"It is said above that it is possible (Wiz) to see Allahu twain with the eyes in this world. Then why should a person who says something happened whic

Question: "It is said above that it is possible (Wiz) to see Allahu twain with the eyes in this world. Then why should a person who says something happened which is possible be a zindiq'! If a person who says so becomes a disbeliever, can it be said to he possible" Answer: in its literal meaning 'ja'iz' means 'possible to happen or not.' But to the madhhab of al-Ash'ari [Abu 'Hasan 'Ali ibn [isma'il, passed away in Baghdad in 330 (941 A.D.)] the possibility of ru'ya means that Allahu ta'ala is capable of creating in man quite a different sense for seeing in this world, different from seeing closely or face to face with Him, and different from seeing through the physical laws He created in this world. For example, He is able, so it is possible, to show a mosquito in Andalusia to a blind man in China, and anything on the moon or on a star to a man on the earth. Such a power is peculiar to Allahu ta'ala only. Furthermore. to say, "i saw in this world," is incompatible with the aunt al-karima and with the consensus of the 'ulam8'. Therefore, he who says such a word is a mulhid or a zindiq. Thirdly, the phrase "it is possible to see Allahu ta'ala in this world" does not mean "it is possible to see Him on the earth within the physical laws." Whereas, a person who says he saw Allahu ta'ala means that he saw Him as he sees other things; this is a seeing which is not possible ja'iz). A person who says words that cause disbelief is called a mulhid or a zindiq.'" [After these answers, Hadrat Mawlana Khalid stated, "Be careful!" Thus he directs attention to the soundness of the second answer.] The elapse of time, day or night, cannot he related to Allahu ta'ala. There can he no change in Dim In any respect. nor can it he said that He was in this manner in the past or He will be like * The mulhid or zindiq says that he is Muslim. The mulhid is sincere in his words; he believes that he is Muslim and is on the right path. However, the zindiq is an enemy of Islam. He feigns being Muslim in order to harm Islam from within and to deceive Muslims. that in the future. He does not penetrate (hulul) into anything. He does not unite with anything. He never has an opposite. reverse, likeness, partner, assistant or guide. He does not have a father. mother, son. daughter or wife. He is always present with everybody, surrounds and overlooks everything. To everyone He is closer than the big artery in one's neck. However. His surrounding us, His presence or togetherness or closeness, is not like what we understand from these words. His closeness cannot be comprehended with the knowledge of 'ulama', with the - intellect of scientists or with the kashf or shuhud of awliya'. Human reason cannot understand their inner meanings. Allahu ta'ala" is unique in His Person and in His Attributes. No change or differentiation takes place in any of them. Allahu ta'611s Names are tawqifi, that is, it is permissible to use His Names shown by Islam and not permissible to use other words.* Allahu ta'ala's Names are infinite. It is well-known that He has one thousand and one names; that is, He revealed one thousand and one names of His to human beings. In the religion of Muhammad ('alaihi's-salarn), ninety-nine of them, called "al-Asma' al-husna;' were resealed, The Sifat ath•Thubutiyya of Allahu ta'ala** arc eight in the Maturidiyya madhhab and seven in the Ash'ariyya madhhab. These attributes of His are eternal and everlasting like His Person: that is, they exist eternally. They are sacred. They are not like the attributes of creatures. They cannot he comprehended through reasoning or assumption or by comparing them with the things in the world. Allahu ta'ala has endowed upon human beings an example of each of His Attributes. Seeing these examples, the Attributes of Allan ta'ala can be understood to a small extent. Since man cannot comprehend Allahu ta'ala it is not permissible to think of or to attempt to comprehend Allahu ta'ala. The eight attributes of Allahu ta'ala are neither the same as nor other than His Person; that is, His Attributes do not make For instance. AIi3huta'ala may be called •"Alim" (the 'Omniscient.). but we cannot use'faqih' which also means "Alim' (scholar, one trained in Islamic sciences'), for Islam does not use 'faqih' for Allahu ta'S1a. Likewise. it is not permissible to say 'God' instead of Allah. because 'god' means 'idol'; "Ox is the god of Hindus," is said, for example. It is permissible to say, "Allah is one; there is no god but He." Words like Dieu (French) any Gott (German) can he used for god or idol, hut not for Allah. ** See the footnote or page It for Mc Sifat adh-dhatiyya, which are six.

THE FUNDAMENTAL OF IMAN(part1)

1. "First of all, to believe in Allahu ta'a1a," he declared. Iman is to have a heartfelt belief in six certain facts by finding through kashf (revelation) or wijdan (conscience) or by the comprehension of the 'aql (intellect, reason) through an evidence or by trusting and following a distinguished and approved statement. and to confirm this with the tongue. The first of these six facts is that Allahu ta'ala is the Wajib al­wujud and the Real Ma'bud (the One Worshipped) and the Creator of all creatures. It should be believed for certain that He alone creates everything [every substance. atoms, elements, molecules, compounds, organic substances, cells, life, death, every event, every reaction, all kinds of power and sorts of energy, movements. laws, spirits. angels and every being living or lifeless out of nothing. and He makes them al! survive] in both this and the next worlds without material. time or similarity out of nonexistence. As He created all creatures in the universe [In one moment while they had been nonexistent], so He [creates some of them from one another, and, when the time for Doomsday comes, in one moment He] will annihilate everything. He is the Creator, Owner. Absolute Ruler of all creatures. It has to he believed and acknowledged that there is nobody to dominate Him, to command Him or to be superior to Him Even. type of superiority, every attribute of perfection, belongs to Him only. No defect, no deficient attribute exists in Him. He is able to do what He will. What he does is not intended to be useful to Him or to others. He does not do something for a reward. Ineverything He does, however. there are hidden causes (hikma), uses, blessings and favours. Allahu ta'ala does not have to do what is good and useful for His creatures, nor does He have to reward some people or torture some others. It would befit His superiority and benevolence if He would bring all the sinners to Paradise. And it would become His justice if He would put all of those who obey and worship Him into Hell. Yet He decreed and declared that He would put Muslims, those who worship Him, into Paradise and grant them favours, and that He would eternally torture disbelievers in Hell. He does not go hack on His word. It would be of no use for Him if all the living creatures believed and worshipped Him, nor would it give Him any harm if all creatures became disbelievers, became excessive or disobeyed Him. If man wishes to do something, He creates it if He wills, too. He alone is the One who creates every action of His human creatures and all things. If He does not will or create, nothing can move. If He does not wish. no one can become a disbeliever or can revolt. He creates disbelief and sins, yet He does not like them. No one can interfere with His works. No one has the strength or the right to ask the reason why He has done this or that or to comment on how He must do. He will forgive, if He wills, a person who has committed any great sin and has died without repentance, except if it is polytheism or disbelief. He will torture him, if He wills, for just a little sin. He declared that he would never forgive disbelievers and apostates and that He would torture them eternally. He will torture in Hell those Muslims who worship Him yet whose faith (i'tiqad) is not compatible with the faith of the Ahl as-Sunna and who die without repentance. Yet such Muslim people of heresy (bid's) will not remain in Hell eternally. It is possible (ja'iz) to sec Allahu ta'ala with the eyes in this world, hut no one ever has. On the Day of Judgement He will be seen by disbelievers and sinful Muslims in His Wrath and Glory. and by pious Muslims in His Kindness and Beauty. Angels and women, toe, will see Him. Disbelievers will be deprived of this. There is a sound report conveying that genies also will he deprived of this. According to the majority of the 'ulama', 'Muslims whom Allahu ta'ala loves will be honoured with seeing His Beauty every morning and every evening; Muslims of low degree will be honoured every Friday, and women a few times in a year, like festivals in this world."x It should he believed that Allahu ta'ala will be seen. Yet we should not wonder how this will happen; His works cannot be comprehended through intellect (aql). They are not like worldly affairs. [They cannot he measured with physical or chemical criteria.] Such concepts as direction, being opposite or being toward something have no connection with Allahu ta'ala. He is not material. He is not an object, [nor is He an element, an alloy or a compound]. He is not countable, He cannot he measured. nor can he be calculated. No change takes place in Him. He is not at a place. He is not with time. He does not have a past or a future. front or back. bottom or top, right or left. Therefore, nothing of Him can human reasoning comprehend, nor does human intellect or knowledge suffice to do this. So, man cannot comprehend how He will be seen. Though such words as hand, foot, direction, place and the like, which are not suitable for. Allahu ta'ala, exist in ayats and hadiths, they are not used in the sense that we know and use today. Such. ayats and hadiths are called mutashabihat. We have to believe them, but we should not attempt to understand what or how they are. Or they can be explained away (ta'wil) briefly or in detail: that is. they can he given the meanings suitable for Allahu ta'ala For example, the word hand may be interpreted as power or energy. Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam) saw Allahu ta'ala during the Mi'raj. But this seeing was not with the eyes. like seeing in this Hadrat Shaikh Ahd al-Haqq ad-Dahlawi [Passed away In Delhi in 1052 (1642 A.D.)] wrote in his Persian work Takmil al-iman: "A hadith sharif says. 'You will see your Rabb on the Day of Judgement as you see the [full] moon on the fourteenth [of the month].' As Allahu ta'ala i is known incomprehcnsi'nk in this world, so He, will be seen incomprehensibly in the !hereafter. Cireat scholars such as Abu'1-Hawn al-Ash'ari and al-imam as-Suvuti and al-Imam al-Baihaki Bald that also angels were going to see MIAMI ta'ala in Paradise. Al-Imam al-a'z8m Abu Hanifa and some other scholars said that genies did not earn thawah and would not enter Paradise and that only faithful genies would escape Hell. Women will see Allahu te'ala a few times in a year like festivals in this world. Perfect (kamil) believers will see Him every morning and evening while other believers will see Him on Fridays. To this humble person myself, this good news covers the faithful women and angels and genies, too; it would be proper that the perfect and 'aril women such as Fatima' as-Zahn), Khadijat al-Kuhra, 'A'ishat as-Siddiga and other Pure Wives [of the Prophet) and Iladrat Mariam and Hadrat Asiya be given special treatment. Al-lmam as-SuvOti, too, meant this."world. A person who says that he has seen Allahu ta'ala in this world is a zindiq. The observation of awliya' is unlike seeing in this world or seeing in the next world. In other words. it is not ru'ya (seeing) but shuhud that occurs on them [that is. they see the examples (mithals) through the eyes of their hearts]. Some awliya' said that they saw. However, they mistook the shuhud they experienced while in sakr, that when they were unconscious, for ru'ya. Or these words of theirs are to he explained away.

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF IMAN

"This exalted person asked again. 'O Rasul-Allah! Now tell me what is imam— Having asked what was Islam and the answer having been given, Hadrat Jabra'il ('alaihi 's-salami asked our master Rasulullah (salt .Allahu ta'ala'alaihi wa sallam) to explain the essence and reality oilman. Literally iman means 'to know a person to he perfect and truthful and to have faith in him.' In Islam, 'final' means to believe the fact that Rasulullah (sail-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) is Allahu ta'ala's Prophet; that he is the Nabi. the Messenger chosen by Him, and to say this with the heart; and to believe in brief what he transmitted briefly and to believe in detail what he transmitted in detail from Allahu ta'ala and to say the Kalimat ash-shahada whenever possible. Strong iman is such that, as we know for certain that fire bums. serpents kill by poisoning and we avoid them, we should deem Allahu ta'ala and His attributes great, be fully certain of this by heart. strive for his consent (rich') and run to His beauty Jamal), and beware of His wrath (ghadab) and torture jalal). We should write this iman on the heart firmly like an inscription on marble. Iman and Islam are the same. In both, one is to believe the meaning of the Kalimat ash-shahada. Though they differ in general and in particular, and have different literal meanings. there is no difference between them in Islam. Is iman one thing. or is it a combination of parts? If it is a combination, how many parts is it made of? Are deeds or 'Ibadat included in iman or not? While saying, "I have [man." is it right to add "insha-Allah" or not? Is there littleness or much ness in iman? Is iman a creature? Is it within one's power to believe, or have the believers believed under compulsion? If there is force or compulsion in believing, why was everybody ordered to believe? It would take a long time to explain all these one by one. Therefore, I will not answer them separately here. But it should be known thus far that, according to the Ash'ari madhhab and the Mu'tazila, it is not Ale (probable) for Allahu ta'ala to command us to do something that is not possible. And according to the Mu'tazila, it is not ja'iz for Allahu ta'ala to order something which is possible but which is not within man's power. According to the Ash'ari, it is ja'iz, yet He has not ordered it. To order people to fly in the air is of this sort. Neither in iman nor in 'Ibadat did Allahu ta'ala orders His creatures to do what they would not be able to do. For this reason, a person who goes mad or becomes ghafil (forgetful, oblivious), or sleeps or dies while he is Muslim is still Muslim. though he is not in a state of confirmation. We should not think of the literal meaning of iman' in this hadith sharif, for, there was not one ordinary man in Arabia who did not know its literal meaning: `considering truthful, belief.' Certainly the Sahabat al-kiram (radi-Allahu ta'ala 'anhum ajma'in) knew it. too, but 'thrill ('alaihi 's-salam) wanted to teach the meaning of imam to the Sahabat al-kiram by asking what iman meant in Islam. And Rasulullah (salt- Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) said that fm in was to believe in six certain facts:

THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ISLAM

With the aid of and the strength given by Allahu ta'alti, who keeps all 'clams in existence and gives all the favours and gifts and who never sleeps. now we begin to explain the blessed saying of our Prophet (call-Allahu ta'eil:i 'alaihi wa sallam). Our beloved superior Hadrat 'Umar ibn al-Khan:ib (radf-AllAhu ta'ala 'anh), who was a gallant leader of Muslims. one of the highest of the Prophet's Companions, and was famous for his truthfulness. said: "It was such a day that a few of us. the Companions, were in the presence and service of Rasulull:ih (call Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam)." That day, that hour was so blessed, so precious a day that he would hardly live it once again. On that day, it fell to his lot to be honoured with being in the Prophet's company, near him, and to sec his beautiful face, which was food for spirits and pleasure and comfort to souls. To emphasize the value, the honour of that day. he said, "it was such a day..." Could there be another time as honourable and precious as the one at which it fell to his lot to see J abra'fl (Jibril. Archangel Gabriel, 'alaihi 's-salam) in the guise of a human being. to hear his voice and to hear the knowledge men needed as beautifully and clearly as possible through the blessed mouth of Rasfilullnh (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam)? "That hour, a man came near us like the rising of the moon. His clothes were extremely white and his hair was very black. Signs of travel. such as dust or perspiration were not seen on him. None of us, the Companions of the Prophet (salt-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam), recognized him, that is, he was not one of the people we have seen or known before. He sat down in the Presence of Rasftlull5h (salt :Allahu ta'alf 'alaihi wa sallam). He placed his knees near the Prophet's blessed knees." This person. in the guise of a human figure, was the angel called Jahra 'T1. Though his way of sitting seems to be incompatible with manners Odab), it showed us a very important fact that, in learning religious knowledge, there is no such thing as shyness, nor does pride or arrogance become a master. Hadrat Jabra'il wanted to show the Prophet's Companions that everybody should ask what he wanted to know about Islam freely from teachers without feeling shy, for there should not he shyness in learning the religion or embarrassment in paying, teaching or learning one's debt to Allahu ta'Ahi. "That noble person put his hands on Rasulullahk (call-Allahu ta'Ala'ataihi wa sallam) blessed knees. Ile asked Rasulullah,'O Rasirl-Allah! Tell me what Islam is and how to he a Muslim: " The literal meaning of Islam' is 'to yield and submit.' Rasulullah (salt-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) explained that the word `Islam' was the name of the five basic pillars in Islam. as follows

1. Rasulullah (salt-Allahu ta'ala alaihi wa sallam) said that the first of the five fundamentals of Islam was "to say the kalimat ash­shahada"; that is, one should say, "Ash'hadu an la Ilaha illa'llah wa ash'hado anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluhu." In other words, a discreet person who has reached the age of puberty and who can talk has to say vocally. "On the earth or in the sky, there is no one but Allahu ta'ala worthy of worship. The real being to he worshipped is Allahu ta'ala alone. He is the Wajib al­wujud. Every kind of superiority exists in him. No defect exists in Him. His name is Allah," and to believe in this absolutely with all his heart. And also one should say and believe: "The exalted person who had a rose-pink skin. a white-reddish, bright and lovely face, black eyes and eye-brows; who had a blessed wide forehead, with a good temper; who shed no shadow on the ground. was soft-spoken and was called Arab because he was horn in Mecca of Hashemite-descent, named Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah, is Allahu ta'ala's human servant ('abd) and messenger (rash')." The Prophet's mother was Hadrat Amina hint Wahab. He was born in Mecca [at the dawn of Monday. 20th of April, 574 When he was forty. in the year called the 'Bi'that' year, he was informed that he was the Prophet. After this, he invited people to Islam for thirteen years in Mecca. Then he emigrated to Medina on the command of Allahu ta'ala. There he spread Islam everywhere. Ten years later. he passed away in Medina on Monday 12. Rabi' al-Awwal (July. 632).* * According to historians, the Prophet entered the cave at the Sawr Mountain towards evening on Thursday. 27 of Sear, 622 A.C., on his emigration from aJ-Makkat al-Mukarrama to al-Madinat al-Munawwara. He left the cave on Monday night and entered Quba. a quarter near Medina, on Monday, 3 of Rabi'al-awwal (20 of September. 622). The beginning of the Hijri Shamsi calendar adopted by the Shiites is six months before this. That is, the Navin!' festival of the Mecusi disbelievers (fire worshippers) begin; on March 20. This happy day became the beginning o Muslims' Hijri shams) calendar. On Thursday. day and night were equal. and he left Quba and entered Medina on Friday. The outset of the month of Muharram in the same year (Friday, 16th of June) was accepted as the beginning of Hijri kamri calendar. The Hijri shanty year coinciding with any Western new year's day is 622 years less than that Western new year. And the Western year coinciding with am Hijri shamsi year's day is 621 more man that 111?ri shams) new year.
2. The second fundamental of Islam is -to perform the ritual prayer (namaz, salat) [five times a day in accordance with its conditions and fords] when the time for prayer comes." It is lard for every Muslim to perform salat five times every day after each time of salat starts and to know that he or she performs it in due time. Performing it before its time by adapting wrong calendars prepared by ignoramuses or non-madhhabite people is a grave sin and such a salat is not sahib. Such calendars also cause one to perform the initial sunna saint of noon prayer and the lard salat of evening prayer in a makruh time. The ritual prayer has to be Perform end paying attention to its fards, wajihs and marinas. submitting the heart to Allahu ta'ala and before the due time is over. in the Qur'an al-karim the ritual prayer is called 'salat'. Salk means man's praying, angel's doing istighfar, and Allahu ta'ala's having compassion and pitying. In Islam. salat means to do certain actions, to recite certain things as shown in 'ilm al-hal books. Salat is started with the words 'Allahu Akbar,' called the •takbir al-iftitah,' and said after raising the hands up to the can till putting the hands under the navel (for men). It ends with the salam by turning the head to the right and left shoulders at the end of the last sitting posture.
3. The third fundamental of Islam is "to give the zakat of one's property."' The literal meaning of zakat is 'purity. to praise, and become good and beautiful.' In Islam. zakat means 'for a person who has property of zakat more than he needs and at a certain amount called nisah to separate a certain amount of his property and to give it to Muslims named in the Qurran al-karim without reproaching them.' Zakat is given to seven kinds of persons. There are four types of zakat in all of the four madhhabs: the zakat of gold and silver. the zakat of commercial goods. the zakat of the stock animals [sheep, goats and cattle] that graze in the fields for more than half a year. and the zakat of all kinds of substances of necessity issuing from the earth. This fourth type of zakat, called ushr, is given as soon as the crop is harvested. The other three are given one year after they reach the amount of nigh.
4. The fourth fundamental of Islam is "to fast every day of the month of Ramadan." Fasting is called *sawm.' Sawm means to protect something against something else. in Islam, sawm means to protect oneself against three things [during the day,] of the month of Ramadan, as they were commanded by Allahu ta'ala:eating, drinking and sexual intercourse. The month of Ramadan begins upon seeing the new moon in the sky. It may not begin at the time calculated in calendars.
5. The fifth fundamental of Islam is "for the able person to perform the hajj (pilgrimage) once in his life." For an able person who has money enough to go to and come hack from the oily of Mecca besides the property sufficient for the subsistence of his family he leaves behind until he comes back, it is lard to perform tawaf around the Ka'ba and to perform waqfa on the plain of 'Arafat, provided that the way will be safe and the body healthy, once in his lifetime. `The person, upon hearing these answers from Rasulullah (call-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam), said, 'O Rasul-Allah! You told the truth.' Hadrat 'Umar (radi-Allahu 'anh) said that of the Prophet's Companions, the ones who were there were astonished at the behaviour of this person who asked a question and confirmed that the answer was correct. One asks with a view to learn what one does not know, but to say, "You told the truth," indicates that one already knows it. The highest of the five fundamentals listed above is to say the Kalimat ash-shahada and believe its meaning. The next highest is to perform salat. Next to this is to fast. Then comes the pilgrimage. The last one is to give zakat. It is unanimously certain that kalimat ash-shahada is the highest. About the sequence of the other four, most 'ulama' said the same as we said above. Kalimat ash-shahada became lard first, at the beginning of Islam. Salat five times a day became lard on the MirajNight in the twelfth year of Bi'that. a year and some months before the Hegira. Fasting during Ramadan became lard in the month of Sha'ban, the second year of the Hegira. Giving zakat became lard in the month of Ramadan, in the same year when fasting became lard. And pilgrimage became lard in the ninth year of the Hegira. If a person denies, disbelieves, refuses, makes fun of or if he does not respect one of these five fundamentals of Islam, he becomes a disbeliever, may Allah protect us' Similarly, he who does not accept any of the things which are unanimously and clearly declared as halal (permitted) or haram (forbidden), or he who says halal for haram or haram for halal becomes a disbeliever. If a person denies or dislikes one of the teachings known to he indispensable to Islam, that is, those that are heard ;rod known even by the common people. he becomes a disbeliever.* If an ordinary person does not know the teachings that are not so commonly spread or indispensable so as to he known by him, he is not in disbelief (kufr) but sinful (ftsq).

*For example, to eat pork, to have alcoholic drinks, to gamble: for a woman or girl to show herself to others with nothing to cover her head, hairs. arms and legs and; for a man to show himself to others without covering the pan between the knees and the navel, are all haram. That is, Allahu ta'ala has forbidden these. The four madhhahs, which explain of the commands and prohibitions of Allahu to ta'ala, drew separately the boundary of the private body surface, which man Is forbidden to look at or to display, differently from one another. It is fard for every Muslim to cover those pans of the body as described by the madhhab he belongs to. Also, it is haram for others to look at those who have not covered these parts of their bodies. It is written in Kimya-yi Saadet that it is haram for women and girls to go out without covering their heads, hair, arms. legs, and it is also haram to go out with thin, ornamented, tight and perfume scented dresses. Their mothers. fathers. husbands and brothers who permit them to go out as such and who think that it is appropriate and who appreciate them will share their sins and torments; that is, they will burn in the Hell altogether. If they repent, they will be forgiven and will not be burned. Allahu-ta'ala likes those who repent. In the third year of the Hejira, girls and women who have reached the age of puberty were ordered not to he seen by namahram men, but to cover themselves. One should not be decieved by the false assertions of the British spies and of those ignoramuses who have been trapped by them who say that there was no covering before the coming of the 8yat of hijab and who say that fiqh scholars have fabricated the order for covering later. Lying, gossip, backbiting, slander, theft, cheating, treachery, hurting someone's feelings, mischief-making, using someone's property without permission, not paying a laborer or porter's due, rebellion, that is. opposing the laws and the government's orders, and not paying taxes are sins, too. Committing them against disbelievers or to non-Muslim countries is also haram

IMAN AND ISLAM(part4)

However, in the universe the state of substances changes in physical events. In chemical reactions, the essence or structure of substances changes. We see objects or substances cease to exist and change into other substances. Today. in atomic changes and nuclear reactions, which have been discovered recently, the matter or element, too, ceases existing and turns into energy. '0** 'Wujud' means. 'existence. being.' There are three kinds of existence. The first one is Wajib al-wujud, the Necessary Existence. He always exists. He has never been nonexistent before. nor will stop existing in the everlasting future. Only Allahu ta'ala is Wajib al-wujud. The second one is numtani' al-wujud, that cannot exist. It should never exist. Such is sharik al-Bari' (partner to Allahu ta'ai5). Another god partner to Allahu ta'dl5 or likeness to Him can never exist. The third one is manikin al• wujud, that may or may not exist. So are the universe, all creatures without any exception. The opposite of wujud is 'Adam (non-existence). All creatures were in 'Mum, were nonexistent, before they came into existence." For, it is a change, an event. to come into existence out of nonexistence, and, according to our knowledge in physics, in order for a change to take place in a substance, the substance has to be acted upon by an exterior power, the source of which has to precede the substance. create itself: it could not, of course, create other mumkins, either. That which has created the mumkin has to be Wajib al-wujud.The existence of the'alam shows that a creator who created it out of nothing exists. So, the Unique Creator of all that are mumkin, the creatures, is the only Wajib al-wujud without being hadith or mumkin, but always existent and qadim (eternal). `Wajib-al-­wujud' means that its existence is not from something else but from itself, that is, it is always self-existent and is not created by someone else. If this were not so, then it would have to be a creature (mumkin and hadith) created by someone else. And this is contrary to what is deduced above. Persian •Khnda' (used as a name for Allah) means 'always self-existent. eternal.'* We see that the classes of beings are in an astounding order, and science finds out new laws of this order each year. The Creator of this order must be Hayy (Ever-living), ' Alim (AB-knowing), Qadir (Almighty). lurid (All-willing), Sami' (All-hearing), Basir (All-seeing), Mutakallim (All-speaking) and Khaliq (All-creating)*", because, death, ignorance, incapability or being disposed under others' compulsion, deafness, blindness and dumbness are all defects. imperfections. it Is impossible that such defective attributes be in Him who has created this alama or kinat (all beings) in such an order and who protects them against annihilation.?" Moreover, we see the above attributes of perfection also in creatures. He has created them in His creatures. If these attributes did not exist in Him, how could He create them in His creatures, and would not Ills creatures be superior to Him? We should also add that in Him who has created all these worlds of beings there should exist all the attributes of perfection and superiority and none of the attributes of deficiency, for, one defective cannot be creative. Let alone these reasonable evidences, ayat-i karimas and " There is more detailed information in the chapter on page 79. *" These are the eight Sifat ath-Thubitiyya of Allahu ta'ala. *" Every being, from atom to stab. has been created with some calculations and laws. The regularity in the known laws of physics. chemistry. astronomy and biology bewilders the human mind. Even Darwin had to say that when he thought of the order and delicacy in the structure of the eye, he felt as if he would go crazy. Is it possible that He who has created all the laws, delicate calculations and formulas taught as scientific knowledge he defective? hadith sharifs explain clearly that Allahu ta'al5 has the attributes of perfection. 'Therefore, it is not permissible to doubt it. Doubt causes disbelief. The above-given eight attributes of perfection are called as-Stint ath-Thnbutitya. Allahu ta'8.1a has all the eight attributes of perfection. There is no defect, disorder or change in His Person, Essence, Attributes or Deeds.

IMAN AND ISLAM (part3)

As-Sifat adh-Dhatiyya of Allahu ta'ala are six: al-Wujud, existence: al-Qidam, being without beginning, and eternal in the past al-Baqa', being without end, and eternal in the future; aI-Wandiniyya, having no partner or match: al-Makhilafatu li •I-bawidith, being dissimilar to every creature in every respect, al-Qiyimu bi nafsihi, self-existence or being unneedy of anything for His existence No creature has any of these six attributes, nor any relation with them. They belong to Allahu ta'ala exclusively. Some 'ulama' said that al-Mukhfilafatu Ii 'l-hawadith and al-Wandaniyya were the same and that as-Sifat adh-Dhatiyya are five. See pages 13 and 24. *`* Khalid-i Bagdadi passed away in Damascus in 1247 [1826 A.D.]. out of nothing): that is, they may come into existence while they are nonexistent, and they came into existence while they had been nonexistent. The hadith ash-sharif, `Allahu ta'ala was existent, anything else did not exist; shows that this is true. A second evidence showing that the whole universe and all creatures are hadith is the fact that creatures are transforming and changing into one another all the time; whereas, anything qadim (without a beginning) should never change. Allahu ta'ala's Dhat (Person, Essence) and Attributes are qadim and never change.* The changes in creatures cannot he coming from the eternal past. They should have a beginning and come into existence from elements or substances, which must have been created out of nonexistence. Another evidence for the fact that the universe is mumkin, that is, it may come into being out of nonexistence, is that creatures, as we see, are hadith: that is, they come into existence out of nothing. There are two beings: the mumkin and the if only the mumkin existed, or if Wajib al-wujud wujud did not exist, nothing would exist.*** For this reason, the mumkin could not come into existence or go on being by itself. If some power had not affected it, it would have always remained in nonexistence and could not have come into existence. Since a mumkin could not