We were discussing the reasons why Muslims have differed, fought each other and
gone away from the path of Islam that Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught his
Companions.
We mentioned last time the ideas of ta’assub (sticking rigidly to a particular idea or
way of thinking) as well as not having knowledge.
Today we will mention two more ideas: taqleed and ghuloo. 1
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Taqleed literally means following someone or something unquestioningly.
In general, Islam does not favour this type of approach to religious matters.
Taqleed has been the cause of many problems throughout the history of Islam –
people follow religious or political leaders without ever checking whether the leader’s
statements are correct or incorrect, ie in accordance with what Muhammad (peace
be upon him) taught.
So if the leader has gone down the wrong path, then all of the people who make
taqleed of him will also go down the same path.
As with ta’assub, taqleed is found amongst non Muslims as well as the Muslims.
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Ghuloo means taking something to excess.
In this context, it refers to the excessive praise that certain Muslims direct towards
religious leaders - until they actually start directing worship (eg prayer, sacrifice,
etc) towards that person rather than to Allah.
Islam forbids this completely, and orders all Muslims to direct every aspect of
worship to Allah.
We have come across this concept before – it is called tawheed in Arabic, and refers
to singling Allah out for all worship. Tawheed is the single most important idea in the
whole of Islam.
Sadly this ghuloo of ‘religious people’ is seen in many Muslim countries nowadays
When Noah (peace be upon him) called his people away from
worshipping the pious people, they replied:
'You shall not leave your gods, nor shall you leave Wadd, nor Suwa', nor
Yaghooth, nor Ya'ooq nor Nasr."
Surah Nuh (the 71st surah) ayah 23
And these were the names of pious people who had died and whom the people had
taken as the names of idols.
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NEXT TIME:
We will discuss two further causes of people making mistakes in their belief:
Lack of reflection on the universe that we see all around us.
Lack of importance given to learning

Last time we mentioned two concepts as to why people make mistakes in their belief:
ghuloo - which means taking something to excess - and taqleed – which means following
someone or something unquestioningly.
In this email, we will mention two more concepts.
The first is lack of reflection and pondering over the universe around us.
This is an argument that is used repeatedly in the Quran.
The beauty of the universe, both on a large scale (the planets, the stars, the size of the
galaxies, the setting of the sun, the mountains, etc) and on a minute scale (the structure of
atoms and cells, the functioning of the cells in the brain) etc – Muslims believe that all of
these things are evidences that Someone has created them.
The Quran mentions:
Indeed in the creation of the heavens and the earth,
and in the alternation of night and day,
and the ships which sail through the sea with that which is of benefit to mankind,
and the water which Allah sends down from the sky and makes the earth alive
after its death,
and the living creatures of all kinds that He has scattered therein,
and in the veering of winds and clouds which are held between the sky and the
earth
(there) are indeed signs for people of understanding.
Surah Baqarah (the second surah) ayah 164
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The second idea is lack of importance given to learning.
Sadly in many parts of the Muslim world very little attention is paid to teaching people about
the fundamental aspects of Islam. So generations of children grow up without having much
understanding of Islam, not knowing the basics – so how can a house be firm and strong
when its foundations are weak or non-existent?
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Allah Bless you..

Regretfully lack of knowledge is another reason even for Non Muslim's misconception about Islam...

وفيكم بارك الله اخي الكريم

هذا الموضوع مفيد للمسلمين قبل غير المسلمين

لذا فدعوتنا لكل باحث حق قبل ان يحكم عن الاسلام يجب ان يبحث فيه

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Allah bless you my brother
This article is important for Muslims Before Non-Muslims
The researcher must gain Islamic knowledge before sentencing