Distortion (Tahreef)

Namely, to distort the intended or apparent meaning through false interpretation, change or alteration. An example is the alteration of the wordings of the names and attributes, by adding to them, subtracting from them or changing the grammatical constructions. For example, the verse:

“And Allah spoke directly to Moses” [Soorah An-Nisaa (4): Aayah 163].

The Arabic word Allah was changed to the accusative case making Allah the object in the sentence according to the deviants to indicate that Moses spoke to Allah, thereby negating Allah’s attribute of talking.

The safest method to use in order to avoid distortion is the method of the early generations of Muslims (as-salaf). They confirmed the attributes which Allah had confirmed for Himself and which His Prophet (peace be upon him) had confirmed for Him, without distorting interpretation nor making comparisons that are unbefitting of the Majesty and Oneness of Allah. We affirm the attributes mentioned in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah, such as the face, the two hands, the occupation of the Throne, the descent to the lower heaven, anger, pleasure, and so on, without comparing them to human attributes or interpreting them in a way that leads to their being negated. We reiterate what Imam Ash-Shaafi’i (May Allah have mercy upon him) said:

“I believe in Allah and in what revelation tells about Him, in the manner He intended, and I believe in the Messenger of Allah, and in what was related about the Messenger of Allah, in the manner that He intended.” (Ar-Rawdah An-Niddiyyah, pg. 25)

Comparison or Likening (Tashbeeh and Tamtheel)

Comparing or likening the attributes of the creator to the attributes of the created such as the Christians who believe Christ the son of Mary to be Allah the Exalted and possess His abilities, the Jews who compared Uzair to Allah, the polytheists who likened their idols to Allah. Some sects compared the face of Allah with the human face, Allah’s hand to the human hand, His hearing to human hearing, and so on.

When we say that Allah has life, it must be understood that:

1. There is no metaphor here, i.e., that His life is real
2. That this is an attribute of perfection as opposed to
3. That His life is not in any way like our living

Likewise, we believe that He has two hands because He mentioned this in the Qur’aan. But we believe that there is absolutely no resemblance between His hands and His creatures’ hands.

The Messenger (peace be upon him) said:

Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven and He calls: “Is there anyone asking for forgiveness? I will forgive him. Is there anyone asking for anything? I will give him. Is there anyone repenting? I will accept his repentance.” And He continues to say this until dawn. (Muslim)

We therefore believe that He descends every night to the lowest heaven, but that His descending is unlike that of His creatures and that it does not involve moving from one place to another. Even as He descends, He continues to be above heavens and above the throne (al-‘arsh). To believe otherwise would be implying that Allah could in some way be contained within the creation which He has stated is not possible and it would be likening it to the descent of His creation. Allah has many other attributes mentioned in the Qur’aan or the hadeeth such as highness, that He is above the heavens, that He laughs, that He becomes wrathful, etc.

Tawheed is the essence of Islam and the mainspring of its strength. All other laws, beliefs and commands of Islam stand firm on this foundation. If you take it away there is nothing left of Islam.Tawheed is the call of all the prophets to their people.

And verily We have sent among every nation a Messenger proclaiming Worship Allah Alone and avoid all false deities. (Quraan 16:36)

Fulfilling tawheed is the purpose of man’s life.

And I created not the Jinns and Men except that they should worship Me. (Soorah Adh-Dhaariyaat Aayah 56).

The word Soorah (pronounced soo-rah) refers to one of the 114 chapters of the Quraan and Aayah (pronounced eye-ya) refers to a verse within the chapter. The plural of Soorah is suwar and the plural of aayah is aayaat. The word Jinn here refers to a separate type of creation that live and die, have families, believe and disbelieve like men but who are fundamentally of a different physical and psychological nature. They are sometimes referred to in popular western writing as genies and they do possess certain abilities and attributes beyond that of humans. They are mentioned in several places in the Quraan and the authentic hadeeth.

By declaring sincere belief in tawheed, a disbeliever will become a Muslim. Conversely, a Muslim will become a disbeliever (kaafir) if he rejects any aspect of it.

By tawheed, we achieve salvation from Eternal punishment in the Hereafter, right guidance in this world, and forgiveness for sins. Allah states in the Quraan:

Verily Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him (shirk) however He forgives all other sins as He pleases. (Soorah An-Nisaa, Aayah 48).

The Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:

The worshippers right on Allah is that He will not punish those who worship none besides Him. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

(Al-Bukhaari and Muslim are the compilers of the two most authentic collections of hadeeth in existence Ed.)

Whoever fulfills tawheed will be admitted to the Garden (Al-Jannah) in the Hereafter. The Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has stated:

Verily Allah has promised that whosoever does not commit shirk shall enter Al-Jannah (the Garden in the Heaven). [Al-Bukhari)]

It is the way to relieve peoples’ sadness because true happiness can be achieved if persons realize tawheed within their hearts. They will also never feel psychologically enslaved even if physically captive.

It is the only reason for Allah’s pleasure and rewards. In another aayah in the Quraan Allah says:

If you reject faith then know that Allah is in no need of you and He does not accept disbelief from His slaves. (Quraan 39:7)

Disbelief is nothing but a manifestation of shirk which is the opposite of tawheed. That is, one who disbelieves almost inevitably breaches some matter of tawheed. All those who commit shirk (called mushrikoon and pronounced moosh-rick-coon) are disbelievers (called kuffaar pronounced koo-far the singular being kaafir).

The acceptance of all of ones religious deeds is based upon tawheed. Allah states:

Whoever accepts a religion other than Islam it shall be rejected by Allah and in the Hereafter he will be among the losers. (Soorah Aali-’Imraan Aayah 85).

Islam is indeed the embodiment of the belief in tawheed.

Tawheed prevents man from eternally remaining in the Hellfire. The Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.) stated in an authentic report:

Whoever dies and has so much as a mustard seed of faith in his heart shall enter Al-Jannah.

Faith here signifies a correct belief in Allah and His Messenger Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and all that they instructed, commanded and prohibited for mankind.

Tawheed can actually be termed a type of science that is based upon principles, rules and evidence. It has been actually categorized into specific divisions by Muslim scholars for the purpose of clarity and in-depth study. Tawheed is primarily understood through a careful reading of the Quraan and the hadeeth. Additionally, the scholars of Islam also look to the understanding and implementation of what was found in the Qur’aan and the Sunnah among the closest and devoted companions of the Prophet (may Allah be pleased with them all). In other words, if any issue is unclear or in dispute they often look to the men and women who were closest to the sources to settle it.This tradition and methodology is carried on until this day by all scholars of merit among Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaa’ah or the People of the Sunnah and The Community. They constitute the main body of Muslims and are commonly known as the Sunni Muslims. The common connotation of this name is that it merely distinguishes this group from other sects known as Muslims such as the Sheeah or Shiites, Ismailis (followers of the Agha Khan) and others. However, the name Ahlus-Sunnah more specifically denotes that they look to the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) and they are united upon their truth, agree to it and adhere to its commands and prohibitions and they do not split into sects based upon the whims of individuals.

The necessity of development of the science of tawheed came due to the entrance into Islam of people from a wide range of cultures and along with them ideas alien to the pure teachings of Islam about the Creator. They sometimes brought along with them misconceptions that were remnants of their former faiths. Islam spread into lands and territories far from the Arabian Peninsula that had long been under influence of ancient cultures and religious beliefs. Converts from these lands began to express themselves in writings and discussions wherein many philosophical concepts of God entered and consequently led to confusion. Indeed, others fell prey to such deviations due to spiritual corruption, lack of sincerity and general ignorance. There were others who intentionally sought to undermine Islamic teachings in order to destroy it internally when they had failed to do so externally. This group was especially dangerous because of their efforts to spread their deviations among the masses of Muslims.

In the initial stages of the spread of some of these ideas, the Islamic leadership was strong and the Muslim people were closer to Islamic principles. Indeed many of the Prophet’s companions (may Allah be pleased with them) and their students were present. The rulers dealt with the people who were openly heretical, very harshly, and thus their influence was limited and known as clear deviance. This situation however, deteriorated over time when the number of the Muslims greatly rose and the rulers became less concerned with the protection of religion. This led to a situation where heretical ideas began to spread and the punishment or even of apostates was no longer used to stem the tide of heresy. Muslim scholars rose to meet the challenge of these heretical ideas intellectually and devised methods to systematically oppose the incorrect and deviated philosophies and concepts. They used principles derived from the Qur’aan and authentic Sunnah in defense of the pure Islamic creed and arrived upon the basic categories of tawheed used to this day. It is not something that began in the last 200 or 300 years as some claim who oppose these divisions of tawheed. They do so because they fall into the same historical factions mentioned above. Each category is actually intertwined and at times they overlap, therefore each must be believed in or one cannot be said to have complete belief in tawheed.

Before his mission as a prophet, Muhammad  had no financial worries.  As a successful and reputed merchant, Muhammad  drew a satisfactory and comfortable income.  After his mission as a prophet and because of it, he became worse off materially.  To clarify this more, let us browse the following sayings on his life:

n  Aa’isha, Muhammad’s  wife, said, “O my nephew, we would sight three new moons in two months without lighting a fire (to cook a meal) in the Prophet’s  houses.”  Her nephew asked, “O Aunt, what sustained you?”  She said, “The two black things, dates and water, but the Prophet  had some Ansar neighbors who had milk-giving she-camels and they used to send the Prophet  some of its milk.”¹

n  Sahl Ibn Sa’ad, one of Muhammad’s  companions, said, “The Prophet of God  did not see bread made from fine flour from the time God sent him (as a prophet) until he died.”²

n  Aa’isha, Muhammad’s  wife, said, “The mattress of the Prophet , on which he slept, was made of leather stuffed with the fiber of the date-palm tree.”³

n  Amr Ibn Al-Hareth, one of Muhammad’s  companions, said that when the Prophet  died, he left neither money nor anything else except his white riding mule, his arms, and a piece of land which he left to charity.⁴

Muhammad  lived this hard life till he died although the Muslim treasury was at his disposal, the greater part of the Arabian Peninsula was Muslim before he died, and the Muslims were victorious after eighteen years of his mission.

Is it possible that Muhammad  might have claimed prophethood in order to attain status, greatness, and power?  The desire to enjoy status and power is usually associated with good food, fancy clothing, monumental palaces, colorful guards, and indisputable authority.  Do any of these indicators apply to Muhammad ?  A few glimpses of his life that may help answer this question follow.

Despite his responsibilities as a prophet, a teacher, a statesman, and a judge, Muhammad  used to milk his goat,⁵ mend his clothes, repair his shoes,⁶ help with the household work,⁷ and visit poor people when they got sick.⁸  He also helped his companions in digging a trench by moving sand with them.⁹  His life was an amazing of simplicity and humbleness.

Muhammad’s  followers loved him, respected him, and trusted him to an amazing extent.  Yet he continued to emphasize that deification should be directed to God and not to him personally.  Anas, one of Muhammad’s  companions, said that there was no person whom they loved more than the Prophet Muhammad , yet when he came to them, they did not stand up for him because he d their standing up for him,¹⁰ as other people do with their great people.

Long before there was any prospect of success for Islam and at the outset of a long and painful era of , suffering, and persecution of Muhammad  and his followers, he received an interesting offer.  An envoy of the pagan leaders, Otba, came to him saying, “…If you want money, we will collect enough money for you so that you will be the richest one of us.  If you want leadership, we will take you as our leader and never decide on any matter without your approval.  If you want a kingdom, we will crown you king over us…”  Only one concession was required from Muhammad  in return for that, to give up calling people to Islam and worshipping God alone without any partner.  Wouldn’t this offer be tempting to one pursuing worldly benefit?  Was Muhammad  hesitant when the offer was made?  Did he turn it down as a bargaining strategy leaving the door open for a better offer?  The following was his answer: {In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful}  And he recited to Otba the verses of the Quran 41:1-38.¹¹  The Following are some of these verses:

 A revelation from (God), the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful; a Book whereof the verses are explained in detail; a Quran in Arabic, for people who know, giving good news and warning, yet most of them turn away, so they do not listen.  (Quran, 41:2-4)

On another occasion and in response to his uncle’s plea to stop calling people to Islam, Muhammad’s  answer was as decisive and sincere: {I swear by the name of God, O Uncle!, that if they place the sun in my right-hand and the moon in my left-hand in return for giving up this matter (calling people to Islam), I will never desist until either God makes it triumph or I perish defending it.}¹²

Muhammad  and his few followers did not only suffer from persecution for thirteen years but the unbelievers even tried to kill Muhammad  several times.  On one occasion they attempted to kill him by dropping a large boulder, which could barely be lifted, on his head.¹³  Another time they tried to kill him by poisoning his food.¹⁴  What could justify such a life of suffering and sacrifice even after he was fully triumphant over his adversaries?  What could explain the humbleness and nobility which he demonstrated in his most glorious moments when he insisted that success is due only to God’s help and not to his own genius?  Are these the characteristics of a power-hungry or a self-centered man?

n  When the unbelievers in Makkah asked the Prophet Muhammad  to show them a miracle, he showed them the splitting of the moon.¹

n  Another miracle was the flowing of water through Muhammad’s  fingers when his companions got thirsty and had no water except a little in a vessel.  They came to him and told him that they had no water to make ablution nor to drink except for what was in the vessel.  So, Muhammad  put his hand in the vessel, and the water started gushing out between his fingers.  So, they drank and made ablution.  They were one thousand five hundred companions.²

There were also many other miracles that were performed by him or which happened to him.

In Deuteronomy 18, Moses stated that God told him: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.  If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).¹

From these verses we conclude that the prophet in this prophecy must have the following three characteristics:

1)  That he will be like Moses.

2)  That he will come from the brothers of the Israelites, i.e. the Ishmaelites.

3)  That God will put His words in to the mouth of this prophet and that he will declare what God commands him.

Let us examine these three characteristics in more depth:

1)  A prophet like Moses:

There were hardly any two prophets who were so much alike as Moses and Muhammad .  Both were given a comprehensive law and code of life. Both encountered their enemies and were victorious in miraculous ways.  Both were accepted as prophets and statesmen.  Both migrated following conspiracies to assassinate them.  Analogies between Moses and Jesus overlook not only the above similarities but other crucial ones as well.  These include the natural birth, the family life, and of Moses and Muhammad  but not of Jesus.  Moreover Jesus was regarded by his followers as the Son of God and not exclusively as a prophet of God, as Moses and Muhammad  were and as Muslims believe Jesus was.  So, this prophecy refers to the Prophet Muhammad  and not to Jesus, because Muhammad  is more like Moses than Jesus.

Also, one notices from the Gospel of John that the Jews were waiting for the fulfillment of three distinct prophecies.  The first was the coming of Christ.  The second was the coming of Elijah.  The third was the coming of the Prophet.  This is obvious from the three questions that were posed to John the Baptist: “Now this was John’s testimony, when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.  He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.”  They asked him, “Then who are you?  Are you Elijah?”  He said, “I am not.”  “Are you the Prophet?”  He answered, “No.” (John 1:19-21).  If we look in a Bible with cross-references, we will find in the marginal notes where the words “the Prophet” occur in John 1:21, that these words refer to the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18:18.²  We conclude from this that Jesus Christ is not the prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:18.

2) From the brothers of the Israelites:

Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac (Genesis 21).  Ishmael became the grandfather of the Arab nation, and Isaac became the grandfather of the Jewish nation.  The prophet spoken of was not to come from among the Jews themselves, but from among their brothers, i.e. the Ishmaelites.  Muhammad , a descendant of Ishmael, is indeed this prophet.

Also, Isaiah 42:1-13 speaks of the servant of God, His “chosen one” and “messenger” who will bring down a law.  “He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth.  In his law the islands will put their hope.” (Isaiah 42:4).  Verse 11, connects that awaited one with the descendants of Kedar.  Who is Kedar?  According to Genesis 25:13, Kedar was the second son of Ishmael, the ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad .

3) God will put His words in the mouth of this prophet:

The words of God (the Holy Quran) were truly put into Muhammad’s  mouth.  God sent the Angel Gabriel to teach Muhammad  the exact words of God (the Holy Quran) and asked him to dictate them to the people as he heard them.  The words are therefore not his own.  They did not come from his own thoughts, but were put into his mouth by the Angel Gabriel.  During the life time of Muhammad , and under his supervision, these words were then memorized and written by his companions.

Also, this prophecy in Deuteronomy mentioned that this prophet will speak the words of God in the name of God.  If we looked to the Holy Quran, we will find that all its chapters, except Chapter 9, are preceded or begin with the phrase, “In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”

Another indication (other than the prophecy in Deuteronomy) is that Isaiah ties the messenger connected with Kedar with a new song (a scripture in a new language) to be sung to the Lord (Isaiah 42:10-11).  This is mentioned more clearly in the prophecy of Isaiah: “and another tongue, will he speak to this people” (Isaiah 28:11 KJV).  Another related point, is that the Quran was revealed in sections over a span of twenty-three years.  It is interesting to compare this with Isaiah 28 which speaks of the same thing, “For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there.” (Isaiah 28:10).

Note that God has said in the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18, “If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” (Deuteronomy, 18:19).  This means that whoever believes in the Bible must believe in what this prophet says, and this prophet is the Prophet Muhammad .

 And if you are in doubt about what We have revealed (the Quran) to Our worshiper (Muhammad ), then produce a chapter like it, and call your witnesses (supporters and helpers) besides God if you are truthful.  And if you do not do it, and you can never do it, then fear the Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones.  It has been prepared for disbelievers.  And give good news (O Muhammad) to those who believe and do good deeds, that for them are gardens (Paradise) in which rivers flow…. (Quran, 2:23-25)

Ever since the Quran was revealed, fourteen centuries ago, no one has been able to produce a single chapter like the chapters of the Quran in their beauty, eloquence, splendor, wise legislation, true information, true prophecy, and other perfect attributes.  Also, note that the smallest chapter in the Quran (Chapter 108) is only ten words, yet no one has ever been able to meet this challenge, then or today.¹  Some of the disbelieving Arabs who were enemies of the Prophet Muhammad  tried to meet this challenge to prove that Muhammad  was not a true prophet, but they failed to do so.²  This failure was despite the fact that the Quran was revealed in their own language and dialect and that the Arabs at the time of Muhammad  were a very eloquent people who used to compose beautiful and excellent poetry, still read and appreciated today.