RENAISSANCE OCTOBER 2020

24 Monthly Renaissance October 2020 Faith & Beliefs Essence of Polytheism (4) Amin Ahsan Islahi Polytheism of the Hypocrites The hypocrites were Muslims for all obvious intents and purposes. They professed belief in all the requirements of faith. They believed in the prophethood of the Prophet (sws) and of all other apostles. They also recited the kalimah-i shah ā dah , offered the ṣ al ā h according to the established norm in mosques and paid the zak ā h as well. They also offered ḥ ajj of the Ka‘bah and participated in battles. In fact, it seems from the Qur’ ā n that they expressed their desire for jihad more vehemently than true Muslims. Their show for their faith in prophethood was such that when they came to the Prophet (sws), they swore repeatedly that they believed in him fully. However, the Qur’ ā n accepted none of these; instead, it called them devoid of faith, deniers of prophethood, friend of Satan, worthy of the lowest levels of Hell and guilty of polytheism in clear words. Covering all related verses will be difficult here, but we will quote some that address this polytheism here and discuss these briefly. The Qur’ ā n has declared hypocrites guilty of obeying instructions of the devil and crossing all boundaries and termed this as polytheism. Instructions of the Devil It is stated in S ū rah Nis ā ’: Hast thou not turned thy vision to those who declare that they believe in the revelations that have come to thee and to those before thee? Their [real] wish is to resort together for judgment [in their disputes] to the Evil One, though they were ordered to