Worship: Gateway to Tawheed. . . and Takfeer

By Farhan Siddiqi

Why this book?

Worship is the most important relationship an individual can have with his creator. It is the single action that defines his Islam, so why is a discussion of it so convoluted? This treatise is meant to help clarify this link between us and our lord and how to help define where many have fallen astray in how to truly understand what it is and what it means.

Dr. Hatim ash Sharif eloquently and concisely presents and defends his argument using classical examples to support his claim. This is one of the most influential discussions of such a pivotal concept in the religion of Islam and should serve as a means of clarifying any shortcomings concerning it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Farhan Siddiqi
• Release date: Oct 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463654514

Book preview

Worship: Gateway to Tawheed. . . and to Takfeer

By: Dr. Hatim ibn Arif ash Sharif

Translated by: Farhan Siddiqi

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Translator’s Introduction

All praise is due to Allah, we seek from Him guidance in this world and ask Him to bless us with his paradise in the next, for He has unrestricted ability, while ours is finite. 

This article¹⁰ is one that I found to be one of the most eye-opening discussions on the issue of worship I have come across in my studies. For me it was a complete paradigm shift in how to approach tawheed¹¹, belief, disbelief, takfeer¹², rububiyyah¹³, and most obviously: worship. 

It also served as a severe blow to all extremist understandings of the reality of worship and the general misunderstanding of ‘Aqeedah’¹⁴. 

We hope with this translation for the eyes of the Muslims to be opened, just as mine were. We also hope it serves as a means for guidance, tolerance, and true understanding between the Muslims as a whole. Finally, it is our desire that it presents a correct portrayal of where our belief actually lies and the effect of it on others.

Lastly, this piece will be added as an addendum to Dr. Hatim’s piece on Expulsion of those Who Make the Two Testimonies of Faith from Islam, when the translation becomes available, inshallah.

We ask Allah to bless us and make this a ways to seek his nearness and pleasure. Ameen.

Farhan Siddiqi

Fords, NJ, USA

6/24/1439

Introduction

Whenever we mention the term worship we immediately think of the most important relationship a human can have with his creator, the most honored and praised. It is the reason that mankind and jinn exist, 

((وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ))

((I created jinn and mankind only to worship Me)) (51:56)

So what is this worship? That action that we use to be able to actualize tawheed; the single greatest action creation can perform, with which the greatest of human error can be prevented: namely, shirk.

And what is worship? It is through understanding and identifying its meaning can we differentiate the monotheistic believer and the polytheist disbeliever.

It is with this crucial idea in mind that we analyze the meaning of worship.