The Ihya’ ul-Ulum id-Din Tawhid is an invaluable gem, and this gem is protected by two layers: 1. The layer farthest from the essence. The people have taken the concept of Tawhid away from its essence, giving this name to the shell and the art that protects this shell. They have completely neglected the essence. The first layer is saying with the tongue *Lâ üâhe illâllah’. This layer is called Tawhid. This layer is essentially a shell that washes away the trinity belief that Christians openly declare. However, there are also hypocrites who say this word, although they reject its essence. These hypocrites say this word with their tongues and deceive people. In the heart, there should be no opposition to this word spoken by the tongue, and this word should be accepted in its entirety.
The heart must firmly affirm the entire meaning and implication of this word spoken in the outward, and this belief must encompass the entirety of the belief in Allah. This level is the level of the people. Indeed, the theologians protect this shell from the attacks of the innovators. This truth was mentioned earlier. The essence. That is, turning one’s back on all means, believing completely that everything comes from Allah, and serving Allah without associating anything with Him. The person who follows the desires of his soul remains outside the understanding of Tawhid. In this regard, the one who is subject to his desires is like one who has made his soul his god. Have you not seen the one who has made his own desires his god, and Allah has confused him, sealed his ear and heart, and drawn a veil over his eyes!
Now, who else can guide him except Allah? Do you not think? (Casiye/23) ^^ ^J^ ^ ^ ^ Among the things worshipped on earth in the sight of Allah, the most deluded is the desire of the soul. 127) Taberani. (Ebu Umame’sn)
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A thinking person immediately realizes that those who worship idols are actually worshipping their own desires, not the idol. Because it is the desire of the ancestors that binds them. This is also one of the meanings that are subject to this inclination of the soul. Being angry with the people or showing favor to them contradicts this understanding of Tawhid. Because a person who knows everything from Allah certainly does not get angry. How can a person who says ‘Allah is the cause of everything’ get angry at others? This was the meaning that the previous ones understood from the term Tawhid. This high station is the station of Siddiq. One must pay close attention to what has become of the meaning expressed by this term and what level of meaning the people of our time are content with!
How do those who restrict the broad meaning of this word to a shell meaning boast so much? They have made this word a shell and are trying to boast with it. However, since the worthy part has been cut off, those who cling to it have fallen into a state of bankruptcy; where is the pride in their own situation? The bankruptcy of these people is exactly like the one who faces the qibla and says, ‘Indeed, I have only submitted to the true religion (Tawhid) and turned my face to the One who created the heavens and the earth, and I am not among those who associate (polytheists)’ (En’am/79) meaning of the verse, but because he does not believe in the meaning of the verse he has read, he repeats his lie against Allah every day.
If this person intends the word ‘face’ in the verse to mean the literal face, then the person has turned his literal face towards the Kaaba. However, in this case, he has turned his face away from other directions and directed it towards the Kaaba. The Kaaba is not the direction of Allah, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, so that whoever faces it is considered to have faced Allah. The Creator of all directions and the entire world is far removed from being confined to them, He is far above all of them! The creation cannot encompass its Creator! If the person who prays intends the ‘face’ term in the verse to mean the heart’s face, because the worship in worship is done with the heart. The mind of a person whose heart is in doubt, because of worldly needs, how can such a person’s words be correct?
He only says that he has turned his face to Allah with words. However, the heart,
The various tricks of Ihya’ ul-Ulum id-Din, collecting wealth, obtaining worldly ranks, and thinking about the means that will lead to all of these and giving oneself entirely to these, can such a person turn back to Allah? In this case, the heart of this man will never turn towards the exalted Allah, the Creator of the earth and the heavens. This word is a word that expresses the reality of Tawhid. For this reason, a person who is a true monotheist sees nothing but the One Allah and turns his face to Allah only with the heart. In this way, a situation is beautifully explained in the following verse of Allah Almighty: (O My Messenger!) Say Allah! Then leave them, and let them play in their false words.
(En’am/91) The intention of this noble verse ‘Say Allah’ is not to say it with the tongue. Because the tongue is the interpreter of the heart. The tongue sometimes tells the truth and sometimes lies. The place that Allah Almighty looks at is the heart, which the tongue interprets. The mineral and source of Tawhid is only the heart. The fourth is the term Zikir/Tezkir. Allah Almighty says: You should admonish with the Quran, because admonition benefits the believers. (Zariyat/ 55) Many noble hadiths have been reported about praising the gatherings of Zikir. .^jjl t/*!^ :J^ ’^’ «j^J ^3 ‘J4^ ^j^j^ 5^’ p^^Z ^^-^ ‘^’ When you pass through the gardens of Paradise, eat from them. When asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah!’,
What do you mean by the gardens of Paradise?’ he answered: ‘The gatherings of Zikir…’ 128) Tirmizi, (Enes’den)
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jiii; /”jJi 04^4* ^j ‘4 J^’ ^4*^* ^y^ ^^’ <_s? cr^^~^ *^4^ JL*1 4! ^! Besides the angels who are occupied with the truth, there are many more angels on earth who travel. Those angels, when they see the gatherings of Zikir, call each other: 'Here is what we were looking for, come!' They come from all sides and surround the gatherings of Zikir and listen to them. In that case (O my ummah), remember Allah often! Also remind yourselves. Many of the preachers of our time understand and use the term Zikir in the following four meanings: 2. Stories 3. Poetry 4. Tamat. (The interpretation of Shatahat and Tamat will be done when the time comes).
Regarding stories, these are innovations. The pious predecessors have even prohibited sitting next to storytellers and have not listened to storytellers at all. Storytelling was not present in the time of the pious predecessors, nor in the time of Hz. Ebubekir and Hz. Ömer. When the fitna began, from that time onwards, storytelling and storytelling spread rapidly. According to the narration, Ibn Ömer once came out of the mosque. When asked about the reason for his exit, he explained: ‘They expelled me from the mosque because of the storytellers. I would never have considered leaving the mosque in any way if these storytellers were not there.’ The group131 said: ‘I told Sülyân-ı Sevrî, ‘We are looking away from storytellers.’ He replied: ‘Do not turn your face away from the innovators, but turn your back and sit.’ Buharî and Müslim, (Ebu Hüreyre’den) 130) Tertuşî, Camiin; İbn Mâce, (İbn Ömer’den) 131) Zümre b.
Rebia’s kunya is Abu Abdullah. He was the mufti of Damascus in the time of Süfyan-ı Sevrî.
İhya-i Ulûm’id-Din İbn Avn132 says: When I went to Ibn Sirin133, he said: ‘What news are there today?’ I answered: ‘The Commander of the Faithful has prohibited storytellers from telling stories.’ At that time, Ibn Şirin said: ‘The Commander of the Faithful has made a very accurate decision.’ A‘meş, when he heard a storyteller say, ‘A‘meş has told us this way,’ he stood in the middle of the congregation and started to clear the underparts of the seats. The storyteller, who had clearly made a mistake, rebuked him: ‘O old man! Are you not ashamed to clear the underparts of the seats in the preaching gatherings?’ A‘meş said: ‘Why should I be ashamed? I am fulfilling a sunnah.’ You are lying. Because the A‘meş you mentioned is me. I have not told such a story to you.’ Ahmed b. Hanbel said: ‘The most lying people are those who tell stories and ask many questions.’ Hz. Ali expelled a storyteller from the Basra mosque. However, the same Hz. Ali (r.a) did not prevent Hasan Basrî (r.a) from giving a sermon in his mosque; because Hasan Basrî (r.a) was preaching about the knowledge of the afterlife, death, the sins of the soul, the harm of deeds, the tricks of Satan, and warning people from all of these. At the same time, he was talking about the blessings of Allah, the failure of the servants in gratitude, the disgrace and transience of the world, the lack of loyalty in anything of the world, the dangers of the afterlife, and the severe punishments.
Indeed, all these are considered good in the sharia, so talking about them is very beneficial. We understand the necessity of such a zikr from the hadith narrated by Abu Zer Gıfarî (r.a): ^ Jij : jü ?ji>Jl ^1 îJ)l J:JJ .j‘L> ^Jİ Being present in a zikr (knowledge) gathering is more virtuous than performing a thousand supererogatory prayers. (Being present in a zikr gathering), it is more virtuous than visiting a thousand sick people. (Being present in a knowledge gathering), it is more virtuous than being present at a thousand funeral processions. When asked by the Messenger of Allah (s.a), ‘O Messenger of Allah! Is attending these gatherings more virtuous than reading the Quran?’ the Messenger of Allah (s.a) answered: ‘Is there any benefit in reading the Quran without knowledge?’ Atâ said: ‘Participating in a zikr gathering is the expiation for attending seventy lewd gatherings.’ The polytheists have accepted these noble hadiths as evidence for the purification of their souls and have named the zikr title as a name for the bad superstitions they have done. Therefore, they have moved away from the true meaning of Zikr, have been occupied with conflicting stories, and have invented deficiencies or excesses according to their desires.
They have moved away from the causes of the stories mentioned in the Quran and have added their own feelings to them. Although some of the stories are beneficial, some are harmful even though they are true. A person who opens this door for his soul mixes the right with the wrong, the beneficial with the harmful, and thus falls into a dangerous situation. The reason for prohibiting storytelling is to protect from this danger. For the same reason, Ahmed b. Hanbel said: ‘How much need do people have for those who tell true stories?’ If a storyteller speaks about the stories of the prophets and at the same time informs those who listen to him about religious commands, in short, tells true stories, I do not see any harm in his stories.
However, one must strongly avoid telling stories that involve lying and telling stories about the lives of the prophets in a way that the people will not understand, because they are very harmful. Because they will not be able to understand the virtues of the prophets and will fall into a great danger by believing that their own mistakes will be forgiven. This hadith has been mentioned at the beginning of the book by the narration of Ibn Cevzî.
Îhya-i Ulûm’id-Din ‘Some people have narrated this and that from some of the scholars and the elders of the ummah’ should strongly avoid trying to justify their own opinions. People… Storytellers usually behave this way to prove their own ideas. Everyone who does this commits a great sin. Because this action means nothing other than ‘If I have rebelled against Allah and committed sins, then the great people who are more virtuous than me have also committed these sins.’ They can draw such a conclusion from these things and, without knowing, put themselves in a defiant position before Allah. There is no harm in telling stories if one avoids these two dangers, that is, telling lies and telling stories about disgrace.
In that case, the story becomes good and takes the form of the news mentioned in the Quran. Indeed, we see that such stories are often included in valuable books. Some people find it good to tell stories that encourage worship. Because they think the purpose of these stories is to invite people to the truth. However, this is a deception of Satan. Because telling the truth is sufficient. There is no reason to lead people to lies. Since explaining the commands of Allah and His Messenger is sufficient, there is no need for fabrications in sermons. Isn’t adding words that do not actually exist in the speech a reprehensible act? Sa’d b. Ebî Vakkas (r.a) said to his son Ömer, who tried to speak by forcing himself and embellishing his sentences: ‘Indeed, the action that makes me look down on you is forcing yourself to create embellished sentences.
Until you give up this habit, I will not meet any of your needs.’ This statement was made by him when his son wanted to ask for something to meet some of his needs. Hz. The Prophet (s.a) said to Abdullah b. Revaha, who spoke by embellishing his words and forcing himself:
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Ey İbn Revaha! Avoid speaking with rhymed words and forcing yourself in this matter! The seci‘, which is a rhyme of more than two words, is blameworthy in the religion. Because of this secret, the one who said, ‘Why should we give a diet for a piece of meat that does not eat, drink, cry or scream? This is giving things for nothing…’ was rebuked by Hz. The Prophet (s.a). Do you want to speak like the nomads who speak in rhymes? As for poetry, it is considered ugly to recite a lot of poetry while giving sermons and advice. Allah Almighty says: Only the mad are warned about poets. Do you not see? Those poets wander around in every situation in confusion. (Shuara/224-225) We did not teach him poetry, nor is it suitable for him!
(Yasin/69) Most of the poems that preachers have made a habit of reciting are about love, the beauty of the beloved, meeting and the pain of separation. When such sermons are heard by the congregation, the majority of the congregation consists of the most ignorant part of the people. It is a fact that these ignorant people are only interested in their desires and their hearts are not useful for anything other than looking at beautiful shapes. In places where such a congregation exists, when the poems mentioned above are read, no other result is achieved except provoking their desires. These people try to scream by shouting due to the burning of the hidden fire. Poetry is mostly a tool of corruption that harms the entire religion. For this reason, only poems that contain advice and wise words can be transmitted through inference.
Hazrat Prophet (s.a) said: 135) Imam Ahmed, Ebu Nuaym, (Hz. Aisha’den) 136) Müslim, Ebu Dâvud and Nesâî, (Mucire b. Şu’be, Ebu Hüreyre and İbn Abbas’dan)
İhya-i Ulû毛