Aqeedah Notes 1 - Belief in Allah/Tawheed

Aqeedah:

• Knowledge precedes action - e.g., in order to pray, must have correct knowledge of prayer
• First knowledge should be tawheed - foundation, or root (as of a tree)
• Then ask Allah for forgiveness
• Some scholars say that behavior reflects knowledge of aqeedah.
• Correct belief is a condition for acceptance of deeds (worship.)

Iman: belief, and acting upon that belief

• a good word, deeply rooted, branches into the sky
• laa ilaha illa Allah
• Believe in: (ref: Al-Baqarah 285, An-Nisaa' 136, Al-Baqarah 177, Hadith Jibreel)

1. Allah
2. Angels
3. Books
4. Messengers
5. Day of Judgment
6. Divine Preordainment (good or bad)

• Our purpose is to worship Allah (Adh-Dhariyat 56), so learning about Allah is of prime importance in this life
• Must know rights of Allah over His servants
• To worship Allah and never associate partners with him - reward is in Paradise

Belief in Allah means to have firm belief that Allah is Lord, Owner, Creator of Everything, that he alone is the one who deserves:

• worship
• prayer
• fasting
• hope in mercy
• fear

and is free of all deficiencies.

Three Areas of Tawheed

1. Oneness of Lordship (Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah)
2. Oneness of Godship (Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah)
3. Oneness in Names and Attributes (Tawheed bi al-Asmaa' wa as-Sifaat)
   

1. Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah: firm belief (conviction) that Allah is Lord of everything, and the only Lord.

• Rabb in Arabic: father is lord of family--protects, provides, cares for
• Malik: owner and possessor, (disposer of affairs)
• legal definition: believing Allah is Creator of creatures, owner, life giver, life taker, answers supplication, changes, actuates, has power over, provides for, sustains, withholds from creatures, increases and decreases, and that only Allah does the above

Mankind created on a fitrah

• Imam Abu Hanifa was asked "Who is Allah?" His answer gave an example describing the sea, that when man is traveling on the sea and finds trouble, Allah is who he beseeches for help.
• Even the disbelievers in Mecca knew that Allah created them. (See Surah Yusuf 106, 31, and Az-Zukhruf 87)

2. Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah: confirmed belief that Allah is the true God and all other "gods" are false/vain; Allah is real/true, all acts of worship (inwardly and outwardly) must be devoted to Him.

• Fear of Allah - greater than fear of anything else
• Love of Allah
• Hope for Mercy
• Supplications only to Allah

• According to Ibn Taymiyyah, tawheed al-uluhiyyah differentiates monotheists from polytheists, and to die without tawheed al-uluhiyyah is to die as a polytheist. (Risaalat al-Hasana wa as-Sayyiah
• All other "gods" not Allah are not worthy of worship.
• Prophets sent with message to worship Allah alone. (Hud, Saleh, Shu'aib, etc.)

Obligations of Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah

1. Sincere dedication of love to Allah--no object of love greater than or equal to Allah (al-Baqarah 165)
   
2. Devoting supplication, reliance, and hope to Allah alone in matters where He alone has power (Yunus 106, al-Ma'idah 23, al-Baqarah 218)
   
3. Fearing only Allah (An-Nahl 51, Yunus 107)
4. Dedication of all physical and verbal forms of worship to Allah alone (An-Nisaa' 116)

3. Tawheed bi al-Asmaa' wa as-Sifaat
Three foundations:

1. Placing Allah (swt) above likeness to human beings, and free beyond imperfections
2. Belief in the names and attributes in Qur'an and Sunnah without detracting from, expanding upon, altering, or nullifying them
3. Abandoning desire to ascertain the form of the attributes

• An-Nahl 74: So put not forth similitudes for Allah
• Al-Ikhlaas 4: And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him
• Ash-Shura 11: There is nothing like unto Him

This tawheed is damaged by:

1. Tashbeeh - Comparison (of attributes of Creator to attributes of created, eg Christians)
2. Tahreef - Distortion (through false interpretation, change, alteration)
3. Ta'teel - Negation (of Divine attributes, and denying their existence in Allah
4. Takyeef - False interpretation (in form or essence)
   

2 Kinds of attributes:

1. of person of Allah (i.e., knowledge, might, hearing, speech...)
2. of action (will, power, laugh, joy, wrath, descending...)

• Should not suspend attributes to say what something is "like"
• No similarity between humans and Allah
• Should not try to explain in a different way
• Should not negate, say is merely metaphorical, etc

Proper names - Attributes
Al-'Alim, Al-Baseer, Al-Qadeer (derived from tri-literal root)

Ayat al-Kursi

Allah! Laa ilaaha illaa Huwa (none has the right to be worshiped but He), the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber, nor sleep overtake Him. To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Who is he that can intercede with Him except with His permission? He knows what will happen to them (His creatures) in this world, and what will happen to them in the Hereafter. And they will never encompass anything of His knowledge except that which He wills. His throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.