Why Mere Belief in God Isn't Enough

Before we begin with our second installment here i think another congratulations is in order that we have reached the second week of ramadan alhamdulillah this is something that we praise allah for fervently and vehemently it's such a blessing to for an individual to experience such a blessed month and to be part of it and not only that but those who are listening to me now and myself included we are spending our time we're spending our day right now in ramadan studying the words of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that's exactly what ramadan is about that is the spirit of ramadan when we look at ramadan as a side note here before we get into the crux of what we're going to speak about today when we look at ramadan we see that it all revolves around the quran that's what ramadan really is it's kind of a homage it's a month of commemoration of the quran of an additional portion of focus on the quran why is that well we fast during the day to purify our hearts to purify our minds to purify our bodies to purify our souls and then we stand at night and we recite the quran and this was the month that allah subhanahu ta'ala chose for the quran to be revealed in ramadan and we are encouraged to recite the quran and review the quran and study the quran it all revolves around the quran and that's really what this month is about and that's what we're trying to do here we're attempting to sit and discuss a few verses of the book of allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala that hopefully we may gain guidance and we may gain wisdom from these words that we are going to be discussing today insha'allah before we continue i do want to mention there is a narration that's floating around and many people will be shocked about this narration to hear that it's actually an inauthentic narration it's mentioned that the first month the first third of ramadan is mercy and the second third of ramadan is forgiveness and the third and final third of ramadan is emancipation from the hellfire and this narration is not authentic it's not the words of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam it is something that is very common and we hear a lot of people mention but we should be happy actually that this narration is inauthentic because really all of ramadan is forgiveness and all of ramadan is mercy and all of ramadan is emancipation from the hell fire and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in he said that every night allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has designated certain individuals that he has freed and emancipated from the hellfire every single night of ramadan so we should be happy this is this is not an authentic narration rather every week and every third and every day and night of ramadan is mercy and every day and night of ramadan is forgiveness and every day and night of ramadan is emancipation and freedom from the hellfire and escape from the hellfire today inshallah ta'ala we are going to be discussing suratul cafe roon suratul kaffiroon is referred to by the scholars of islam as the second surah of ichlas we mentioned before in our previous installment in this series here that taheed is of two categories two types when we want to speak about the tahiti of allah the oneness of allah we say that the oneness of allah traditionally is categorized into two categories where did this categorization come from it didn't come from the mind of any particular individual it didn't come from any particular person when we read through the quran we read through the sunnah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam these things become apparent this pattern begins to manifest itself this is what the scholars of islam call well is the qra at the tab is when you read through a lot of the quran and a lot of the sunnah and a certain pattern became becomes apparent to you this pattern is called and this is actually a type of evidence in the sky in the science of us now the science of us which is the hermeneutics of filk of understanding jurisprudence now with regards to the two types of toheid this is a pattern which has been noticed by the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam by the companions by the scholars of tafsir that tahid is categorized into two types there is tahid which takes place in knowledge and there is tahid which takes place in the heart and actions this is what is to hate when i say the tawheed of allah the worship of allah the oneness of allah i am speaking about not only am i believing in the oneness of allah but i am actually implementing that belief in the oneness of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because even if i believe that allah is the only one who created he's the only creator if i believe that allah is the only creator yet i worship another along with him i am no longer a person of tohit that is how that works if you notice what the people of hud said to him right the people of ayad they said to hud did you are you trying to tell us that you came to us to deliver a message that we should worship allah alone they worshipped allah they believed that allah was the only creator but they worshipped others along with allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala these others that they worshipped along with allah they believed were saints and people that were close to allah that could take their problems to allah for them and allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would honor their request on his behalf interceders this is what sheikh actually is this is what it that this is its essence the essence of the worship of other than allah is not the belief that there are more than one creator that is not the that is not the essence of the essence of sheikh the essence of shirk is not to believe that there is more than one creator the essence of polytheism idolatry the worship of other than allah is to believe that others are worthy of worship aside from allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala the belief or the act of doing so this is what real polytheism is allah subhanahu wa ta'ala explains this to us he says if you were to ask them he's speaking to the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam if you were to ask them who's them if you were to ask abuja and abu lahab and the most bitter enemies of yours those who are most fervent opponents of the religion of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam if you were to ask them who has created the heavens and the earth they would reply allah allah is the creator obviously but when he would say then worship only allah that's when they say let are you saying that we should we should not worship what our our ancestors worshipped that's a different thing and so it's important for us to understand this concept just because a person believes that allah is the only creator that alone does not enter a person into islam a person has to believe that allah is the only creator and he has to worship only allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in order to be a muslim that is what it is if we look at all of the other religions even hinduism hinduism has more than 20 million different gods that they worship 20 million right they have so many that they have lost count of how many they have if we were to look at that and we were to look at the original scriptures of hinduism and we were to ask truly knowledgeable hindus they will all tell you that no the original god is one the god head whether they call him krishna or they call him brahman or whatever it is that they call the god head and all of these other things that they worship are either saints or manifestations of that of that same one god and so this is exactly what shirk is allah tells us in the quran that sheikh is because they are worshipping these idols so that these idols will draw them closer to allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala so they say so he said subhanahu ta'ala is and those who worship other than allah subhanahu wa ta'ala those who worship other than allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala at the beginning of surah those who worship other than allah they claim the only reason we are worshipping these saints or these idols is so that they can draw us nearer to allah subhanahu this is the way they had it figured out they said look if there's a king you can't just go straight to the king and talk to him that's not how it works the way it works is the king has ambassadors and he has courtiers and he has so forth and you get to know one of them and you get in real good and tight with one of them and you do favors for them and you're friends with them and you say hey when you speak to the king tell the king to give me such and such or put in a good word for me that's the whole idea modern catholicism is the exact same thing it's the worship of saints the idea that we will worship a particular saint this saint will take to god our prayers for us and he will forgive us because of the saints not because of us we're not worthy of that forgiveness as if allah subhanahu wa ta'ala cannot forgive on his own that he needs others to intercede on behalf of his creation and this is what surat in kafir is all about it's not enough just to believe that allah is one in his actions in his names and his attributes but also that we worship only allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone without any partners and so now that we know that this is the theme of the chapter let's get into the individual minutiae and the verses of the chapter allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says which we spoke about last week he says say o disbelievers i do not worship what it is you all worship nor will you nor will i ever worship what you worship nor will you ever worship what i worship to you your deeds and actions and to me my deeds and my actions now let's try to break this down a little bit and unpack this chapter allah subhanahu wa ta'ala begins the chapter with say and that is that each individual is to say this he's to say this with his actions he's to say this with his heart he's to say this with when he is proclaiming his religion he is to say o those who are disbelievers meaning those who are not upon the religion of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam now some people will say well what do you mean they're disbelievers they believe in god yes mere belief in god does not make a person a muslim it is belief in god in the way that allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has commanded and believe in the prophet muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and worshiping god alone without any partners that is what makes a person a muslim not just belief in god belief in god alone does not enter a person into paradise most of humanity historically and currently believe in god believe in a higher force a higher power they call it whatever it is they want to call it however this on its own is not enough to make a person a muslim a muslim is someone who not only believes in allah subhanahu wa but he worships allah alone without any partners and he worships him only in the way that allah has commanded through his prophet and messenger muhammad sallallahu alaihi he says i do not worship that which you all worship of idols of saints of the moon the stars whatever it is that people worship other than allah and and this is very interesting right here and we will dwell upon this verse for a moment nor do you all worship what i worship meaning you all do not worship allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala but the people of quraish did worship allah and it's mentioned in the quran that they used to worship allah subhanahu wa however that warship is considered invalid why because it's not based until heat i'll give you an example let's say a person comes stands for prayer and makes the best most beautiful prayer that you have ever seen recites the entire quran in his prayer to perfection right the rukur is perfect the sujud is perfect the recitation is perfect everything is great however this person does not have wudu they don't make wudu they they made the salah they recited the quran they did everything but they did not make wudu would we consider this salah the answer is no this is not salah this person has not prayed even if he does it for five days straight he has not prayed the same thing let's say a person fast and they say you know what i'm going to be busy in ramadan so i'm going to fast in the month of sha ben right so they fast the perfect fasting they only fast it outside of the time of ramadan would we consider this fasting the month of ramadan absolutely not or let's say a person goes for hajj and does all of the monastic of hajj does all of the rites of hajj perfectly but they do it outside of the of the time of hajj would we consider this person to have fulfilled the obligation of hajj the answer is no this hajj is invalid why because they have not provided the condition for hajj for fasting for salah the condition for salah is if you do not have wudu you do not have salah because salah is conditionable is conditioned by wudhu it is qualified by will if you do not have wudu you do not have salah the same thing if you do not have to heed you do not have worship you have not worshipped allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and this is why shirk is so dangerous because if a person worships other than allah along with him his worship of allah is invalid we have a narration which is collected by an imam muslim on the authority of abi hurairah in which the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that he said i am least in need of a partner anyone who does any action and associates a partner with me along with me in that worship i will forsake him and i will forsake his shirk his his worship that is that worship is invalid because another has been associated with allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in it we will speak about this topic more as we continue on in this series insha allah he then reiterates this he says nor will i ever worship what you all worship nor will you all ever worship what i worship meaning as long as you remain upon what you are upon and the reason that this verse these verses were revealed as a rahimahullah mentions in his book yes he mentions that the mushrikeen of quraish they came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and they said look let's let's make a deal okay how about we try each other's religions out you worship our gods for one year and we'll worship your god for one year and we'll see which one is better which we will see which one fares out better or we'll continue to do this and everybody get along and so allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent down this response right at the end he says which is often oftentimes translated as to you your religion and to me mine and that is not a correct translation aden in the arabic language in the quran in this context refers to actions right what he is saying is meaning to you your actions and to me my actions you all are responsible for your actions and i am responsible for my actions it's not religion he's not saying to them look all road all roads lead to rome you guys worship whoever you want and i'll worship whoever i want and god will take care of it at the end when we all meet as they say as some people say no this is not what the prophet sallallahu alaihi was commanded to have said he was commanded to say to you your actions and to me my actions and this is a repeated theme throughout the quran to you your actions to me my actions i am innocent of what it is that you do and you all are innocent of what it is that i do if you disbelieve in me we ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to benefit us from what we have heard to make us of those who hear the truth have the distinction and the criterion to recognize it when we see it and when we hear it to have the audacity and bravery to follow that truth and have the honor and nobility to die for and upon that truth is.