Praise be to Allah, the Almighty, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the
Universe, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, last of the
Prophets, and upon all those who adhere to his example until the Day of
Judgement.
Faith is the foundation upon which the whole structure of nations is based.
Therefore, the progress of each nation is dependent upon the maintenance of its
faith and ideology. Thus, all Prophets (peace be upon them) have called for true
faith. Every Prophet told his people from the very beginning, "Worship
Allah, the Almighty. You have no other god but Him".(1) "We
assuredly sent amongst every people an Apostle, (with the command), Serve Allah
and eschew evil".(2) This is because Allah the Almighty created all
people to worship Him alone and set up no associate to Him. "I have only
created jinns and men that they may worship Me".(3)
Worship is the exclusive right of Allah owed to Him by His creation mankind.
Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) once said to Muath ibn Jabal (may Allah be
pleased with him): "Do you know what duties and rights people have
towards Allah'? The duty of mankind towards Allah is to worship Him and
attribute no partner to Him. The right of mankind is that Allah will not torture
those who do not attribute any partner to Him".(4) This right of
worship is the foremost right of Allah owed to Him by His people. "Your
Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him." (5) "Say :
Come, I will recite to you what Allah has really forbidden to you : Join not
any-thing as equal with Allah".(6)
This right has priority over all other rights because it is the foundation
upon which all other precepts of the religion (of Islam) are based.
Therefore, the Prophet (peace be upon him) during the thirteen years of his
preaching in Makkah, constantly called upon people to observe this right of
Allah and forbid any partner to Him. The Holy Quran in most of its verses, has
confirmed this concept and negated any resemblance to Him. Every Muslim in his
five daily prayers pledges to Allah to observe this right by saying,
"You alone do we worship and only Your assistance do we seek".
(7)
This great right is referred to as the singleness of worship, deity or
objective and purpose. This monotheism is ingrained in man's nature. The Prophet
(peace be upon him) said "Every child is born with a (pure) innate
character. His parents may turn him to become a Jew, a Christian or
Mazdist" (8). Therefore, believing in the oneness of Allah is innate
and original, whereas idolatry is spurious and unnatural. Man will deviate from
the right path only because of false upbringing and surroundings. Allah the
Almighty stated in the Holy Quran "Mankind was one single nation, and
Allah sent messengers with glad tidings and warnings; and with them He sent the
Book, in truth, to judge between people in matters wherein they
differed".(9) Simarly, He, the Almighty, also stated in they Holy
Quran "Mankind was but one nation, but differed later".
(10)
Moreover, Ibn Abbas (May Allah be pleased with him) said, "Ten
centuries lapsed from Adam to Noah (peace be upon them and all people adhered to
Islam during that perished". (11) Ibn-ulQaiyim, the learned scholar,
commented on this by saying "This interpretation (by Ibn Abbas) of the
above verse is correct."(12) He cited examples from the Holy Quran to
support this idea an confirmed it in his commentary, "The Meaning of the
Quran".
The first incident of polytheism took place among the people of Noah when
they exceeded the limits of respect for their saints and started worshipping
them despite exhortation by their Prophets. As it is stated in the Holy Quran
"And they have said (to each other), abandon not your gods : abandon
neither Wadd for Suwa, neither Yaguth not Yauq".(13) Bukhari quoted Ibn
Abbas as saying that "The above names were those of pious men among the
people of Noah. When these pious men died, Satan suggested to the people of Noah
that they erect statues of those pious men in their homes and call the statues
by these pious men's names. Thus, people did so, but did not worship the
statues. The statues, however, in later generations become idols to be
worshipped." (14)
An Explanation of the Truth of Monotheism
