Explanation of the author's statement: "… The third: that faith in Allah the Exalted, His names, His attributes, and His actions, is the foundation of the religion and the essence of the call of the messengers"
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And the third is "that faith in Allah, His names, His attributes, and His actions is the foundation of the religion and the essence of the call of the messengers", because Allah says [Al-Anbya 21:25] This is the foundation: that we know Allah by His names, His attributes, and His actions, and we worship Him alone on that basis. If this is its status in the religion, would it be left ambiguous and confused, with people stumbling in it blindly, or not? No. If the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) taught you how to enter the place of relief, how to exit it, how to sit in it, how to eat, how to drink, how to sleep, and how to sit—what are these matters in relation to the fundamentals of the religion? Here, they are nothing, meaning they are very simple matters compared to knowing the names of Allah and His attributes. If the Messenger taught his ummah even how to relieve themselves, how much more so these great fundamentals that he would leave ambiguous and confused, with people stumbling in them, or saying, "By Allah, we do not know what they mean?"
So the texts of the Book and the Sunnah regarding the names of Allah and His attributes would be like the letters of the alphabet, as if they were alif, ba, ta, tha, and so on, and this is impossible. Yes. And for this reason he says: "and it is the most obligatory and best of what the hearts have acquired and the minds have comprehended". "Most obligatory" is clear, because it is the foundation of the religion, and the foundation comes before everything. And "best" because of what it contains of perfecting worship, because it is not possible to worship Allah in the most perfect way until you know Him by His names and His attributes. How can you worship one whose names and attributes you do not know? Yes, or if you learn them in a distorted, altered, or changed manner. For this reason, and may Allah protect us, most people who are in distress at the time of death are from whom? The people of kalam (theology). They reach a state of bewilderment. We ask Allah for safety. He said: "So how could the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) neglect it without teaching or clarification, when he knew what is less important and less virtuous than it?" And this interrogative is intended to mean what? Denial. Meaning, it is impossible that the Messenger would neglect it while he clarifies what is less important than it.
And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me."
وما أرسلنا من قبلك من رسول إلا نوحي إليه أنه لا إله إلا أنا فاعبدونSo the texts of the Book and the Sunnah regarding the names of Allah and His attributes would be like the letters of the alphabet, as if they were alif, ba, ta, tha, and so on, and this is impossible. Yes. And for this reason he says: "and it is the most obligatory and best of what the hearts have acquired and the minds have comprehended". "Most obligatory" is clear, because it is the foundation of the religion, and the foundation comes before everything. And "best" because of what it contains of perfecting worship, because it is not possible to worship Allah in the most perfect way until you know Him by His names and His attributes. How can you worship one whose names and attributes you do not know? Yes, or if you learn them in a distorted, altered, or changed manner. For this reason, and may Allah protect us, most people who are in distress at the time of death are from whom? The people of kalam (theology). They reach a state of bewilderment. We ask Allah for safety. He said: "So how could the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) neglect it without teaching or clarification, when he knew what is less important and less virtuous than it?" And this interrogative is intended to mean what? Denial. Meaning, it is impossible that the Messenger would neglect it while he clarifies what is less important than it.