Day of Distinguishing!

With the name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Most Beneficent!

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds! Peace and blessings be upon Messenger of
Allah Muhammad, his family and his disciples. Whomever Allah has directed, no one will
wean him away from the path, and whomever Allah weans away from the path, no one will
direct him.

Faith is the immanent property of the very human nature. It is ingrained in a human from
the very beginning and forever, so however much a human denies his belonging to
religion, the choice is limited: either he worships the One God, or make-believe deities. In
other words, if a man does not stick to Monotheism, he undoubtedly falls into heathenism.
Then the faith changes its orientation towards idolatry and is implemented in worshipping
the created.

The Faith in One and Only God, the Most High and Almighty Allah, is the conviction that
He is the only Lord (tawheed ar-rubiyya), the Only One worthy of being worshipped
(tawheed al-uluhiyya), and the Only One who has the divine names and qualities (tawheem
al-asma wa as-sifat).

Besides the real kuffar (infidels), whose infidelity is obvious, there is a category of
persons, who formally recognize that the Almighty Allah is the Lord, the Master, the
Creator and the Sustainer of all of the existence, Who does divine acts that no one else
does but Allah, such as giving life and taking life, doing good or harm, answering prayers,
holding absolute power, predetermining the destiny, etc.

They recognize the Oneness of Allah in his lordship, which is fulfilling one of the
components of Monotheism, but when worshipping Him, they ascribe companions to Him
from among both living and inanimate things, and they resort to the things that can bring
them neither good nor evil; they make supplications to those who are not responsible;
they choose all sorts of ‘mediators' and ‘intercessors', both dead and still living.

This is why Almighty Allah said:

"And most of them believe not in Allah without associating (other as partners) with Him!"
(Surat 12. Joseph, 106)

Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him and his father, commented on this verse:

"Their faith is that when they are asked: Who created the heaven? Who created the earth?
Who created the mountains? They answer: Allah, yet at the same time they ascribe
partners to Him."

Ikrima said:

"You ask them: who created yourselves, and who created heaven and earth, they say:
Allah. They believe in Allah, but they worship others."

They are deluded by ascribing equals to Allah, making supplications to them, and having
hopes in them the way one can only hope in the Most High; loving them the way one can
only love Allah alone. Almighty Allah said in the Koran about the martyrs of Hell:

"They will say there in their mutual bickerings: 'By Allah, we were truly in an error
manifest, when we held you as equals with the Lord of the Worlds';"
(Surat 26. The Poets, 96-98)
Mujahid said:

"Their faith is in their words: Allah is our Creator, Who assigns the lot for us and who
makes us die. But this faith is connected to polytheism, since they worship Taghut along
with Allah."

Abd ar-Rahman bin Zeid bin Aslam bin Zeid said:

"Each one of those who worships the creatures besides the Creator, certainly believes in
Allah and knows that Allah is his Creator, Lord and Sustainer. And, regardless, he
ascribes companions to Him."

At the same time not only stone and wooden graven images may serve as idols, which we
got used to associate with heathenism. When the entire lifestyle, the whole life, the entire
hope and love are directed at something which is nothing, that nothing is the object of
worship! All what is of more importance to man than faith may sooner or later be
transformed into Taghut (idolatry) and move a man away from Monotheism.

So, recognition of Allah as the Lord without dedicating all of the forms of worship to Him
will not save a man from punishment, because in its essence it is one of the
manifestations of idolatry.

In the Koran Polytheism is characterized as the gravest sin that obliterates all good deeds.

Almighty Allah said:

"But it has already been revealed to thee,- as it was to those before thee,- 'If thou wert to
join (gods with Allah., truly fruitless will be thy work (in life), and thou wilt surely be in the
ranks of those who lose (all spiritual good)'."
(Surat 39. The Troops, 65)

In other words, Monotheism is that core of personal worldview, around which good deeds,
good intentions and other positive results of human life are being consolidated. The
absence of such core is the cause for vanity of any positive acts and it automatically
annuls all good intentions, deeds and aspirations without exception. Almighty Allah said:

"Whoever joins other gods with Allah,- Allah will forbid him the garden, and the Fire will be
his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help."
(Surat 5. The Table, 72)

Oftentimes it is easy to discern polytheism in a man who recognizes the existence of

Allah. Especially when he has quite positive traits of character and is related to us by
blood.

But when a man commits a serious crime against the one of his kind, those around him
tend not only to censure that act, but to also take certain measures of punishment for
such deeds. In this case, how would one explain the fact that while being concerned about
justice in the relations between people, we treat the crimes against Almighty Allah, The
Creator and Maker of the entire existence, so negligently? Koran says about it:

"Lo! To ascribe partners (unto Him) is a tremendous wrong."

(Surat 31. Luqman, 13)

The most tremendous wrong towards the Almighty Allah!

The mission of all messengers of Allah was the call for Monotheism. Atheists and
heathens would often offer the prophets and messengers the wealth of this world in
exchange for concessions in the religion. They were saying: "We agree to adopt
monotheism partially". But the prophets were always showing steadfastness in their faith
and saying: "No! There is no deity but Allah!" For these words they were being killed and
persecuted, for these words the believers were fighting and sacrificing their own lives. The
call to Tawhid (Monotheism) was certainly leading to confrontation with the infidels. Thus
is the Sunna of Allah in His creatures.

Messenger of Allah Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was calling upon
people to worship Allah alone. Those who followed the call of Monotheism would become
his brothers, and those who refused, would become his enemies.

So, similar precedents of the modern-day situation have already taken place throughout
the history. Starting from Ibrahim (Abraham) and his followers, who said to their people:

"We are clear of you and of whatever ye worship besides Allah. we have rejected you, and
there has arisen, between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever,- unless ye believe in
Allah and Him alone":
(Surat 60. She That Is To Be Examined, 4),

and all the way to Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and his disciples, who
with the name of Allah came out to Jihad against the polytheists - their relatives,
neighbors and yesterday's friends.

This is the greatest design by Allah, Who said:

"Thou wilt not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, loving those who
resist Allah and His Messenger, even though they were their fathers or their sons, or their
brothers, or their kindred. For such He has written Faith in their hearts, and strengthened
them with a spirit from Himself."
(Surat 58. She That Disputeth, 22)

The Religion of Allah has always been opposing infidelity since time immemorial, and
Muslims to kuffar (infidels), who are one family, one nation and one army. The believers in
Allah and the Day of Judgment must have no doubts in this regard.

So what kind of polytheists were those, on whom Prophet (peace be upon him) declared
just and fundamental war regardless of family, friendship or neighborly ties?

The heathens of the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) did recognize Allah as the
Creator and the Sustainer, and their polytheism was exactly in their worship, which the
Holy Koran points out on many occasions.

Almighty Allah said:

Say: "To whom belong the earth and all beings therein? (say) if ye know!" They will say,
"To Allah." say: "Yet will ye not receive admonition?" Say: "Who is the Lord of the seven
heavens, and the Lord of the Throne (of Glory) Supreme?" They will say, "(They belong) to
Allah." Say: "Will ye not then be filled with awe?" Say: "Who is it in whose hands is the
governance of all things,- who protects (all), but is not protected (of any)? (say) if ye
know." They will say, "(It belongs) to Allah." Say: "Then how are ye deluded?"
(Surat 23. The Believers, 84-89)

They did not believe that their idols (Tawaghit) were running this world and governing its
affairs. On the contrary, they believed that only the Lord Sovereign is capable of that, they
were recognizing that those to whom they were praying besides Allah were only a creation
and could not independently bring good or harm to either themselves or their
worshippers. They were recognizing that Allah is the Only One capable of doing that, and
that no one shares this power with Him.

They believed that Allah is the Creator, and all beings are the creation; that He is the Lord,
and everybody else is a servant under His power. Yet at the same time they were ascribing
companions to Him from among the creation, supplicating to them for intercession before
Allah and trying to get closer to Allah with their mediation.

This is what Almighty Allah said about them:

"But those who take for protectors other than Allah (say): 'We only serve them in order
that they may bring us nearer to Allah'."
(Surat 39. The Troops, 3)

Thus, the heathens were recognizing the lordship of Allah, yet He did not include them
among the Muslims. On the contrary, Allah declared them as polytheists and unbelievers
and boded them eternal tortures in Hell and allowed His Messenger (peace be upon him) to
infringe upon their lives and their property.

Indeed, under no other circumstances but the Jihad the line between Faith and unbelief is
so distinct. And not only in the sense of materialization of antagonism between Muslims
and Kuffar in battle, but also in subjective processes, in the heart of each Muslim.

In Jihad, when love for Allah is the only one priority, Paradise is the only goal, a fellow
believer is a brother and an infidel an enemy, whoever he may be, Monotheism is shining
in its zenith.

Present day is no different from the days of the past. And there is a reason why the day of
the Battle of Badr, the first battle between Islam and Kufr (infidelity) was called the Day of
Distinction. On that day Muslims were fighting against their fathers, their sons and their
close relatives. Thus, for example, in that battle Umar ibn al-Hattab, may Allah be pleased
with him, killed his uncle al-Asa ibn Hisham; Abu-Bakr was fighting against his son Abd
ar-Rahman, and Abbas was captured during the battle, who was the uncle of the
Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

Neither blood, nor family or nation as values overpowered the Faith. Neither strength nor
might or number or the support of Iblis could help the enemies of Allah, about whom the
Most High said:

"Not the least good will your forces be to you even if they were multiplied: for verily Allah
is with those who believe!"
(Surat 8. Spoils Of War, 19)

Almighty Allah strengthened the believers, made that test easier for them, exalted their
faith over the words of the unbelief and separated the truth from the lies.

Indeed, only in Jihad a Muslims can know himself, disclose the true potential of his faith
and to make it clear what the degree of his own sincerity and love for Allah really is.
Indeed, only Jihad is an effective instrument opposing the prospects of merger of faith
and unbelief and distinguishing a truthful person from a hypocrite. Indeed, renunciation of
Jihad is renunciation of an integral part of our religion.

Open confrontation is the only thing that can keep us from temptation. The more lenient
the infidels (the Kufr) are towards Muslims, the stricter the position of Muslims against
that Kufr has to be.

"So that the borderline between Islam and the Kufr is more apparent and distinct, and so
that we could instill and maintain hatred towards unbelief among the Muslims."
(Amir Sayfullah).

Allah Akbar! (God is Great!)

Hava Beshtoyeva,
for Kavkaz Center