Contradiction Of Faith
Contradiction Of Faith
Contradiction is a form of denial: some types of contradiction may contradict the whole faith completely, and some may contradict some faith of a person, whose faith then becomes incomplete. A contradiction of faith comes in several forms:
1. A word of disbelief. Such as cursing Allah, the Prophet, or Islam, or by deriding religion generally.
2. An act of disbelief. Such as prostrating to images and idols, addressing prayers to someone other than Allah, or seeking to be ruled by other than Allah’s law.
3. A dogmatic disbelief. That is polytheism which contradicts monotheism. This is a tacit denial of faith, such as believing in the existence of another god, or the belief that someone other than Allah can answer our prayers, or that someone other than Allah can release us from calamities, or do us harm, or bring us benefit, or that someone other than Allah has knowledge of the Unseen.(47)
4. The denial of the Divine Names and Attributes of Allah,(48) or any part of the Revelation. This too is a denial of faith.
5. The ignorance and misunderstanding of the important meaning of La Ilaha Illallah (there is no god but Allah) or having contradictory belief to it. Such as believing that it means “nothing exists but Allah,” or that it means “there is no creating Lord but Allah,” or that it means “None had been worshipped but Allah.” This is the belief of those who claim that the worshipping of any idol leads to the Creator, because all
creation is one part in the Creator.The person who believes these things in ignorance is in need of instruction and guidance. In fact, the declaration of faith means that everything that is worshipped beside Allah or instead of Allah is falsehood.
6. The abandonment of La Ilaha Illallah (There is no god but Allah). That is to turn away from it, neither uttering it nor fulfilling its necessary conditions, but ignoring completely the obligations. That is failing to pray, to fast, or to pay zakat, or not making the pilgrimage even though there is nothing to prevent it. Nevertheless, one who does this will still rely on false wishes and expect that Allah will raise him up to the
highest rank of Paradise.
7. To be loyal to the enemies of Allah. To put oneself, of one’s own free will, under the protection of disbelievers, to subordinate oneself to them and to express loyalty to them while abandoning the Muslims is a kind of disbelief. Allah has said, “O you who have believed! Do not make allies of a people with whom
Allah has become angry with.” (60:13) Other forms of loyalty to disbelief are to seek guidance in the governance of public affairs exclusively in something other than what Allah has revealed, and the practice of the occult, including magic and fortune telling.(49)
8. Exaggeration in religion. This is one of the things that leads to the corruption of religious doctrines and to shirk (polytheism). Indeed, exaggeration and religious extremism are major sources of every fitnah,(50) and every deviation from the straight path. The Prophet said, “Keep away from exaggeration in religion, for certainly those who came before you were destroyed by exaggeration in religion,”(51) and he said, “Do not make wild claims about me, as they did about (Jesus) the son of Mary. I am only a servant of Allah, so say ‘Allah’s servant and His Messenger.”(52) enger.
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(47) al-Ghaib, the unseen or the unknown. Knowledge which Allah has revealed to no one, such as the
time of the Day of Resurrection (trans).
(48) al-'Asma` wa'l-Siffat - sometimes described as the “ names and attributes of Allah.” This refers to
the ways that Allah has described or named Himself in the revelation (trans).
(49) The first of these, to govern by something other than what Allah has revealed, is to express loyalty
to human intellect in preference to the divine wisdom of Allah, the second is to give one's loyalty
to the forces of darkness, to ally oneself with the world of the unseen (trans).
(50) The word fitnah is used for different meanings.
(51) Al-Nasa’i, Kitab al-Hajj, 5:268.
(52) Bukhari, 6: 478.
