Last time, we spoke about three of the ayahs with which the author began Chapter 1. Now we move on to the fourth location that he mentioned. Allah ‘azza wa jal says:
“Worship Allah and join none with Him (in worship)…” [Surat an-Nisa (4): 36]
This ayah is in Surat an-Nisa. It is a long ayah in which Allah talks about ten different things, ten commands that we must obey. But what we are concerned with here is the beginning of the ayah, its introduction. In the beginning of the ayah, there is a clear instruction and command to not associate others with Allah ‘azza wa jal in worship; you must not worship other than Allah, you must not call upon them, you must not sacrifice for them. It doesn’t matter who they are, whether they are Prophets and Messengers, or peers (also called by some as ‘Auliya’), or places, or different locations; all of such associations with Allah ‘azza wa jal is considered to be Major Shirk, which totally nullifies a person’s Islam.
The fifth location is a set of three ayahs, mentioned in Surat al-An’aam. And again, we will only mention the beginning of it and you can refer to it later on if you wish, in your own time and place. Allah ‘azza wa jal says:
“Say (O Mohammed ﷺ): ‘Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited you from…’” [Surat al-An’aam (6): 151]
So now, Allah is commanding his Messenger ﷺ to call the people and tell them that he will recite to them what Allah has prohibited upon them. What is the first thing that comes into our list? Allah ‘azza wa jal says:
“‘…Join not anything in worship with Him…’” [Surat al-An’aam (6): 151]
So the first thing that Allah commands us is to not join anything or anyone in worship with Him. And the ayahs go on, listing further commands and prohibitions. These ayahs are 151-153 of Chapter 6; beautiful commands and extremely important. To the extent that, ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ood, who is a well-known Companion of the Prophet ﷺ, narrated the following Hadeeth: “Whoever wishes to ascertain the very will of the Prophet ﷺ, on which the Prophet ﷺ has put his seal, let him read the statement of Allah: “Say (O Mohammad ﷺ): ‘Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited you from: Join not anything in worship with Him…’” (up to) “‘And verily, this is my straight path…’””. So now ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ood, may Allah be pleased with him, tells us that this is the will of Prophet ﷺ on which he has his seal. But actually, the Prophet ﷺ did not leave any such will with a seal on it. This is a form of emphasis put by ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ood to highlight that the message of the Prophet ﷺ is based on these commands: not to worship any other than Allah ‘azza wa jal, and to be dutiful to the parents, to the rest of the instructions in the ayahs that Allah ‘azza wa jal mentioned. It is extremely essential for us to learn these things and to implement them.
After that, the compiler brought forth the Hadeeth of Mu’aaz bin Jabal, which is one of the greatest Ahadeeth in our religion because it highlights the Rights of Allah upon us, His servants. And it also gives us a bonus, that Allah ‘azza wa jal Himself took upon Himself, that is the rights of His servants upon their Lord. Even though He is our Lord, and there are no rights for us, none whatsoever, but this is a bonus for us, it is a Favor and a Blessing from Allah ‘azza wa jal that He Bestowed upon us, His poor slaves and servants. What is the Hadeeth and what are the rights? This is what we will learn when we meet next time in sha Allah.
The quotations from the Qur’an and the Ahadeeth in this article are a rough translation of the meanings of the original text!