Part 38

119 In the Saying of Allaah, the Most High, "then Allaah has no need of him or of any of the creation" there is a proof that whoever abandons performance of hajj, from those able to perform it, is guilty of kufr (infidelity). However it is kufr (infidelity) which does not take a person out of the Religion according to the saying of the majority of the scholars, due to the saying of' Abdullaah ibn Shaqeeq, "The Companions of Allaah's Messenger had not used to regard the abandonment of any action to be infidelity, except for (abandonment of) the Prayer" [Reported by atTirmidhee, and declared sahih by Shaykh al-Albaanee in sahih Sunan atTirmidhee (no.2114)]. The second level: [120] Eemaan [121] - and it has seventy and odd [122] branches, [123] the highest of them is the saying that 'none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah' (laa ilaaha illallaah), the lowest of them is removal of that which is harmful [124] from the path, and a sense of shame (al-hayaa) [125] is a branch of eemaan. ________________________________________________________________________ second level of the Religion. Eemaan in the Arabic language means: attestation/belief (at-tasdeeq) and in the Sharee'ah it means: "Certain Faith in the heart, speech of the tongue and action of the parts of the body; and it has seventy and odd branches." ‘and odd’ (bid'uri) means: an un-stated number between three and nine. i.e. parts. I.e. removal of rocks and thorns, scrap and rubbish, and that which gives off an offensive smell, and all that causes harm to those who pass by. Sense of shame {al-hayaa) is something which is experienced when one is embarrassed and prevents a person from doing that which is contrary to good manners. Then the way in which the words of the author, that eemaan consists of seventy and odd branches is harmonised with the fact that eemaan has six pillars is to say: Eemaan which is ones creed and belief ('aqeedah), has six fundamentals. These are what are mentioned in the hadith of Jibreel, 'alayhis-salaam, when he asked the Prophet about Eemaan, and he replied: "Eemaan is that you truly believe in A llaah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day, and that you truly believe in pre-decree (al-qadr), the good and the evil of it" [Reported by al-Bukhaaree (Eng. transl. l/42/no.47) and Muslim (Eng. transl. 1/ 12/no. 1)]. As for the eemaan which covers actions and their various types and different kinds, then it has seventy and odd branches. Therefore Allaah, the Most High, called the Prayer (Salaat) eemaan in His Saying, "And Allaah will not cause your eemaan (i.e. your Prayers) to be lost and to go unrewarded." [surah al-Baqarah (2): 143] The scholars of tafseer (explanation of the Qur'aan) say that it means: your Prayers towards Jerusalem, since before the Companions were commanded to turn towards the ka 'bah they used to pray towards Jerusalem. Its pillars are six: to truly believe in Allaah; [126] ________________________________________________________________________ Eemaan in Allaah comprises four matters: (1) Belief in the existence of Allaah, the Most High. The existence of Allaah, the Most High, is proven by: (i) the natural disposition, (ii) the intellect, (iii) the Revelation, and, (iv) what is experienced and perceived. (i) As for the proof of the natural disposition for His existence: then every created being is created upon the natural disposition of belief in its Creator, without any previous thought or education. No one turns away from this natural disposition except when his heart is taken over by that which will turn him away from it, as he said, '"Every child is born upon the natural disposition (al-fitrah), then his parents change him into a Jew, or a Christian, or a Magian " [Reported by alBukhaaree (Eng. transl. 2/262/no.467)]. (ii) As for the proof of the intellect (al- 'aql) for the existence of Allaah, the Most High, it is due to the fact that all these created things, the earlier ones and the later ones, must have a Creator who brought them into being, since it is not possible for any being to create itself, nor that it should just appear by chance without a cause. It is not possible for anything to bring itself into existence since something cannot create itself; this is because before its existence it did not exist, so how could it be a creator?! Nor is it possible that it just appeared by chance without a cause, this is because everything coming into existence must have someone that brought it into existence. Furthermore this astounding arrangement and harmonious order, and the coherence between the causes and their effects and between all that exists makes it impossible that it all came into existence randomly and without a cause. When there is something which comes about randomly having no order at the root of its existence, then how can it exist and remain in a state of order and arrangement, and how can it develop in such a state?!