Part 2

Therefore, facing all these aspects, a lot of questions are raised and need to

be answered according to the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger and

the scholars. Among these questions:

• What is a Muslim?

• Who should he associate himself with?

• Who should he disassociate himself from?

• What is the ruling of those who ally with the disbelievers?

• What is the ruling of Islam with regard to the intellectual ideologies

adopted by some people from our Ummah who speak our

language and spread these ideologies?

• How can we ally and help the Muslims who are oppressed and

killed all over the world today by the disbelievers and the powers

• What is the way for salvation from the materialistic slavery of the

These issues are raised because the real meaning and application of

Tawhid is absent from everyday life of Muslims. It is so distorted that so many

people think that the confirmation of Rububiyyah (Unity of Lordship) is enough

for them to become Muwahhidun, without having to confirm Uluhiyyah (Unity

Real Tawhid consists of the Unity of Lordship and Unity of Worship, it is

part of the doctrine of Walaʹ and Baraʹ. May Allah have mercy upon Sheikh

Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab who said:

"Islam of a man can never be accepted, even if he abandons polytheism,

unless he shows enmity towards the disbelievers and polytheists, as Allah

says in Surat al‐Mujaʹdilah, verse: 22,

"You will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last

Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His

Messenger, even though they were their fathers, or their sons, or

their brothers, or their kindred (people)"" 3

Therefore, putting in my mind all these issues and determining to serve

Islam, and exposing evil and unveiling the truth, I have decided to write this

book which I named, Al‐Walaʹ Wal Baraʹ In Islam, knowing, before hand, that I

cannot fully cover all aspects of the subject, because of the lack of materials.

However, I did my best to reach a satisfying result by Allahʹs Help.

Finally, I would like to thank my teacher Sheikh Muhammad Qutb for his

advice and guidance in completing this work.

Our Lord! Do not punish us if we forget or fall into error, our Lord! Lay

not on us such a burden as You did lay on those before us; our Lord! Impose not

on us that which we have not the strength to bear. Pardon us, grant us

forgiveness, and have mercy on us. You are our Protector, and give us victory

Muhammad Ibn Saeed Ibn Saalim Al‐Qahtaani

In order to approach the subject of al‐walaʹ waʹl‐baraʹ from a correct

Islamic perspective we should consider three fundamental points: firstly, the

essence of Islam is contained in the words ʹThere is no god but Allah,

Muhammad is the Messenger of Allahʹ; secondly, al‐walaʹ waʹ1‐baraʹ are

essential elements relating to this declaration of faith; and thirdly, shirk,

hypocrisy, apostasy and disbelief all contradict this declaration of faith.

Our intention is to attempt to provide a working definition of Islam and of

whatever contradicts it. We will discuss the principles of al‐walaʹ waʹ1‐baraʹ and

the role that they play in the lives of the Muslims. Al‐walaʹ waʹ1‐baraʹ are part of

ʹaqeedah, so our discussion must also consider its basis, that is the nature of

Divine Unity, or tawhid. A correct understanding of this is necessary in order

to enable us to choose our friends and identify our enemies in an informed and

correct manner. It would be absurd to imagine that our ʹaqeedah did not offer us

guidance in this respect. We will likewise consider the mission of the Messenger

of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and the impact it had on the

course of human history; how as a result of his call a great civilisation was born

which elevated all Muslims in stature only because they declared their belief in

their Lord, in their deen and in their Prophet. It is worth remembering that this

call was raised at a time when humanity was in deepest ignorance and most

profound error, and that they were awakened by it and brought back from death:

"Is he who was dead and We have raised him to life, and set for him a

light in which he walks among men, the same as he who is in utter

darkness from which he cannot emerge?" (6:122)

Miqdad ibn al‐Aswad 4 describes the conditions under which the Sahaba

were living at this time in this account related by Abu Naʹim in al‐Hilyyah:

"By Allah, none of the previous prophets was sent into more difficult

conditions than the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant

him peace. His was a time of profound weakness and ignorance when

4One of the early converts to Islam. He was a cavalryman at Badr and died in 33 AH. Some have

said that he was seventy when he lived in a place called Jarf about three miles from Madinah,

where he was taken to be buried.

people could not have imagined the existence of a religion better than that

of the worship of idols.

ʹThe Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came with

the means to sever truth from falsehood, and to sever a father from his

son; for when a man whose heart Allah had filled with faith saw that his

father, son or brother were disbelievers, he would find no pleasure in

seeing them, knowing that whoever enters the Fire will be destroyed. This

"Our Lord! Grant us the comfort of our wives and of our

Allah describes the nature of this Ignorance in the Qurʹan while at the

same time reminding the Muslims of His having guided them to the right path:

"And hold fast, all of you together, to the rope of Allah, and do not

separate. And remember Allahʹs favour to you: how you were enemies

and He made friendship between your hearts so that you became like

brothers by His grace; and (how) you were upon the brink of an abyss

of fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allah makes clear His signs to

you, that perhaps you may be guided." (3:103)

"When the Sahaba were shown the meaning of Ignorance and then that of

Islam, they abandoned ignorance completely. This was the effect that the

formative influence of the Qurʹan and their personal contact with the

Prophet had on them. They were the greatest generation in the history of

this mission. What was the secret of this grandeur about which we have

all heard and read so much? Their legendary stature seems dreamlike

compared to the abysmal depths to which we have now sunk. These

people threw out everything from the Ignorance of the past when they

entered Islam. They had embarked on an epic journey, leaving behind

them a short‐sighted, feeble minded world ‐ a world filled with

oppression, humiliation and the worship of money ‐ for a life full of

5Abu Naʹim, Hilyyat al‐ʹAwliyaahʹ, 1/175. It is also mentioned in Hayyat as‐Sahabah , 1/241. I

have also heard that at‐Tabarani mentions two very similar reports, one of which contains Yahya

b. Saalih in its isnad. Ath‐Thahabi confirms this, discusses it and says that its reporters are all

reliable, or sahih. This is what al‐Haythami has said in his Majmauʹ az‐Zawaaʹid, 6/17.

possibilities, shining with the light of Allah; for a world of profound

insight and vision that gave men the confidence to rise above the worship

of created things and to worship only Allah." 6

Declaration of Faith and the Key to Success

The declaration of faith, ʹThere is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the

Messenger of Allahʹ, is the key to success and the point of departure from which

the Prophet began, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. These

words broke all bonds and severed all ties except those of faith, of love for the

sake of Allah, and of brotherhood in His cause: ties that transcend all

considerations of race, class, nationality, caste and colour.

Imam Muslim reports from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet, may Allah

bless him and grant him peace, said:

"Allah will say on the Day of Resurrection, ʺWhere are those who love

each other only for my sake? Today they will take shelter in My shadow

and there is no other shadow today but Mine."" 7

Umar ibn al‐Khattab reports that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and

ʺIndeed among the servants of Allah are people who are neither

prophets nor martyrs themselves but whose place both prophets and

martyrs will envy on that Day.ʺ Those who were with him asked, ʺO

Messenger of Allah, tell us who they are.ʺ He said, ʺThey are those who

loved each other for the sake of Allah though there was no bond of

kinship between them and no thought of gain. By Allah, their faces

shine with light. They are bathed in light. When men take fright they

fear not. When men are struck with sadness they feel no sorrow.ʺ Then

ʺMost surely the friends of Allah are (those) who have no fear

and who do not grieve.ʺ (10:62).

6Sayid Qutb, Milestones, p. 16, Arabic Edition, Shorouk

7Sahih Muslim, Kitab al‐Burj, (2566); also Musnad, Imam Ahmad, 16/192, (8436); and al‐

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, stayed in Makkah

for thirteen years calling people to this ʹaqeedah and planting it firmly in the

hearts of the Muslim community until its effects began to be reflected in their

actions and in their unceasing struggle to spread the word of Allah throughout

the world. It was also to serve as the foundation of the nation established by the

There is an urgent need to speak about this issue again, and to repeat the

correct Islamic understanding of it, now that many people have come to

misunderstand the pure ʹaqeedah that the Messenger of Allah brought us. For

the great mass of people today the declaration of faith is little more than an

empty phrase. They do not reflect on its meaning, consider its significance or

sense any of the commitment that it entails. Worse still, the problem is not only

confined to the meaning of the kalima, but also extends to the Qurʹan and the

Sunnah too, as people skim through these to find support for their own opinions

while ignoring the work of the ulama, the commentaries on the hadith, and the

tafsir of the Qurʹan. Such people think they have no need of scholars, past or