ISLAM AND OTHER RELIGION

COURSE CODE: RKF0443

TOPIC: RABBAYYINAH

GROUP NUMBER: SECTION 803

INSTRUCTOR’S NAME: MADAM NUR FARRAH SYAZWANIE
SEMESTER: 3, 2019/2020

NO MATRIC NO NAME PROGRAMME

1 192588 NUR AFIFAH BINTI NURMIRAFUDIN PHARMACY
2 192745 NUR AMIRAH BINTI NASRU PHARMACY
3 194251 WAN NUR FADILA BINTI WAN ROSD PHARMACY
4 193193 NUR SYAZLIANA BINTI MOHD KHISHAM PHARMACY
Surah An-Nahl: 36

“And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], "Worship Allah and avoid
Taghut." And among them were those whom Allah guided, and among them were those upon
whom error was [deservedly] decreed. So proceed through the earth and observe how was the
end of the deniers.”
Sahih International
Introduction:
The topic discussed is the Characteristics of Islam, which distinguishes Islam from other
religions. The ayat from the al-Quran given above is surah An-Nahl (The Bee), ayat 36. It is
the 16th Ayat in the Surah and contains 128 verses in 16 sections. It was revealed during the
last Makkan stage of prophethood in Mecca and is categorized as a Makiyyah ayat.
There are two objectives of this assignment:
1. To know the concept of Rabbaniyyah in the life of a Muslim
2. To relate the concept of Rabbaniyyah with the ayat given.
Coverage of assignment:
1. Meaning of Rabbaniyyah
2. Tafsir of surah An-Nahl ayat 36
3. Relationship of the surah An-Nahl ayat 36 and the concept of Rabbaniyyah
4. Case study related to surah An-Nahl ayat 36 and solutions.
Content:
Literally, the word Rabbaniyyah comes from the word ‘Rabb’, which means ‘related to god’.
This means that all of the concepts, values and laws in Islam is set and revealed by Allah and
is not the product of the thinking and doing of humans. Because a Muslim recognizes and
obeys Allah, Thus Allah is a god (Godliness). Technically, Rabbaniyyah means Islam comes
from Allah. Human are the caliphs on Earth and need to execute Allah’s order and do it in
order to seek Allah’s pleasure. According to the Malay scholar Haron Din, he states that
Rabbaniyyah mean the Powerful owner of the world and He is the Highest. Al-Rabbaniyyah
represents the nature of Islam as the true religion as it is from Allah as the Rabb for the
ummah until the hereafter.
There are two aspects of Rabbaniyyah, Godliness of the purpose of life and Godliness of the
Divine Source and Methodology. In the aspect of Godliness of the purpose of life, the
purpose of our life, as humans and caliphates of this world, is to execute Allah’s order and
strive to attain His pleasure. This should be the ultimate aim of Islam and a Muslim. Based on
surah al-Dhariyat ayat 56, it is our fitrah or nature to worship Allah as he is our creator and
Supreme Lord of the universe who created us with the sole purpose of worshipping him. In
Surah al-Insyiqaq ayat 6, Allah says “O mankind, indeed you are labouring toward your Lord
with [great] exertion and will meet it.” (Sahih International). And in surah An-Najm ayat 42,
Allah says “And that to your Lord is the finality” (Sahih International). Islam desires that we
free ourselves from material obsession and devout ourselves to Allah. Tawhid, meaning the
oneness of god, is the key principle of Islamic teachings. It means that there is only one god,
Allah. We are his vicegerents on earth so it is our duty to follow the commands of Allah and
manage it according to his injunctions.
In the aspect of Godliness of the Divine Source and Methodology, AL-Quran and Hadith are
the primary sources of Islamic teachings. These sources come directly from Allah himself
and is not the creation of any other being. The Sunnah of the prophet is also another divine
source of knowledge. All these sources are divine because they are not distorted or altered in
any way by the prophets or any great scholar. Allah himself has assured the safeguarding of
the al-Quran from any alterations. This was clearly understood from Surah al-Hijr ayat 9,
which clearly states that Allah has sent down the AL-Quran to us and he will surely guard it
from any form of al-Tahrif (Alteration or distortion).
We will now be discussing about the tafsir of surah An-Nahl ayat 36. According to Tafsir
Maududi, in the previous ayat, 16:35 it states that “And those who associate others with Allah
say, "If Allah had willed, we would not have worshipped anything other than Him, neither we
nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything through other than Him." Thus did
those do before them. So is there upon the messengers except [the duty of] clear
notification?” (Sahih International) from this ayat, we can clearly see that the musyriks made
excuses to justify their syirk, and so did those before them. So in the next ayat, Allah tells us
that he has sent messenger to every nation for guidance to some, while for others deviation
took hold. So, we must roam about in the Earth and observe the end of the rejectors of the
Messengers.
According to Tafsir Ibn Kathir, in surah an-Nahl ayat 36, Allah is responding to the idolaters’
delusion over their shirk. In the previous ayat, 16:35, the idolaters argued that their way of
worship was divinely decreed stating that "If Allah had willed, we would not have
worshipped anything other than Him, neither we nor our fathers, nor would we have
forbidden anything through other than Him.". This means that they were saying, if Allah was
against their shirk, he would have stopped them by punishing them or by not enabling them
to do it. However this is not the case as Allah has forbidden such behaviour. Therefore Allah
sent down ayat 36 of surah an-Nahl stating that he has sent down a messenger to every
nation, and each messenger taught their people to worship Allah alone and forbade
worshipping any other. Allah has also punished them in this world.
In the second part of the ayat He says that “And among them were those whom Allah guided,
and among them were those upon whom error was [deservedly] decreed.” Allah tells his
messenger that however eager He is to guide them, it will not wield any benefits if it is
already willed by Allah that they should be misguided. As stated in surah Hud ayat 34,
prophet Nuh tells his people “And my advice will not benefit you - although I wished to
advise you - If Allah should intend to put you in error. He is your Lord, and to Him you will
be returned” (Sahih International).
The next part says “So proceed through the earth and observe how was the end of the
deniers.” This means ask about what happened to those who went against the Messengers and
rejected the truth. In the Quran we can find the answers to this in 47:10 “Have they not
travelled through the land and seen how was the end of those before them? Allah destroyed
[everything] over them, and for the disbelievers is something comparable.” For example, for
the people of Lut, Allah has blessed them with very high-end lifestyles but they denied the
teachings of prophet Lut and practiced homosexuality. As a result, Allah turned their land
upside-down. And in surah al-Mulk ayat 18, Allah says “And already had those before them
denied, and how [terrible] was My reproach.” (Sahih International).
Relating surah An-Nahl ayat 36 to the concept of Rabbaniyyah, it was stated before that
Rabbaniyyah means that Islam comes from Allah. In this ayat, the messenger carrying His
revelation are sent down from Allah to their ummah to guide them to the right path. One of
the concepts of Rabbaniyyah is Divine worship. As stated in the ayat mentioned, "Worship
Allah and avoid Taghut." This means that Allah is the only One who is worth to be
worshipped and we are forbidden from associating Allah with any other and must avoid
Taghut. (to worship anything other than Allah). Thus this fulfils the two key principles of
Islamic worship which are, Allah is the only one worth to be worshipped, and He should be
worshipped by the established practices, as prescribed by Him and elucidated by His
Messengers.
Secondly, Rabbaniyyah also means all of our actions, speech and thoughts are only to earn
His pleasure. Failure to do so, the consequences are mentioned in surah An-Nahl ayat 36, He
states “So proceed through the earth and observe how was the end of the deniers”. Allah has
told us to see the end of those who denied the truth when we displeased Him.
Another concept of Rabbaniyyah relating to this ayat is divine legislation. As stated, Allah
has sent down messengers to every nation. These messengers brought with them revelation
from Allah to guide humans. These laws are given by god so that we humans can manage and
organize ourselves using this perfect source of knowledge as our foundation. The Islamic
laws, legislated according to the divine revelation, were built. As Allah says in surah Al-
Anam, ayat 115, “And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None
can alter His words, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing” (Sahih International).

Based on the explanation of surah an-Nahl ayat 36, we can relate that ayat with the case that
recently occurred. As we all know, an outbreak of a respiratory disease caused by a novel
(new) coronavirus (nCoV), named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”),
has been spreading around the world and is causing worldwide concern. It was first detected
in Wuhan, China and has now been detected in more than 100 locations internationally,
including in the Malaysia. It is zoonotic, transmitted between animals and people. It is said to
have originated from the wet markets, where outdoor stalls are lined up along narrow lanes
and locals and tourists shop for cuts of meat and ripe produce. Among the things sold there is
seafood, meat, and live animals, including chickens, donkeys, sheep, pigs, foxes, badgers,
bamboo rats, hedgehogs, and snakes. Wet markets put people and live and dead animals –
dogs, chickens, pigs, snakes, civets, and more – in constant close contact. That makes it easy
for zoonotic diseases to jump from animals to humans. This happened due to the fact that
some people eat animals such as bats, pangolins, and sea life. In Malaysia, there are 117
confirmed cases of COVID-19. It is clear that in Islam Allah ask us to eat from a good source
of food, food that is not only lawful but is also good. As stated in surah al-Maidah ayat 88,
“And eat of what Allah has provided for you [which is] lawful and good. And fear Allah, in
whom you are believers.”(Sahih International). Since the wet markets sell unlawful food such
as pigs, as stated in the Quran in surah al-Maidah ayat 5, “Prohibited to you are dead animals,
blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those
animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of
horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter
[before its death]” (Sahih International), this practice is not following the Islamic way of
things. The animals were also not slaughtered properly which is a necessity to make it lawful
as stated in the ayat above. Allah had stated that we need to be aware of what we eat. We
need to be aware of the source of the food, the preparation of the food and the cleanliness of
the food. Only then is it permissible to be consumed. In the surah an-Nahl ayat 36, Allah asks
people to put him before everything else. However, people during that time disbelieve about
Allah power and try to disobey him. This is why in this ayat Allah says to study what
happened to the civilizations before this as explained above. By studying the issue stated,
which is happening now, from this ayat, we can understand that humans will realize the
importance of their God’s laws if something bad happened directly in front of their eyes. The
case study concerning the nCov19 has opened the eyes of the people that what has been told
by Allah is true and we as human beings need to know that everything that had been asked
from Him is for our goodness. We can relate the case study with the concept of Rabbaniyyah
because Allah is the one who controlled the World as he is the most Powerful. Everything
that is written in Quran already shows his power and we as human need to study and obey his
Rule. To solve this, we need to put our health safety as the main issues due to the recent
disease. We need to avoid eating haram food such as pigs, dog or any animals that will harm
our body. Thus, before eating something we need to make sure the food that we eat is from a
good source. We can refer from Quran 2:173 that derived about the importance about taking
halal food. Secondly, we need to wash our hand regularly with soap before, after eating, and
we can sanitize our hands regularly. Other than that, we need to use a face mask if we have a
cough or flu to avoid the virus from spreading. This safety step had been written by Abdur-
rahman bin Auf from Rasulullah by HR Muslim that can be understand that if the virus starts
to spread, stay far from it and stay inside your house.

Conclusion:

The objectives were reached by conducting extensive research regarding the concept of
Rabbaniyyah and how it relates to our daily life and well as the ayah given. We understand
that as Muslims, we need to practice the concept of Rabbaniyyah in our lives by putting Allah
above everything else and obeying his rules and commands sent down to use through His
messengers. The ayat given, 16:36, relates to the concept discussed as the ayat mentions
about the sole worship of Allah and stresses to avoid Taghut. It also mentions the sending
down of the messengers of Allah to every nation who bring down the revelation containing
divine legislation from Allah.
References:

Ahmad K., Islam: Basic Principles and Characteristics, Retrieved from:

http://www.iium.edu.my/deed/articles/bpsc.html
Qaradawi Y., Islam: An Introduction, Retrieved from: https://books.google.com.my/books?
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cj0MC&pg=PA169&lpg=PA169&dq=godliness+in+islam&source=bl&ots=EXqqjhgbb-
&sig=ACfU3U3xXBIKphN_LLH37ApoX6FENxAK8Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWx
ryvifLnAhVIIbcAHT--DmE4ChDoATAAegQIBxAB#v=onepage&q&f=false
Wednesday, August 18, 2010, The Social-Spiritual Effects of Godliness, Retrieved from:
http://old.ido.ir//en/en-a.aspx?a=1389052701
Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir Maududi Retrieved from:
http://www.alim.org/library/quran/AlQuran-tafsir/TIK/16/35
Din H. , Tasawwur Islam, Hizbi 1992, page 131, retrieved from:
https://books.google.com.my/books/about/Tasawwur_Islam.html?
id=6P1DtwAACAAJ&redir_esc=y