The True Submission to Tawheed

The True Submission To Tawheed By Al-Imām, Al-Hāfith, Ash-Shaykh Abū ‘Abdillāh Sulaymān Ibn Nāsir Ibn ‘Abdillāh Al-‘Ulwān

Many of the Islāmic people live in a variety of different countries and an array of cities within a heap of blunders and mischievous conduct with an exposure of their honour and a loss of their rights and property. And (they live among) confusions in their ideologies and in a scarcity and weakness of successes and attempts (to reform) and they are increasingly turning away with an outpouring of misguidance in belief (‘Aqīdah) and methodology (Manhaj) both in the political and economical life, during a time of the spreading of the calls of nationalism and the ideologies of secularism and the currents of atheism and the symbols of mysticism (Sūfiyyah) and idolatry. And this corruption has spread in their nation (Ummah) and many of them are submerged in that which harms him and does not benefit him. And he is unmindful of that which he was created for and his duty and his message in this life.

And in order to destroy this misguidance and these things that are worshipped besides Allāh and these traits of the Days of Ignorance (Jāhiliyyah) that are present everywhere, and these ideas which oppose the Sharī’ah and these institutions that are astray from Legislation of Allāh, it is a must to return to Islām in its established form, including the submission to Allāh with Tawhīd and obedience to Him with devotion while being free from Shirk and its people and ruling with the Legislation of Allāh in His Earth with sincerity towards Him with one’s actions.

So this is the basis of Tawhīd and without it, there is no meaning for life. Allāh, the Most High said:
And I (Allāh) created not the Jinns and humans except they should worship Me (Alone). (Adh-Dhariyat 51:56)

In other words, to make Him One. And the Tawhīd is the basis of the religion (Deen) and its foundation. And it is the reality, which the People of Truth must not take any path in turning away from it, (including) the establishment of its rights and confronting the societies with it. And this is the (proper) institution of the world and it is the Message of the Muslims to all of the nations and peoples.

He, the Most High said:
Say: "O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians): Come to a word that is equal between us and you, that we worship none but Allāh, and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides Allāh. Then, if they turn away, then say: "Bear witness that we are Muslims." (Aali Imran 3:64)

And He, the Most High said:
Say: "Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited you from: Join not anything in worship with Him; be good and dutiful to your parents; kill not your children because of poverty -We provide sustenance for you and for them; come not near to Al-Fawāhish (shameful sins, illegal sexual intercourse, etc.) whether committed openly or secretly, and kill not anyone whom Allāh has forbidden, except for a just cause (according to Islāmic law). This He has commanded you with, that you may understand. And come not near to the orphan's property, except to improve it, until he (or she) attains the age of full strength; and give full measure and full weight with justice. We burden not any person, but that which he can bear. And whenever you give your word (i.e. judge between men or give evidence, etc.), say the truth even if a near relative is concerned, and fulfill the Covenant of Allāh, This He commands you with, that you may remember. And verily, this is my Straight Path, so follow it, and follow not the (other) paths, for they will separate you away from His Path. This He has ordained for you that you may be pious." (Al-An'am 6:151-153)

And He, the Most High said:
And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (community, nation) a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allāh (Alone), and avoid (or keep away from) the Tāghūt. (An-Nahl 16:36)

The reality of complete submission (Al-‘Ubūdiyyah) to Allāh; the One, the Powerful – is making Him one, in all types of worship and adoring Him and fearing Him and loving Him and putting one’s hope in Him and obeying Him. So whoever claims faith (Īmān) in Allāh and (claims) His Tawhīd and His love and His fear and His hope, while not submitting to Allāh’s Orders and the Orders of His Messenger (pbuh) and takes the judgment (Hukm) to other than the Legislation of Allāh and allies himself with the enemies of Allāh, then he has not been truthful with Allāh in his claim, rather he is a follower of Satan (Shaytān) and obedient to him.

Allāh, the Most High said:
Say: "If you (really) love Allāh then follow me (i.e. accept Islāmic Monotheism, follow the Qur'ān and the Sunnah), Allāh will love you." (Aali Imran 3:31)

And His statement: “...and avoid (or keep away from) the Tāghūt.” It is said that it is Satan (Shaytān), this was stated by ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb (ra) and was narrated by Al-Bukhārī Mu’allaq in his Sahīh.
And other than him and it is said that it (i.e. the Tāghūt) is the idols and that which is worshipped besides Allāh. And all of them are correct and there is no contradiction or difference between any of them and every one of them has expressed the general meaning (of the Tāghūt) through one of its manifestations. And this (method of defining something through one of its forms), is found abundantly in the words of the predecessors (Salaf). They (often) explain the Verse with some of its individual components, yet they do not intend restriction (to that one component alone).

Ibn Al-Qayyim (rh) mentioned an encompassing definition for the Tāghūt when he said, “The term ‘Tāghūt’ refers to all things by which the slave (i.e. man) exceeds his limits whether it takes the form of someone who is worshiped or followed or obeyed. So the Tāghūt of every people is he who they take the judgments to instead of Allāh or His Messenger (pbuh) Or if they worship him besides Allāh or they follow him (blindly,) without clear vision from Allāh or they obey him in that which they don’t know if it is obedience to Allāh. So these are the Tawāghīt (i.e. plural of Tāghūt) of the world. (And) if you contemplate them, and contemplate the condition of the people with them, you will see that most of them have switched from worshipping Allāh, to worshipping the Tāghūt, and from taking the judgments to Allāh and to the Messenger (pbuh) to taking the judgments to the Tāghūt. And from His obedience and following His Messenger to the obedience of the Tāghūt and following it.”

Allāh has Ordered the disbelief in the Tāghūt and prefaced it ahead of faith (Īmān) in Allāh just as He preceded the negation ahead of the affirmation in the phrase of Tawhīd, “There is nothing worthy of worship except Allāh. (La Ilāha Il-Allāh)” And a person cannot become a believer in Allāh until he disbelieves in the Tāghūt in its full meaning.

He, the Most High said:
Whoever disbelieves in the Tāghūt and believes in Allāh, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And Allāh is All-Hearer, All-Knower. (Al-Baqarah 2:256)

In Sahīh Muslim from the path of Marwān Al-Fazzārī from Abī Mālik from his father who said, “I heard the Messenger of Allāh (pbuh) saying, “Whoever says, ‘There is nothing worthy of worship except Allāh (La Ilāha Il- Allāh)’, while disbelieving in everything that is worshipped besides Allāh, his wealth and his blood become sacred and his reckoning is with Allāh.”
And this is a clarification of the phrase of sincerity (i.e. Lā Ilāha Il-Allāh) and that what is intended by it is not the mere uttering of it alone, because this does not protect the blood and the wealth and it does not save a person from the punishment of the Fire. And this issue, in reality, is an issue of acting upon what this phrase implies from the Tawhīd of Allāh and the sincerity of worship towards Him and being free from everything that is worshipped or followed or obeyed other than Allāh and His Messenger.