bythe Imaam, Shaykhul-Islaam sL % Abul-Abbaas Ahmad ibn Abdul-Haleem IBN TAYMIYYAH l-j (died 728 AH) . An Explanation of Soorah al-Kawthar by The Imaam, the Shaikh of Islaam Abuh’Abbaas Ahmad ibn ’AbdubHaleem Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 ah) t Translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood ibn Ronald Burbank ® 1999 Salafi Publications All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, without prior permission from the publishers. First Edition: Rajab 1420 AH/October 1999 CE Published by Salafi Publications P.O. Box 6294 Birmingham B8 3JE United Kingdom Tel: (0121) 773-0003 Fax: (0121) 773-4882 Web Site: www.salafipublications.com Online Bookstore: www.salafibookstore.com Electronic Mail: [email protected] ISBN: 1-902727-07-X A Note from the Publishers Over the past three years, Salafi Publications was, by the grace of Allaah, able to publish and distribute seven substantial and beneficial books. These being: (i) The Creed of the Imaam of Hadeeth, Aboo ’Abdullaah Muhammad ibn Ismaa'eel al-Bukhaaree. (ii) Muslim Unity in Light of the Numerous Groups and Parties. (iii) Foundations of the Sunnah of Imaam Ahmad. (iv) Mountains of Knowledge. (v) The Adornment of the Scholar and Teacher and Sufficiency for the Student who Learns from the Hadeeth of Jibreel. (vi) Prostration Due to Forgetfulness and (vii) Bid'ah—The Unique Nature of the Perfection found in Islaam, and the Danger of Innovating into it. If Allaah so wills, we would like to continue printing such authentic books, dissipating thereby, the pure creed which the first three righteous generations of Muslims and those who followed them, were upon. Indeed, we have fourteen books currently translated and ready for printing, some books having been translated over a year and a half ago. However, due to the restriction in finances, we have not been able to undertake the task of printing these. So therefore we make a request to our noble readers, to donate whatever they are able to, be it a small amount or something greater, towards the printing of these works, so that this authentic knowledge can continue to be spread. Whilst always bearing in mind the saying of the final Messenger (£g|g!^), “Whoever guides to some good will recieve che same reward as its doer." So whoever is guided on account of the knowledge contained herein, then Allaah will, if He so wishes - grant those donating towards the printing of such works - the same as those who act upon the knowledge contained in them. May Allaah make it easy for us to complete this task, such that we may reach our target of printing a book approximately every two to three months, wa-sallallaahu 'alaa Muhammad, aameen. Also, after thanking Allaah, it is fitting that we thank the noble brother who kindly took upon himself the task of financing the printing of this book now in your hands, and at the same time we thank those brothers who helped in designing the cover and all others who helped in whatever way they could—so may Allaah reward them all with good in this life and the Hereafter, may He forgive them and us, and may He accept this work from them, wa-sallallaahu 'alaa Muhammad, aameen. A 35X$<L&xi&i In the Name of Allaah, the Extremely Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy Indeed, We have granted you, O Muhammad al-Kawthar. So turn in Prayer and sacrifice to your Lord (alone). Certainly, the one who bears hatred towards you is the one severed from all good. L The Shaikh of Is/aam, Abul-Abbaas Ahmad ibn Abdul-Ha/eem ibn Abdis-Salaam ibn Taymiyyah, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said: <* hat a splendid Soorah is Sooratul-Kawthar! How abundant are its benefits, even though it is short in length. The reality of its meaning is known from its ending, where Allaah, the One free from all imperfections and the Most High, severs1 the one having hatred for His Messenger from all good. So Allaah severs and deprives him of his renown, his family and his wealth, such that he loses all of that in the Hereafter. He also dispossesses him of his life such that he does not benefit from it and does not use it to acquire righteous deeds for his life in the Hereafter. He severs his heart so that it cannot recognise any good, and he does not enable it to come to know Him and to love Him and to truly believe in His Messengers. He severs his deeds such that he does not act in obedience to Allaah. He deprives him of helpers, such that no helper or anyone to assist him is to be found for him. He deprives him of every means of seeking nearness to Allaah, and of all righteous deeds, so he does not taste them, and does not relish their sweetness even if he outwardly performed them—his heart is a fugitive, fleeing and averse to them. 1 The verb Batara: to cut off, sever, amputate; and from it: abtar: one cut off. 1 All of this is the recompense for one who has hatred for a part of that which the Messenger (%&$£) came with, and so refuses to accept it due to desires, or due to his followers, or his shaikh, or his leader or his elders. Just as is the case with those who have hatred for the aayahs affirming Allaah’s attributes (Sifaat) and the ahaadeeth affirming Allaah’s attributes: those who interpret them away with ta'weel to something else other than what Allaah and His Messenger meant by them, or those who take them to mean that which agrees with their own position (madhhab), and the position held by their own faction; or those who wish that the aayahs affirming Allaah’s Attributes had never been sent down, and that Allaah’s Messenger ($&$£) had not uttered the ahaadeeth affirming Allaah’s Attributes. So from the strongest signs that a person detests and has hatred for these texts is that when he hears them being used as a proof by the People of the Sunnah for the truth that they indicate - he recoils in horror from that, he contends and he flees from it. This is due to the hatred in his heart for them, and his aversion for them.1 So what hatred towards the Messenger ($&$£) can be greater than this?! 1 See ‘Foundations of the Sunnah,' of Imaam Ahmad and its appendices, pp. 15-16, ’Abdullaah ibn Ahmad reports in As-Sunnah (no. 535), “I heard Aboo Ma’mar al-Hudhalee say, ‘Whoever claims that Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, does nor Speak, nor Hear, nor See, nor become Angry, nor be Pleased (and he mentioned some attributes)—then he is a disbeliever in Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic. If you see him standing by a well, throw him into it. This is what 1 hold as my Religion before Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, since those people are disbelievers in Allaah, the Most High.’" See also pp. 114-128 and 172 178 of the same book. 2 Likewise those who listen to music and singing, those who dance about upon hearing singing, lyrical poems, the beating of the du//, and the playing of the flute. Yet when they hear the Qur'aan recited and read in their gatherings they find it tiresome and a burden. So what hatred can be greater than this?! Then upon this basis you may gauge the rest of the factions in this regard. Likewise those who give preference to the speech and understandings of men over the Qur'aan and the Sunnah. If it had not been the case that they had hatred for that which the Messenger (&&$$>) came with, they would not have done this. Their affair reaches the extent that some of them forget the Qur‘aan, after having memorised it, and are preoccupied with the saying of so and so, and so and so. But the most severe in hatred and rejection of it are those who disbelieve in it, deny it wilfully, and declare it to be just stories of the ancients and a form of magic. Such people are worse, and more severely cut off. But everyone who has any hatred or aversion for him will receive their due share of this severance, in accordance with the level of their hatred and aversion to him So because of the hatred and enmity of those people towards him Allaah repaid them by causing everything good to be against them and by cutting them off from it. Whereas He favoured His Prophet (%&$&) with the opposite of that, in that He granted him al-Kawthar—that is the abundant good which Allaah gave to him in this life and in the Hereafter. 3 So from that which He granted him in this life is: guidance, victory, help, coolness of the eyes and the soul, that his breast was expanded for the favourable acceptance of the truth, that his heart found such delight in the remembrance of Allaah and in love of Him that no worldly delight could ever resemble it. As for what He grants him in the Hereafter, then it is: the highest place in Paradise (aTWaseelah)‘, the praiseworthy position and right to intercede (aLMaqaam aUMahmood)2, and 1 Al-Bukhaaree reports in his Saheeh, in the Book ot Adhaan, Chapter: The Supplication at the Time of Adhaan (vol. 1, no. 538): From Jaabir ibn ’Abdullaah ('>&$£) who said, “Allaah’s Messenger (£&$$) said, 1Whoever, after hearing the mu’adhhin, says, 'O Allaah! Lord of this perfect call and the prayer that is to be established! Give to Muhammad the highest place in Paradise (al-Waseelah), and the praiseworthy position and right to intercede (al-Maqaam al-Mahmood), which You promised for him on the Day of Resurrection. And Muslim reports in his Saheeh from ’Abdullaah ibn ’Amr ibn al-’Aas (*>&}fj) that he heard the Prophet say, “When you hear the mu‘adhdhin, then say the same as he says. Then invoke blessings (salaat) upon me—because whoever invokes a single blessing upon me, then Allaah will bless him ten times because of it. Then ask Allaah to grant me ‘al-Waseelah,’ because it is a position in Paradise befitting only one of Allaah’s servants, and 1 hope to be that one. So whoever asks that ‘al- Waseelah' be given to me, then my intercession will be permitted for him.”’ 2 Al-Bukhaaree reports in his Saheeh, in the Book of Tafseer, Chapter: The Statement of Allaah: “Your Lord will raise you to a position of praise.” From Ibn ’Umar who said, “On the Day of Resurrection the people will fall upon their knees. Every people will follow their Prophet, saying, ‘O so and so! Intercede!’ Until the right to intercede is given to the Prophet (0gj$£). So that is the day when Allaah will raise him to the praiseworthy position {al-Maqaama al-Mahmood).” At-Tabaree said in his tafseer (15/143-144), “Most of the scholars say that it (a/- Maqaama alMahmood) is the position that he will take on the Day of Resurrection to intercede for the people that their Lord relieves them from the terrible condition they are in on that Day.” 4 I : that He made him the first one for whom, and for whose - ! Ummah, the gate of Paradise will be opened, and He will give him the ‘Banner of Praise’ (Liwaa'ul-Hamd)1, and the ! tremendous Lake (al-Hawd)2—and so on at the time of the Resurrection; and He made all the Believers as if they are his children, and he a father to them. Contrary to the state of the one who is severed, the one who hates him and hates that I which he came with. So his Saying: : means, “He who has hatred towards you ...” and "... severed/cut off ...” is the one whose offspring are severed, the one who does not produce any good, nor any righteous action. So nothing good and no righteous deeds proceed from him. 1 Ac-Tirmidhee reports in his Sunan (no. 3875) from Aboo Sa’eed al- Khudree who said, “Allaah’s Messenger said, ‘I am the noblest of the children of Aadam on the Day of Resurrection—and that is no boast. And in my hand will be the ‘Banner of Praise' (Liwaa'ul-Hamd)— and that is no boast. And there will be no Prophet on that Day, Aadam and everyone besides him, except that they will be under my banner. And 1 will be the first person for whom the earth will be opened—and that is no boast.'" Declared saheeh by Shaikh al-Albaanee, see Saheeh Sunanit- Tirmidhee, no. 2859. 2 Al-Bukhaaree reports in his Saheeh (vol. 8, no. 581) from ’Abdullaah ibn ’Amr who said, “The Prophet (0&g£) said, ‘My Lake (Hawd) is such that it takes a months journey to cross it. Its water is whiter than milk. Its smell is better than that of musk. Its drinking cups are as numerous as the stars of the sky. Whoever drinks from it will never be thirsty.'" 5