6.3. THE PAGANS BELIEVE IN THE UNIVERSAL REALITY
The pagans believe in the universal reality as they testify to the fact that Allah is the Lord of everything. Allah, Most High, says:
“And if you asked them, ‘Who created the heavens and earth?’ they would surely say, ‘Allah.’” (Luqman (31): 25)
And
“Say, (O Muhammad), ‘To whom belongs the earth and whoever is in it, if you should know?’ They will say, ‘To Allah.’ Say, ‘Then will you not remember?’ Say, ‘Who is Lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the Great Throne?’ They will say, ‘(They belong) to Allah.’ Say, ‘Then will you not fear Him?’ Say, ‘In whose hand is the realm of all things and He protects while none can protect against Him if you should know?’ They will say, ‘(All belongs) to Allah.’ Say, ‘Then how are you deluded?”’ (al-Muminun (23): 84-89)
For this reason, Allah said:
“And most of them do not believe in Allah except while they associate others with Him.” (Yusuf (12): 106)
Some of the Salaf have said: “You ask them who created the heavens and earth and they say Allah, yet they still worship others.Therefore, he who attests to the reality of pre-decree destiny (‘qadr) but does not affirm religious commands and prohibitions is deeper in disbelief than the Jews and the Christians because they at least affirmed the truthfulness of the Angels and the Messengers who informed them of the lawful and the unlawful. Their only problem was that they only believed in some of these laws while rejecting the rest. Allah, Most High, says:
“Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah and His mes- sengers and wish to discriminate between Allah and His messengers and say, ’We believe in some and disbelieve in others,’ and wish to adopt a way in between. Those are the disbelievers, truly.” (al-Nisa’ (4): 150-151)
These people who only bear witness to the“universal reality”(haqiqa al-kawniyya) or the oneness of Lordship (tawhid al-rububiyyah) which the entire creation believes in whilst affirming that all servants of Allah come under His pre-decreed destiny are more involved in unbelief than the Jews and the Christians. As they base their under- standing on this reality alone, they do not differentiate between the god-fearing believers who obey Allah’s command with which He sent His Messengers and between the unbelievers and sinners who disobey Him.
This said, there are some who do perceive the difference in some matters. This means that they distinguish a believer from an unbeliever but they still see no difference between the pious and the sinful. Others differentiate between some of the pious and some of the sinful but still do not make a distinction between others because of their assumptions and desires. The deficiency of faith with such people depends on how big a distinction they make between the pious and the sinful. The amount of faith that these people have in the religion of Allah, which is the true criterion, depends on how big a distinction they make between His followers and enemies.
Those who attest to the truthfulness of religious commands and prohibitions but do not believe in preordained destiny are Qadarites like the Mu’tazilites and other groups, and these people are the Zoroastrians of this nation. While these people resemble the Zoroastrians, the ones mentioned before them resemble the pagans, and they are even worse. Those, then, who affirm both beliefs as correct and make the Lord a contradiction are the followers of Iblis who, as has been related about him, objected to the Lord, Exalted, and attempted to dispute with Him. This is the classification regarding theology.
By Shaykhu’l-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah
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