Question
What is the status of those groups that publish books containing kufr (disbelief) and shirk (polytheism) incidents? Will this act be considered equivalent to shirk itself? Because people holding shirk beliefs gain strength from these books. For example,
and many other books exist.
Answer
الحمد لله، والصلاة والسلام علىٰ رسول الله، أما بعد!
First, please quote those statements containing kufr and shirk incidents so that a well-informed answer can be given. Because often it happens that the reader of the book assumes that the statement is kufr or shirk, whereas in reality, it is not so.
As far as the matter that people holding shirk beliefs gain strength from some arguments, they also strengthen their false beliefs from numerous verses of the Holy Quran and authentic Ahadith of the Prophet ﷺ. For example:
Quranic Arguments from which the People of Shirk derive reasoning
◈ ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ حَسْبُكَ اللَّـهُ وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (٦٤)﴾
“O Prophet ﷺ! Sufficient for you and for the believers who follow you is Allah.”
◈ ﴿ وَمَا نَقَمُوا إِلَّا أَنْ أَغْنَاهُمُ اللَّـهُ وَرَسُولُهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ ۚ (٧٤)﴾
“They are only taking revenge because Allah, by His grace, has made them wealthy through His Messenger.”
◈ ﴿فَسَيَرَى اللَّـهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ﴾
“Allah, His Messenger, and all the believers will see your deeds.”
◈ ﴿النَّبِيُّ أَوْلَىٰ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ ۖ﴾
“The Prophet has a greater right over the believers than they have over themselves.”
◈ ﴿وَفِيكُمْ رَسُولُهُ ۗ﴾
“And His Messenger is among you.”
◈ ﴿ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ جَاءُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا اللَّـهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ﴾
“And if they had come to you when they wronged themselves and asked Allah for forgiveness, and the Messenger also asked forgiveness for them.”
◈ ﴿ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَامًا زَكِيًّا (١٩) ﴾
“So that I may give you a pure boy.”
Hadiths used for reasoning
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: «إِنَّمَا أَنَا قَاسِمٌ وَاللّٰہُ مُعْطِیْ»
“Whomever Allah wishes good for, He grants him understanding of the religion, and the Giver is indeed Allah. I am only a distributor, and this Ummah will always remain steadfast on Allah’s command. Whoever opposes them will not harm them until the command of Allah (the Day of Judgment) comes.”
In another hadith, it is stated:
It is narrated from Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Allah Almighty says, “Whoever shows enmity to a friend of Mine, I declare war against him. There is nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon My servant by which he attains nearness to Me.” (That is, attaining nearness to Me through obligatory acts is most beloved to Me.) And My servant continues to attain nearness to Me through voluntary acts (nawafil) as well, until I love him. When I love him (due to his passion for worship, fulfillment of obligatory duties, and arrangement of voluntary acts), the result is that I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps, and his foot with which he walks. And if he asks Me for anything, I surely grant it to him, and if he seeks refuge from anything, I surely grant him refuge from it.”
So now the question arises, what should be said about the publication of the Holy Quran and the books of Hadith?
Explanation
The innovators and polytheists present this Hadith in support of their false beliefs, whereas the meaning of the Hadith is absolutely not what they fabricate and then base their corrupt reasoning upon.
The straightforward and clear meaning of the Hadith is:
◈ When a servant performs the obligatory duties along with voluntary acts of worship, he becomes a special beloved of Allah.
◈ The result of this is that Allah grants His special help and support.
◈ Allah takes His friend (wali) under His protection and supervises his limbs.
◈ He hears only what pleases Allah with his ears, sees only what pleases Allah with his eyes, holds only what pleases Allah with his hands, and his steps move only in the direction that includes Allah’s pleasure.
◈ After reaching such a status, Allah also accepts his prayers.
The true recognition of a Wali
◈ A wali is not one who is called so based on a particular appearance, enthronement, eccentricity, or semi-madness.
◈ Nor is he one who worships through self-invented methods.
◈ Rather, the wali of Allah is one who:
➊ Adheres to the obligatory duties.
➋ Has enthusiasm for voluntary prayers (nawafil).
➌ And remains steadfast in obedience to Allah in every aspect of life.
The Reality of the Awliya Allah
◈ The company of such Awliya Allah is a means of Allah’s pleasure.
◈ And enmity towards them invites severe displeasure and wrath from Allah.
The Order of Obligatory and Voluntary Prayers
◈ Observing nawafil is certainly a means of nearness to Allah.
◈ But this nearness will only be attained when obligatory and Sunnah prayers are observed.
◈ If a person does not perform the obligatory and Sunnah prayers, then his nawafil have no status.
◈ Without performing obligatory and Sunnah prayers, the desire for nearness to Allah is merely a delusion and false assumption.
