Deen-al-Haqq Prevailing over all other Deen (Sura 9:33)

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والعاقبة للمتقين

 

One of the proof-texts presented by those affected by the Mawdudian thought is:

 

۝هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَىٰ وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ۝

 

It is He Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth to manifest it over all religion, although they who associate others with Allah dislike it.

(Sura 9: 33)

According to Mawdudian thought, Islam is a Dīn and not Madhhab. The latter simply means religion as understood in the traditional sense, the personal beliefs and approach of the individual to God. Dīn however means a complete system of life. Modernist individuals like Iqbal, Mawdudi, G. A. Parwez and Dr. Israr Ahmad all carefully made this distinction between Din and Madhhab. Iqbal, for example, produced the following couplet:

 

ملا کو جو ہے ہند میں سجدے کی اجازت

نادان سمجھتا ہے کہ اسلام ہے آزاد

 

In India, if bare leave be deigned his prayer-prostration

 Our dull Mulla thinks Islam has gained emancipation

 

Now it is true that the word al-Dīn has a broad range of meanings. Mawdudians and Parwezis point to the use of the word where it signifies “law” or “system”:

 

مَا كَانَ لِيَأْخُذَ أَخَاهُ فِي دِينِ الْمَلِكِ إِلَّا أَن يَشَاءَ اللَّـهُ۝

(Joseph) could not take his brother by the law [Dîn] of the king, except that Allah willed it.

(Sura 12: 76)

 

According to the Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, the word al-Dīn means: 1. religion, faith 2. true religion, true faith 3. the teachings of the religion 4. worship, obedience, submission 5. law, custom, code 6. judgment 7. reckoning, counting, calculation (p. 320 - 321)

It is therefore highly spurious to understand the word Dīn as used throughout the Qur’an to only mean “law, custom, code” by giving the isolated example of Sura 12: 76 and ignoring the rest of its linguistic meanings. This is how those infected by the virus of Mawdudian thought have erred in interpreting the blessed Ayah I have quoted at the beginning “It is He Who has sent His Messenger with guidance and the Religion of Truth to manifest it over all religion”.

 

But the final nail in the coffin to this absurd Mawdudian interpretation of the Ayah is the Hadith narrated by sayyida A’isha (Allah be pleased with her):

سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ‏"‏ لاَ يَذْهَبُ اللَّيْلُ وَالنَّهَارُ حَتَّى تُعْبَدَ اللاَّتُ وَالْعُزَّى ‏"‏ ‏.‏ فَقُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُ لأَظُنُّ حِينَ أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ ‏{‏ هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ‏}‏ أَنَّ ذَلِكَ تَامًّا قَالَ ‏"‏ إِنَّهُ سَيَكُونُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ ثُمَّ يَبْعَثُ اللَّهُ رِيحًا طَيِّبَةً فَتَوَفَّى كُلَّ مَنْ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ حَبَّةِ خَرْدَلٍ مِنْ إِيمَانٍ فَيَبْقَى مَنْ لاَ خَيْرَ فِيهِ فَيَرْجِعُونَ إِلَى دِينِ آبَائِهِمْ

I heard Allah's Messenger ﷺ as saying: The (system) of night and day would not end until the people have taken to the worship of Lat and 'Uzza. I said: Allah's Messenger, I think when Allah has revealed this verse: “He it is Who has sent His Messenger with right guidance, and true religion, so that He may cause it to prevail upon all religions, though the polytheists are averse (to it)" (9: 33), it implies that (this promise) is going to be fulfilled. Thereupon he (Allah's Apostle) said: It would happen as Allah would like. Then Allah would send the sweet fragrant air by which everyone who has even a mustard grain of faith in Him would die and those only would survive who would have no goodness in them. And they would revert to the religion of their forefathers. (Sahih Muslim)

 

This Hadith is significant as it points to the correct meaning of Dīn al-Haqq as used in the Ayah (9: 33) as meaning the exclusive worship of Allah as opposed to polytheism. When the Prophet ﷺ predicted that a time will come when people will once against resurrect the cults of Lāt and ‘Uzzā, his illustrious wife and our mother, sayyida A’isha referenced the Ayah in question as stating that Islam, the Dīn-al-Haqq, will prevail over all other adyān. However, the Prophet, rather than negating the understanding of Dīn-al-Haqq from sayyida A’isha, rather confirmed her interpretation but qualified the fact that Islam will prevail over all other religions as something that will not be permanent, and that before Judgment Day the Arabs will revert to the Dīn, meaning the worship, of their astray ancestors.