Raf al-Ishtibah an Mana al-Ibada wal-Ilah - ضمن Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Raf al-Ishtibah ‘an Ma‘na al-‘Ibadah wa-l-Ilah (Dispelling Ambiguity Regarding the Meaning of Worship and Deity), also titled with the addition wa-Tahqiq Ma‘na al-Tawhid wa-l-Shirk bi-Llah or wa-l-Farq bayn al-Tawhid wa-l-Shirk bi-Llah and commonly referred to by its author as Risalat al-‘Ibadah or Kitab al-‘Ibadah, is a theological treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Mu'allimi (1312–1386 AH / 1894–1966 CE) on the reality of worship and the distinction between monotheism and polytheism.
Purpose and Scope
The treatise is dedicated to establishing the precise definition of worship (‘ibadah) and deity (ilah), clarifying the nature of tawhid (monotheism) and shirk (polytheism), and examining contentious practices to determine whether they contradict monotheism. Al-Mu‘allimi notes that ignorance of the meaning of the declaration of faith ( لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ , "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah") often leads to ignorance regarding the essence of tawhid, putting an individual at risk of committing polytheism unknowingly, accepting it inadvertently, or declaring other Muslims to be polytheists without proof.
Within his broader scope, the author addresses the conditions of la ilaha illa Allah, how an individual enters Islam, the means by which theological proof is established against people, and the religious ruling regarding someone who engages in polytheistic acts out of ignorance or error. He also examines invalid modes of doctrinal argumentation used by some disputants, including blind following (taqlid), reliance on weak hadiths, unsubstantiated personal opinion, and arbitrary deduction from the Quran and Sunnah that neglects Arabic linguistic rules, the precedent of early generations (al-salaf), and the rhetoric of the Quran.
Method
Al-Mu‘allimi constructed the book around an inductive method (istiqra'), surveying references across the Quran, prophetic Sunnah, prophetic biography (sirah), language, and historical accounts. He examined what pre-Islamic Arabs and historical nations believed regarding their idols and how they acted toward them, pointing out that polytheists did not believe their idols were all-powerful creators or sole sustainers of the universe. By stripping away non-essential elements—such as the material fact that idols were physical stones—and comparing practices across past nations, he extracted the common denominator of deification and worship to formulate a comprehensive and exclusive definition.
Place in the Author's Corpus and Editions
Al-Mu‘allimi referenced Risalat al-‘Ibadah extensively throughout his other writings, citing it multiple times in works such as al-Tankil, al-Qa'id ila Tashih al-'Aqa'id, Tafsir Surat al-Fatiha, and Haqiqat al-Bid'ah. In Haqiqat al-Bid'ah, he noted that while discussing illegitimate sources of evidence in the introduction of this work, the treatment of weak hadiths and innovation expanded, leading him to branch those topics into separate monographs.
The book has been printed in several editions, including:
- An edition verified by al-Dani Al Zahwi, published by al-Maktaba al-‘Asriyya in Beirut (1423 AH / 2002 CE).
- An edition verified by al-Shibrawi ibn Abi al-Ma‘ati al-Misri, published by Dar al-‘Asima (1432 AH / 2011 CE).
- An edition included within the collected works Athar al-Mu'allimi (Volume 2), edited by Uthman ibn Mu'allim Mahmud and reviewed by Muhammad Ajmal al-Islahi and Abd al-Rahman ibn Hasan ibn Qayid.
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