Why Worship Idols If Allah Alone Creates?

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Subhanahu wa'ta'ala describes himself in the ninth verse of surah ml the lord of the East and the West, none is rightfully worshiped but he. So take him as your sole disposer of your affairs. This word ar in the Arabic language has more than 12 meanings. 12 different meanings that are all included in the general term. Now I want you to take in a principle with respect to how the Quran uses its arguments. The way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala structures the arguments of the Quran. You see this book the Quran was revealed to the Arabs in the time of the prophet sallall.aii Wasam who believed in Allah in the linguistic sense meaning they believed in a creator. They were not atheists. They believed in a creator who created everything and sustains everything. And they believed that he was one. Not two, not three, not many. They also believed that there was a difference between the creator and the creation. So they were not pantheists. Hinduism for instance is a pantheus religion. They believe that everything is God and God is everything and everywhere. This is not what the belief was of the idoltors of Mecca. When the Quran was revealed to the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam. He was not sent to a people that disbelieved in a creator. They believed that Allah existed. And not only that, but they worshiped Allah. They worshiped Allah. They asked from Allah. They begged from Allah. They made dua to Allah. They believed in his existence and that he was one and that he was sublime and unique. and that he was the owner and possessor of everything and he alone was the creator. They believed that the issue wasn't that they disbelieved in that. The issue was that they worshiped other than Allah because they believed that these other things, these idols that they worship, graves, trees, stones, the sun, the moon, etc., they believe that these things would intercede on their behalf with Allah. This is incredibly important. If we don't understand this concept, it is very easy to misunderstand the entirety of the Quran's argument and structure. When they worshiped al for instance, have we all heard of al right? It's in the Quran. Allet. Who is Allet? It was a man that was considered to be a righteous man in Mecca that used to take care of the pilgrims when they came for Hajj every year. And so he used to give lots of charity and work very hard to serve the pilgrims to the house of Allah every year. Because of that they viewed him as being someone close to Allah. When he died, they turned his grave into an idol that they worshiped. Why did they worship al? Why did they worship al? It wasn't because they believed al was the creator. It wasn't because they believed al was the sustainer. No, they believe that allet is a righteous man close to Allah and if we get on his good side, he will intercede on our behalf with Allah.

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Allah tells us that the they worship these idols because they believe these idols would intercede on their behalf. If you imagine with me modern Catholicism, it's basic, it's based on that they worship and they pray to the saints and the saints in turn will intercede with with their creator on their behalf. This is this is idolatry. This is exactly what the pagan Arabs in the time of our prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam believed. It's very easy for us to mistake our society today with theirs. And if we do that, we'll misunderstand the arguments of the Quran. What do I mean? In the Quran, we see how many u verses that refer to the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Do you not see that Allah has created the heavens and created the earth and made the moon in such a way and made the sun in such a way and made the waves in the sea such a way and all the creation that he made etc etc. This is not an argument for his existence because they believed he existed. This argument was all to set up what? That you all believe that he is the only one who did all of this. He is the only creator, the only sustainer. Therefore, why do you worship other than Allah? That's the question. If you believe that Allah is the only creator and sustainer and all that you hope for lies in Allah's hand and all that you fear lies at Allah's ability, then why is it that you worship other than Allah? This is what they believed. This is what the argument of the Quran is. Very rarely in the Quran is the argument for Allah's existence because this is something that everyone believes. 99% of humanity believes this throughout all of humankind. Atheism in its truest form is incredibly rare. Incredibly rare. And so often times because of our materialistic society we we look and we see that a lot of people disbelieve in Allah's existence say Allah that there is no creator and so then we look at the Quran and we see the way that it it structures it arguments and we confuse that as being an argument for Allah's existence. Yes, it means Allah exists obviously. But this is not what the argument is building. The argument is building that if you believe in Allah's existence and that he alone is the creator and sustainer and maintainer and he is the sovereign king etc. then why do you worship others alongside him? Those things that cannot hear, cannot see, they have no hands, they have no feet. If a fly were to steal from them, they couldn't retrieve from that fly. They couldn't create a a a fly. If they all collaborated to do so, why do you worship other than Allah? This is the argument of the Quran. For this reason, the scholars, they say that.

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Subhanahu wa ta'ala. They say belief in Allah alone and that he is the only creator and only sustainer etc. This necessitates logically that we would worship only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so when you understand that that is the argument of the Quran in most of its places, you then start to understand how the arguments are presented. this verse here, he says, Then.

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Can Allah This is the dua dwa of all of the prophets and messengers. This verse verse number nine captures that argument with in its abridged form and that is he is the lord of the east and the west. Now east and west the physical east and west and where the sun rises and where the sun sets but also east and west is symbolic too right because the east symbolizes creation and start and beginning the beginning of of the day the rising of the sun the start of movement the the earth is is in in darkness ness and then the sun rises and suddenly people emerge from their houses. The animals, the birds start to sing. Everyone starts to move and come alive and then the sun sets and it's as if everything ends. Right? This symbolism is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is intending here. He says he is the lord of the east and west and he is also symbolizing with the east and west. He is the one that starts life. He is the one that gives death. He is the one that brings guidance and he is the one that mis misguides and takes takes people off of his path as a punishment to them. He subhanahu wa ta'ala is the bringer of light. He is the lord of the east and the west. Subhanah. So when he establishes that he says cut yourself off from all connections except to Allah. Then he says who is Allah? He is the Lord, the owner, the sustainer, the king of the east and the west. Therefore, none is rightfully worshiped with him. So here this we have what doesahillah mean? It's it's amazing how unclear many people are with respect to the meaning ofahillahill say what isahillah there's no god but Allah not correct that is not the full meaning ofahillahillahill is not there's no creator but Allah if that's the if if that was the epitome and the extent of our prophet's dawah they would have agreed with him. They have no problem with that. There's no creator but Allah, we already believe that. That wasn't the issue of contention. The point of contention was if you believe Allah is the only creator, then worship only Allah. Here is where the contention took place. Here is where they said no. Because now you're saying that our forefathers were wrong and we can't worship our idols and the their idols was a was a big source of pride for them and also a source of there were other things attached to that idolatry economically socially etc. It was entwined into their culture and so they felt that they had too much to lose by foregoing their gods that they worshiped. And so here Allah structures the argument. He teaches the prophet sallall.aii the basis of his argument. What is it? Get them to confirm that Allah is the only creator. Now you necessitate from them logically that he alone is to be worshiped. So he says for.

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Subhan, he says, "The Lord of the heaven, the east and the west, none is rightfully worshiped but he." So take him as your sole disposer of affairs. Take him Allah as your sole disposer of affairs being that those are his descriptions. Subhanahu Wa'ta'ala. This is the meaning ofahill and its relationship. now shared with belief in the existence of Allah. Now this is what sets Islam aside from all other religions. Most religions believe in one unified creator. Right? The problem is they worship other than that one creator. Islam is different. Why? Because we worship Allah alone without any partners. And that is what separates Islam from Judaism, from Christianity, from all of the religions of the earth. That even if they claim monotheism in practice, they do not uphold strict monotheism. Only Islam does this. And this is the argument of our prophet. And not just our prophet, but every single prophet and messenger. Allah says, "And we have never sent a messenger before you except that his message is is the center thrust of his message is none is rightfully worshiped but I so worship me." When you look at the prophets and messengers in the Quran, the way that their dawa is structured, every one of them comes, read, you'll see that the prophets and messengers, all of them come with the same general statement, which is.

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Islam. Subhanahu wa'tala. Subhanahu waala. And Foreham.