Truly, all Praises are for Allaah. I Exolt him
and seek His Assistance and His Pardon. I seek refuge in Allaah from the evil
of our own selves and the wickedness of our evil deeds. Whomsoever Allaah
Guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever Allaah leads astray, none can guide.
I bear witness that there is no god worthy of
worship except Allaah, having no partners to Him and I bear witness that
Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.
“Oh you who believe! Fear Allah (by doing all that He has ordered
and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey
Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a
state of Islam (as Muslims) with complete submission to Allah.” [aal ‘Imraan 3:102]
“Oh mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single
person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwa (Eve)], and from
them both He created many men and women and fear Allah through Whom you demand
your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship) . Surely, Allah is Ever an All-Watcher
over you.” [an-Nisaa’ 4:1]
To proceed:
The topic[2]
at hand is 'True Emaan and a Warning against al-Irjaa[3]'.
This topic is extremely important and potentially very dangerous, particularly
because many of the rulings in the Sharee'ah revolve around the reality of al-Emaan. Also connected to
this topic are the issues of declaring people as disbelievers (at-Takfeer) or
believers.
From the greatest of sins one could commit in
Islaam is to strip a person of their Emaan and declare them to be non-believers
without having any precedence or evidence. Likewise, it is also a heavy sin
to include those into al-Islaam and declare those as believers when the texts
of al-Islaam have affirmed them as disbelievers.
Differences in belief ('Aqeedah) are a result
of misconception in these matters to the extent that confusion surrounding this
topic even arose in the lofty generation of the Rightly Guided Caliphs [may
Allaah be Pleased with them all]. Thereafter, misunderstanding and discord on
this subject became widespread until we reached the extent that thousands of
books had been authored on the issues that will be mentioned here.
The topic of discussion is on the reality of true
al-Emaan, its understanding based on the texts of the Sharee'ah and the
understanding given to them from the Salaf of this Ummah; exposing the false
understanding applied to the texts by deviant sects such as the Wa'eediyyah (the
Khwaarij and the Mu’tazilah) and the Murji'ah.
[1]
This introduction is known as Khutbah
al-Haajah. It has been narrated that the Prophet [Peace and Blessings of
Allaah] would often begin his speeches with this. Reported by Ibn Maajah
(1892), Aboo Dawood (2118, at-Tirmidhee (1105), an-Nasaa'ee (6/89), Ahmad
(1/432) on the authority of Ibn Ma'sood [May Allaah be Pleased with him], with
an authentic chain of transmission. See: Khutbah al-Haajah of al-Albaanee (Pg.
10) for further discussion.
[2]
This treatise is based on a
lecture delivered by Shaykh S’ad sh-Shithree in Jaami' al-Imaam Turkee bin
'Abdallah (Jaami' al-Kabeer) in ar-Riyadh (5/6/1422). This is the Masjid in
which the current Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia is an Imaam and a Khateeb and the
lecture was delivered in his noble presence, may Allaah Preserve him, to which
he gave a short conclusory comment (posted in post #2).
[3]
Irjaa is the detachment of faith
(al-Emaan) from actions and statements. As will be explained in further detail,
what Irjaa’ entails is that a person can believe in the heart without
practicising any deeds yet be classed as a beleiver. This is contrary to the
belief of the main body of the Muslims, Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah [TN].
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