Chapter I -- "On Tauhid"
Ebn Mus`od said: "Whoever wishes to ascertain the will of the Prophet Mohummed--salla 'llaho `alayhi wasallam--a will on which the Prophet had set his seal, let him read the following
words of Allah: 'Come, let me tell you what your Lord has forbidden you, namely, that you do not associate aught with Him . . . And that is My straight path." (Qor'an 6:151-153)
Mo`ad ebn Jabal related: "I was riding behind the Prophet--salla 'llaho `alayhi wasallam--when he said to me: 'O Mo`ad! Do you know what is due to Allah from His creatures, and what is due them?' I responded: 'Allah and His Prophet know best.' He continued: 'What is due to Allah from His creatures is to serve Him alone and never to associate any other being with Him. What is due them is not to punish any person who does not associate aught with Him.' I said: 'O Prophet of Allah, may I not then give the glad tidings to the people?' He replied: 'No! Do not reassure them lest they rely on the promise and lapse in their service to Him.'" The foregoing hadith is
Chapter II -- Virtues of Tauhid and the Many Sins for Which it Atones
Allah--ta`ala--said: "Those who believed and mixed not their iman [faith] with injustice . . . " (Qor'an 6:82) It was related by `Obadat ebn as-Samet that the Prophet of Allah--sa`aws--said: "Whoever witnesses that there is no god but Allah, alone, without associate, and that Mohummed is His servant and apostle, that `Isa [Jesus] is the servant of Allah and His apostle, His command unto Mary and of His spirit, that Paradise and Hell are true, Allah would on that account enter him into
Abo Sa`id al-Khodri reported that the Prophet of Allah--sa`aws--said: "When Mosa [Moses] asked Allah to teach him a prayer to recite whenever he remembered or called upon Him, Allah answered: "Say, O Mosa, there is no god but Allah." Mosa said: "O Lord, all your servants say these words." Allah said: "O Mosa, if the seven heavens and all they hold, and the seven earths as well, if all these were weighed against this word of 'There is no god but Allah,' the latter would outweigh the former." Ebn Hebban also reported it and al-Hakem corrected its version. At-Termedi recorded, with some editing, the report of Anas that he heard the Prophet of Allah--sa`aws--say: "Allah said: 'O Man! Were you to come to Me with all the bags of the world full of your sins, but with the witnessing that you associate naught with Me, I would come to you with those bags full of mercy and forgiveness.'"
Hosayn ebn `Abder-Rahman reported: "Once, when I was at Sa`id ebn Jobayr's, I heard the Prophet ask: 'Who has seen the shooting star yesterday?' I answered: 'I did,' and explained that I was not at prayer at the time because I had been stung. He said: 'What did you then do?' I replied: 'I sought spiritual means (roqyat) to cure it.' He said: 'What compelled you to do that?' I said: 'A report I heard from ash-Sha`bi, which he related on behalf of Boraydat ebn al-Hosayb, who said: 'No roqyat or recourse for cure by spiritual means except from jealousy or a scorpion's sting.' He said: 'You did well to reach this knowledge.'" However, Ebn `Abbas reported: "The Prophet--sa`aws--said: 'All the nations were paraded in front of me, and I saw the prophets follow one another, the one with a large crowd, the other with two or three people, and one with none. There then appeared a large multitude of people which I took to be my people. But I was told that these were the people of Mosa. Later, a larger multitude appeared and I was told that those were my people. Among them were seventy thousand who would enter
person sought to repeat the request, the Prophet told him that `Okashat had beaten him to it.
Chapter IV -- Fear of Shirk
Allah--may He be praised and glorified--said: "Allah will not forgive associating aught with Him; but He will forgive the lesser sins to whomsoever He pleases." (Qor'an 4:48, 116)
Al-Khalil--`alayhis salam--said: "O Allah! Grant that neither I nor my descendants ever worship idols." (Qor'an 14:35) In the hadith we read: "What I fear most for you is the lesser shirk. When asked what it is, the Prophet answered, 'Hypocrisy.'" In al-Bokhari's Sahih, we read that Ebn Mus`od--radiya llaho `anho--reported: "The Prophet of Allah--sa`aws--said: 'Whoever dies while calling on associates to Allah shall enter Hell.'" In Moslem's Sahih we read: "Jaber--ra`a--reported that the Prophet of Allah--sa`aws--said: 'Whoever meets Allah on the Day of Judgment not having associated aught with Him, shall enter