INTRODUCTION
[For a beatific and beautiful beginning, Mawlânâ Khâlid Baghdâdî (quddisa sirruh) commences his book by quoting the 17th letter of the third volume of the book Maktûbât by al-Imâm ar-Rabbânî Ahmad al-Fâruqî as-Shirhindî[3] (‘rahmatullâhi ’aleyh’. Imâm-i Rabbânî ‘quddisa sirruh’ states as follows in that letter)].
I begin my letter with the Basmala. Infinite glory and thanks be to Allâhu ta’âlâ who bestowed upon us all kinds of favours and honoured us by making us Muslims and valued us by making us the Umma of Rasûlullah Muhammad (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam), which is the highest blessing.
We should meditate and realize that Allâhu ta’âlâ alone blesses every favour upon everybody. He alone creates everything. He alone is the One who keeps every being in existence. Superior and good qualities of men are all His blessings and favours. Our life, reason, knowledge, strength, sense of hearing and speech are all from Him. He always is the One who sends innumerable blessings and favours. He is the One who rescues human beings from trouble and distress, who accepts prayers and keeps away grief and disaster. Only He creates sustenances and causes them to reach us. His blessing is so bountiful that He does not cut off the sustenance of those who commit sins. His covering sins is so great that He does not disgrace or hold up to scorn or tear the honesty veil of those who do not obey His commands or abstain from His prohibions. He is so forgiving, so merciful that He does not hurry in punishing those who deserve punishment and torture (’adhâb). He scatters His blessings and favours upon both those whom He likes and His enemies. He does not spare anything from anybody. And as the highest, the most precious of His benefactions, He points out the right path to happiness and salvation. He warns us not to go astray, so that we go to Paradise. And He orders us to adapt ourselves to His beloved Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) in order that we may attain all the infinite blessings, endless and inexhaustible pleasures in Paradise, and His own approval and love. Thus, Allâhu ta’âlâ’s blessings are as obvious as the sun. The favours which come from others, in fact, come from Him. He, again, is the One who makes others intermediaries and gives wish, power and strength to do favours. For this reason, He is always the One who sends all the blessings that come through all places and all people. To expect favours from anybody but Him is like asking for something from the custodian or asking for alms from the poor. The ignorant as well as the educated, and blockheads as well as the intelligent and the keen know that what we say here is right and to the point, for, everything said is obvious facts. It is not necessary even to think them over.
He who does favours is to be thanked and respected. Therefore, it is a human duty for every man to thank Allâhu ta’âlâ, who has bestowed these favours. It is a debt, a duty which wisdom commands. But it is not easy to carry out this thanksgiving due to Him, for men, having been originally created out of nothing, are weak, indigent, faulty and defective. As for Allâhu ta’âlâ, He always and eternally exists. He is quite remote from defectiveness. Every kind of superiority belongs to Him only. Men have by no means any similarity or proximity to Allâhu ta’âlâ. Can men, who are so inferior, thank such a high being as Allâhu ta’âlâ in a manner worthy of His Dignity? There are so many things that men consider beautiful and precious, but He knows that they are evil and dislikes them. Things which we consider to be reverence or thanks may be common things not liked at all. For this reason, men, with their own defective minds and short sights, cannot discern the things that express thanks and veneration to Allâhu ta’âlâ. Unless the ways of thanking and respecting Allâhu ta’âlâ are shown by Him, acts that are considered as praising may be slander.
So, the gratitude to be shown and the human duties to be done for Allâhu ta’âlâ with the heart, tongue and body were defined by Allâhu ta’âlâ and communicated by His beloved Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam)! The human duties which Allâhu ta’âlâ showed and ordered are called Islam. One thanks Him by following the way His Prophet taught. Allâhu ta’âlâ does not accept or like any thanks, any worship incompatible with or outside this way, because there are many things which men consider beautiful but which Islam disapproves of and regards as ugly.
Hence, in thanking Allâhu ta’âlâ, people who have reason should adapt themselves to Hadrat Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm). His path is called Islam. The person following Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm) is called a Muslim. Thanking Allâhu ta’âlâ, that is, following Muhammad (’alaihi ’s-salâm), is called ’ibâda (worship). Teachings of Islam are of two parts: religious and scientific. The former has two branches: 1) Teachings that must be believed through the heart and are called the teachings of usûl ad-dîn or îmân; 2) Teachings of ’ibâdât that are to be done through the body or the heart and are called the teachings of furû’ ad-dîn, ah’kâm al-Islâmiyya or the Sharî’a.
[The religious teachings revealed by Islam are the teachings that are written in the books of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna. A person becomes a kâfir (disbeliever) if he does not believe, among the teachings of îmân and the Sharî’a that have been reported by the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna, even one of the nasses (âyats or hadîths) with explicit meaning. If he keeps his disbelief secret, he is called a munâfiq. If not only he keeps it secret but also he tries to deceive Muslims by passing himself off as a Muslim, he is called a zindîq. If he makes ta’wîl of the nasses with e;plicit meaning without knowing, that is, gives wrong meaning to them and believes wrongly, he again becomes a disbeliever and is called a mulhid. If he believes wrongly by making ta’wîl of the nasses with inexplicit meaning, he does not become a disbeliever but, because he has departed from the right path of the Ahl as-Sunna, will go to Hell. Since he believes in the nasses with explicit meaning, he will not remain in Hell eternally but will be taken into Paradise. Such people are called ahl al-bid’a or heretical groups. There are seventy-two heretical groups. None of their ’ibâdât is acceptable. Muslims whose faith is correct are called Ahl as-Sunnat wa ’l-Jamâ’a orSunnîs. In relation to ’ibâdât, the Sunnîs belong to four different madhhabs. Those who follow one of these madhhabs acknowledge that the followers of the other three also belong to Ahl as-Sunna, and they love one another. A person who does not follow any of these madhhabs does not belong to Ahl as-Sunna. Further, “He who does not belong to Ahl as-Sunna is either a disbeliever or a man of bid’a.”[4]
If a person who carries out his ’ibâdât according to one of the four madhhabs commits sins, or if he makes any mistakes in his ’ibâdât, Allâhu ta’âlâ will forgive him and will never put him into Hell, if He wishes. He will torture him as much as his sins, if He wishes, but later he will be released from torture. Those who do not believe even one of the clear facts that must be believed in Islam, that is, that are heard even by ignoramuses, are called kâfirs (disbelievers) and will be subjected to eternal torture in Hell. There are two types of kâfirs: The kâfir with a holy book, and the kâfir without a holy book. If a Muslim abandons his religion, he is called a “murtadd” (renegade, apostate). Ibn ’Âbidîn (rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ) wrote in the subject on ‘people not to be married due to polytheism’: “Renegades, mulhids, zindîqs, fireworshippers, those members of one of the seventy-two groups who are as excessive as to become disbelievers, people called [Brahmins, Buddhists,] Bâtinîs, Ibâhatîs and Durzîs (Druzes), idolaters, the ancient Greek philosophers and munâfiqs are all disbelievers without holy books.” Communists and the freemasons also are disbelievers without holy books. Christians and Jews, who believe in revealed books which were later interpolated, are disbelievers with books.
If a disbeliever, with a holy book or without one, embraces Islam, he will escape going to Hell. He will become a sinless, innocent Muslim. But he has to become a Sunnî Muslim, that is, to read and learn the book of one of the ’ulamâ’ of Ahl as-Sunna and adapt his îmân, acts and words to what he thus learns. In the world it is understood from a person’s clear words and actions said and done without darûra (strong necessity or compulsion) if he is a Muslim or not. It becomes definite at a person’s last breath if he has gone to the next world with îmân. If a Muslim with grave sins repents for them, he or she will surely be forgiven and become a sinless, pure Muslim. It is explained in detail in ’ilm al-hâl books, for example, the book Endless Bliss, what repentance is and how it will be done.]
IMAN AND ISLAM
In this book, I’tiqâd-nâma, the Prophet’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) hadîth-i-sherîf telling of îmân and Islam will be explained. I hope that, through the blessing of this hadîth-i-sherîf, the faith of Muslims will be perfected, and thereby they will attain salvation and happiness. And I hope again that it will cause me, Khâlid, whose sins are so many, to be saved. May Allâhu ta’âlâ, in whom I have the beautiful belief that He needs nothing and that His favours and blessings are so plentiful, and who pities His slaves much, forgive this poor Khâlid, whose stock is so little and heart so black, for his unsuitable words, and accept his defective ’ibâdât. May He protect us against the evils of the deceitful, lying satan [and against being deceived by false, erroneous words and writings of the enemies of Islam] and make us happy! He is the Most Merciful of the merciful and the Most Generous of the generous.
The ’ulamâ’ of Islam said that every discreet male or female Muslim, who has reached the age of puberty, ought to know and believe in the as-Sifât adh-Dhâtiyya[5] and as-Sifât ath-Thubûtiyya[6] of Allâhu ta’âlâ correctly. It is this which is primarily obligatory (fard) for everybody. Not to know is not an excuse but a sin. Khâlid ibn Ahmad al-Baghdâdî write this book not to make a show of superiority and knowledge to others or to become famous, but to leave a reminder, a service behind. May Allâhu ta’âlâ help humble Khâlid[7] with His Power and through His Prophet’s blessed soul! Âmin.
Everything other than Allâhu ta’âlâ is called the ma-siwâ or ’âlam (the creation, the universe), which is called “nature” now. All creatures were nonexistent. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the One who has created them all. They all are mumkin (that may come into existence out of nonexistence) and hâdith (that came into being out of nothing); that is, they may come into existence while they are nonexistent, and they came into existence while they had been nonexistent. The hadîth-i-sherîf, ‘Allâhu ta’âlâ was existent, anything else did not exist,’ shows that this is true.
A second evidence showing that the entire universe and all creatures are hâdith is the fact that creatures are transforming and changing into one another all the time; in fact, anything qadîm (without a beginning) should never change. Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Dhât (Person, Essence) and Attributes are qadîm and never change.[8] The changes in creatures cannot be coming from the eternal past. They should have a beginning and come into existence from elements or substances, which must have been created out of nonexistence.
Another evidence for the fact that the universe is mumkin, that is, it may come into being out of nonexistence, is that creatures, as we see, are hâdith; that is, they come into existence out of nothing.
There are two beings: the mumkin and the Wâjib.[9] If only the mumkin existed, or if Wâjib al-wujûd did not exist, nothing would exist.[10] For this reason, the mumkin could not come into existence or go on being by itself. If some power had not affected it, it would have always remained in nonexistence and could not have come into existence. Since a mumkin could not create itself; it could not, naturally, create other mumkins, either. That which has created the mumkin has to be Wâjib al-wujûd. The existence of the ’âlam shows that a creator who created it out of nothing exists. So, the Unique Creator of all that are mumkin, the creatures, is the only Wâjib al-wujûd without being hâdith or mumkin, but always existent and qadîm (eternal). ‘Wâjib al-wujûd’ means that its existence is not from something else but from itself, that is, it is always self-existent and is not created by someone else. If this were not so, then it would have to be a creature (mumkin and hâdith) created by someone else. And this is contrary to what is deduced above. Persian ‘Khudâ’ (used as a name for Allah) means ‘always self-existent, eternal.’[11]
We see that the classes of beings are in an astounding order, and science finds out new laws of this order each year. The Creator of this order must be Hayy (Ever-living),’Alîm (All-knowing), Qâdir (Almighty), Murîd (All-willing), Samî’ (All-hearing), Basîr (All-seeing), Mutakallim (All-speaking) and Khâliq (All-creating)[12], for, death, ignorance, incapability or being disposed under others’ compulsion, deafness, blindness and dumbness are all defects, imperfections. It is impossible that such defective attributes be in Him who has created this ’âlam or kâ’inât (all beings) in such an order and who protects them against annihilation.[13] Moreover, we see the above attributes of perfection also in creatures. He has created them in His creatures. If these attributes did not exist in Him, how could He create them in His creatures, and would not His creatures be superior to Him?
We should also add that in Him who has created all these worlds of beings there should exist all the attributes of perfection and superiority and none of the attributes of deficiency, for, one defective cannot be creative
Let alone these reasonable evidences, âyat-i kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs explain clearly that Allâhu ta’âlâ has the attributes of perfection. Therefore, it is not permissible to doubt it. Doubt causes disbelief. The above-given eight attributes of perfection are called as-Sifât ath-Thubûtiyya. Allâhu ta’âlâ has all the eight attributes of perfection. There is no defect, disorder or change in His Person, Essence, Attributes or Deeds.
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ISLAM
With the aid of and the strength given by Allâhu ta’âlâ, who keeps all ’âlams in existence and gives all the favours and gifts and who never sleeps, now we begin to explain the blessed saying of our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam).
Our beloved superior Hadrat ’Umar ibn al-Khattâb (radî-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh), who was a gallant leader of Muslims, one of the highest of the Prophet’s Companions, and was famous for his truthfulness, said:
“It was such a day that a few of us, the Companions, were in the presence and service of Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam).” That day, that hour was so blessed, so precious a day that one could hardly have the chance to live it once again. On that day, it fell to his lot to be honoured with being in the Prophet’s company, near him, and to see his beautiful face, which was food for spirits and pleasure and comfort to souls. To emphasize the value, the honour of that day, he said, “It was such a day...” Could there be another time as honourable and precious as the one at which it fell to his lot to see Jabrâ’îl (Jibrîl, Archangel Gabriel, ’alaihi ’s-salâm) in the guise of a human being, to hear his voice and to hear the knowledge men needed as beautifully and clearly as possible through the blessed mouth of Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam)?
“That hour, a man came near us like the rising of the moon. His clothes were extremely white and his hair was very black. Signs of travel, such as dust or perspiration were not seen on him. None of us, the Companions of the Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam), recognized him, that is, he was not one of the people we had seen or known before. He sat down in the Presence of Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam). He placed his knees near the Prophet’s blessed knees.” This person, in the guise of a human figure, was the angel named Jabrâ’îl. Though his way of sitting seems to be incompatible with manners (âdâb), it showed us a very important fact that, in learning religious knowledge, there is no such thing as shyness, nor does pride or arrogance become a master. Hadrat Jabrâ’îl wanted to show the Prophet’s Companions that everybody should ask what he wanted to know about Islam freely from teachers without feeling shy, for there should not be shyness in learning the religion or embarrassment in paying, teaching or learning one’s debt to Allâhu ta’âlâ.
“That noble person put his hands on Rasûlullah’s (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) blessed knees. He asked Rasûlullah, ‘O Rasûl-Allâh! Tell me what Islam is and how to be a Muslim.’ ”
The literal meaning of ‘Islam’ is ‘to yield and submit.’ Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) explained that the word ‘islam’ was the name of the five basic pillars in Islam, as follows:
1. Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ alaihi wa sallam) said that the first of the five fundamentals of Islam was “to say the kalimat ash-shahâda”; that is, one should say,“Ash’hadu an lâ ilâha illa’llâh wa ash’hadu anna Muhammadan ’abdûhu wa rasûluhû.” In other words, a discreet person who has reached the age of puberty and who can talk has to say vocally, “On the earth or in the sky, there is no one but Allâhu ta’âlâ worthy of worship. The real being to be worshipped is Allâhu ta’âlâ alone. He is the Wâjib al-wujûd. Every kind of superiority exists in Him. No defect exists in Him. His name is Allah,” and to believe in this absolutely with all his heart. And also one should say and believe: “The exalted person who had a rose-pink skin, a white-reddish, bright and lovely face, black eyes and eye-brows; who had a blessed wide forehead, with a good temper; who shed no shadow on the ground, was soft-spoken and was called Arab because he was born in Mecca of Hashemite-descent, named Muhammad ibn ’Abdullah, is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s human slave (’abd) and messenger (rasûl).” The Prophet’s mother was Hadrat Âmina bint Wahab. He was born in Mekka [at the dawn of Monday, 20th of April, 571]. When he was forty, in the year called the ‘Bi’that’ year, he was informed that he was the Prophet. After this, he invited people to Islam for thirteen years in Mecca. Then he emigrated to Medina on the command of Allâhu ta’âlâ. There he spread Islam everywhere. Ten years later, he passed away in Medina on Monday 12, Rabî’ al-Awwal (July, 632).[14]
2. The second fundamental of Islam is “to perform the ritual prayer (namâz, salât) [five times a day in accordance with its conditions and fards] when the time for prayer comes.” It is fard for every Muslim to perform salât five times every day after each time of salât starts and to know that he or she performs it in due time. Performing it before its time by adapting wrong calendars prepared by ignoramuses or non-madhhabite people is a grave sin and such a salât is not sahîh. Such calendars also cause one to perform the initial sunna salât of early afternoon prayer and the fard salât of evening prayer in a makrûh time. The ritual prayer has to be performend paying attention to its fards, wâjibs and sunnas, submitting the heart to Allâhu ta’âlâ and before the due time is over. In the Qur’ân al-kerîm the ritual prayer is called ‘salât’. Salât means man’s praying, angel’s doing istighfâr, and Allâhu ta’âlâ’s having compassion and pitying. In Islam, salât means to do certain actions, to recite certain things as shown in ’ilm al-hâl books. Salât is started with the words ‘Allâhu akbar,’ called the ‘takbîr al-iftitâh,’ and said after raising the hands up to the ears till putting the hands under the navel (for men). It ends with the salâm by turning the head to the right and left shoulders at the end of the last sitting posture.
3. The third fundamental of Islam is “to give the zakât of one’s property.” The literal meaning of zakât is ‘purity, to praise, and become good and beautiful.’ In Islam, zakât means ‘for a person who has property of zakât more than he needs and at a certain amount called nisâb to separate a certain amount of his property and to give it to Muslims named in the Qur’ân al-kerîm without reproaching them.’ Zakât is given to seven kinds of people. There are four types of zakât in all of the four madhhabs: the zakât of gold and silver, the zakât of commercial goods, the zakât of the stock animals [sheep, goats and cattle] that graze in the fields for more than half a year, and the zakât of all kinds of substances of necessity issuing from the earth. This fourth type of zakât, called ’ushr, is given as soon as the crop is harvested. The other three are given one year after they reach the amount of nisâb.
4. The fourth fundamental of Islam is “to fast every day of the month of Ramadân.” Fasting is called ‘sawm.’ Sawm means to protect something against something else. In Islam, sawm means to protect oneself against three things [during the days] of the month of Ramadân, as they were commanded by Allâhu ta’âlâ: eating, drinking and sexual intercourse. The month of Ramadân begins upon seeing the new moon in the sky. It may not begin at the time calculated in calendars.
5. The fifth fundamental of Islam is “for the able person to perform the hajj(pilgrimage) once in his life.” For an able person who has money enough to go to and come back from the city of Mecca besides the property sufficient for the subsistence of his family he leaves behind until he comes back, it is fard to perform tawâf around the Ka’ba and to perform waqfa on the plain of ’Arafât, provided that the way will be safe and the body healthy, once in his lifetime.
“The person, upon hearing these answers from Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam), said, ‘O Rasûl-Allah! You told the truth.’ ” Hadrat ’Umar (radiy-Allâhu ’anh) said that of the Prophet’s Companions, the ones who were there were astonished at the behaviour of this person who asked a question and confirmed that the answer was correct. One asks with a view to learn what one does not know, but to say, “You told the truth,” indicates that one already knows it.
The highest of the five fundamentals listed above is to say the Kalimat ash-shahâda and believe its meaning. The next highest is to perform salât. Next to this is to fast. Then comes the pilgrimage. The last one is to give zakât. It is unanimously certain that kalimat ash-shahâda is the highest. About the sequence of the other four, most ’ulamâ’ said the same as we said above. Kalimat ash-shahâda became fard first, in the beginning of Islam. Salât five times a day became fard on the Mi’râj Night in the twelfth year of Bi’that, a year and some months before the Hegira. Fasting during Ramadân became fard in the month of Sha’bân, the second year of the Hegira. Giving zakât became fard in the month of Ramadân, in the same year when fasting became fard. And pilgrimage became fard in the ninth year of the Hegira.
If a person denies, disbelieves, refuses, makes fun of or flouts one of these five fundamentals of Islam, he becomes a disbeliever, may Allah protect us! Similarly, he who does not accept any of the things which are unanimously and clearly declared as halâl (permitted) or harâm (forbidden), or who says halâl for harâm or harâm for halâl, becomes a disbeliever. If a person denies or dislikes one of the inevitably known Islamic teachings, that is, teachings that are heard and known even by the common people living in Muslim countries, he becomes a disbeliever.[15] If an ordinary person does not know the teachings that are not so commonly spread or indispensable so as to be known by him, he is not in disbelief (kufr) but sinful (fisq).
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF IMAN
“This exalted person asked again, ‘O Rasûl-Allah! Now tell me what is îmân.’” Having asked what was Islam and the answer having been given, Hadrat Jabrâ’îl (’alaihi ’s-salâm) asked our master Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) to explain the essence and reality of îmân. Literally îmân means ‘to know a person to be perfect and truthful and to have faith in him.’ In Islâm, ’îmân’ means to believe the fact that Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Prophet; that he is the Nabî, the Messenger chosen by Him, and to say this with the heart; and to believe in brief what he transmitted briefly and to believe in detail what he transmitted in detail from Allâhu . ta’âlâ; and to say the Kalimat ash-shahâda whenever possible. Strong îmân is such that, as we know for certain that fire burns, serpents kill by poisoning and we avoid them, we should deem Allâhu ta’âlâ and His attributes great, be fully certain of this by heart, strive for his consent (ridâ’) and run to His beauty (jamâl), and beware of His wrath (ghadab) and torture (jalâl). We should write this îmân on the heart firmly like an inscription on marble.
Îmân and Islam are the same. In both, one is to believe the meaning of the Kalimat ash-shahâda. Though they differ in general and in particular, and have different literal meanings, there is no difference between them in Islam.
Is îmân one thing, or is it a combination of parts? If it is a combination, how many parts is it made of? Are deeds or ’ibâdât included in îmân or not? While saying, “I have îmân,” is it right to add “inshâ-Allah” or not? Is there littleness or muchness in îmân? Is îmân a creature? Is it within one’s power to believe, or have the Belie