Ebad Allah Al-Mukhlaseen
(God’s pure worshippers)
Let us start from the very beginning!
In the very beginning, when God expelled Satan from Heaven, Satan made a vow to mislead all humans (except a few) and divert them from God’s way:
“He (Satan) said, "I swear by Your Might, that I will send them all astray. Except “ebadak al-mukhlaseen” 38:82-83
The key words in the above verse are the words “ebadak” and “al-mukhlaseen”
1- The word “ebadak” means: your ebad. The word ebad comes form the route word “abada” which means: to worship. Therefore “your ebad” means: those who worship you (God).
2- The word “al-mukhlaseen” comes from the word “khalis” which means pure.
For example the phrase: Dahab khalis is used to mean: pure gold, and so on.
The complete phrase “ebadak al-mukhlaseen” thus means: those who worship you (God) purely. The importance of worshipping God purely is further emphasised in 39:2 and 39:3
In 39:2 we read the words:
“We have revealed to the book truthfully, so (you shall) worship God, mukhlisan lahu al-deen (devoting the religion purely to Him alone).”
Similarly, in 39:3 we read the words:
“Is it not to God that the al-deen al-khalis (pure religion) is due?”
The question which arises from the above Quranic words is:
In what sense can the worshippers of God be called Muhklaseen?
As per 39:2-3, it is when all their religion is purely dedicated to the name of God alone.
This is once again confirmed with the following Quranic command:
Say, "My Salat, my worship practises, my life and my death, are all devoted absolutely to God alone, the Lord of the universe.” 6:162
What this means is that all the religious practises and rituals should be dedicated to the name of God alone. Starting from the shahada (testimony of faith) and including the prayers, the Hajj and so on, they should all be dedicated to only one name, and that is the name of God.
The correct shahada, which has the name of God alone, is given in 3:18. This shahada was also given in all previous scripture where the testimony of faith was exclusively for the name of God alone. For more details please see: The correct shahada
Similarly, the Salat must also be dedicated to the name of God alone:
"I am God; there is no other god beside Me. You shall worship Me, and observe the Salat to commemorate Me alone.” 20:14
Hajj is not any different, throughout the Hajj rituals, the only name to be commemorated should be the name of God and no other name:
"And proclaim that the people shall observe Hajj pilgrimage …… they shall commemorate God’s name during the specified days for providing them with the livestock" 22:27-28
"You shall commemorate God for a number of days" 2:203
"While you file from ‘Arafat’ you shall commemorate God" 2:198
"As you complete your rites, you shall continue to commemorate God" 2:200
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On the other hand, Satan knew that it is an attribute of all humans to idolise other humans, and thus Satan inspired people to idolise Jesus, Mary, Muhammad, the Saints, Ali, Hussien and so on.
However, all these were mortals and no different from other humans. All the messengers and prophets are true servants of God who never had any power to harm us or benefit people. They were only sent to the world to deliver a message from God, but sadly each people have turned their messengers into idol figures. We are warned very clearly in the Quran not to idolise them or make them lords besides God:
“Do those who disbelieve think that they can get away with setting up My servants as lords beside Me? We have prepared for the disbelievers Hell as an eternal abode.” 18:102
To mislead people and lead them to associate partners with God (shirk), Satan inspired many corrupt doctrines for the people.
With Christians, he inspired to them a number of false doctrines such as the “Trinity”, the “son of god”, “Salvation only through Jesus” and so on, and by doing so, he succeeded in leading Christians to set up Jesus as a god besides God!
With the Muslims Satan had to apply different tactics, he knew that he could not make Muhammad a god besides God simply because the Quran (which was promised to remain preserved by God 15:9) makes it clear that Muhammad is a messenger of God. So Satan had to be a bit more subtle, so what does Satan do to mislead the Muslims?
He succeeded in making Muhammad a partner with God in everything!
The following are only some of many examples:
1- We are told that all our religious practises should be dedicated to the name of God alone:
“Say, "My Prayers (Salat), my worship practises, my life and my death, are all devoted absolutely to God alone, the Lord of the universe.” 6:162
Yet Muslims today include the name of Muhammad in all their worship practises (Salat, shahada, Hajj, etc)
Immediately this means that the shahada, the Salat and other practises observed by Muslims today is void and in violation of the command in 6:162.
2- We are told that God is the only law maker:
“Shall I seek other than God as a law Maker when He has revealed to you this book fully detailed?” 6:114
Also that the duty of any messenger is only to deliver God’s message:
"The only duty of the messenger is to deliver God's message" 5:99
We are also told that prophet Muhammad did not have the authority to make any laws. On one occasion the Prophet made this error (prohibiting something made lawful by God) and he was quickly reprimanded by God:
“O prophet, why do you prohibit what God made lawful just to please your wives” 66:1
Despite of all these assurances, Muslims today make Muhammad a Law Giver besides God! They follow false hadith which tell lies against the Prophet, claiming that he prohibited gold and silk for men, dogs, pictures , music, make up for women, etc etc.
3- We are told that no name should be associated with the name of Allah, however on entering any masjid we find the names “Allah” and “Muhammad” side by side as if they were partners! The same can be seen on the walls of the Kaaba and in almost all Islamic books and publications! Not only is this a gross sin of associating the name of Muhammad alongside the name of God, but it is also in violation to the very clear Quranic command not to make any distinction between God’s messengers (2:285).
As a result, all Muslims who behave is such manner are guilty of committing shirk (associating partners with God). God knew this would happen and this was actually foretold in the Quran:
“The majority of those who believe in Allah do not do so without committing shirk” 12:106
Who are the ones who believe in Allah and whom God speaks of in 12:106?
Satan is given capabilities which are superior to what the human being is given. Satan and his clan know our weakness’s and is also able to see us, to whisper to us and to entice us but we cannot see them:
“O children of Adam, do not let the devil dupe you as he did when he caused the eviction of your parents from Paradise, and the removal of their garments to expose their bodies. He and his tribe see you, while you do not see them. We appoint the devils as companions of those who do not believe.” 7:27
As a result, Satan exploited this specific weakness in the human being by setting humans to be idolised besides God and thus fulfilling his aim to lead most people astray (38:82-83).
In contrast, the pure believers who have the name of God alone in all their religious practises will not fall for Satan’s trap and are thus given immunity by God against the call of idol worship enticed by Satan:
"You (Satan) have no power over Ebadi (the ones who worship Me). You only have power over the strayers who follow you.”15:42