Sharh al-Qawaid al-Arba - al-Barrak 1
- Author died
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- Editions
- Mu’assasat Waqf al-Shaykh ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn Nāṣir al-Barrāk
Sharh al-Qawaid al-Arba (A Commentary on the Four Rules) is a concise theological commentary by the contemporary Saudi scholar Abd al-Rahman ibn Nasir al-Barrak on al-Qawaid al-arba by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1115–1206 AH / 1703–1792 CE), expounding the core principles distinguishing Islamic monotheism (tawhid) from polytheism (shirk).
Background and Publication
The commentary originated as oral lectures delivered by al-Barrak at the al-Khulayfi Mosque in Riyadh. It was prepared, documented, and edited by Abd al-Rahman ibn Nasir al-Sudays, who verified the base text against the edition published by Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, referenced Quranic verses and hadiths, and read the transcribed text back to al-Barrak for corrections, additions, and approvals.
The work was first published in 1431 AH (2010 CE) within a single volume compiling four concise commentaries by al-Barrak on Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's short treatises—al-Qawaid al-arba, Thalathat al-usul, Nawaqid al-Islam, and Kashf al-shubuhat—and subsequently went through multiple editions, including a ninth edition revised by the scholarly committee of the Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Barrak Waqf Foundation.
Contents and Structure
The commentary follows the text of the original epistle sequentially, dividing into an introductory exposition and four core theological rules:
- Introduction: Al-Barrak explains the author's opening supplication for the student of knowledge, the definition of the primordial Abrahamic faith (al-hanifiyyah), and the principle that worship is invalid without tawhid, drawing an analogy to ritual prayer being invalidated by ritual impurity (hadath). He outlines three defining attributes of major polytheism (al-shirk al-akbar): that it is unforgivable without repentance, leads to eternal punishment in Hell, and nullifies all righteous deeds.
- First Rule: The disbelievers whom the Prophet ﷺ fought acknowledged God's Lordship (tawhid al-rububiyyah)—namely that He is the sole Creator, Provider, and Sustainer of the universe—yet this acknowledgement alone did not admit them into Islam or make them monotheists, because they directed acts of worship to other entities alongside God.
- Second Rule: The polytheists worshiped intermediaries not out of belief that they create or provide, but solely to seek proximity (qurbah) and intercession (shafa'ah) with God, drawing an invalid comparison between the Creator and earthly monarchs. Al-Barrak details the distinction between negated intercession (al-shafa'ah al-manfiyyah), which is sought from other than God in matters only God can grant, and affirmed intercession (al-shafa'ah al-muthbatah), which occurs only after God's permission and for those with whose faith He is pleased.
- Third Rule: The Prophet ﷺ appeared among people worshiping diverse objects—including angels, prophets, the righteous, trees, stones, the sun, and the moon—and combated them without differentiating between the status of their revered objects, establishing that worship is exclusively God's right.
- Fourth Rule: Polytheism in later eras is characterized as graver than that of early polytheists because the ancients committed shirk in times of prosperity while turning sincerely to God during hardships, whereas later polytheists invoke created intermediaries in both ease and distress.
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