“They fled from the servitude for which they were created, and so they fell into the bondage of the self and of Satan.”

There can be no meeting of hearts, nor any reform of the world, except through tawḥīd; as the Most High says: “Or have they taken gods from the earth who resurrect [the dead]? Had there been within them (the heavens and the earth) gods other than Allah, they would surely have fallen into ruin. Glorified is Allah, Lord of the Throne, far above what they ascribe.” 1 For that reason, when the earth is emptied of tawḥīd the Last Hour will be established, as Muslim relates from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “The Hour will not come until no one on earth says, ‘Allah, Allah.’”

Just as the early idolaters were divided in their acts of worship and their deities, today’s grave-venerators are likewise splintered in their devotion to tombs: each has his own mausoleum to which he offers various forms of worship, and every Ṣūfī order has a shaykh whom his disciples have taken as a lord besides Allah, legislating for them religious practices for which Allah has given no permission.

Thus does Satan toy with the children of Adam, and there is no salvation from his evil and his guile except through affirming the oneness of Allah and holding fast to His Book and the sunnah of His Messenger.

We ask Allah to show us the truth as truth and grant us the ability to follow it, and to show us falsehood as falsehood and grant us the grace to avoid it. He alone is our Protector—an excellent Protector and an excellent Helper.