Monthly Archives: April 2008

>Fundamental concepts

>

The words ‘ilah’, ‘rabb’, ‘ibadah’, ‘hukm’, ‘deen’ and ‘mulk’ are among the most fundamental concepts of the Quran. These are also fundamental to understanding the important concepts of ‘shirk’ and ‘ikhlaas’. I have been studying these concepts, I will write about them in detail later inshaallah. In the mean time, check out these audio lectures that have helped me in my study:

(To download, right click, then “save Target/Link as”)

More at http://bandung2.co.uk/audio/bandung2audio.htm

Also checkout Four Basic Quranic Terms

Site moved

This website/blog has been moved to www.takhlees.blogspot.com . See you there.

>Links

>

>Articles

>

Ikhlaas Articles
Justice: The first pillar of Islam
Al-Quran: The Criterion
Ilah
Rabb
Ibadah
Deenillah and al-mulk
Shirk and ikhlaas
Taghoot
Khilaafa
Qitaal
fasaad
al-eemaan and al-huda(Conviction and Guidance)
Al-Kufr and az-zalaala(Rejection and misguidance)
Truth and Falsehood
shaitaan
kitaabillah
Jihad: The struggle to become a muslim
Charity/Sadaqah, the confirmation of eemaan
Fundamentalism, Extremism, Terrorism
The Myth of Intercession in Islam
Sunnat of Allah

LIBRARY
Articles / Audios / Videos
Fundamentals
Quran
Islam

Politics

Traditionalist Muslims Misconceptions
Christanity
Jihad and Qitaal

Women


Sexuality

Dietary Prohibitions


Miscellaneous:

About TAKHLEES

The Quran, chapter 16/98: …When you read the Quran, you shall seek refuge in Allah from the Shaitaan the Rejected

Shirk is an offense not forgiven by Allah and those who indulge in shirk lose Allah’s protection against His punishments in this world and in the hereafter(4/48, 4/115). Shirk is generally understood as idol-worship and polytheism, which is a false understanding. This also results in a false understanding about monotheism/tawheed, because it is (also falsely) regarded as the anti-thesis of shirk. The false understanding that a monotheist/momin(believer in Tawheed/Allah’s oneness) cannot be a mushrik.

Shirk cannot be understood correctly without ‘ikhlaas’ as its antithesis. Shirk means neither idol-worship nor polytheism. It means ‘inclusiveness’ in ibadah/subservience of Allah. Inclusion of outside elements, elements that do not belong. Shirk is the condition of being inclusive/impure as opposed to ikhlaas, the condition of being exclusive(of outside elements)/pure. The word “ikhlaas” comes from the root

Kha-Laam-Saad, which is used in the Quran to means exclusiveness.

This website is named after the 112th chapter of the Quran, rightly titled, Al-Ikhlaas:


112/1: Say: Allah is ahad/unique.
112/2: Allah is Absolute.
112/3: He does not beget, nor is He begotten.
112/4: And there is none even comparable to Him.

Belief in Tawheed(Allah’s oneness) is the starting point of a believer. Al-Ikhlaas is something additional to the belief in Tawheed and necessary to keep the believers/monotheists free from shirk. In fact, this chapter is not about Allah’s Tawheed/Wahidiayyat/Oneness, as it is claimed to be. Allah is One indeed, but this particular chapter is about Allah’s Aahadiyyat/Uniqueness. Being wahid/one is not same as being ahad/unique:


One(wahid) can be included/associated(i.e. one can be made a shareek) with another. Logically, the one will still remain one, and at the same time be included/associated with the other. Therefore tawheed and shirk cannot logically be the antithesis of each other.

On the other hand, the one who is unique(ahad) cannot be rightfully included/associated(i.e cannot be made a shareek) with anyone else, because He is unlike everyone and everything. The one who is as unique/ahad as Allah(112/2-4) cannot be categorized with anyone else. Because He is not just one, He is also alone in His roles and His Attributes.

Due to His uniqueness/ahadiyyat, no one can rightfully be included/made shareek in any of His roles, for example:

He is the rightful Rabbinnaas(114/1), as the One who is the rabb/developer of the skies and the earth and all that is between them(19/65), exclusively deserves to be entrusted with the development/rabubiyyat of the people as well.

He is the rightful Malikinnaas(114/2), because the One who has the Mulk/Power/Dominance/Ownership of the skies and the earth(25/2) deserves exclusively to be the Malik/Dominator/King of the people as well i.e. the Power/Mulk He grants(3/26) to people deserves to be executed exclusively in accordance with His will, His book.

He is the rightful Ilahinnaas(114/3), because The One who is the Ilah in the skies and the Ilah in the earth(43/84) exclusively deserves to be regarded as the Ilah/’ultimate authority’ in all human affairs as well.

It is this recognition of Allah’s ahadiyat/uniqueness that can bring about ikhlaas/exclusiveness and eliminate shirk/inclusiveness from the believers’ lives, their ibadah/subservience, their deen/power-system.

This recognition is absent in the Muslim world.

Tawheed(oneness/monotheism) and shirk(inclusiveness) can co-exist under one roof. Ikhlaas and shirk cannot. A person can be momin(monotheist/believer in one Allah) and mushrik(inclusive) at the same time. But he/she cannot be mukhlis(exclusive) and mushrik
(inclusive) at the same time. Ikhlaas(exclusiveness) and shirk(inclusiveness) are the antithesis of each other. The traditional “Muslim” belief about Tawheed and Shirk, therefore, is fundamentally flawed, fundamentally unislamic/unquranic.

It is the mukhlis/exclusive ibadah of allah, and not mere belief in Tawheed, that is the decisive factor in sparing Allah’s punishment in this world and the hereafter:


4/118: Allah has cursed him(Shaitaan); and he had said: “I will assuredly take a definite portion of your servants/ibaad”.

38/82: He(Shaitaan) said: “By Your majesty, I will assuredly mislead them all.”
38/83: “Except for those among Your ibaad/servants who are al-mukhliseen/Exclusive(to You).”
38/84: He(Allah) said: “Therefore the Truth is, and the Truth is all I speak,”
38/85: “that I will fill Hell with you and all those who follow you.”

The verse below calls ‘mukhlis/exclusive ibadah'(al-ikhlaas/Exclusiveness) the siraat-e-mustaqeem/straight path(leading towards Allah):


15/39: He(Shiataan) said: My Lord! Because Thou hast sent me astray, I verily shall adorn the path of error for them in the earth, and shall mislead them collectively

15/40: Except for those among Your ibaad/servants who are mukhliseen/exclusive(to You).
15/41: He(Allah) said: This(mukhlis/exclusive ibadah) is the siraate mustaqeem/straight path incumbent upon Me.

In the same manner, the Quran also calls itself the siraat-e-mustaqeem(6/126).This equates mukhlis/exclusive ibadah of Allah(al-ikhlaas) with walking the path of the Quran exclusively during the course of one’s life. That is the only purpose that we are given life for:


51/56: And I have not created the jinns and humans except that they may give ibadah/service to Me

But ibadah is not what it is generally understood as. Ibadah is much more than worship. Ibadah is one’s subservience to Allah’s will in all matters dealt with in His book. And Allah’s ibadah/subservience/service cannot result without the implementation of His Hukm(Rule/Government/Verdict) in accordance with His Book.

This can happen only under Khilaafah(Representation of Allah’s Power and His Will) on a land where the Hukm/Rule/Government is dominated by those who have emaan/conviction in the sole authority of Allah and work for the islah/rehabilitation/reparation of the soceity. These khalaaif(representatives) will represent Allah’s will by ruling/governing in accordance with His Book. Only then can the believers make their subservience/ibadah exclusive/mukhlis(free from inclusiveness/shirk) for Allah. Only then will Al-islam be re-established. Those who think that al-islam is still in place and in practice should reconsider:


24/55: Allah promises those among you who believe and do works of islah/reparation, that He will make them khalaaif/representatives on earth, like He made representatives from those before them, and He will put in place for them their ‘deen/power-system/life-transaction'(which is to give ibadah/service to Allah, 10/104) which He has approved for them(i.e. al-islam, 5/6), and He will substitute security for them after fearThey shall give ibadah/service to Me, not including/making shareek with Me anything(i.e. ibadah will be exclusive/khaalis to Allah). And those who reject after that, they are the ones who are the wicked.

When Al-islam takes place, peace/harmony is attained and fear is replaced with security. The present state of the world(including the Muslim world) is hardly secure and peaceful. Nor is Al-islam promised to everyone who labels himself/herself a Muslim, but only to those who believe AND do works of islah/reparation. This promise does not suit the present-day Muslims, who are mostly those who believe AND commit shirk/inclusiveness in ibadah of Allah by upholding the hukm/rule/government/ of others beside Allah. According to Allah’s promise, under such conditions, Al-islam just cannot exist. So what “Islam”, then, have the Mullahs been preaching?

Whatever remains of al-Islam(or whatever it is that remains as Islam) today, remains as a ritualistic, superstitious religion, most of its beliefs and practices having nothing to do with the Quran. Al-Islam in Allah’s book is not a religion/faith. Al-Islam is the Deen/Power-system of Allah for those who have faith in Him, the believers, where Allah’s Hukm/Rule dominates all aspects of their lives. Al-islam is a moral and political code of life that the believers are indebted to living, in exchange for all the provisions of life given by Allah.

Man did not make any pledge before coming to this world to be subservient to man-made laws. He came into existence as a servant of Allah. Man is not obliged to and should not be made to follow any man-made rules/laws in matters already dealt with in the book of Allah. He is obliged only to give his ibadah/service to Allah by living in accordance with the rule/Hukm of His Book, and not to give it to Shaitaan:


36/60: “Did I not pledge to you, O Children of Adam, that you should not serve(give ibadah to) the Shaitaan? For certain he is your open enemy”

36/61: “And that you should serve(give ibadah to) Me? This is the straight path.”

But instead, it is Satan’s ibadah/servitude that is taking place all over the world, not in a ritualistic manner, but wherever people are made subservient/obedient to man-made laws instead of the divine laws. Any law contradictory to Allah’s laws is Satanic/evil, as there are only two sides in the world. The hizbullah/side of allah(5/56), and the hizbush shaitaan/side of Shaitaan(58/19). You are either with Allah, or you are against Him and against your own selves by siding with your own open enemy(the Shaitaan, 36/60). There is no middle path, no moderation. If one is not serving Allah exclusively, then it is the Shaitaan that he is including/making shareek with Allah in his service/ibadah.

In all aspects of people’s lives that are not governed in accordance with Allah’s book, and Allah’s book alone, the Shaitaan takes over and his ibadah fills the void wherever Allah’s ibadah is absent. The world today is shaitaan’s domain, run by his puppet regimes, both secular and religious[equally as “Godless” as the seculars]. Any regime that does not govern in accordance with Allah’s book is Satanic. The clergy and the religious regimes intensifying Book’s misuse in the private realm of religious rituals and superstitious practices and hiding the book’s message under piles of falsehood, while the secular regimes excluding the Book’s laws and verdicts from the social realm in the name of democracy. These are all puppets of Shaitaan(‘shaitaan’ literally meaning ‘alienated’/’alienating’ personality), and serve the same goal of alienating people to their Creator.

The superstitious uses of Allah’s book that are prevalent in the Muslim world is not how the book is supposed to be used. The Book of Allah was revealed so that people may establish Justice(al-qist) by ruling in accordance with it.


57/25: We have sent our messengers with Clarifications. And We revealed with them the Book(of Allah) and the Standard, so that people may establish Justice…

In fact, the Quran equates standing for Justice with the Shahadah(witnessing the oneness/tawheed of Allah, “la ilaha illa allah”)[3/18, 4/135, 5/8], the very basic Muslim belief, the starting point of a believer. But, in the presence of over a billion Muslims, the so-called followers of the Quran, there is widespread injustice and chaos in the world. Muslims, who are supposed to be establishers of Allah’s Justice and maintainers of the Divine standards for humanity(55/7-9), [currently in a condition of poverty/dependence that was promised by Shaitaan(2/268)], have become victims of zulm(injustice/mistreatment/oppression) themselves.

Justice can only prevail under the condition of Al-islam, (where the deenillah/power-system of Allah is enabled i.e. where power belongs to the khalaaif, those who represent Him by ruling/treating people in accordance with His book[24/55]) Any treatment of people, and of one’s self, that is in contradiction with the Quran is zaalim/unjust/oppressive. There can be no Justice without impartial treatment of people.

No Impartiality(al-adal) without hukum/ruling/governing in accordance with the book of Allah. Any government(“hukumat”) and judiciary(so-called “adal-iya”) not in accordance with the book of Allah cannot be impartial/equitible. All men(and women) are equal. No man can be subjected to man-made laws. The rule of man over man is unjust, oppressive and illegal. No present day regime is just and legal, none of them quranic/islamic, all of them Satanic.

All human beings should be subject only to Allah’s law. He created humanity from the point of nothingness(19/67). All people are equal by default before Him. Only He can judge/rule them most impartially/equitably. He is the ‘Khairul Hakimeen’/Best of the Rulers(7/87, 10/109, 12/80). He is the ‘Ahkamul Hakimeen’/the Most Decisive of Rulers(95/8). The ahkaam(rules/laws/judgments/verdicts) of His book are most impartial, most just.

The Quran is Allah’s book for moral and political guidance of the believers in all realms of life. The entire book is obligatory(28/85) upon them, not just the “five pillars”. Allah’s guidance cannot be restricted to the “religious” realms. He is the Rabbil alameen/Developer of all realms of existence(1/1), and Quran is the Developer’s manual/guidebook(20/50) for the humans to make the best use of their lives and resources. It is a complete detailing of His laws that govern people’s life(10/38, 6/114), perfect in truth and impartiality(6/115). It is the Furqan/Discriminator/Criterion(2/185) of true/false, just/unjust, moral/immoral.

Allah is for all time, and so are His words. The Quran is alive, never outdated, never irrelevant. Without the message of the Quran, it is the Muslims who have become outdated and irrelevant in the world. The

Quran is no ordinary book, it is as unique as its Author, a book apart from all others. It is fully detailed(7/52, 12/111, 17/12) as Allah does not run out of words. It is self-clarifying(4/26), as Allah’s word does not depend upon the additional words of man for clarification. The believers should not be in slightest doubt of this. They should uphold the authority of the Quran above all other authorities. No book in the world or even any traces of knowledge can take priority before the Quran(46/4).

But sadly, though they keep the Quran so close to themselves, YET they are SO far away from its messageSO ALIENATED to it that the Quran is the most “read”(parroted) YET least understood book for them. For a book kept so “close” and in such “high regard”, the general Muslims’ ignorance and alienation to its message is almost unimaginable. SUCH alienation can only be caused by THE Alienator, the Shaitaan and his human puppets.

Muslims have traded divine guidance in favour of manifest confusion. The most authentic sayings of the Messenger(peace be upon him) are recorded in the Quran by Allah Himself. This is one of them:


25/30: And the Messenger will say “My Rabb, my own nation has treated this Quran as a thing to be abandoned.”

Shame on the so-called Muslims for causing embarrassment and disappointment, in front of Allah, to the messenger who was sent as a ‘rehmatul lil aalameen’/mercy for all realms of existence. We cannot prevent that. We can, however, try not to be among those who will make it happen. We can try to be those who are loyal(mukhlis/exclusive/sincere) to the messenger of Allah and hold tight to what he brought us, the rope of Allah(3/103), the Quran exclusively…

Al-islam today is a dream for some of us, and a hallucination for others. This website(www.takhlees.blogspot.com) is an effort towards fulfilling that dream. Help this effort in any way that you can.


4/95: Those of the believers who sit still, other than those who are hurt/disabled, are not equal with those who strive in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has conferred on those who strive with their wealth and lives a rank above the sedentary. Unto each Allah has promised good, but He has bestowed on those who strive a great reward above the sedentary;



Fahad

11/88: …I only intend al-islah/Reparation/Rehabilitation to the best of my ability; and my success is with Allah. In Him I trust, and unto Him I look.

>About Takhlees

>

Salaam alaikum.
Takhlees means purification; to make something exclusive of elements that do not belong.
The Quran informs us that the majority of the monotheists/those who believe in Allah actually commit Shirk i.e. inclusion of element that do not belong.
12/106: And most of them do not believe in Allah/God except while being ‘mushrikoon'(those who commit shirk).
Therefore, Shirk being the only “unforgivable” offense, and since most of us HAVE been committing Shirk, it is very important for monotheists/believers to think SERIOUSLY about this: Are we among the mushrikeen?; What have we been including with Allah/God and His book?
We must strive to find out and make our ibadah(service/obedience) and deen(life-transaction) mukhlis/exclusive for Allah by holding fast to the The Quran(The Furqan/Criterion) and discarding all that is found to be in contradiction with it.
I am a student of The Quran and this blog is a place to share my studies and views on Quranic topics, especially those that are generally misunderstood, those that, in my opinion, require takhlees/purification.
Hopefully this will also be a good opportunity to discuss with other students of the Quran, and learn from each other. So feel free to comment on the articles. 
To help this effort, please forward the blog URL and articles to your contacts. Thanks.

Fahad.