A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytan ar-rajim. Bismillah, ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim.
The single most important subject when understanding Islam. Tawheed. (Unification or oneness of Allah) Why is this the most important subject? Because without solid foundations an infrastructure will fall. We are the same. If we don’t build our foundations of Tawheed then we have more risk of falling into haram and sometimes even becoming a kufr.
Weather you are born into a Muslim family or you are a revert, the initial introduction of Islam into your life is the most important thing to define your future. If you are introduced into Islam in a way that allows you to build a strong foundation of Tawheed before you are introduced into the haram and halal then you are far more likely to be satisfied in your religion, and therefore less likely to fall into haram. If you are introduced into Islam in a way that was more strict and forced into following the rules of halal and haram without building a strong foundation of Tawheed then you are much more likely to rebel against Islam, fall into disbelief and even depression. If you look at the way the Quran was revealed chronologically, you’ll notice that all the ayats that talk about the importance of worshipping Allah alone came first, whilst the ayats of what is haram and halal came later. As Allah knew that building Tawheed was the most important thing, then he introduced these guidelines to live our lives by, that ultimately are for our own good. It’s a shame that we seem to live in a society that cares more about telling you what you can and can’t do than actually helping you build a connection with Allah. Build the connection with Allah first, the rest will come later. Having a strong loving connection with Allah is the BIGGEST blessing any of us can receive. Studying the subject of Tawheed diligently, doing acts of worship and never missing a prayer are ways we can help build this connection. Also studying shirk (major and minor) can really help you develop your Tawheed. Shirk is the biggest sin we can fall into so we should make sure we study that also, to understand exactly what shirk is and how we can fall into minor shirk without even realising. The Prophet (pbuh) said, “O Abu Bakr, there is shirk among you more hidden than the crawling of an ant.”
Abu Sa’eed AI-Khudri narrated that Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) said,
“Musa said: ‘O my Lord, teach me something by which I can remember You and supplicate to You.’
Allah answered: ‘Say, O Musa, La ilaha illallah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah).’
Musa said: ‘O my Lord, all your slaves say this.’
Allah said: ‘O Musa, if the seven heavens and all of their inhabitants besides Me, and the seven earths were in a pan (of a scale), and La ilaha illallah was in (another) pan, then La ilaha illallah would outweigh them.”
Saying La ilaha illallah with humbleness, good intention and truly meaning it from the depths of our hearts, represents strong Tawheed. This sentence is not to be taken lightly. It contains the very most important foundations of building a connection with our creator. If said sincerely the affects of this sentence can cure sins bigger than the 7 heavens and 7 earths. Let me just say that again so you can understand the power of Allah’s mercy. Saying, and more importantly meaning, “La ilala illallah” can outweigh sins as big as the 7 heavens and 7 earths, on the scale. That is HUGE! That doesn’t mean we should go out and sin, feeling like we can get away with it, because sins actually blacken our hearts and weaken our iman and in order to say ‘La ilala illallah’ with strong Tawheed, you have to have strong Tawheed and someone with strong Tawheed doesn’t have any desire to indulge in haram, out of their intention to be constantly pleasing Allah SWT.
Let’s take a look at the life of someone with strong Tawheed. A different level of Tawheed that we don’t see in today’s society but an inspiration none the less. Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh). His heart was completely turned towards Allah SWT. You would never catch him asking anyone for anything. Even Angel Jibreel, when Ibrahim was thrown into the fire, offered him help and ease but Ibrahim didn’t accept. He said he will only take help from Allah SWT. Other examples of his perfected Tawheed are his constant state of obedience, his complete reliance on Allah, and his loneliness on his journey that never affected his state of iman. He didn’t have many followers, and was even raised by disbelievers. But he always remained strong in his Tawheed. He understood that everything comes from Allah only and that to believe otherwise is shirk. To beg is shirk. If you beg someone for a job, love, money or anything, it’s shirk. As the only person who can increase these things is Allah SWT. It doesn’t mean that we should be lazy and just say “oh, i haven’t got a job because Allah didn’t choose that for me” and just sit on a sofa playing video games all day. Yes, we should still work hard with the means Allah has given us but the success of that hard work depends on Allah, solely.
Overall building this strong foundation in Tawheed will help you become stronger in prayer, clean your heart of sins, bring you closer to Allah and maybe even open the doors to Jannah. May Allah make you from among the people of Jannah Al Firdous. Ameen.