And neither did he bid you to take the Angels and the Prophets as your Lords.
NEVER DID ANY of the Prophets call to praise their persons. Allah Almighty says: It is not conceivable that a human being unto whom God has granted revelation, and sound judgement, and prophethood, should thereafter have said to people, “Worship me beside Godâ€; but rather [did exhort them], “Become men of God by spreading the knowledge of the divine writ, and by your own deep study [thereof].†And neither did he bid you to take the angels and the Prophets for your lords: [for] would he bid you to deny the truth after you have surrendered yourself unto God? (Surah Al-Imran:
79-80).
Never did any of Allah’s Prophets or Messengers call upon the people to worship him, thereby making him a god in place of Allah. On the contrary they all ordered their people to obey and worship Allah and reject any other than Him. They nurtured their people’s hearts on the principle that benefit and harm, giving and denial, are all determined by Allah. And that the period of one’s life is also in the hands of Allah, and that no man is capable of benefiting or harming, or granting life or death or bringing back to life any of his fellow human beings. Similarly, that speaking the words of truth does not separate one from his sustenance or shorten his life span. And that Allah only is the Debaser, the
Elevator, the Withholder and the Bestower, the Malefactor and the Benefactor, and to whom all affairs are in His hands. Their hearts were filled therefore with the love of Allah and the desire for His grace.
It was at that point the exaltation, love, and fear of the creation was expelled from their hearts and the glory, awe, and majesty of Allah filled them instead. Hence they spoke the truth without fear of the consequences, not fearing the wrath of the detractors. They complied with the commands of Allah and they avoided the polytheists, they helped Islam and the Muslims everywhere and supplicated to Allah, and were patient with what befell them. They did not attach to this world any great value even though they could have benefited from some of its bounties that Allah made lawful. They subjected the earth for their own service but never did they themselves become servants of the earth. Hence they utilized whatever is in it to secure the favor of Allah and success in the Hereafter.
The callers to Islam should, therefore, work with the seriousness that was a feature of the prophetic missions before them in the sense that they should not call the people to any particular juridical school; or impose upon them their own individual judgement and analysis. Neither should they seek to create personality cults for any individual; except of course the person of the Prophet Muhammad for he is the master of the followers and the Imam of all others, and we call people to adopt his ways and follow him openly and secretly.
If the people see us callers to faith – calling one day to the worship of others than Allah in any aspect of life, or to follow an example other than the Prophet Muhammad in some affair, they should reject our Call and throw into our faces all our preaching and consider it a denial of all that we pledged and all of our submission to the religion of Allah. Rather, the correct Da’wah is to the Book of our Lord and Sunnah of our Prophet and both are forms of monotheism – Tawhid of Allah, in worship and obedience, plus that of the Prophet by following what he brought from his Lord. |
