Upon the Day of Resurrection it will be of no use to you in saying that you were not aware of almighty Allah's plans for you and your purpose in that life...

"This mortal life of ours is an opportunity, to gain Jannah. We can accept this opportunity, or decline it." - Sheikh Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt [1]

Extracts from the book
'The Fundamentals of Tawheed'

by
Sheikh Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips

Pre-creation

Although Islam rejects the notion of the soul�s continues rebirth, it does however, recognize that the soul of each child came into existence prior to its birth on earth.

The Prophet (saws) related that when Allaah created Adam, he took a covenant from him in a place called Na�maan on the day of �Arafah[1], then He extracted form him all of his descendants who would be born until the end of the world, generation after generation, and spread them out in front of Him in order to take a covenant from them also. He spoke to them face to face saying: �Am I not your Lord?� and they all replied, �Yes, we testify to it.� Allaah then explained why He had all of mankind bear witness that He was their creator and only true God worthy of worship. He said, �That was incase you (mankind) should say on the Day of resurrection, �Surely we were unaware of all this. We had no idea that You, Allaah, were our God. No one told us that we were only supposed to worship You.�  Allaah went on to explain that it was also in case you should say: �It was our ancestors who made partners (with Allaah) and we are only their descendants;

will You, then destroy us for what those liars did?[2]^{, [3]}�This was the prophet�s  explanation of the Qur�anic verse in which Allaah said :

�When your Lord drew forth from the loins of the children of Adam, their descendants and made them testify concerning themselves. (Saying): �Am I not your Lord� they said, �Yes, we testify to it.�(This) in case you say on the Day of Judgment, �We were unaware of this�. Or in case you say, � It was our ancestors who made partners(with Allaah) and we are only their descendants. Will You then destroy us for what those liars did?�[4].

The verse and the prophetic explanation confirm the fact that everyone is responsible for belief in God and on the Day of Judgment excuses will not be accepted. Every human being has the belief in God imprinted on his soul and Allaah shows every idolater during the course of life, signs that his idol is not God. Hence, every sane human being is required to believe in God beyond His creation and not manifest in it.

The prophet (saws) then went on to say, �Allaah then places between the two eyes of every human a flash of light showing their Eemaan and shows them akk to Adam. Adam was awed by the sight of all these countless numbers of beings with flashes of light between their eyes so he asked Allaah, �O Lord, who are they?� Allaah told him that they were all his descendants. Adam then began looking closely at one whose flash of light amazed him, then he ask who he was and Allaah said, �That is a man called Daawood form the last of the nations among your descendants.� Adam then asked how old he was and when Allaah informed him that he was sixty, he said, �O Lord, increase his age by taking forty years from my age.� But when Adam�s life span reached its end and the angel of death came, he said, �Is there not forty more years of my life still remaining?� The Angel replied, �Did you not give ten to your descendent Daawood?� Adam denied that he had done so and his descendents denied their promise to Allaah. Adam later forgot his covenant to Allaah and so did his descendents and they all fell into error. [5]� Adam ate from the forbidden tree due to his forgetting his promise to Allaah and Satan�s deceptive prodding, and  most of mankind have ignored their responsibly to believe in God and worship Him alone, and have fallen into worship of the creation.

Following that, the Prophet (saws) said, �Allaah then pointed to some of the descendents which he had extracted from Adam and his children and said, �I have created these people for paradise and they will do the deeds of the people of paradise. �He then pointed to the rest and said, �I have created these people for the Hellfire and they will do the deeds of the inhabitants of Hell.� When the prophet (saws) said that, one of his companions asked, �O Messenger of Allaah, what is then the point of doing good deeds?� The Prophet (saws) replied, �Verily, if Allaah created one of His servants for Paradise, He helps him do the deeds of the people of Paradise until he dies doing one of their deeds, then He places him in Paradise because of it. But if He created a man for the Hellfire, He helps him do the deeds of its inhabitants until he dies doing one of their deeds, then He puts him in the Fire because of it. [6]� This statement of the Prophet (saws) does not mean that people have no free will or choice between good evil, for it that were so, the judgment, reward and punishment would all be senseless. Allaah�s creation of a person for Paradise is His creation of a person knowing full well before his creation that he will be among the people of paradise due to his choice of faith over disbelief and good over evil.

If someone sincerely believes in Allaah and tries to do good, Allaah will give him many opportunities to improve him belief and increase his good deeds. Allaah will never cause sincere belief to be wasted even if the believer falls of the path, He will help him back on it. Allaah may punish him in this life when he goes off the right track to remind him of his errors and wake him up to make amends. In fact, Allaah will be so merciful to as to take the life of the sincere believer while doing a good deed, thereby insuring that the believer falls off the path, He will help him back on it. Allaah may punish him in this life when he goes of the right track to remind him of his errors and wake him up to make amends. In fact, Allaah will be merciful as to take the life of the sincere believer while doing a good deed, thereby insuring that the believer will be among the fortunate dwellers of Paradise. If someone, on the other hand, disbelieves in Allaah and rejects righteousness, Allaah then makes evil deeds easy for him. Allaah gives him success when he does bad and that encourages him to do more evil until he dies in such a sinful state and is flung into the everlasting Fire because if his evil deeds.

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The Fitrah

Since Allaah made all human beings swear to his Godhood when He created Adams, this oath is printed on the human soul even before it enters the fetus in the fifth month of pregnancy. So when a child is born, it has with it a natural belief in Allaah. This natural belief is called in Arabic the �Fitrah.[1]� If the child was left alone, it would grow aware of Allaah in his unity, but all children are affected by the pressures of their environment whether directly or indirectly. The Prophet (saws) reported that Allaah said, �I created My servants in the right religion but the devils made them go astray.[2]� The Prophet (saws) also said, �Each child is born in a state of �Fitrah�, but his parents make him a Jew or a Christian. It is like the way an animal gives birth to a normal offspring. Have you noticed any (young animal) born mutilated before you mutilate them?[3]� So, just as the child�s body submits naturally to the fact that Allaah is the Lord and Creator. But its parents try to make it follow their own way and the child is not strong enough in the early stages of its life to resist or oppose its parents. The religion which the child follows at this stage is one of custom and upbringing and Allaah does not hold it account or punish it for this religion. When the child matures in youth and clear proofs of the falsehood of its religion are brought to it, the adult must now follow the religion of knowledge and reason.[4]� At this point the devils try their best to encourage him to stay as he is or to go further astray. Evils are made pleasing to him and he must now live in the midst of a struggle between him Fitrah and his desire in order to find the right road. If he chooses his Fitrah, Allaah will help him overcome his desires even though it may take most of his life to escape, for many people enter Islam in their old age although most tend to do so before that.

Because of all these powerful forces fighting against the Fitrah Allaah does chose certain righteous men and revealed to them clearly the right path in life. These men whom we call prophets were sent to help our Fitrah defeat its enemies. All the truths and good practices present in societies around the world today came from their teachings, and if it were not for their teachings, there would be no peace or safety in the world at all. For example, the laws of the most western countries are based on the �Ten Commandments� of the prophet Moses like the �thou shalt not steal� and �Thou shalt not kill� etc., even thought they claim to be �secular� governments, free from the influence of religion.

Thus, it is man�s duty to follow the way of the Prophets since it is the only way which is truly in harmony with his nature. He should also be very careful not to do things simple because his parents and their parents did it, especially if knowledge reaches him that these practices are wrong. If he does not follow the truth, he will be like those misguided people about whom Allaah says in The Qur�aan,

�If they are told to follow what Allaah has revealed, they say: No, we will continue to follow what we will continue to follow what we found our fore parents doing!� Even though their fore parents did not comprehend anything nor were they rightly guided. [5]�

Allaah forbids us from obeying our parents if what they want us to do is against the way of the Prophets. He said, in the Qur�aan,

�We advise man to be good to his parents, but if they try to make you do in My name what you know to be false, do not obey them.[6]�

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The Covenant

The covenant which every man made to Allaah during pre-creation was that he would recognize Allaah as his Lord and not direct any form of worship to others besides Him. This is the essential meaning of the �Shahaadah� (declaration of faith) which everyone must make in order to become a full fledged Muslim; Laa elaaha illallaah (there is no god worthy of worship but Allaah) also known as �Kalimah at-Tawheed� the statement of Allaah�s unity. Bearing witness to God�s unity in this life is only a confirmation of primordial declaration made in the spiritual state. But the question which remains is: How is the covenant to be fulfilled?

The covenant is fulfilled by the sincerely believing in Tawheed and putting that belief into practice in daily life. Tawheed is put into practice by avoiding all the acts of Shirk (setting up partners with Allaah) and by closely following the last messenger whom Allaah sent as a practical and living example of life based on the principle of Tawheed. Because man has declared that Allaah is his Lord, he must then consider righteous deeds to be only those defined by Allaah and His Prophet (saws) as being righteous and evil deeds likewise. In so doing, the principle of Tawheed is put into practice mentally. This method is important because a deed may seem good when it is in fact evil. For example, it has been said that when a poor man wants a king to do something for him, it is better for the poor man to get a prince for or someone near to the king to speak on his behalf. Based on that it is further said that if one really wants Allaah to answer his prayers, he should pray to the Prophet or a saint to ask Allaah for him because he is dirty with his many sins he commits daily. This may seem logical, but both Allaah and the Prophet (saws) have clearly told man to pray to Allaah without any intermediaries[1]. Likewise a deed may seem evil when it is in fact good. For example, someone might point out that cutting off someone�s hand for stealing is barbaric or that lashing someone for drinking alcohol is inhuman, and one might feel that such punishments are too harsh and not good, yet, Allaah and his Prophet have prescribed these punishments and the good results of their application speak for themselves.

Therefore, the covenant with Allaah can only be fulfilled by a Muslim by choice, regardless of whether his parents were Muslims or not, and the application of the covenant is, in fact, the implementation of the principles of Islam itself. Man�s Fitrah is the basis of Islam, so when he practices Islam in its totality, his outer actions and deeds come into harmony with the very nature in which Allaah created man�s inner being. When this takes place, man unites his inner being with his outer being which is a key aspect of Tawheed. The result of this aspect of Tawheed is the creation of the truly pious man in the mold of, Adam, to whom Allaah made the angels bow and whom Allaah chose to rule the earth. Because, only men who lives Tawheed can judge and rule the earth with true justice.