuning in. I also thank the Atlanta community for this past weekend's course.

I mean, more and more cities are asking for the courses that Mizan, Al-hamdulil-Lah, has to offer. And if you guys also need to hold one in your city, you feel and you feel that there are enough people who would want to benefit from such a thing, please just contact Mizan Institute and they'll set it up, InshaAllah based on availability of instructors. OK, with that, I'm going to leave you for two weeks, InshaAllah. Keep us in your du'as. Wa as-salamu alaykum, wa Rahmat Ullah.