Remember, the first foundation for the Kaaba was laid by Adam (A S). Ibrahim (A.S) along with his son Ismail (A.S), built it very much later. As long as only Allah was worshipped, the sanctity of the Kaaba remained. Then, slowly, later generations began to deviate from the true guidance, and started worshiping other gods along with Allah, to such an extent, that different tribes, brought their idols and housed them within the Kaaba. When this happened, the sanctity of the Kaaba was lost. It no more remained the House of Allah. It became empty of any meaning: a relic with a legend. It remained so, up to and until such time as the Messenger of Allah threw out all the idols which were housed inside the Kaaba, and it once more became the House of Allah.
Are you aware that a true believer’s Heart is valued seventy times more by Allah than the Kaaba? He says: “If anything can contain Me, it is the Heart of my Believing Servant.” It has been said, that if Allah glances at the Kaaba with His Mercy once in the day, He focuses the glance of His Mercy towards His believing servants’ hearts seventy times in a day.
Imagine, Mankind was created to reflect the Attributes of the Creator. And what are we doing? We have filled our hearts with more gods than the pagan Arabs had filled the Kaaba with. The Messenger of Allah, not only rid the Kaaba of the Idols, he taught us how to get rid of the idols – that is the false god (Taghut) that have found their way into our hearts.
The Quran identifies five such false god whom people serve.
- The Desire of self: Many people are of the opinion that their minds can indicate to them what is good for them and what is bad for them. But in reality, they follow is their self-desire. Allah condemns this criterion in very strong words: “Have you seen him who makes his desire as his god? And Allah sends him astray purposely, and sends up his hearing and his heart and sets on his sight a covering?”
- The fortunes of life: Many people judge by the fortune of the world. People think that a religious group is right if the largest number follows it. Or people think that so and so persons are right because they are successful in business, profession etc. Another example, if a child is so sick that the doctors abandon hope. The parents appealed to a dead ‘saint’ for help. Miraculously, the child was cured, the parents think what they did was right. Judging on the basis of the fortunes of the world is considered as worshipping false god.
- The tradition of ancestors:Many people sometimes use the criterion adopted by their forefathers and judge everything according to it and believe that all ancestors who had gone before them could not have been wrong.In this respect the Holy Quran says: “When it is said to them, ‘Follow the commands that Allah has sent down’ they reply, ‘We will follow only what we found our forefathers practicing.’ Well, will they go on following their forefathers even though they did not use common sense and did not find the right way?”
- The customs of society:It requires indeed immense courage to think differently from the general opinion of society; individuals tend to be swept along with the thinking of the majority. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Is opposed by God in the Quran: “If you obey most of those on earth, they would mislead you from Allah’s way. They follow nothing but guess-work and indulge in mere conjectures.”
- The Edicts of Scholars:“They have made their scholars and monks as their Lords beside Allah…” Many Muslims blindly judge by the criterion of their religious scholars (i.e. the Imams, the Maulana, etc.) without cross-checking with the Quran, and the Prophet retorted: “Whatever their priest and scholars call permissible, they accept as permissible; whatever they declare as forbidden, they consider as forbidden, and thus they worship them.”
And today, we Muslims, whom Allah in His Grace and Mercy favoured by sending a messenger to teach us what we did not know, have neglected these teaching.
The Holy Quran says: “Allah verily hath shown Grace to the believers by sending unto them a messenger, from amongst themselves, who recites unto them His revelations, and cleanses their hearts and teaches them the scriptures and wisdom; although before they were in flagrant error.”
We have turned away and have landed into a situation where we have to face the question… “O mankind, what has made thee careless concerning your Lord the Most Generous?”
What is the remedy for this?How do we get back into the Grace of Allah? Break the idols whether of stone or of thoughts. Then ask Allah for His Forgiveness, and turn towards Him, He is the Forgiver, He is Merciful. Have we not noted how the Kaaba became a temple of Idols, and was again restored as the House of God? Was not Adam forgiven and Allah turned towards him in Mercy? Has not the time come to turn towards our Lord? This is Jihad.
Our first step in the Kaaba is the first towards demolishing the false god within us. It is here that our Jihad has begun…
Bashir Nuckchady
