The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ... - IslamHouse.com

The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
uloohiyyah?’ Say: Tauheed al-roboobiyyah is concerned with the
actions of the Lord, for example, creating, sustaining, giving life,
giving death, sending down rain, growing plants and administering the
affairs. [All of these are attributed to Allah alone.] Tauheed aluloohiyyah
is concerned with your deeds, o servant [of Allah], such as
supplication, fear, hope, trust, repentance, longing, awe, taking of
oaths, seeking help and other forms of worship [which must be
directly to Allah alone].” 1
Tauheed al-uloohiyyah was the aspect concerning which ibn
Abdul-Wahhaab noted that the people were most ignorant, even
though it can be called the essence of tauheed. The masses and their
leaders were either ignorant concerning this issue or they did not
fulfill their responsibility of implementing it properly. While speaking
to some leaders, ibn Abdul-Wahhaab wrote, “What is even more
amazing than that is that you do not understand the testimony of ‘there
is none worthy of worship except Allah’ and that you do not object to
these idols that are worshipped in al-Kharj and elsewhere which are
from the greater form of shirk according to the consensus of the
people of knowledge.” 2
An important question concerns what this concept of ibaadah
or worship of Allah actually comprises. In particular, a point of
division between ibn Abdul-Wahhaab and his opponents was that
worship includes acts such as supplicating, seeking help, seeking
rescue 3, making vows, prostrating, performing sacrifices and having
ultimate trust and reliance in something. All of these acts must be
directed to Allah alone. Ibn Abdul-Wahhaab was astonished that the
people around him did not truly understand the meaning of “there is
none worthy of worship except Allah.” He wrote,
The ignorant disbelievers understood the intent of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) by this statement. It
means to be purely devoted to Allah and to deny and free oneself
from everything that is worshipped besides Him. When he [the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)] said to them,
1 Quoted in Abdul-Muhsin ibn Baaz, vol. 1, pp. 301-302.
2 Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab, Muallifaat, vol. 7, p. 278.
3 Three very closely related terms are: ﺓﺫﺎﻌﺘـﺴﻻﺍ which is turning to Allah to have
Him repel some evil; ﺔﻨﺎﻌﺘﺴﻻﺍ which is seeking help from Allah in either times of
ease or hardship; and ﺔﺜﺎﻐﺘﺴﻻﺍ which is seeking rescue from Allah during times
of hardship and distress.
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