The Meaning of the First Pillar of the Pillars of Islam
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Shaykh Abdul Aziz! Some listeners have suggested that the program pose questions about the first pillar of the pillars of Islam, and here the program is responding to that suggestion. Please explain to us, if you would be so kind, the meaning of the first pillar of the pillars of Islam, what that meaning entails, how it is realized in a person, and what is the ruling on one who is ignorant of something of it?
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance.
As for what follows: Allah sent His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to all people, their Arabs and non-Arabs, their jinn and humans, their males and females, calling them to the oneness of Allah and sincerity to Him, and to faith in him (peace and blessings be upon him) and in what he brought, and to faith in all the messengers, and in all the angels, and the books revealed from the sky, and in the Last Day, which is: the resurrection, the rising, the recompense, the reckoning, Paradise, and the Fire, and in the divine decree, its good and its evil, and that Allah decreed the things, knew them, counted them, and wrote them, (Glorified and Exalted is He). So every thing that happens is by the decree and destiny of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). He commanded the people to say: (La ilaha illa Allah). This is the first thing he called to, and it is the first pillar of the pillars of Islam: the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. So when he told the people: Say: La ilaha illa Allah, and commanded them to believe that he is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the majority refused and denied this call. And Quraysh said to him what Allah mentioned about them: [Surah Sad: 5].
And He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said about them:[As-Saffat 37:35] And they say: "Are we really to leave our gods for a mad poet?" [Surah As-Saffat: 35-36]. So they rejected this call because they had lived in the worship of idols and statues and taking gods alongside Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Therefore, they denied the call of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to the oneness of Allah and sincerity to Him.
And this is what he (peace and blessings be upon him) called to, which all the messengers called to, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: [Surah An-Nahl: 36], and He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: [Surah Al-Anbiya: 25].
In the two Sahihs, from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that he said:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2609Sahih (Darussalam), and in the Sahih also from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): ... the hadith. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed them , when they did not ask, Jibril came to them by the command of Allah to ask the Messenger about this great religion so that they would learn and benefit.
So the religion of Islam is built upon these five apparent pillars:
The first of them: The testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The second is: establishing the five daily prayers.
The third is: paying the obligatory alms.
The fourth is: fasting Ramadan.
The fifth of them: Pilgrimage to the House of Allah the Exalted.
And upon internal pillars of faith in the heart, which are: faith in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the divine decree, its good and its evil. So these principles are necessary; the believing person of legal age must believe in these six internal principles that pertain to the heart. He must believe that Allah is his Lord, his God, and his true worshipped One (Glorified and Exalted is He), and he must believe in the angels of Allah, and in the books of Allah that He revealed to the prophets, from the Torah and the Gospel and the Psalms and the Qur'an and others, and he must also believe in the messengers whom Allah sent to His servants, the first of them being Noah and the last of them Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and they are many. Allah mentioned some of them in the great Qur'an. And we also believe in the Last Day, which is the resurrection after death, and the recompense from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The people of faith have happiness, and the people of disbelief have failure, regret, and the Fire.
And it is necessary to believe in the divine decree, its good and its evil, and that Allah decreed the things, knew them, wrote them, and counted them. So what Allah willed happened, and what He did not will did not happen. And everything that occurs in existence, of good and evil, obedience and disobedience, has preceded by the knowledge of Allah, His writing, and His decree (Glorified and Exalted is He).
So the first great principle that the messengers demanded is: faith that Allah is the true God (Glorified and Exalted is He), and this is the meaning of the testimony: that there is no god but Allah. So this is an authentic principle upon which the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them all) agreed. All of them called to this authentic principle, which is that people believe that Allah is the true God, and that there is no true worshipped One besides Him. And this is the meaning of: La ilaha illa Allah, meaning: there is no true worshipped One but Allah. And what people worshipped of idols or trees or stones or prophets or awliya (close friends of Allah) or angels, all of it is invalid. Worship with truth is for Allah alone (Glorified and Exalted is He): [Surah Al-Baqarah: 163] ... [Surah Al-Isra: 23] ... [Surah Al-Fatihah: 5] ... [Surah Al-Bayyinah: 5].
And it is necessary with this principle to believe in the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). In the time of Noah, faith in Noah; in the time of Hud, faith in Hud with the oneness of Allah; in the time of Salih, faith in Salih with the oneness of Allah; and so on in the time of every messenger. It is necessary to have the oneness of Allah and faith that there is no god but Allah, and it is necessary to believe in the messenger who conveyed the message in his time, until the last of them, 'Isa (peace and blessings be upon him), the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel, 'Isa ibn Maryam (peace and blessings be upon him).
Then Allah sent their seal and their best, our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So 'Isa is the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel, and Muhammad is the last of the prophets and the seal of all the prophets. There is no prophet or messenger after him (peace and blessings be upon him). He is the best of the messengers, he is their leader, and he is their seal.
So it is necessary for the right of the ummah (the Muslim community), the ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), their jinn and humans, their Arabs and non-Arabs, their males and females, their rich and poor, their rulers and the ruled, that they believe in this Prophet. So whoever does not believe in him has no Islam and no religion. So it is necessary to believe that Allah is the true God and that there is no true god but Allah, and it is necessary to believe in Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and that he is the Messenger of Allah truly to all people. So whoever does not believe in these two testimonies is not a Muslim.
It is necessary to believe in them and hold their meaning in one's heart, and that the meaning of (La ilaha illa Allah) is: there is no true worshipped One but Allah. So it is not permissible to call upon with Allah an angel or a prophet or a tree or a stone or a jinn or an idol. No. So if he says: O Messenger of Allah! Help me, after his death (peace and blessings be upon him), or says: O Badawi, O Sayyid al-Badawi! Help me, or heal my sick person, or O Sayyid al-Husayn! or O Sayyid 'Abd al-Qadir! or al-Madd al-Madd, this becomes shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). It invalidates the meaning of: La ilaha illa Allah, meaning: it invalidates your saying: La ilaha illa Allah; because you did not bring the worship to Allah alone, but you associated with Allah others, and you called upon with Allah others. And Allah says: [Surah Al-Jinn: 18], and He (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: [Surah Yunus: 106], and He (Glorified and Exalted is He) says: [Surah Al-Bayyinah: 5], and He (Exalted and Majestic is He) says: [Surah Al-Isra: 23] ... [Surah Al-Fatihah: 5], and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and He (Exalted and Majestic is He) says: [Surah Ghafir: 60]. So it is necessary to make the worship sincere to Allah alone, and among that is supplication. So if you say to the dead or to the tree or to the idol: Help me, help me, heal my sick person, al-Madd al-Madd, this becomes shirk with Allah, and it becomes a negation of the saying: La ilaha illa Allah.
And likewise, whoever lies about the Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), or doubts his message, or says: it is for the Arabs only and not the non-Arabs, or says: he is not the seal of the prophets, but there is a prophet after him, all of this is kufr (disbelief) and misguidance and a negation of Islam. We ask Allah for safety. So it is necessary to believe that he is the Messenger of Allah truly to both groups, the jinn and the humans, and it is necessary to believe that he is the seal of the prophets and messengers, and there is no prophet after him. And whoever claims prophethood after him, like Musaylimah the Liar, is a disbeliever in Allah, a liar, like Musaylimah and al-Aswad al-'Ansi in Yemen, and Sajah al-Tamimiyyah and Talhah al-Asadi and a group who claimed prophethood after him. So the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them and grant them satisfaction) agreed upon their disbelief and fought them; because they lied about the meaning of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): [Surah Al-Ahzab: 40]. The hadiths have been mass-transmitted from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2219Sahih (Darussalam) (peace and blessings be upon him).
This testimony, which is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, is the fundamental principle and the first pillar of the pillars of Islam. There is no Islam without these two testimonies. Even if a person prays, fasts, performs Hajj, fasts during the day, stands in prayer at night, and remembers Allah frequently, but he does not believe that Allah is the one who is worthy of worship, and does not believe in the meaning of "There is no god but Allah," but rather thinks that there is no harm in worshipping idols and statues, and sees no harm in worshipping al-Badawi, al-Husayn, Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, or others, if he believes that this is permissible, and he calls upon others besides Allah, seeks their aid, or makes vows to them, he has committed shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and his words and his belief negate the statement: "There is no god but Allah."
Likewise, if he says that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is not the seal of the prophets, or that he was not sent to the two groups of jinn and humans, but only to the Arabs, he is a disbeliever in Allah (Mighty and Majestic). It is obligatory for him to believe that he is the Messenger of Allah to all the two groups, and it is obligatory for him to believe that he is the seal of the prophets, with no prophet or messenger after him. This is the fundamental principle.
After this, the Muslim is required to perform the prayer, to give zakah, to fast, to perform Hajj, and to obey the remaining commands and avoid the prohibitions, after this foundation is established, after his belief in the testimony: "There is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." This means his belief that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is the one worshipped in truth, and that worship is His right alone, and that no one is worshipped with Him, neither a prophet, nor an angel, nor a tree, nor an idol, nor anything else. It is also obligatory to believe that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, along with affirming all the past prophets, and that they delivered the message and conveyed it, (peace and blessings be upon them), along with belief in all that has been mentioned regarding belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the divine decree, its good and its evil. This is all obligatory. It is also obligatory, along with all this, to affirm what Allah and His Messenger informed about regarding what has happened and what will happen. Allah is truthful in His information, and His Messenger is truthful (peace and blessings be upon him). So whoever lies to Allah or lies to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is a disbeliever, even if he prays and fasts. We ask Allah for guidance for all of us. Yes.
The presenter: O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance.
As for what follows: Allah sent His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to all people, their Arabs and non-Arabs, their jinn and humans, their males and females, calling them to the oneness of Allah and sincerity to Him, and to faith in him (peace and blessings be upon him) and in what he brought, and to faith in all the messengers, and in all the angels, and the books revealed from the sky, and in the Last Day, which is: the resurrection, the rising, the recompense, the reckoning, Paradise, and the Fire, and in the divine decree, its good and its evil, and that Allah decreed the things, knew them, counted them, and wrote them, (Glorified and Exalted is He). So every thing that happens is by the decree and destiny of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). He commanded the people to say: (La ilaha illa Allah). This is the first thing he called to, and it is the first pillar of the pillars of Islam: the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. So when he told the people: Say: La ilaha illa Allah, and commanded them to believe that he is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the majority refused and denied this call. And Quraysh said to him what Allah mentioned about them:
Have He made the gods one God? Indeed, this is something of great importance.
أَجَعَلَ الآلِهَةَ إِلَهًا وَاحِدًا إِنَّ هَذَا لَشَيْءٌ عُجَابٌAnd He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said about them:
Indeed they, when it was said to them, "There is no deity but Allah," were arrogant
إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا إِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ And this is what he (peace and blessings be upon him) called to, which all the messengers called to, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said:
And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], "Worship Allah and avoid Taghut."
وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَسُولًا أَنِ اُعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُواا الطَّاغُوتَAnd We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me."
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِIn the two Sahihs, from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that he said:
Islam is based upon five: the testimony of La Ilaha Illallah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the establishment of the Salat, giving the Zakat, fasting (the month of) Ramadan, and performing Hajj to the House.
بني الإسلام على خمس: -يعني: على خمس دعائم-- شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله، وأن محمداً رسول الله، وإقام الصلاة، وإيتاء الزكاة، وصوم رمضان، وحج البيتA questioner came to him asking, in the form of a man whose clothes were intensely white and whose hair was intensely black, with no sign of travel on him, and none of those present recognized him. He said: "O Muhammad, inform me about Islam." He said: "Islam is that you testify that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and you establish prayer, and you give zakah, and you fast Ramadan, and you perform the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to find a way to it." He said: "You have spoken the truth." The Companions said: "We were amazed at him, asking him and confirming his words." Then he said: "Inform me about faith." He said: "Faith is that you believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and you believe in the divine decree, its good and its evil." He said: "You have spoken the truth." He said: "Then inform me about ihsan (excellence in worship)." He said: "That you worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then He sees you."
أتاه سائل يسأله في صورة رجل شديد بياض الثياب شديد سواد الشعر لا يرى عليه أثر السفر ولا يعرفه من الحاضرين أحد، فقال: يا محمد أخبرني عن الإسلام؟ فقال: الإسلام: أن تشهد أن لا إله إلا الله، وأن محمداً رسول الله، وتقيم الصلاة، وتؤتي الزكاة، وتصوم رمضان، وتحج البيت إن استطعت إليه سبيلاً، قال: صدقت، قال الصحابة: فعجبنا له يسأله ويصدقه، ثم قال: أخبرني عن الإيمان؟ قال: الإيمان أن تؤمن بالله وملائكته، وكتبه، ورسله، واليوم الآخر، وتؤمن بالقدر خيره وشره، قال: صدقت، قال: فأخبرني عن الإحسان؟ قال: أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه فإن لم تكن تراه فإنه يراكThat this was Jibril (Gabriel) who came to them to teach them their religion.
أن هذا هو جبرائيل أتاهم يعلمهم دينهمSo the religion of Islam is built upon these five apparent pillars:
The first of them: The testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The second is: establishing the five daily prayers.
The third is: paying the obligatory alms.
The fourth is: fasting Ramadan.
The fifth of them: Pilgrimage to the House of Allah the Exalted.
And upon internal pillars of faith in the heart, which are: faith in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the divine decree, its good and its evil. So these principles are necessary; the believing person of legal age must believe in these six internal principles that pertain to the heart. He must believe that Allah is his Lord, his God, and his true worshipped One (Glorified and Exalted is He), and he must believe in the angels of Allah, and in the books of Allah that He revealed to the prophets, from the Torah and the Gospel and the Psalms and the Qur'an and others, and he must also believe in the messengers whom Allah sent to His servants, the first of them being Noah and the last of them Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and they are many. Allah mentioned some of them in the great Qur'an. And we also believe in the Last Day, which is the resurrection after death, and the recompense from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The people of faith have happiness, and the people of disbelief have failure, regret, and the Fire.
And it is necessary to believe in the divine decree, its good and its evil, and that Allah decreed the things, knew them, wrote them, and counted them. So what Allah willed happened, and what He did not will did not happen. And everything that occurs in existence, of good and evil, obedience and disobedience, has preceded by the knowledge of Allah, His writing, and His decree (Glorified and Exalted is He).
So the first great principle that the messengers demanded is: faith that Allah is the true God (Glorified and Exalted is He), and this is the meaning of the testimony: that there is no god but Allah. So this is an authentic principle upon which the messengers (peace and blessings be upon them all) agreed. All of them called to this authentic principle, which is that people believe that Allah is the true God, and that there is no true worshipped One besides Him. And this is the meaning of: La ilaha illa Allah, meaning: there is no true worshipped One but Allah. And what people worshipped of idols or trees or stones or prophets or awliya (close friends of Allah) or angels, all of it is invalid. Worship with truth is for Allah alone (Glorified and Exalted is He):
And your God is one God; there is no deity except He, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy.
وَإِلَهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيمُAnd your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him
وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُIt is You we worship and You we ask for help.
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُAnd they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth
وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُواا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَAnd it is necessary with this principle to believe in the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). In the time of Noah, faith in Noah; in the time of Hud, faith in Hud with the oneness of Allah; in the time of Salih, faith in Salih with the oneness of Allah; and so on in the time of every messenger. It is necessary to have the oneness of Allah and faith that there is no god but Allah, and it is necessary to believe in the messenger who conveyed the message in his time, until the last of them, 'Isa (peace and blessings be upon him), the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel, 'Isa ibn Maryam (peace and blessings be upon him).
Then Allah sent their seal and their best, our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So 'Isa is the last of the prophets of the Children of Israel, and Muhammad is the last of the prophets and the seal of all the prophets. There is no prophet or messenger after him (peace and blessings be upon him). He is the best of the messengers, he is their leader, and he is their seal.
So it is necessary for the right of the ummah (the Muslim community), the ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), their jinn and humans, their Arabs and non-Arabs, their males and females, their rich and poor, their rulers and the ruled, that they believe in this Prophet. So whoever does not believe in him has no Islam and no religion. So it is necessary to believe that Allah is the true God and that there is no true god but Allah, and it is necessary to believe in Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and that he is the Messenger of Allah truly to all people. So whoever does not believe in these two testimonies is not a Muslim.
It is necessary to believe in them and hold their meaning in one's heart, and that the meaning of (La ilaha illa Allah) is: there is no true worshipped One but Allah. So it is not permissible to call upon with Allah an angel or a prophet or a tree or a stone or a jinn or an idol. No. So if he says: O Messenger of Allah! Help me, after his death (peace and blessings be upon him), or says: O Badawi, O Sayyid al-Badawi! Help me, or heal my sick person, or O Sayyid al-Husayn! or O Sayyid 'Abd al-Qadir! or al-Madd al-Madd, this becomes shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). It invalidates the meaning of: La ilaha illa Allah, meaning: it invalidates your saying: La ilaha illa Allah; because you did not bring the worship to Allah alone, but you associated with Allah others, and you called upon with Allah others. And Allah says:
And [He revealed] that the masjids are for Allah, so do not invoke with Allah anyone.
وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًاAnd do not invoke besides Allah that which neither benefits you nor harms you, for if you did, then indeed you would be of the wrongdoers.'"
وَلا تَدْعُ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لا يَنْفَعُكَ وَلا يَضُرُّكََ فَإِنْ فَعَلْتَ فَإِنَّكَ إِذًا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَAnd they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth
وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَAnd your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him
وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوا إِلَّا إِيَّاهُIt is You we worship and You we ask for help.
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُSupplication is worship
الدعاء هو العبادةCall upon Me; I will respond to you.
ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْAnd likewise, whoever lies about the Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), or doubts his message, or says: it is for the Arabs only and not the non-Arabs, or says: he is not the seal of the prophets, but there is a prophet after him, all of this is kufr (disbelief) and misguidance and a negation of Islam. We ask Allah for safety. So it is necessary to believe that he is the Messenger of Allah truly to both groups, the jinn and the humans, and it is necessary to believe that he is the seal of the prophets and messengers, and there is no prophet after him. And whoever claims prophethood after him, like Musaylimah the Liar, is a disbeliever in Allah, a liar, like Musaylimah and al-Aswad al-'Ansi in Yemen, and Sajah al-Tamimiyyah and Talhah al-Asadi and a group who claimed prophethood after him. So the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them and grant them satisfaction) agreed upon their disbelief and fought them; because they lied about the meaning of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He):
Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the prophets
مَا كَانَ مُحَمَّدٌ أَبَا أَحَدٍ مِنْ رِجَالِكُمْ وَلَكِنْ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَخَاتَمَ النَّبِيِّينَAnd I am the last of the Prophets, there is no Prophet after me.
أنا خاتم النبيين لا نبي بعديThis testimony, which is the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, is the fundamental principle and the first pillar of the pillars of Islam. There is no Islam without these two testimonies. Even if a person prays, fasts, performs Hajj, fasts during the day, stands in prayer at night, and remembers Allah frequently, but he does not believe that Allah is the one who is worthy of worship, and does not believe in the meaning of "There is no god but Allah," but rather thinks that there is no harm in worshipping idols and statues, and sees no harm in worshipping al-Badawi, al-Husayn, Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir, 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, or others, if he believes that this is permissible, and he calls upon others besides Allah, seeks their aid, or makes vows to them, he has committed shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and his words and his belief negate the statement: "There is no god but Allah."
Likewise, if he says that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is not the seal of the prophets, or that he was not sent to the two groups of jinn and humans, but only to the Arabs, he is a disbeliever in Allah (Mighty and Majestic). It is obligatory for him to believe that he is the Messenger of Allah to all the two groups, and it is obligatory for him to believe that he is the seal of the prophets, with no prophet or messenger after him. This is the fundamental principle.
After this, the Muslim is required to perform the prayer, to give zakah, to fast, to perform Hajj, and to obey the remaining commands and avoid the prohibitions, after this foundation is established, after his belief in the testimony: "There is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." This means his belief that Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is the one worshipped in truth, and that worship is His right alone, and that no one is worshipped with Him, neither a prophet, nor an angel, nor a tree, nor an idol, nor anything else. It is also obligatory to believe that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, along with affirming all the past prophets, and that they delivered the message and conveyed it, (peace and blessings be upon them), along with belief in all that has been mentioned regarding belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the divine decree, its good and its evil. This is all obligatory. It is also obligatory, along with all this, to affirm what Allah and His Messenger informed about regarding what has happened and what will happen. Allah is truthful in His information, and His Messenger is truthful (peace and blessings be upon him). So whoever lies to Allah or lies to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is a disbeliever, even if he prays and fasts. We ask Allah for guidance for all of us. Yes.
The presenter: O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.