All You Talk About Is Tawḥīd - Day 15 (1444.h)
وَلَقَدۡ بَعَثۡنَا فِى كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولًا أَنِ ٱعۡبُدُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَٱجۡتَنِبُواْ ٱلطَّٰغُوتَۖ فَمِنۡهُم مَّنۡ هَدَى ٱللَّهُ وَمِنۡهُم مَّنۡ حَقَّتۡ عَلَيۡهِ ٱلضَّلَٰلَةُۚ فَسِيرُواْ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ فَٱنظُرُواْ كَيۡفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلۡمُكَذِّبِينَ
And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (community, nation) a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allâh (Alone), and avoid (or keep away from) Tâghût (all false deities i.e. do not worship Tâghût besides Allâh)." Then of them were some whom Allâh guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified. So travel through the land and see what was the end of those who denied (the truth).
Sūrah An-Naḥl:36
﷽
Perhaps some of us are familiar with or have uttered statements like “all you people talk about is Tawḥīd”.. “can you not talk about something else?”… “We need real solutions, not you talking about Tawḥīd all the time”… “we know Allāh Created us and Provides for us, isn’t that all Tawḥīd is about?”
The Prophet (ﷺ) said:
The prophets are the sons of ‘allāt (a group of half-brothers of different mothers but one father); their mothers are different, but their religion is same. (1)
Their mothers were different i.e. their legislations and rulings were different, but their father is the same i.e. their religion is the same, all of them were sent with the message of Tawḥīd. Was it not for that purpose we were created, and for that purpose every messenger was sent?
We were created to actualise Tawḥīd, may Allāh grant you success.
Shirk is to associate anything or anyone with Allāh in worship, either worshipping the false deity alone or worshipping them along with Allāh. Shirk is the opposite of Tawḥīd (Islāmic Monotheism), and it’s the only sin which Allāh does not forgive if a person dies upon it as He (ﷻ) mentioned:
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَغۡفِرُ أَن يُشۡرَكَ بِهِۦ وَيَغۡفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُۚ
Verily! Allâh forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners (in worship) with Him, but He forgives whom He wills sins other than that,
Sūrah An-Nisā':116
Every nation was sent a messenger and all of those messengers came with one all-encompassing message, one purpose; Tawḥīd, commanding their people to worship Allāh Alone and to stay well away from false deities and all the paths that lead to such.
Before Nūḥ (عليه السلام) no messenger was sent, he was the first messenger. Why?
Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنه) mentioned:
كان بين آدم ونوح عشرة قرون كلهم على التوحيد
Between Ādam and Nūḥ were ten generations, all of them were upon Tawḥīd.
Nūh was sent after the first shirk on earth was committed, before him, the people actualised the purpose of their creation, they were upon Tawḥīd. Nūḥ (عليه السلام) like every other messenger was sent to his people proclaiming “Worship Allâh (Alone), and avoid (or keep away from) Tâghût (all false deities i.e. do not worship Tâghût besides Allâh)” (Sūrah An-Naḥl:36).
These are more than enough reasons for us to constantly talk about Tawḥīd, to learn how to perfect our Tawḥīd and that which causes deviation from it Tawḥīd can never be overemphasised. It is definitely not something you just learn once from a random YouTube video of an unknown speaker, or in 10 minutes!
We have to learn our religion from authentic sources. It is not just about learning, but also how we learn matters, as well as where we learn from also matters. It is a matter of our religion, if we learn it the proper way, it would result in us worshipping Allāh in the proper way, otherwise, our knowledge of Tawḥīd will be corrupted.
We ask Allāh for guidance.
As for the next part of the verse;
“Then of them were some whom Allâh guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified.”
Of the people of the nations were some Allah guided and none can misguide them and of them were people who were misguided and their misguidance was justified because of their evil actions and wrongdoings.
The Prophet (ﷺ) used to say in his Khuṭṭab:
He whom Allah guides none can misguide, and he whom He misguides none can guide him. (2)
In the last part of the verse, The Most High says, the meaning of the verse:
“So travel through the land and see what was the end of those who denied (the truth).”
إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَأٓيَةً لِّمَنۡ خَافَ عَذَابَ ٱلۡأٓخِرَةِۚ
Indeed in that (there) is a sure lesson for those who fear the torment of the Hereafter.
Hūd:103
The stories of how the previous nations were destroyed are a lesson for us, in order for our fear of Allāh’s torment to drive us to stay well away from the His anger and to learn from their mistakes. And they were all destroyed because they belied their messengers and denied the truth, they associated partners with their Lord Who Created them Alone without any partners.
Oh servant of Allāh, Tawḥīd is not just in one Sūrah, and it’s not just to know that Allāh created us, neither is it a matter that’s learnt for some time and then forgotten. We should strive to learn what we were created for properly and what it entails from AUTHENTIC SOURCES. We ask Allāh to save us from Shirk and its people, we ask Him to save us from misguidance and ask the paths which lead to it.
وصلّى الله وسلّم عل نبيّنا محمّد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين
(1) - Sahih al-Bukhari 3443 [Translated by Abu Mu’ādh]
(2) - Sunan Abī Dāwūd, 2118 [Authenticated by Shaykh Al-Albānī]
