Ebad Allah Al-Mukhlaseen
(God’s purified servants)
By: A. Mohamed
By: A. Mohamed
In the very beginning, when Satan rebelled against God, Satan made a vow to mislead all humans (except a few) and divert them from God's path saying:
He said, "By your majesty, I will lead them all astray, except ebadak minhum al-mukhlaseen." 38:82-83
The key words in the above verse are the words "ebadak minhum al-mukhlaseen."
1- The word "ebadak" means: your servants/worshippers.
2- The word "minhum" means: among them
3- The word "mukhlaseen" is the plural of the word 'mukhlas' which means purified.
The adjective 'mukhlas' (purified) is not to be confused with the adjective 'mukhlis' which means faithful.
In addition, the adjective 'mukhlas' should not be confused with the adjective 'khalis'. The word 'khalis' means pure while the word 'mukhlas' means that which has been purified.
The complete phrase "ebadak minhum al-mukhlaseen" thus means:
Those among them who are Your purified servants.
In what sense can the servants of God be called 'muhklaseen' (pure)? Clearly, purity here is not purity from sin since no human being is pure from sin. Even God's messengers committed various sins. The purity expressed in the above verses is not the purity of a person's character either. An atheist for example may be of fine character and may be charitable as a person.
To obtain the correct meaning of the purity spoken of in 38:82-83, we need to read the following words:
We brought down to you the Book with truth, so worship God, devoting the religion purely to Him. Unquestionably, it is to God that the pure religion is due. 39:2-3
The keywords that define the intended purity in 38:82-83 are "to God, 'al-deen al-khalis (the pure religion) is due ". These keywords establish the fact that purity here is related to the application of a person's religion. The religion can be pure for God only if all one's religious practices and worship practices are devoted purely to God alone.
The same instruction is given in the following glorious words:
Say, "My Salat, my worship rituals, my life and my death, are all devoted to God, the Lord of the worlds. He has no partner. 6:162-163
As per the words in 6:162-163, all religious practises and rituals should be dedicated to the name of God alone. The Shahada (testimony of faith), the Salat, the Hajj and so on should all be observed to commemorate one name only, the name of God.
The Shahada is worded precisely in the Quran, and in line with the instructions in 6:162, the Quranic Shahada has only one name, the name of God:
God bears witness that there is no god except Him, and so do the angels and those who possess knowledge, upholding justice. There is no god except Him, the Dignified, the Wise. 3:18
Besides the fact that God and the angels utter this Shahada, those who possess knowledge among the humans also utter this Shahada (there is no god but God). If any other names are added to the only Shahada authorised by God in the Quran, it constitutes a clear violation of 6:162 and 39:2.
Similarly, the Salat must be dedicated to the name of God alone:
I am God, there is no god except Me. So worship Me, and observe the Salat to commemorate Me. 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 the Hajj to the people. They will come to you on foot and on every lean animal; they will come from every deep ravine to witness some benefits for them and to commemorate God's name during the known days (of Hajj) for providing them with the livestock animals. 22:28
And commemorate God for a number of days. 2:203
Then when you disperse from 'Arafat', you shall commemorate God at the Al-Haram shrine. 2:198
Then once you have completed your worship rituals, commemorate God as you commemorate your own fathers or even a greater commemoration. 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 mortal servants of God such as Jesus, Mary, Muhammad, the Saints, Ali, Hussein and many others. A feature of idolising such mortals is that their names are inserted as part of the religious practices besides the name of God.
Such servants of God were 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 take My servants as allies beside Me? We have prepared Hell as hospitality for the disbelievers. 18:102
To mislead people and lead them to associate partners with God (shirk), Satan inspired many corrupt doctrines for the people. For the Christians, Satan inspired a number of false doctrines such as the 'Trinity', the 'son of god', 'god incarnate', 'salvation only through Jesus' and so on. By doing so, he succeeded in leading Christians to set up Jesus as a god besides God. Immediately, the religion of such Christians is not devoted to God alone, but to God and Jesus, and more often, to Jesus alone.
With Muslims, Satan had to apply different tactics. Satan's ideology is always the same, but the names he chose to dupe Muslims had to be different from those inspired to the Christians. Satan knew that he could not make Muslims think of Muhammad as a god besides God simply because the Quran, which was promised to remain preserved by God (15:9), makes it clear that Muhammad is only a messenger of God. So Satan had to be a bit more subtle, so what does Satan do to mislead Muslims? He succeeded in making Muhammad a partner with God in everything.The following are only some of many examples:
1- As mentioned above (6:162), the Quran instructs that all religious practices must be dedicated to the name of God alone. However, Muslims today include the name of Muhammad in all their worship practises (Salat, Shahada, Hajj, etc). By doing so, they immediately render their Shahada, the Salat and other practises void and a violation of the command in 6:162.
2- We are told that God is the only lawmaker:
Shall I seek other than God as a 'hakaman' (lawmaker) when it is He who has brought down to you the Book fully detailed? 6:114
Also, the only duty of any messenger is to deliver God’s message:
The sole duty of the messenger is the delivery (of the 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 the error of prohibiting something made lawful by God. He was quickly reprimanded by God:
O you prophet, why do you prohibit what God has made lawful for you, seeking to please your wives? God is Forgiver, Merciful. 66:1
Despite all these assurances, Muslims today make Muhammad a lawmaker besides God. They follow various hadith which claim that the prophet prohibited various items such as gold and silk for men, dogs, pictures, music, makeup for women, etc. By reading 6:114, 5:99 and 66:1, the unbiased reader who believes the words of God, would have no hesitation in branding such hadith as lies attributed to prophet Muhammad.
3- Several Quranic words prohibit the association of anything or anyone with the name of God. However, on entering the majority of masjids, we find the names Allah and Muhammad side by side on the walls 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 the association of the name of Muhammad with the name of God a gross sin, but it is also in violation of the very clear Quranic command not to make any distinction between God's messengers (2:285).
As a result, all Muslims who behave in such a 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 God do not do so without committing shirk. 12:106
The words "those who believe in God" include all Muslims in the world. It is a sad fact, confirmed by God, that the majority of Muslims are in fact committing 'shirk'.
Satan is given capabilities which are superior to what the human being is given. Satan and his clan know the weaknesses of the human being. Satan and his army of devil jinns are 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 entice you just like he caused your parents to be evicted from Paradise, stripping them of their garments to expose to them their bodies. He and his tribe see you from where you do not see them. We have appointed the devils as allies 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 beside God and thus fulfilling his aim to lead most people astray (38:82-83).
In contrast, the pure believers who commemorate 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) shall have no authority over My servants but only over those who follow you of the strayers. 15:42