Difference Between the Reaching of the Call & Understanding it

“Verily, those who disbelieve from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and Al-Mushrikoon will abide in the fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures” (al Bayyinah 98/6)

Rasoolullaah (saw) said: “By the One in Whose hand is my soul, no one of this nation, Jew or Christian, hears of me then dies without having believed in that with which I was sent, but he will be one of the people of the Fire.” (Muslim)

The ulama of Najd state that there is a difference between the reaching of the call and understanding the call. It is because anyone who had reached the call even if he does not understand it in the correct manner; he will be counted among those whom the call reached. Muhammad Ibn Abdulwahab (ra) said:

“Regarding the asl of the deen which Allah (awj) had declared clear and absolute; it is undoubtedly the hujjah of Allah (swt), Qur’an. Whoever had reached the Qur’an than it means the hujjah had reached to him. The source of the problem is, your dividing to establishing hujjah and understanding the hujjah. Most of the kafir and munafiq did not understand the hujjah of Allah (awj) even though it is established against them: “Or thinkest thou that most of them listen or understand? They are only like cattle;- nay, they are worse astray in Path.” (al Furqan 25/ 44)

Establishing the hujjah and transmitting the hujjah is different than their understanding of the hujjah while it is established to them. The condition that specify their kufr is; it had been established against them even though they did not understand the message. If it is hard to understand then look at the words of Rasoolullaah (saw) concerning the khawarij: ‘Wherever you come across with them, kill them’, ‘they are the worst of the deads under the sky’ whereas they lived in the century of the sahaba and beside them one may almost underestimate the deeds of sahaba. People made ijma regarding the points which took them out of the fold of deen; the harshness of their view, extreme and ijtihad, they were thinking that they were making ibadah to Allah (swt). Whereas the hujjah had reached them but they did not understand it.” (ar-Rasailu’sh-Shahsiyya, 244-245)

Ibn Qayyim (ra) said: “The one who has the opportunity of learning the orders and the restrictions of Allaah (swt) but does not learn will be counted among those who had established the hujjah.” (Madariju’s-Salikin, 1/239)
 

Those whom the call reached and who believed in Allah (swt) alone and did not associate anything to Him, such as; Waraqa ibn Nawfal, Qiss ibn Saa’idah and Zayd ibn ‘Amr ibn Nufayl are on the contrary of those whom the call reached and who did not believe Allaah (swt) alone and associated others to Him.

Narrated by Ibn ‘Umar: “Zaid bin ‘Amr bin Nufail went to Sham, inquiring about a true religion to follow. He met a Jewish religious scholar and asked him about their religion. He said, “I intend to embrace your religion, so tell me some thing about it.” The Jew said, “You will not embrace our religion unless you receive your share of Allah's Anger.” Zaid said, “‘I do not run except from Allah's Anger, and I will never bear a bit of it if I have the power to avoid it. Can you tell me of some other religion?” He said, “I do not know any other religion except the Hanif.” Zaid enquired, “What is Hanif?” He said, “Hanif is the religion of (the prophet) Abraham who was neither a Jew nor a Christian, and he used to worship None but Allah (Alone)” Then Zaid went out and met a Christian religious scholar and told him the same as before. The Christian said, “You will not embrace our religion unless you get a share of Allah's Curse.” Zaid replied, “I do not run except from Allah's Curse, and I will never bear any of Allah Curse and His Anger if I have the power to avoid them. Will you tell me of some other religion?” He replied, “I do not know any other religion except Hanif.” Zaid inquired, “What is Hanif?” He replied, Hanif is the religion of (the prophet) Abraham who was neither a Jew nor a Christian and he used to worship None but Allah (Alone)” When Zaid heard their Statement about (the religion of) Abraham, he left that place, and when he came out, he raised both his hands and said, “O Allah! I make You my Witness that I am on the religion of Abraham.” (Bukhari)

Ibn Hajar (ra) in his commentary stated: “In the hadith of Zaid ibn Harith the following is included: ‘One of the old Jewish scholars of Sham told me that: In the peninsula of Arab I know one old man who is worshiping Allah which the religion you had asked me. He said: I went to him and he said: It (religion) occurs in your land. Whoever you see is in deviation.” In the narration of Tabari it is: “In your land a nabi occurred or will occur soon, go back; confirm him and have iman on him…”

In the narration of Ibn Ishaq it is narrated as: “He said, O Allah, if I had known the way of ibadah you like I would have make ibadah to you on the way you like. But I do not know, and he was making sujud on the earth with his hands.” (Fathu’l-Bari, 7/144-145) (for more information regarding him see Fathu’l-Bari, 7/144-147; Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah a’l-Nihayah, 2/230)

Examples for the latter one is the parents of Rasoolullaah (saw): It was narrated from Rasoolullaah (saw) that his parents are in Hell. A man said: “O Rasoolullaah, where is my father?’ He said: ‘In Hell.’ When the man turned away, he called him back and said: ‘My father and your father are in Hell’.” (Muslim) Imam Nawawi (ra) said, while commenting on the hadith: “This indicates that whoever died during the fatrah (interval between two Prophets) following the way of the Arabs at that time, namely idol-worship, is among the people of Hell. We cannot say that the message did not reach these people, because the message of Ibrahim (as) and other Prophets had reached these people.” (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 3/79)

With regard to his mother Rasoolullaah (saw) said: “I asked my Lord for permission to pray for forgiveness for my mother, and Allah (awj) did not give me permission. I asked Him for permission to visit her grave, and He gave me permission.” (Muslim)  It says in ‘Awn al-Ma’bood:  “But He did not give me permission” means: because she was a kafirah (disbeliever) and it is not permissible to pray for forgiveness for the kuffar. Imam Nawawi (ra) commented:  “This shows that it is not permitted to pray for forgiveness for the kuffar.” (Sharh Sahih Muslim)

Alongside this we will provide evidence of 2 ayahs regarding the fact that before the risalah of Rasoolullaah (saw) the evidence of the nabawi risalah had been vanished.