Bismillahi ta'ala wassalatu wassalamu ala rahmatullil aalameen
The Meaning of the Glorious Kalima At-Tayyibah
La Ilaha Illallah Muhammadur Rasoolullah -- This is called as the Kalimath -At-Thawheedh. It is also called as Kalima at-tayyibah, Da'wati Kalima etc. It is also refered to as the Kalima Shahada, as it insists on bearing witness to the truth it is conveying. It is a mine of knowledge. Kalima is the basis of Islam. A person who accepts this kalima becomes a Muslim. Sufis say that the whole Qur'an is an explanation of this one statement. The basis of Sufism is this kalima. It comprises of two parts - Uloohiyath and Risalath. The first part of the Kalima which is discussed here, talks about the characterestics of Uloohiyath (which will be explained in this article) and the second part talks about the risalath (prophethood) of Muhammad pbuh. The following paragraphs are an effort to get an outline of what Uloohiyath means and how kalima thayyiba describes the relation between the creator and the creations i.e., Allah and us.
The 'La' in the kalima, negates or denies the existence of something. One should be careful in finding out what it negates or denies. If one says, that it denies the existence of 'Ilaha' (God), it is Kufr (disbelief). For there exists an "ilah". Ilah is the term used to denote one who is fit to be worship. If someone denies the existence of the creatures, it is also kufr. Because, in the first instance, the person is denying the existence of Allah and in the second instance, the person is denying the existence of creations. Both are wrong for they both exist, according to the Qur'an. In Qur'an Allah has established beyond any doubt the existence of creations. In the name of Sufism some people are denying the existence of creations which is certainly due to their wrong understanding. These false beliefs have brought disrepute to Sufism. May Allah save us all from that.
One cannot understand the correct meaning of kalima without researching it. Otherwise, one will fall in one of the above two kufrs (disbeliefs). We don't have the capacity to research this great Kalima and we are ordered by our Lord to ask the people who know. Allah directs us in the Qur'an, "Fas'alu ahla dhikri in kunthum laa tha'lamoon" (Ask the people of knowledge if you know not. Quran:21:8.) In another verse Allah says, "Arrahman fas'albihi khabeera" (Arrahman (The Gracious - denotes Allah) ask about Him to those who know. Quran: 25:59). So we have to seek the help of muhaqqiqeens (people of the truth) and arifeens (the known people) to understand the meaning of Kalima.
Arifeens have been so generous to explain the glorious meaning of the kalima to us. Arifeens who have been blessed with 'Ilme Ladhunni' (The knowledge offered by Allah) have explained that 'La' in the kalima thayyiba is neither rejecting Ilah (God) nor the Makhluq (creation). It rejects that the attributes of Ilah (Uloohiyath - the capacity to fulfill one's needs, exhibited by the creations are not their own. The word 'Illa', which does the work of Isbath (affirming), maintains (affirms) that the attributes which were rejected to be of the creations, belong only to Allah.
Precisely, the meaning of kalima could be put as follows: The attributes of Uloohiyath ( the capability to fulfill ones needs) which are exhibited by the creations are not their own but they belong only to Allah. Insha Allah, we will look into the kalima from this perspective.
The Three AlamsThe creations, which exhibit Uloohiyath, could be classified to be in three alams (worlds). Though some say that there are over 18000 worlds or more, all of them could be contained in the following three alams.
The three alams are Alame Shahadath, Alame Barzakh and Alame Amr.
Alame Shahadath
All creations that have appearance, shape, color, weight, value and the attribute of breaking and twisting belong to Alame Shahadath.
The creations of this alam can broadly be classified into four groups:
Insan (Man): This includes atheists, polytheists, kafirs (who deny Allah), Muslims, Mumin’s, Valis, Kuthubs, Gouse, prophets, and even Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the greatest of all creations.
Haiwan (animals): This could further be divided into those that walk, that swim (fishes) and that fly (birds).
Nabadh (Plants): This includes everything from the small herbs and shrubs to the big trees.
Jamadh (sands and stones): This includes the soil, sand and the mountains.
Alame Barzakh
The creations that only have appearance, shape and colour and none of the attributes exhibited by the creations of Alame Shahadath, belong to alame barzak. This alam is also called as alame misal and could be called as the dream world. All those creations that we see in dreams belong to this alam.
Alame Amr
The creations whose existence is true but could not be seen belong to alame amr. Some examples of the creations in this alam includes Ishq (love), rooh (life), khyal (imagination) etc.
Kalima says creations belonging to all these alams that seem to exhibit the attributes of Uloohiyath, in truth do not have those attributes of their own. The attributes solely belong to Allah. (One should also be careful in not enjoining those attributes that solely belong to the creatures such as sleep, eating etc. to Allah. Allah is 'Munazzah' (pure) from all such attributes).
The problem is that we find the creations fulfilling all our needs and the attributes they exhibit looks very much theirs. So, naturally we think that the creations are fulfilling our needs which is totally against the meaning of the kalima. The Sufis, may our life be sacrificed for them, by their grace have given us a way to identify the true Ilah (Fulfiller of our needs). They call this ‘I’thibarathe Uloohiyath’. They are the Zaath, Sifath, Af’al and Asar. These terms are briefly explained in the following paragraphs.
Zaath
Zaath could be termed as ‘where a name or attribute reaches’. It could be anything, a person, or a place or a thing. For ex., Zayd. Zayd is the name that denotes a zaath (in this case a person). A zaath, if it is to fulfill ones need should subsist of its own. A zaath that is subsisting on someone else can never fulfill our need of its own. In fact it will be fulfilling ones need with the help of its subsistor. So, the fulfiller of ones need should be Kaayimun Bi Nafisihi (Subsisting by itself). We find no creation in any of the three alams to exhibit this quality. This quality belongs only to Allah, the creator. He subsists by himself and also makes others to subsist. (‘Huwal Hayyul Khayyoom’ – He is the living, the self-subsisting – Al-Qur’an 2:256).
So, on the basis of Zaath only Allah can fulfill our needs and the needs of all the creations. Every creation small or big, has two basic needs. The need to come into existence (Ni’mathe Ijadhi – the blessing of 'being') and the need to continue existing (Ni’mathe imdhadhi – the continued blessing). It is apparent that one who is subsisting by himself, only could help the creations to come into being and keep them in that state.
We should sacrifice ourselves to our Ilah, who has made us to exist out of nothing.
Sifaath (Attributes)
Any zaath that is not living cannot fulfill the creations’ need. How could a dead fulfill our needs and how could a dead be considered as Ilah? Allah is the ever living zaath.
The fulfiller of the needs of the whole universe should have a vast knowledge about all the creations so as to cater to their needs.
Apart from having the knowledge, the Ilah should desire to fulfill our need and he should be able to do whatever he desires.
For example, consider that Zayd is sleeping and a scorpion is approaching him. He is in danger of being bitten by the scorpion and Bakr is near him. If Bakr is dead he cannot save Zayd from the scorpion. Even if Bakr is alive, he should have the knowledge about the scorpion and Zayd. He should know that scorpion is dangerous and it may attack Zayd. He should also desire to save Zayd. What if Bakr is a person who is incapable of shoving away a scorpion or beating it. So, Bakr should be able to do what he desires. Then only he can save Zayd from the scorpion.
The fulfiller of our needs should hear his subject's call. And He should be able to hear them all at once. He should be able to see and speak.
These seven attributes or characteristics(hayath (life), ilm (knowledge), iradha (desire), kudhrath (power), sama'ath (audition), basarath (sight) and kalam (speech)) are called as Sifathe Ujoodhiyya (the attributes of the ujoodh) as they belong solely to the only Ujoodh (existence) i.e., Allah. They are also called as Sifathe kamila (The perfect attributes). All the above seven attributes belong to Allah, according to Qur’an and they are His own. So, He only can fulfill all our needs. ('Subhannallahi amma yasifun' (Allah is above what they attribute to Him 6:106), 'Lahul asma’ul husna' (To Him belongs the beautiful names 17:111)-- These two ayaths from the Qur'an should be sufficient to prove that the above mentioned attributes solely belong to Allah. There are umpteen ayaths in the Qur'an which clearly state that each of the above attributes belong solely to Allah.
Af'aal
The Ilah of the worlds should act. He should have the energy to act. Allah says in the Qur'an, 'la kuwwatha illa billah' (There is no power but the power of Allah 18:40). Only a zaath with 'zaathi kuwwath' (energy of its own) can fulfill the needs of the needy and from Qur'an it is clear that only Allah has that attribute. So, on the basis of af'aal, there is no Ilah but Allah.
Aasar
What can we do with a person with a few pennies? The fulfiller of the whole mankind should also be the 'malik' (owner) of the whole world and who else than Allah is the 'malik' of the world. Allah proclaims in the Qur'an, 'lahu-al-mulk-al-samawathi wa-al-arl' (To Him belongs what is in the land and the skies 10:69). There are quite a number of ayaths (verses) of this sort, which rule out any one having anything of his own. Again, we find that only Allah can be our Ilah.
This way, when we say 'La Ilaha', we should strongly deny that any creation in this world or the other have any of the above attributes and while saying "Illallah" should affirm them to Allah's Zaathe Muqaddhas (Purified Zaath).
Insha Allah, I will put a lengthly explanatory article, divided into appropriate chapters, on the same line on this site soon. Kindly pray for the completion of the task.
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