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Four Basic Terms

from the Book

Four Basic Terms

Ilah, Rabb, Deen and ’Ibadah, are four terms basic to the whole teaching of the Qur’an. Through- out its pages, it stresses again and again that Allah Almighty is the Rabb and the Ilah ;that there is no ilah but He, nor is there any other rabb, nor does He share with anyone else the qual- ities and attributes implied by these terms.

He, and He alone should therefore be accepted as one’s Ilah and Rabb, and no-one else should in the least be believed to possess the attributes which these words imply. It also demands that we should give our ibadah to Him and Him alone, and not to anyone else, and make our deen exclusive to Him and reject all other deens!

And to every Messenger We ordained before you (O Prophet), the message which We gave for himself and for others) was none other than that ”There is no Ilah but Myself, and therefore give your ’ibadah to Ms alone. ” (Quran 21:31)

….,And (they) were not Ordered except to give their ’ibadah to one Ilah, only ; there is no ilah except He, (end)

He is free of (the taint of) what they attribute to Him by their shirk (that is, by associating others with Him in His exclusive qualities and attributes). (Quran 9:31)

Verily this Brotherhood of the Prophets is single Broth- erhood, and I am the Rabb of you all, wherefore give your ’ibadah to Me alone. (Quran 21:92)

Say’ to them (0 Prophet) : Would you have me seek-for rabb any other then Allah, and He the Rabb of everything there is ! (Quran 6:164)

So, whosoever yearns to meet his Rabb, let him do good deeds, and let him not mix up his ibadah of Him with that of any other(s). (Quran 18:110)

And indeed we raised a Messenger in every people that they should give their ’ibadah to Allah, and abstain severely from giving it to taghoot. [Literally, this word can apply to a person who commits any kind of transgression.

In the sense in which it is used in the Qur’an it denotes a person who transgresses the limits prescribed by his status as a creation of God, who sets himself up as a god and makes the people treat him as such. There are three degrees of transgression or rebellion of a human being vis-a-vis God.

The first is that, so far as the principle of the thing is concerned, a person believes in obedience to God to be the right course, but when it comes to deeds, he disobeys.

This is known as fisq … The second is that he should give up obedience to God as a matter of prin- ciple and either do as he pleases or obey someone else (in the sense in which one owes obedience to God). This is Kufr.

The third is that not only does he rebel against God, denying Him and His right to lay down the law for man but also begins to make his own law prevail in the land.

It is the person who reaches this third stage who is a Taghoot and no person can be a Mu’min of Allah in the real sense unless he repudiates Taghoot.

Maududi (Note by the Translator: From the point of view as last explained all those ”Muslim” heads of state who deliberately substituted any portion of Islamic by non-Islamic law fall naturally to the category of Taghoots, no matter how much they might protest their devotion to Islam and their professed desire for the glory of Muslims,

though in the latter case the glory, actually sought is only that of their own notion and the means advocated are often either a return to their pre-Islamic culture or the adoption of the present day decadent Western culture. Abu Asad)] (Quran 16:30)

Do you wish for some deen other than’ Allah’s, (and this despite the fact that to Him submits all there is in the Heavens and in or upon the Earth, willingly or unwilling,

and all are to return unto Him? (Quran 3:83)

Say (O Prophet) :The Injunction laid upon me is to give my ’ibadah to Allah, and reserve my deen exclusively for Him. (Quran 38:11)

Verily Allah is my Rabb, and is yours too; therefore, give your worship to Him alone-that (truly is the only real) straight path. (Quran 3:61)

The verses quoted above are just by way of example, and not the only ones of their kind. Whosoever makes more than a cursory study of the Qur’an will soon realize that the entire contents revolve round these four terms only, and that the central idea of the whole book is that:

Allah is the Rabb, and the Ilah; No-one else possesses the qualities and attributes implied by these terms; Wherefore men should give their ’ibadah to Him and Him alone; and one’s deen should be exclusively for Him with no share of it for any other.

Importance

It should however be obvious even from the quotations given that it is essential for proper comprehension of the teachings of the Qur’an fully to understand the implications of these four terms.

The Qur’an will in fact lose its whole meaning for anyone who does not know what is meant by ilah or rabb, what constitutes ’ibadah, and what the Qur’an means when it uses the word deen.

He will fail to learn what Tawhid (belief in the One-ness of Allah in the fullest sense) is, or what constitutes its anti-thesis, that is, shirk (the attribution to others, either wholly or partially, of any of Allah’s exclusive qualities or attributes).

It will not be possible for him to make his ’ibadah, or his deen, exclusive for Allah alone. And little better than such a completely ignorant man would be the one who has only a vague idea of what the terms imply, because in that case the whole teaching of the Qur’an will remain vague and incomplete for him, and both his belief and his conduct will fatally leave much to be desired.

He will no doubt keep on reciting the words of the kalimah, and even explain that it means that there is no ilah but Allah, and yet, in practice, he will keep treating many another to be an ilah too.

He will go through life proclaiming that there is no rabb but Allah, and yet for all that there will be many whom he will be treating as rabbs.

He will protest, and affirm, with all seriousness and sincerity, that he does not give his ’ibadah to any but Allah, and will yet keep giving to others unknowingly,

If anyone even so much as hints that he has any other deen, he would feel offended enough to come to blows with the accuser, and yet in practice. he will unwittingly be giving his allegiance to many another deen.

No-one will ever hear him actually use the words Allah or rabb in respect of any but in the specific sense in which the words have been employed in the Qur’an, but he will be conducting himself as if he had many an ilah and many a rabb though without realizing this just like the person who never realized until he was specifically fold that he had been uttering prose all his life;