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The Sealed Nectar

 The Sealed Nectar by Shaykh Safi ur-Rahman

It has become clear and self-evident that the battle between the Prophets and their adversaries was actually centered around this great pillar – the Tawhid of Allah, and singling Allah out with the entirety of worship acts. This battle was never about secondary juridical differences, or about elements of legal intricacies, or about an issue for independent judgment. Instead, we recognize that the laws of the Prophets themselves were numerous, each according to the time, place, and those addressed. That these laws were brought in order to organize peoples' lives in such a manner which sooner rather than later guaranteed their interests. The Prophets were, therefore, brothers; their religion – Tawheed – as was reported by the Messenger r was one even though their laws were somewhat different.

In this light, will not those who are concerned with the affairs of Islam become enlightened? Will they not renew the Call of the Prophets and their followers, and fight the same battles that the Prophet r fought? Will they not cease to preoccupy themselves with insignificant matters that distract them from the real issue? For surely, this great battle of truth against falsehood has been the concern of the reformers and renewers throughout history.

The battle which Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, for example, fought against his adversaries was first and foremost a battle of Tawhid. It was a war against every form of shirk in worship, against transgression, and misguidance. Similarly, the battle waged by Imam Muhammad bin `Abd al-Wahab, the renewer, was one against various forms of polytheism which had become rooted on the Arabian Peninsula. He invited the people to the worship of Allah Almighty alone and to abandon all forms of paganism and polytheism. His struggle was never about side issues or juridical differences. For this reason one cannot ascribe to Shaykh Muhammad bin `Abd al-Wahab, his followers, or students an independent school of jurisprudence. Their legal thought is the same as the Imams who preceded them. Thus, they always chose that which was closest to the evidence but never aspired to establish a fifth school of Fiqh, as some falsely claim.

And so while many people still collect the books of Shaykh Muhammad bin `Abd al-Wahab, read them, listen to, and even memorise them, some are nevertheless ignorant, or consciously ignore the real nature of the conflict which the Shaykh inspired. Indeed, many of those who profess knowledge and identify with the Islamic Call keep themselves busy in petty quarrels, lost in emptiness with those around them. They engross themselves with books, dissertations, and audiocassettes on secondary issues leading to time-consuming debates, big and small; refuting, rebuking and rebutting each other in issues that completely overwhelm them, producing nothing of benefit akin to an empty windmill! All of this relates to issues that are more often than not minor and where a difference of opinion is tolerated. These issues do not usually contain elements of absolute guidance or clear-cut misguidance. Instead, they invariably bear elements which are partially right and partially wrong. Possibly part of the right may be here while another part is somewhere else. And the issue should remain within these limits.

In this light we are obliged to express our concern about the share of the Tawhid of Uluhiyyah (maintaining the unity of Allah's worship and exclusivity of rule) amid these great efforts that are being expended. How many books do we possess on this subject? How many research papers? How many articles! How many discussions! How many cassettes concerning this matter?

Source: Al-‘Awdah, Salman, Thus taught the Prophets, Eden books, Alford, England, 1998

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