Al-Irshad ila Sahih al-Itiqad - Salih Al-Fawzan - (63)

Al-Irshad ila Sahih al-ItiqadSalih Al-Fawzan

They thus turned the ways of their forefathers into a proof with which they opposed the message brought to them by their prophet Noah, peace be upon him.
The people of Ṣāliḥ said to him, “Do you forbid us to worship what our fathers used to worship?” 1 The people of Abraham said, “Rather, we found our fathers doing the same.” 2 Pharaoh said to Moses, peace be upon him, “Then what of the previous generations?” 3 And when Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him, told the Arab idolaters, “Say: There is no god but Allah,” they retorted, “We have never heard of such a thing in the latter-day religion; this is nothing but an invention.” 4

Second: Among the specious arguments advanced today by those who venerate graves is their notion that merely pronouncing “There is no god but Allah” guarantees entry into Paradise. Whatever a person may do, they say, he cannot fall into disbelief so long as he utters “There is no god but Allah,” and they cling to the outward wording of the hadiths stating that whoever pronounces the two testimonies is forbidden to the Fire.
The answer is that these hadiths are not absolute; they are qualified by other reports which stipulate that whoever says “There is no god but Allah” must believe its meaning in his heart and act in accordance with it, rejecting and disavowing all that is worshipped besides Allah. In the hadith of ʿItbān: “Allah has made the Fire unlawful for anyone who says, ‘There is no god but Allah,’ seeking thereby the Face of Allah.” The hypocrites, after all, say “There is no god but Allah” with their tongues, yet they will be in the lowest depth of the Fire, for the utterance avails them nothing when they do not believe with their hearts what it signifies. Muslim records: “Whoever says, ‘There is no god but Allah,’ and disbelieves in whatever is worshipped besides Allah, his wealth and his blood become inviolable and his reckoning is with Allah.” Thus the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, made the inviolability of life and property dependent on two matters: first, uttering “There is no god but Allah,” and second, disbelieving in whatever is worshipped besides—

(1) Surah Hud, verse 62. (2) Surah al-Shuara, verse 74. (3) Surah Ta Ha, verse 51. (4) Surah Sad, verse 7.

فجعلوا ما عليه آباؤهم حجة يعارضون بها ما جاءهم به نبيهم نوح ﵇. وقوم صالح يقولون له: ﴿أَتَنْهَانَا أَنْ نَعْبُدَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا﴾ ١. وقوم إبراهيم يقولون له: ﴿بل وجدنا آباءنا كذلك يفعلون﴾ ٢.وفرعون يقول لموسى ﵇: ﴿قَالَ فَمَا بَالُ الْقُرُونِ الأُولَى﴾ ٣.ومشركوا العرب يقولون لمحمد ﷺ لما قال لهم: (قولوا لا إله إلا الله) ؛ قالوا: ﴿مَا سَمِعْنَا بِهَذَا فِي الْمِلَّةِ الآخِرَةِ إِنْ هَذَا إِلاّ اخْتِلاقٌ﴾ ٤. ثانيا: ومن الشبه التي يدلي بها عباد القبور اليوم: ظنهم أن مجرد النطق بلا إله إلا الله يكفي لدخول الجنة، ولو فعل الإنسان ما فعل؛ فإنه لا يكفر، وهو يقول: لا إله إلا الله، متمسكين بظواهر الأحاديث التي ورد فيها أن من نطق بالشهادتين؛ حرم على النار. والجواب عن هذه الشبهة: أن هذه الأحاديث ليست على إطلاقها، وإنما هي مقيدة بأحاديث أخرى جاء فيها؛ أنه لا بد لمن قال: لا إله إلا الله أن يعتقد معناها بقلبه، ويعمل بمقتضاها، فيكفر بما يعبد من دون الله؛ كما في حديث عتبان: "فإن الله حرم النار من قال: لا إله إلا الله، يبتغي بذلك وجه الله "، وإلا فالمنافقون يقولون لا إله إلا الله بألسنتهم، وهم في الدرك الأسفل من النار، ولم ينفعهم النطق بلا إله إلا الله؛ لأنهم لا يعتقدون ما دلت عليه بقلوبهم، وفي (صحيح مسلم) : "من قال: لا إله إلا الله، وكفر بما يعبد من دون الله؛ حرم ماله ودمه، وحسابه على الله"؛ فعلق النبي ﷺ حرمة المال والدم على أمرين: الأول: قول: لا إله إلا الله. والثاني: الكفر بما يعبد من دون

١ سورة هود، الآية: ٦٢. ٢ سورةالشعراء، الآية: ٧٤. ٣ سورة طه، الآية: ٥١. ٤ سورة ص، الآية: ٧.