The Shaykh's remarks on the concept of tawhid (the oneness of Allah).

The Shaykh : ... Know that this Wahhabi call contains nothing but the call to the oneness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in the comprehensive meaning of the word tawhid (the oneness of Allah). In reality, this is what distinguishes the Najdis from all Islamic groups, sects, and factions in every land of the world, from the time Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab came until this very hour. This is because they understand tawhid in the broadest, most inclusive, and correct sense, whereas many other Muslims understand it in a very narrow sense. The tawhid that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent down in the books and sent the messengers with it means three things. "And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings." The first matter is tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), which means that there is no Lord but Allah, and that Allah is the One who is unique in creating the heavens and the earth, as is known by the consensus of everyone who believes in Allah, despite the differences among all religions. However, the difference between the true Islamic call, which came with this tawhid whose correct meaning Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab revived here, and Judaism and Christianity is that, in addition to obligating every Muslim to believe that there is no Creator but Allah, it also obligates him at the same time not to worship anyone other than this Creator. Therefore, the scholars of the Muslims are all agreed that the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no god but Allah) is not equal to "There is no Lord but Allah." Rather, this good word, "La ilaha illa Allah," means a broader concept than "There is no Lord but Allah," for it means that there is no object of worship with truth in existence except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This good word, which is the key to Paradise, as came in some athar (reports), and by which the Muslim is saved from eternal abode in the Fire, as the authentic hadiths about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) have been mass-transmitted, combines the two types of tawhid: tawhid al-rububiyyah, meaning there is no Creator with Allah, no Lord with Allah other than Him, and tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship), which is sometimes expressed as tawhid al-'ibadah (oneness of worship), meaning that one worships Allah alone with no partner. If an interpreter interprets this good word, "La ilaha illa Allah," to mean only "There is no Lord but Allah," he is not a monotheist. This is the point of distinction between the true Muslims and the others. The Muslim makes Allah (Mighty and Majestic) one in His essence and one in His worship, whereas the others, the Jews and Christians, make Him one in His essence, except for those among them who have strayed far, but they worship others alongside Him. For this reason, it is obligatory for all Muslims to know first this true meaning of the word "La ilaha illa Allah," and that it does not mean only "There is no Lord but Allah," but also means, in addition to that, that there is no object of worship with Allah with truth. The word "with truth" is a precaution against denying that there are objects of worship on earth, in the past and present, that are worshipped besides Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Therefore, it is not permissible to say "There is no object of worship but Allah," because objects of worship are numerous and very numerous. But the correct interpretation is with the qualification "with truth": there is no object of worship with truth in existence except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Otherwise, al-Lat and al-'Uzza were worshipped, and the taghut (tyrants) were worshipped, even until now. How can a Muslim say "There is no object of worship but Allah" when objects of worship exist in abundance? But they are worshipped in falsehood, and the one worshipped with truth is only Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). In addition to these two types of tawhid, tawhid al-rububiyyah and tawhid al-'ibadah or al-uluhiyyah, there is a third tawhid by which tawhid is completed and by which the testimony of the monotheist, "La ilaha illa Allah," is accepted; otherwise, it is rejected against him. What is this third tawhid? It is making Allah one in His attributes. Just as He (Mighty and Majestic) is one in His essence and one in His divinity, He is also one in His attributes. Therefore, Allah the Exalted said: . This is the call that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) came with, and the righteous Salaf (the earliest generations) and all the imams knew it. But those who came after them, the Khalaf (the later generations), did not only lose the prayer, but they also lost tawhid, because they understood this good word in the first, narrow meaning: "La ilaha illa Allah" means "There is no Lord but Allah." We have seen letters in the modern era, written and printed, that interpreted this good word with this single tawhid only, which is "La ilaha illa Allah," meaning "There is no Lord but Allah." This is not sufficient for the Muslim to understand this good word in this narrow meaning. Therefore, one of the consequences of that, when the masses of Muslims, especially the common people, neglected the understanding of this good word, they practically neglected its application. They worship other gods alongside Allah and they do not realize it. This is one of the greatest calamities that have befallen the Muslims. The reason for that goes back to two matters, one of which we mentioned earlier: they did not understand from the word of tawhid the tawhid of Allah in worship. The other matter is that they did not understand what worship means. If you tell a person, "You worship other gods alongside Allah," he will say to you, "No, I do not worship except Allah. I do not pray except to Allah (Mighty and Majestic)." We say, up to here we agree with you; you do not pray except to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). But are you not calling upon other than Allah in times of distress, saying "O Master Ahmad, O Master Badi'i, O Master Shu'ayb, O so-and-so, O so-and-so"? This is worship of Allah, or this is part of the worship of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has sent down to us a noble Book, and He opened it with Surat al-Fatihah, in which the Muslim addresses his Lord (Mighty and Majestic) in every rak'ah (unit of prayer) of his prayer: . So you worship Allah alone with no partner, but you seek help from others. This seeking help, whether we call it seeking help, which is a correct term, or we call it istighathah (calling for aid), which is also a correct term, or we call it tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means), which is an incorrect term, these names indicate one single referent. Some of these names are correct, such as istighathah and seeking help, and some is tawassul. This is the naming of seeking help from other than Allah, and tawassul through other than Allah. Tawassul is from the perspective of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) on an occasion other than this: . So the statement of the one who says, "O Messenger of Allah, help me," they claim that this is tawassul. No, this is du'a' (supplication) to other than Allah, and this is seeking help from other than Allah, and this is shirk (associating partners with Allah) in the tawhid of servitude, because the one who calls upon other than Allah, especially in times of distress, has worshipped him besides Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And the evidence for that, which is mentioned in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, is the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): . You call, He said, you worship. But the reality is that this verse means "you call," i.e., you worship. So whether you say "they worship other than Allah" or "they call upon other than Allah," both expressions lead to one reality, which is that they seek help from other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And this is a violation of tawhid al-uluhiyyah, not a violation of tawhid al-rububiyyah. Therefore, the polytheists, those who do not know this detail that came in the Book and the Sunnah and was practiced by the Salaf of the Ummah (the Muslim community) until a few centuries ago, then the path deviated for some Muslims, and they understood "La ilaha illa Allah" to mean "There is no Lord but Allah." This is the meaning by which the polytheists did not disbelieve; rather, they believed in it. But they disbelieved in this correct meaning, which many Muslims ignored, which is tawhid al-uluhiyyah, or tawhid al-'ubudiyyah (oneness of servitude), or worship, in the explicit Qur'an: . So the polytheists believe in tawhid al-rububiyyah. They do not believe, as is the religion of the Majus (the Zoroastrians), that there is a Creator of good and a Creator of evil, for example. Rather, they believe that the Creator is Allah alone with no partner. So where did their shirk come from, and why did they fight their Prophet when he called them to "La ilaha illa Allah," while they were arrogant, as said in the noble Qur'an: , and they said: . So the concept of the word "ilah" (god) among the first Arabs in the jahiliyyah (the pre-Islamic age of ignorance) is different from the concept of "Rabb" (Lord), because they believed that there is no Lord but Allah, meaning no Creator, no Nurturer, and no Provider but Allah. As for the "ilah," it is the One to whom they submit exclusively, (Blessed and Exalted is He), and they used to submit to other than Allah, to the idols and statues known in history. Therefore, it was among the strange things of the shirk of the polytheists, before the mission of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), that they would circumambulate the Ka'bah and say in their talbiyah (the pilgrim's chant of response), "Labbayk Allahumma labbayk, labbayk la sharika laka illa sharikan huwa malkuka wa ma malaka" (Here I am, O Allah, here I am, here I am, You have no partner except a partner that You own and what He owns). "A partner that You own and what He owns." Why? Because they believed that there is no Creator with Allah, but they made partners for Allah, meaning they worshipped them besides Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), as in the verse that was at the beginning of the speech of the brother Muhammad: . This verse is explicit that the primary goal of the polytheists is Allah, and yet they worship others alongside Him. But if they were asked why they worship these, they said, "We do not worship them except to bring us closer to Allah in nearness." This is a very sad reality: that they believe that Allah is One with no partner, and yet they made partners for Him in what? They made partners for Him in worship. Therefore, we must be alert to a matter that I think many people have overlooked: . What does "equals" mean? Equals in creation? Equals in provision? Equals in giving life and death? No, but equals in worship. And this was the shirk of the polytheists in the jahiliyyah. This is a long discussion, and the purpose of it is to alert you to the fact that these Najdis, who are nicknamed "Wahhabis," this attribution, as we mentioned, is incorrect. Rather, they wanted to attribute them to Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. And Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) did not bring anything new at all. Rather, he is one of the renewers (mujaddidun) that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned in the authentic hadith: . The renewers, as Imam al-Suyuti and others mention, we should not imagine that there is only one renewer in every era. Rather, there can be many renewers in every era, many renewers, but each has his specialty in renewal: a renewer in tawhid, a renewer in hadith, a renewer in tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis), a renewer in language, and in everything related to reviving the fard kifayah (collective obligation) of understanding Islam correctly. The purpose is that Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab renewed the tawhid, the effects of whose violation, unfortunately, still exist in all Islamic lands, except these Najdi lands, by the grace of the call of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab. And I do not say by the grace of the Wahhabi call. Knowing that those lands, before Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, were in the same state as the other lands. And I think it is not hidden from all the attendees what exists in Egypt, for example, of the maqam (shrine) of al-Husayn or Sayyidah Zaynab, and what happens in those places of idolatry and shirk that contradicts "La ilaha illa Allah," such as circumambulating the graves of these awliya (close friends of Allah) and righteous people, from the Ahl al-Bayt (the family of the Prophet) and others, and calling for aid from them and seeking help from them. Such things exist in these lands, and in Syria, and in most Islamic lands. What is the reason? The reason is the negligence of the scholars of the Muslims in explaining the call of tawhid, the call of truth that came in the Book and the Sunnah. This call died in many Islamic lands, and then Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) renewed it. So Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab has no prominent effort except in this aspect, and that is sufficient for him as a virtue, because the Najdi lands were like the Egyptian and Syrian lands, and the like, in terms of the spread of idolatrous practices and the worship of graves and calling for aid from them besides Allah (Mighty and Majestic). As for the lands, even until now, and I say with regret, although the correct Islamic movement in the guidance of those lands is weakening little by little, you will not find there, I mean, any notable idolatry, not even raising a grave from the face of the earth. This thing does not exist at all. Whereas if you travel through all the Islamic lands, you will find in them a great deal of violations of the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law). Show us a land where there is not a mosque with a grave in it, despite the severe warning of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to the Muslims not to build mosques over graves, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And the hadiths on this are numerous, more than ten hadiths, including what relates to the Islamic Ummah, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . So you have, for example, the maqam known as Sayyid Shu'ayb, and there is a mosque intended for prayer there. For what purpose? For Sayyid Shu'ayb. And we have another maqam, I think its name is Yusha'.

Another questioner: Abu Ubaydah.

The Shaykh : Joshua, other than Abu Ubaydah, and then the Ghur to the end, all these shrines were built on alleged graves. If these graves are truly those of the Companions or the Prophets to whom they are attributed, the matter is even more problematic, for it is a clear violation of such hadiths that prohibit building mosques on graves. Why is there this prohibition and this severe curse? It is for the sake of preserving the oneness of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is because the presence of a grave in the mosque invites people to call upon others besides Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). How many people do we see standing in humility and devotion, making du'a? Yes, they are calling upon Allah (Mighty and Majestic), but they are seeking nearness to Allah through this dead person. In summary, based on the question of the brother, the professor, Ali here, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was a renewer of the call to the oneness of Allah. This is a fact that can never be denied, for as it was said: "These are our traces that point to us, so look at the traces after us."
The Najdis were formerly Bedouins from those Bedouins you know in all the deserts. And ... these things that undermine the oneness of worship were eradicated. To this day, you find no mention of them, whereas other countries, unfortunately, are full of these acts of associating partners with Allah and these idolatries. Please proceed.