“We Already Understand Tawhid”
Abu al-Hasan Malik al-Akhdar
In his explanation of Kashf al-Shubuhāt, Shaykh Salih Āli al-Shaykh – may Allah preserve him – relates what transpired between Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb – may Allah have mercy upon him – and some of his students. When the Shaykh finished teaching them Kitāb al-Tawhīd, he wanted to teach the book again. The students said, “O Shaykh, we prefer to study another text, perhaps in fiqh or hadīth.”
“Why is that?” he asked.
“Because,” they replied, “we already understand Tawhīd.”
The Shaykh told them he would consider the matter. A few days later, the students came to his lesson and saw something was bothering him.
“Some disturbing news has reached me,” he said.
“What is it?” they replied.
“It reached me that some people from Dirʿiyah sacrificed a rooster at the threshold of their new house, letting the blood run down the door. So, I sent someone to verify this and deal with it accordingly.”
The following day the students asked the Shaykh if his emissary had sent word. He then informed them that something entirely different had transpired.
“What happened?” they asked.
“They did not sacrifice a rooster,” the Shaykh said. “Rather, a man committed an incestuous act with his mother.”
The students exclaimed, “Refuge is sought with Allah! With his mother!”
The Shaykh then clarified that the ignorant person’s statement, “I already understand Tawhīd,” is from the devil’s deception. Because, as Shaykh Salih Ali al-Shaykh explains, incest horrified the students more than polytheism, the gravest of sins. Despite claiming to understand Tawhid, they were ignorant of the true purpose behind these animal sacrifices: appeasing the jinn and warding off their evil. This is major Shirk, and had they understood this, they would have been more appalled by sacrificing an animal for other than Allah.*
* See http://sunnahpublishing.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Salihalshaikhweunderstandtawheed.mp3