The Ruling on Teaching the Oneness of Allah (Tawhid) to Muslims
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: You mentioned, may Allah preserve you, the importance of calling people to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and that it is the first thing one begins with, as in the hadith of Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent him to Yemen. But, Shaykh, Mu'adh was sent to disbelievers, so he was ordered to call them to tawhid. Today, praise be to Allah, people are Muslims and upon Islam. So why do we begin with them with tawhid when they already know it?
Answer:
Yes, tawhid is what the disbeliever is called to, and the Muslim is taught. What is the teaching of tawhid? It is because he may be upon some shirk (associating partners with Allah) or bid'ah (religious innovation) without realizing it, so it is clarified to him and he is taught it. We teach our children and we teach Muslims tawhid so that they do not fall into error. They are not infallible; they must know tawhid and its details, and they must know shirk and its details. Yes, it is not enough that they are Muslims. It is not enough that they are Muslims. One is not a Muslim except through tawhid. It may be that he is a Muslim and claims to be a Muslim, but he is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). He worships graves, he worships shrines, he attaches himself to jinn and Shayatins (Satan), and to the awliya (close friends of Allah) who are righteous. That is what he says, and that is what he is not correct about.
So not everyone who claims to be a Muslim is a Muslim. And the correct Muslim is upon error; it is necessary that tawhid and its types be clarified to him, and that shirk and its types be clarified to him, so that he avoids shirk and tawhid is established for him.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: You mentioned, may Allah preserve you, the importance of calling people to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and that it is the first thing one begins with, as in the hadith of Mu'adh (may Allah be pleased with him) when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent him to Yemen. But, Shaykh, Mu'adh was sent to disbelievers, so he was ordered to call them to tawhid. Today, praise be to Allah, people are Muslims and upon Islam. So why do we begin with them with tawhid when they already know it?
Answer:
Yes, tawhid is what the disbeliever is called to, and the Muslim is taught. What is the teaching of tawhid? It is because he may be upon some shirk (associating partners with Allah) or bid'ah (religious innovation) without realizing it, so it is clarified to him and he is taught it. We teach our children and we teach Muslims tawhid so that they do not fall into error. They are not infallible; they must know tawhid and its details, and they must know shirk and its details. Yes, it is not enough that they are Muslims. It is not enough that they are Muslims. One is not a Muslim except through tawhid. It may be that he is a Muslim and claims to be a Muslim, but he is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). He worships graves, he worships shrines, he attaches himself to jinn and Shayatins (Satan), and to the awliya (close friends of Allah) who are righteous. That is what he says, and that is what he is not correct about.
So not everyone who claims to be a Muslim is a Muslim. And the correct Muslim is upon error; it is necessary that tawhid and its types be clarified to him, and that shirk and its types be clarified to him, so that he avoids shirk and tawhid is established for him.
Source
أهمية الدعوة إلى التوحيد للمسلم والكافر — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.