Aqeedah At-Tawheed ....The Introduction

Allah  has created the creatures to worship Him, and provided them with provisions to enable them to do that. Allah, the Exalted, said:

“And I have created Jinn and men only to worship Me. I want no sustenance from them, not do I want them to feed Me. Surely, it is Allah, Who is the Provider, The Powerful. (Soorah Az-Zariyat  Chapter 51 Verses 56-58).

 Man naturally acknowledges Allah’s divinity, loves Him, worships Him, and ascribes no partner to Him. But human and jinn devils who suggest to each other polished speech out of deception, corrupt his natural disposition, and lead them astray.

Tawheed (belief in the Oneness of Allah) is firmly instilled in human nature, while polytheism is accidental and intrusive Allah says:

“And remain steadfast on the religion of Islamic Monotheism, Allah's Fitrah with which He has created mankind. No change let there be in the religion of Allah, that is the straight religion.”(Soorah Ar-Rum Chapter 30 verse 30).

 Fitrah is the innate pure instinct inborn in every human, which recognizes the True Lord. Fitrah, if not corrupted leads one to the Belief in the Existence of Allah, the Exalted.

The Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said:

“Every infant is born with Fitra but it is his parents who make him a Jew, or a Christian or a fire worshiper.” (Saheeh Al-Bukharee and Saheeh Muslim).

 Mankind in the beginning was a single nation upon true Tawheed. Subsequently and gradually Shaytan misguided them towards associating partners with Allah.

Polytheism and corruption in Aqeedah appeared first among the people of Noah (pbuh) who was the first Messenger of Allah.

According to a narration in Sahih Hadeeth:
Ibn Abbas (S) relates:
“Indeed these are five names of righteous men from the people of Nooh (pbuh). When they died
Shaytaan whispered to their people to make statues of them and to place these statues in their places
of gathering as a reminder of them, so they did this. However, none from amongst them worshipped
these statues, until when they died and the purpose of the statues was forgotten. Then (the next
generation) began to worship them.” [Saheeh al-Bukhaaree (11/418) and Saheeh Muslim (18/52)]

Aa'ishah (pbuh) reported that Umm Habeebah  and Umm Salamah  mentioned about a church they
had seen in Ethiopia in which there were pictures. They told the Prophet (pbuh) about it, on which he said:
“If any religious man died amongst those people they would build a place of worship at his grave and
make these pictures in it. They will be the worst creature in the Sight of Allah  on the Day of
Resurrection.” [Saheeh Al-Bukharee (vol.1; no.419) and Saheeh Muslim (vol.1;no.1076)]


In the above  Ahaadeeth, it has clearly been explained how polytheism gradually develops. It starts
from pious intention like, building of places of gathering at the grave of pious person so that he be
remembered but steadily the people begin to look upon the religious man as a demigod and ultimately
elevate to a higher status of Godhood. This undermines the belief in the oneness of Allah .

Similarly as known from the Hadeeth of Aa'ishah (mentioned above); the pictures of the pious men were displayed in the places of gatherings in order to keep alive their memories, but with the passage of time the people begin to worship them. So, the first Shirk on the earth occurred due to the confusion spread by Shaytaan regarding righteous persons and mixing truth with falsehood; first, exaggeration in the love of the righteous and then innovative practices of the people intending to do good (i.e. Bidah: newly invented practice in the religion).
Therefore, all means that lead to Shirk are prohibited in Islam, such as innovations, exaggeration in status of righteous men even the Prophets, building shrines over graves and intending to specifically travel to them, taking them as places of festivity and gathering and swearing an oath by the inmate of a grave and other acts that should only be directed towards Allah.

This teaches us that:
a) Hanging pictures on walls and setting up statues and sculptured images lead people to idolatry because excessive exaltation of these pictures and statues gradually develops into a belief that they bring good and prevent harm, as evidenced in the example of the people of Nooh (pbuh).
b) Shaytan is waiting to deceive mankind. He will try every trick to exploit man's sentiments. When Satan observed among the people of Nooh their emotional liking for pious people, he tempted them to exceed their love and finally made them place statues in their dwellings in order to make the common people stray from the right path.
c) Not only does Shaytan try to deceive the present generation, he also keeps his eye on the future
generations. When he could not plunge the present generation of the people of Nooh  into idolatry, he
anticipated the coming generation to be misled and set a trap for them.
d) Negligence must not be shown toward evil, but it must be eradicated and all its doors must be closed.
e) The presence of diligent and learned men is a blessing because Shaytan can only deceive the people after the learned men among them have passed away. This also explains the value of the presence of knowledge and harm of losing it.

The Arabs were following the Deen of Ibraheem (pbuh), Whom Allah rendered sage from evil, until Amr bin Lahi al- Khuza'ee brought idols in the Arabian Peninsula and to Hijaz in particular. Idols were worshiped afterwards in lieu of Allah, and Shirk prevailed in the sacred land and the lands adjacent to it.
Idol worship continued until Allah sent Muhammad (pbuh) the last of His Prophets. He (pbuh) invited people to uphold the Aqeedah of Tawheed and to follow the Deen of Ibraheem. He struggled in the cause of Allah in the best manner until he finally prevailed and destroyed the idols and put an end to paganism. Allah completed the Deen through him and perfected His favor for men and jinn.
The distinguished generation of this Ummah adhered to the Prophet’s Sunnah during the early stage of Islam. Later on, ignorance prevailed in the latter centuries during which new beliefs and religions emerged. Shirk appeared and was practiced by many Muslims due to the hard work of the promoters of perversion. Tombs were erected on graves of pious people for visitation, and were taken for idols that they worshiped to the exclusion of Allah . Acts of worship such as supplications, appeals for aid, and offerings were dedicated to them (the engraved).

They euphemized Shirk by calling it, 'appeal to pious people' claiming that they only loved them and did not worship them. They forgot that such was the claim of the early pagans, who used to say:

“We worship them only so they may bring us nearer to Allah in rank. ( Soorah Az-Zumar Chapter 39 verse 3).

 Despite the Shirk which appeared among the people in the past and present, the majority of them believed in Tawheed ar-Ruboobiyah (i.e. to affirm that Allah Alone is the, 'Rabb- One Who Creates, Sustains and Commands). They committed Shirk in terms of worship.

Only few of mankind deny existence of the Rabb, such as Fir'awn (Pharoah), the Atheists and the Communists of this age. Their denial is only out of stubbornness, for they are compelled to admit inwardly, the belief in the existence of Allah .
Allah  says:

And they deny Our signs, although inwardly they certainly knew them to be from Allah, wrongfully and hastily. (Soorah An-Naml Chapter 27 verse 14)

 Their intellects recognize that every creature must have a creator and every existing thing must have an originator. And that the accurate and precise order of this universe must have One Who manages it, Who is Wise, Capable and Knowledgeable. He who denies this fact is either unintelligent or stubborn and does not apply reason and ridicules himself. Such people are worthless.