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Tawhid, Hamd, Taqwa by Ibn Juzayy Al Kalbi

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Tawhid, Hamd, Taqwa by Ibn Juzayy Al Kalbi
Siham
09/24/05 at 00:03:38
Tawhid - the Science of Unification

Ibn Juzayy says on Tawhid's meaning, in commentary on the ayah of Surah al-Baqarah,"And your God is One God."

Know that people's tawhid of Allah has three degrees:

First, the tawhid of the generality of the Muslims which is that which preserves the person from destruction in the world and saves them from abiding in the Fire in the next life, and it is the refutation of partners and equals, of a female partner and children, and of [other] beings who resemble [Allah], and of opposites.

The second degree is the tawhid of the elect which is that [the person of this degree] sees all actions issuing from Allah alone, witnessing that by means of unveiling, not by means of the reasoning which every Muslim attains. But the station of the elect in tawhid enriches the heart with an imperative knowledge which doesn't need proof. The fruit of this knowledge is the full devotion of attention to Allah, dependence on Him alone, and rejection of people so that he doesn't hope for any but Allah, and fears no-one other than Him, since he sees no doer but Him, and he sees all people in the grasp of overwhelming power, and that none of the matter is in their hands. So he rejects secondary causes and discards [other] lords.

[The person of] the third degree does not seeanything in existence except Allah alone, so that he withdraws from looking at people until it is as if they were non-existent for him. This is what the Sufis call the station of annihilation, which means becoming absent from people until one has become annihilated from one's own self and from one's tawhid, i.e. withdrawing from that with one's absorption in witnessing Allah.


Hamd - Praise

from Ibn Juzayy's Tafseer

Hamd (praise) is more general and inclusive than shukr (thanks or gratitude), because thanks and gratitude are only a recompense for a favour, whereas hamd is both a recompense like thanks and is also spontaneous praise. Similarly, shukr may be more general and inclusive than hamd, because praise is expressed by the tongue, and thanks is expressed by tongue, heart and limbs.

If you understand the universal nature of hamd you will know that your saying "al-hamdu lillah" requires praise of Him for His majesty, vastness, unity, might, bestowal of favours, knowledge, ability and power, wisdom and other attributes, and that it encompasses the meanings of His ninety-nine beautiful names, and that it requires thanking Him and praising Him for every favour He has given and mercy He has bestowed upon all His creation in this world and the next. What a word [it is] which gathers together that which volumes find difficult to express, and the intellects of created beings concur upon as being unable to enumerate! Let it suffice you that Allah made it the beginning of His Book and the conclusion of the supplication of the people of the Garden 1 .

Thanks with the tongue is praise of the Bestower of Blessings and speaking about the blessings. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "To talk about blessings is gratitude." 2 Thanks expressed by the limbs means to act in obedience to Allah and to abandon disobedience to Him. Thanks with the heart is recognition of the magnitude of the blessing and the knowledge that it is a gracious bestowal and not from the slave's own merit.

Know that the blessings which require gratitude cannot be enumerated, but they can be expressed in terms of three categories:

* worldly blessings such as health and wealth;
* blessings of the deen such as knowledge and carefulness (taqwa);
* and other-wordly blessings, which are one's being recompensed with much reward for few actions in a short life.

People have two ranks with respect to gratitude:

* there is the one who shows gratitude for the blessings which come to him particularly;
* and there is the one who thanks Allah on behalf of all His creatures for the blessings which reach all of them.

There are three degrees of gratitude:

* the degree of the ordinary people is gratitude for blessings;
* the degree of the elect is gratitude for blessings and for misfortune, and in every state;
* and the degree of the elect of the elect is that they are absent from blessing through witnessing the Bestower of blessings. A man said to Ibrahim ibn Adham 3 , "Who are the best of men?" He reflected and said, "The poor who when they are refused, are grateful, and when they are given something they prefer others to themselves."

One of the virtues of gratitude is that it is both one of the attributes of The Truth 4 [as well as] an attribute of people, because one of the names of Allah is ash-Shakir (the Recompenser, literally: the Grateful) and ash-Shakour (the Fully Grateful), both of which I have explained in the dictionary of terms (ash-Shakour is the name of Allah, "the One Who Recompenses His slaves for their actions with plentiful reward". It has also been said [that it means] "The One Who Praises the slaves").

Our saying, "Praise belongs to Allah the Lord of the worlds", is better, according to the people who ascertain [statements], than "There is no god but Allah" for two reasons:

* one is that which an-Nasa'i narrated of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, "Whoever says, 'There is no god but Allah' then twenty virtues will be recorded for him, and whoever says, 'Praise belongs to Allah Lord of the worlds', has thirty virtues recorded for him";
* the second is that the tawhid that "There is no god but Allah" requires is [already] present in your saying, "Lord of the worlds" and is increased [over and above that] with your saying, "Praise belongs to Allah" and there [also] are the meanings in it which we have already presented.

As for the saying of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, "The best that I have said, I and the prophets before me, is 'There is no god but Allah'," 5 then that is only because of the tawhid which it contains, and "Praise belongs to Allah Lord of the worlds" participates along with it in that [meaning] and has increase beyond that. The believer says it seeking reward, but as for the one who enters Islam then he is required to say, "There is no god but Allah."

1 This refers to the supplication that the believers will make in the Garden, "Their prayer in it will be 'Glory be to You, O Allah,' and peace will be their greeting therein, and their prayer will conclude, 'Praise belongs to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.'" (Surah Yunus, ayah 10).

2 Part of a narration related by ash-Sha'bi on the authority of an-Nu'man ibn Bashir that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "He who is not grateful for a little cannot be grateful for a lot, and he who is not grateful to people cannot be grateful to Allah [whereas] to talk about blessings is gratitude, and leaving it is ingratitude (kufr). The community (jama'ah) [leads to] mercy, and dissension [leads to] debasement." (Quoted by al-Qurtubi in his Jami' Ahkam al-Qur'an Tafsir 'ala Surah Wa'd-Duha.

3 Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Adham. He was at one point the Amir of the region of Balkh in central Asia, but he turned to Allah and abandoned everything he possessed. Imam al-Junayd said of him, "Ibrahim is the key to the sciences" and he is held in great respect, by all who have knowledge, for his exemplary life and his incisive wisdom with respect to the states of man. He associated with Sufyan ath-Thauri.

4 Al-Haqq - "The True, the Real" is one of the names of Allah.

5 Related in the Jami' of at-Tirmidhi, in the Kitab ad-Da'awat.


Taqwa - Fear of Allah

Ibn Juzayy said in his dictionary of terms from the introduction to his tafsir:

"Taqwa's meaning is fear, clinging to obedience to Allah and abandoning disobedience to Him. It is the sum of all good."

And in his commentary:

We will discuss taqwa in three sections.

First section:

Concerning its benefits derived from the Qur'an, and they are fifteen:

* Guidance, because of His words "guidance for the muttaqeen (the people of taqwa)";
* Help because of His words "Truly, Allah is with the people who have taqwa";
* Close friendship [with Allah] because of His words, "Allah is the close friend of the muttaqeen";
* Love because of His words, "Truly Allah loves the muttaqeen";
* Covering over [of wrong actions] because of His words, "If you have taqwa of Allah He will make for you a discrimination and He will cover over for you your wrong actions";
* A way out from unhappiness, and provision from where one does not expect because of His words, "Whoever has taqwa of Allah He will make a way out for him and provide him from where he does not expect";
* Facilitation of affairs because of His words, "Whoever has taqwa of Allah He will make ease for him in his affair";
* Full covering over of wrong actions and magnification of rewards because of His words, "Whoever has taqwa of Allah He will cover over his wrong actions and magnify a reward for him";
* Acceptance of actions because of His words, "Allah only accepts from the people of taqwa";
* Success because of His words, "Have taqwa of Allah in order that you might succeed";
* Good news because of His words "For them there is good news in this world and in the next";
* Entrance into the Garden because of His words "Truly, there are for the people of taqwa with their Lord Gardens of bliss";
* Salvation from the Fire because of His words "Then We will save the ones who had taqwa".

Second Section

There are ten things which awaken taqwa:

* Fear of punishment in the next life;
* Fear [of punishment in] this life;
* Hope of worldly reward;
* Hope of the reward of the next world;
* Fear of the reckoning;
* Shyness and bashfulness before the gaze of Allah, and this is the station of fearful watchfulness (muraqabah);
* Showing gratitude for His blessings by obeying Him;
* Knowledge, because of His words, "They only fear Allah, of His slaves, the ones who have knowledge";
* Exalting and honouring His majesty, and it is the station of awe;
* Sincerity in love because of the words of the one who said:

"You disobey God while you make apparent that you love Him,

This, by my life, in analogy is a marvel.

If your love were sincere you would obey Him,

Truly, the lover towards the one he loves is obedient."

And to Allah be attributed the good of the one who said:

"She said, and she had asked about the state of her lover,

'For Allah's sake, describe him and do not omit nor exceed!'

I said, 'If he had feared death from thirst,

and you had said, "Stop! don't approach the water!" then he would not have approached.'"

The Third Section

There are five degrees of taqwa:

* That the slave should protect himself from kufr (covering over the truth), and that is the station of Islam;
* That he should protect himself from acts of disobedience and forbidden things, and it is the station of turning or repentance (tawbah);
* That he should protects himself from doubtful matters, and that is the station of caution or carefulness (wara');
* That he should protect himself from even those things that are permitted, and that is the station of doing without (zuhd);
* That he should protect himself from the presence of other than Allah in his heart, and it is the presence of witnessing (mushahadah).

That ends what Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi wrote on taqwa.

Sabr (Steadfastness)

Ibn Juzayy al-Kalbi

Sabr is mentioned in the Qur'an in more than seventy places. This is because of the tremendous importance that steadfastness has in the deen. It has been said that every good action has a limited reward, from ten-fold up to seven-hundred fold, except for steadfastness whose reward has no limit. That is because of Allah's words "Only the steadfast are paid their reward without reckoning."
Allah mentions eight types of honour shown to the steadfast:

* The first is love. Allah says, "And Allah loves the steadfast."
* The second is help. He says, "Truly, Allah is with the steadfast."
* The third is mansions in the Garden. He says, exalted is He, "They will be recompensed with mansions because of how they were steadfast."
* The fourth is a full and ample reward. Allah says, "Only the steadfast are paid their reward without reckoning."
* The other four are all mentioned in one ayah (in al-Baqarah) in which they (the steadfast) are given the good news. Allah says, "Give good news to the steadfast." And there is mention in the same ayah of mercy, compassion, and guidance as rewards for the steadfast ones. Allah says, "Those, there is on them mercy and compassion from their Lord and those they are the guided ones."

There are four aspects of steadfastness:

* Steadfastness in affliction, which is the act of preventing the self from becoming discontented and impatient;
* Steadfastness in good fortune, which is to bind it fast to gratitude, without overstepping the limits or becoming proud and self-important because of the good fortune;
* Steadfastness in obedience by safeguarding it and becoming constant in it;
* Steadfastness (in refraining) from acts of disobedience by withholding oneself from them.

Above steadfastness there is surrender, which is abandoning opposition and discontentment outwardly and abandoning dislike inwardly.

Above surrender there is contentment with the decree, which is the self's happpiness with the act of Allah; it issues from love, for everything the Beloved does is beloved.
09/25/05 at 03:06:27
jannah
Re: Tawhid - the Science of Unification
timbuktu
09/24/05 at 01:29:28
[slm]

wahatadul wujood, is that what you are talking about?

There is but one correct concept of Tawheed, and that differentiate\s between the Creator and the creation.
Re: Tawhid - the Science of Unification
bhaloo
09/24/05 at 01:30:21
Tawheed is an extremely important thing, and only recently in the last several months did I learn just how important it is to study this topic in great detail so that the people of innovation can not harm one.  Alhumdullilah there are some good books out there, such as the ones by Umar al-Ashqar.

[quote author=Siham link=board=library;num=1127531019;start=0#0 date=09/24/05 at 00:03:38]
[The person of] the third degree does not seeanything in existence except Allah alone, so that he withdraws from looking at people until it is as if they were non-existent for him. This is what the Sufis call the station of annihilation, which means becoming absent from people until one has become annihilated from one's own self and from one's tawhid, i.e. withdrawing from that with one's absorption in witnessing Allah.
[/quote]

Here is what Ibn Jawzi did say:

"Then a group of people came – meaning from the Sufis – and they began to speak to them concerning hunger, poverty, fantasies and illusions. And they authored books on that, such as was done by Al-Haarith Al-Muhaasibee. Then other people came after them and they revised the way of Sufism and they characterized themselves with attributes by which they distinguished it from its (original) state. Such attributes include wearing tattered and old clothing, hearing (music), bursting out in passionate emotions, dancing and clapping. And they specified themselves by exceeding in cleanliness and purification.

Then this matter did not cease to increase in the least, and their sheikhs began to fabricate many stories for them and speak about their mystical occurrences. And this asserted their remoteness from the scholars. Rather, this asserted for them, their belief that they possessed the most complete forms of knowledge, such that they named it the hidden knowledge (al-‘ilm-ul-baatin). And they placed knowledge of the Religion as being knowledge that is apparent (al-‘ilm-ud-dhaair).

From them, were those whose severity in hunger brought them to fancy detestable illusions. Thus they claimed strong love and passion for the truth. So it is as if they imagined a figure with a beautiful appearance and thus fell madly in love with it. And these people were caught between disbelief and innovation.

Then these people divided into various orders and their beliefs grew corrupt. So from them, were some who held the view that Allaah was incarnate in His creation (hulool) and there were some who held the view that the Creator and creation were in reality one existence (Ittihaad). And the Devil did not cease to speak to them about different types of innovations until they made them aspects of the Sunnah.


And then there came Abu ‘Abd-ir-Rahmaan As-Sulamee, who wrote a book for them entitled As-Sunan, and who compiled for them Haqaa’iq-ut-Tafseer. He mentioned in it, amazing things about them (i.e. the Sufis) concerning their interpretation of the Qur’aan, based upon the mystical occurrences that befell them, without tracing that back to any of the sources where knowledge is derived from. And indeed, what brought them to take such things and place them as their views was their state of daze, due to their strict abstinence of food and their love for talking at great lengths of the Qur’aan.

Abu Mansoor ‘Abd-ur-Rahmaan Al-Qazaaz related to us that: Abu Bakr Al-Khateeb informed us that: Muhammad Ibn Yoosuf Al-Qattaan An-Naisaburee said to me that: ‘Abu ‘Abd-ir-Rahmaan As-Sulamee is not reliable. And he did not used to hear anything except for a few sounds, due to deafness. So when the ruler Abu ‘Abdillaah Ibn Al-Bai’ died, he began to narrate hadeeth on the authority of Al-A’asam from Taareekh Yahyaa Ibn Ma’een as well as other similar things. And he used to fabricate ahaadeeth for the Sufis.’
Re: Tawhid - the Science of Unification
bhaloo
09/24/05 at 01:35:39
[slm]

[quote author=timbuktu link=board=library;num=1127531019;start=0#1 date=09/24/05 at 01:29:28][slm]

wahatadul wujood, is that what you are talking about?

There is but one correct concept of Tawheed, and that differentiate\s between the Creator and the creation.[/quote]

It looks like that's what Siham is talking about, and from her earlier posts it looked like it was heading in this direction unfortunately.   :(

Wahdat al wujud is a concept that has nothing to do with Islam.  Al-Hussain Bin Mansoor Al-Hallaj believed in this concept of wahdat al wajood and its what led to his being beheaded.    Al-Shiblee said "I and Al-Hussain Bin Mansorr were on one thing (i.e. regarding 'Aqeedah) except that he disclosed it while I kept it concealed."  (Taha Abdul Baaqi Suroor's book Al-Hallaj p.104)

The one who strove to have al-Hallaj executed and who held a council in which he ruled that he deserved to be executed was al-Qaadi Abu ‘Umar Muhammad ibn Yoosuf al-Maaliki (may Allaah have mercy on him). Ibn Katheer praised him for that and said, “One of his greatest and most correct judgements was his ruling that al-Husayn ibn Mansoor al-Hallaaj was to be executed.” (al-Bidaayah wa’l-Nihaayah, 11/172)

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “Whoever believes what al-Hallaaj believed in and agrees with the ideas for which al-Hallaaj was executed, is a kaafir and an apostate, according to the consensus of the Muslims. For the Muslims executed him because of his belief in incarnation, union with the Divine and other heretical beliefs, such as his saying, ‘I am Allaah,’ and, ‘There is a god in the heavens and a god on earth.’ … Al-Hallaaj performed extraordinary feats and various kinds of magic, and there are books of magic which are attributed to him. In conclusion, there is no dispute among the ummah that whoever believes that Allaah can be incarnated in a human being and be as one with him, or that a human being can be a god, is a kaafir whose blood it is permissible to shed. On this basis al-Hallaaj was executed.”


(Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 2/480)  


He also said: “We do not know of anyone among the imams of the Muslims who spoke well of al-Hallaaj, neither among the scholars nor among the shaykhs. But some of the people did not comment on him because they did not know about him.”


(Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 2/483)  



Al-Haafith Ibn Hajar asserted that Ibn 'Arabi followed Al-Hallaj's corrupt creed of Wahdat Al-Wujud and that he, Ibn 'Arabi, used to magnify Al-Hallaj (see Ibn Hajar's Lissan Al-Meezan, v.2, p.360, published by Daar Al-Kutub Al-'Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (1st edition, 1996)

And here we see what the scholars have said within the book ‘Aqeedah Ibn ‘Arabi wa Hayaatuhu by Taqiy al-Deen al-Faasi , scholars such as Al-Qaadi Badr al-Deen ibn Jamaa’ah, Ibn Taymiyah, Ibn Hajar, Ibn Khaldoon,  Al-Subki, Abu Zar'ah ibn al-Haafiz al-'Iraaqi, speaking out against Ibn Arabi.  

Al- Subki "These later Sufis, such as Ibn ‘Arabi and his followers, are misguided and ignorant and beyond the pale of Islam; those among them who have knowledge are even worse. "  (p. 55 of the above book)

Ibn Hajar "Some confusing words of Ibn ‘Arabi were mentioned to our master Shaykh al-Islam Siraaj al-Deen al-Balqeeni, and he was asked about Ibn ‘Arabi. Our Shaykh al-Balqeeni said: he is a kaafir. " (p. 41 of the above book).

Re: Edited: Tawhid, Hamd, Taqwa by Ibn Juzayy Al K
jannah
09/24/05 at 01:58:32
slm,

This is also turning into a salafi/sufi argument. Please continue the conversation in private message.

Jazakamullahu khairan.


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