Shaykh Saleh aal ash-Shaykh
Taken from the Sharh Mas’aail Jaahiliyyah
The people in the days of Jaahiliyya used to worship other than Allaah. They were upon Shirk by worshipping pious men that had passed away. They would supplicate to them and would ask them to intercede for them so that they may be forgiven, all the while thinking that these pious men were close to Allaah and that He would accept it from them.
This was the theory they had, however they would at times also worship Allaah. But when they were faced with adversity, instead of worshipping Allaah they would turn away and ask Prophets that had passed away before, of pious men or even angels to help them or intercede on their behalf.
“Have you then considered Al-Lat, and Al-'Uzza (two idols of the pagan Arabs). And Manat (another idol of the pagan Arabs), the other third?” [53:19-20] This is a refutation on their idea of worshipping pious people who had passed away, idols were made in honour of them.
“And (remember) when Allah will say (on the Day of Resurrection): "O 'Îsa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary)! Did you say unto men: 'Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?' "” [5:116] This ayah shows us that Prophets were worshipped.
“And (remember) the Day when He will gather them all together, then He will say to the angels: "Was it you that these people used to worship?"” [40:34]
And there are many other examples in the Quraan. The idea of worshipping other than Allaah was an area that many people were uncertain about and were filled with doubts in. Unfortunately, if we look at the state of the Muslims today we can see that have inherited the same doubts and uncertainty. We find people today who worship pious people, they ask them for assistance, they even sacrifice to them, swear oaths using their names as well as other acts. These are all acts of Shirk which Allaah has clearly clarified the ruling of.
So we can ask a question, did the people of Jahiliyyah do these acts of ignorance or did they know that these acts were wrong? The answer is that they knew these acts were wrong yet they persisted in it. In fact they strove and fought against the truth and persisted on Shirk, “Then when their Messengers came to them with clear proofs, they were glad (and proud) with that which they had of the knowledge (of worldly things). And that at which they used to mock, surrounded them (i.e. the punishment).” [40:83]
So the people in the day of Jahilliyyah opposed the Prophets knowingly. However the knowledge they had didn’t bring them any benefit. They would even do acts of worship such as Hajj saying they are worshipping Allaah but their cause of Shirk was to supplicate and ask from other than Allaah, “And those who take Auliya' (protectors, helpers, lords, gods) besides Him (say): "We worship them only that they may bring us near to Allah.” [39:3] They would ask pious people and Prophets that had passed away, but they thought that this deed would bring them closer to Allaah, so even in their act of Shirk they were trying to worship Allaah.
Just like the people today, they would worship other than Allaah thinking that they people they are asking will help them. They took them as an intermediary because these intermediaries were presumed to have a higher status with Allaah.
So this is an extremely important lesson we need to learn and pay attention to and we need to realise that the Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] came to differ from the people in Jahilliyyah in this regard. Allaah has ordered for us to be sincere to Him and to worship Him alone, “Say (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم): "Allah Alone I worship by doing religious deeds sincerely for His sake only (and not to show off, and not to set up rivals with Him in worship.)" [39:14] and there are many Ayaat with this meaning, we need to be sincere to Allaah and disavow any form of Shirk, and to direct ourselves to Allaah Alone.
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