Wahhabism

‘Calling’ The Divine Personalities

One of the matters of disputes between the Wahhabis and other Islamic sects is the matter of pleading and calling the pious personalities and awliya Allah in times of hardship and difficulties.

Pleading and asking help from the Prophets and awliya Allah near their graves or otherwise is completely in vogue among the Islamic sects and they consider it neither to be shirk (polytheism) nor contradicting the Islamic foundations. On the other hand, the Wahhabis have strongly rejected such pleadings and for intimidating their opponents, they set forth some verses of Qur’an which are not having the least connection to what they claim and always raise the following verse as their slogan.

“The mosques belong to Allah; do not call anyone with Allah. (Jinn 72:18)”

For acquainting the respected readers with all such verses which are the greatest excuse in the hands of the Wahhabis, we shall present them here and then explain their contents. The Wahhabis prove their point by producing the afore-mentioned and the following verses.

“To Him is due the true prayer; and those whom they pray to beside Allah give them no answer. (Raad 13:14)”

“And those whom you call upon besides Him are not able to help you, nor can they help themselves. (A’raf 7:197)”

“And those whom you call upon besides Him do not control a straw. (Fatir 35:13)”

“Surely those whom you call on besides Allah are in a state of subjugation like yourselves. (A’raf 7:194)”

“Say: Call on those whom you assert besides Him, so they shall not control the removal of distress from you nor (its) transference. (Bani-Israel 17:56)”

“Those whom they call upon, themselves seek the means of access to their Lord. (Bani-Israel 17:57)”

“And do not call besides Allah on that which can neither benefit you nor harm you. (Yunus 11:106)”

“If you call on them they shall not hear your call. (Fatir 35:14)”

“And who is in greater error than he who calls besides Allah upon those that will not answer him till the day of resurrection. (Ahqaaf 46:5)”

The Wahhabis conclude from these verses that calling the awliya and virtuous people after their death is 'ibada and worship of them, and that anyone who says, “O Muhammad” either near his grave or from far off; this calling itself is 'ibada.

Al-San'ani narrating from Kashf al-'irtiyab, pages 273-274, mentions in his book Tanzih al-i'tiqad as such:

“The Holy Qur’an has unconditionally declared pleadings and callings towards someone other than Allah as 'ibada; the reason being that in the beginning of verse, it says أدعوني أستجب لكم and following that it says:

Therefore, anyone who calls the Prophet (s) and or a pious person or asks to intercede for fulfilling his or her needs, or says “You help in repaying my debt”, or says “You cure my sickness”, then in these cases this person has, with such sayings, worshipped them because the reality of worship is nothing but calling someone. As a result of such calling, he has worshipped (someone) other than Allah and has become a polytheist since monotheism of divinity [^1] (i.e there is no Creator and Sustainer except Allah) should be accompanied with monotheism of worship which means not worshipping anyone except Him.”

Reply

There is no doubt about this fact that the word of دُعا in Arabic means ‘to call’ and the term عبادات means ‘to worship’ and one can never reckon these two words to be synonymous to each other; and say that both give the same meaning. In other words, one cannot say that every call and plead is 'ibada (worship) because: Firstly, in the Holy Qur’an, the word of دعوت (calling) has been used in instances where it does not give the meaning of ‘worship’ at all.

Like:

“He said: ‘O Lord! I called my nation (towards Thee) day and night. (Nuh 71:5)’”

Can we say that the intention of Nuh was to say “I worshipped my nation day and night!”?

The Qur'an quotes Satan as saying:

“I did not have any authority upon you except that I called you (towards evil deeds) and you obliged. (Ibrahim 14:22)”

Is it possible for anyone to interpret Satan's calling to mean that he has worshipped his followers!? If it was an act of worship it was from the side of the followers of Satan and not from Satan himself.

In this verse and tens of other un-mentioned verses, the word of دعوت (calling) has not been used in the meaning of عبادات (worship). Therefore, one cannot say that دعوتand عبادات are synonymous to each other and based on this, conclude that if anyone seeks help and calls the Prophets or the virtuous people, he has worshipped them. [^2]

Secondly, by دُعا in these verses is not meant as absolute calling but refers to some special calling which can be synonymous to the word of عبادات because, all these verses have come down with regard to the idol-worshippers who believed their idols to be small gods who were entrusted with some of the divine ranks and who possessed some kind of independence in their affairs.

Let it not be unsaid that humbleness and humility or any kind of utterance or behaviour in front of a creature either as a big God or small god if it is with this intention that he is God, Lord, and the Owner of affairs like shafa'a and forgiveness, then it will be 'ibada or worship. There is no doubt that the humility of the idol-worshippers and their pleading and calling were before those idols which they depicted as the owners of the right of intercession etc., and considered them as the independent authority in the affairs of this world and the Hereafter.

It is apparent that under these circumstances, any kind of pleading and calling towards these creatures is 'ibada or worship. The most obvious witness to the fact that their pleadings and callings were accompanied with the belief in their divinity is this verse:

“So their gods whom they called upon besides Allah did not avail them ought. (Hud 11:101)”

Therefore, the verses under discussion have no relation to the main point of our discussion.

The topic of our discussion is pleading of one slave to another slave who neither considers him as God nor Lord nor as the Owner and independent authority in the worldly and heavenly affairs. Rather, he reckons him to be a beloved servant of Allah who has appointed him to the position of Prophethood and Imamate and promised to accept his prayers with regards to His slaves. As verse says:

“And had they, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked forgiveness of Allah and the Apostle had (also) asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah Oft-returning (to mercy), Merciful. (Nisa 4:64)”

Thirdly, in the aforementioned verses itself, there is a clear evidence that by دعوتis not meant absolute asking for ones affairs and needs but refers to asking and calling in the sense of Ibadat and worship. For this reason, in one of the verses, the word of 'ibada immediately follows the word of دعوتgiving the same meaning. Like:

“And your Lord says: Call upon Me, I will answer you, surely those who are too proud for My service shall soon enter hell abased. (Ghafir 40:60)”

Just as you must have noticed, in the beginning of the verse the word of ادعوني and following the same verse the word of عبادتيhas come and this clearly shows that by this دعوتis meant some special pleading and beseeching before a creature whom they recognized by the divine qualities.

The master of the prostrators, Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (‘a) says in his supplication as such:

“Thou have named Thy calling as worship and its abandonment as pride and Thou have promised a miserable entry into the fire for those who abandon it.” [^3]

And sometimes in two verses where the contents are similar, we see in one place the word of عبادات and in another place the word of دعوتLike:

“Say: Do you serve besides Allah that which does not control for you any harm, or any profit? (Maida: 76)”

In another verse it says:

“Say: Shall we call on that besides Allah, which does not benefit us nor harm us. (An’am: 71)”

In Sura Fatir, verse 13 it says:

“And those whom you call upon besides Him do not control a straw.”

In this verse, the word of تدعونis used whereas in another verse which contains the same contents the word of تعبدون is used.

“Surely they whom you serve besides Allah do not control for you any sustenance. (Ankabut: 17)”

Sometimes, in one verse, both the words have appeared and has been used in the same meaning:

“Say: I am forbidden to serve those whom you call upon besides Allah. (An’am: 56)”

“Say, I am forbidden from worshipping those which you call them (i.e. worship them)” [^4]

Respected readers are requested to refer to al-Mu'jam al-mufahras under the words عبد and دُعاso that they will witness as to how in on verse the word of عبادات has come and in another verse the word of دعوت has come giving the same meaning. This itself shows that the meaning of دعوت in this verse, is 'ibada and worship and not absolute calling.

If you carefully pay attention to the whole set of verses wherein the word of دعوتhas been used in the sense of عبادات you will realize that these verses either refer to the Great God of the Universe whom all the monotheist believe in His Divinity, Lordship and Mastership or refers to the idols where its worshippers considered them as small gods and masters of intercession. Under these circumstances, reasoning out with these verses for discussing about دعوت (calling) one of the awliya and beseeching one of them who doesn’t have any of these qualities is really astonishing.

[^1]: Contrary to the terminology of the Wahhabis, al-San'ani has used the word of "الوهى"where as he should have, from their viewpoint, used the word of "ربوني"

[^2]: From the viewpoint of relationship, calling and worship (general and special) is in one direction. In case of asking help from someone other than Allah but as a doer depending on God, it shows calling and not worship. But in practical glorifications like ruku’ and sajda which is accompanied with the belief in the divinity of the opposite person it denotes ‘worship’ and notدُعا . In some instances, such as salat, both دُعا and عبادات are applicable.

[^3]: Sahifat al-Sajjadiyya, supplication No.45 and what is meant is Sura Ghafir verse 60.

[^4]: The same is the content of Sura Ghafir, verse 66.