Refuting the People of Innovation Who Interpret "La ilaha illa Allah" Other Than Its True Meaning
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is refuting the people of innovation present in our current era, who interpret "La ilaha illa Allah" other than its correct meaning, such as the Tabligh group and others, considered a division of the word? Is refuting the people of innovation present in our current era, who interpret "La ilaha illa Allah" other than its correct meaning, such as the Tabligh group and others, considered a division of the word?
Answer:
This is obligatory, and it is part of uniting the word, not dividing the word, provided these matters are not the cause of dividing the word. As for forbidding them and calling to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), this is a call to uniting the word, because the word does not unite except upon tawhid and the correct creed. As for leaving these evil principles and these false principles to spread among the people, this is a division of the word. The people did not divide except because of following their desires and turning away from the Book of Allah the Exalted. This is what caused their division. But if they had held fast to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), this division would not have occurred. Yes, and interpreting "La ilaha illa Allah" other than its correct meaning reaches the level of kufr (disbelief). If you interpret it to mean only tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), this reaches the level of kufr, because it is a denial of tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) and a denial of the missions of the messengers, because the messengers came with tawhid al-uluhiyyah. The one who denies tawhid al-uluhiyyah and is content with tawhid al-rububiyyah is not upon the religion of the messengers, may Allah protect us from that.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is refuting the people of innovation present in our current era, who interpret "La ilaha illa Allah" other than its correct meaning, such as the Tabligh group and others, considered a division of the word? Is refuting the people of innovation present in our current era, who interpret "La ilaha illa Allah" other than its correct meaning, such as the Tabligh group and others, considered a division of the word?
Answer:
This is obligatory, and it is part of uniting the word, not dividing the word, provided these matters are not the cause of dividing the word. As for forbidding them and calling to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), this is a call to uniting the word, because the word does not unite except upon tawhid and the correct creed. As for leaving these evil principles and these false principles to spread among the people, this is a division of the word. The people did not divide except because of following their desires and turning away from the Book of Allah the Exalted. This is what caused their division. But if they had held fast to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), this division would not have occurred. Yes, and interpreting "La ilaha illa Allah" other than its correct meaning reaches the level of kufr (disbelief). If you interpret it to mean only tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), this reaches the level of kufr, because it is a denial of tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) and a denial of the missions of the messengers, because the messengers came with tawhid al-uluhiyyah. The one who denies tawhid al-uluhiyyah and is content with tawhid al-rububiyyah is not upon the religion of the messengers, may Allah protect us from that.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب تفسير التوحيد وشهادة أن لا إله إلا الله — islamhouse.com (1:04:03)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.