Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 37
! ! 37 and sacrificed their own ideas, their dear ones, their families, their native land, and everything they most cherished - it was t hese who attained the grandest spiritual status as well as the great est worldly rewards. Today, if men and women do the same, if they educate themselves in religion and act upon it , if they explain it to others and persuade them to practice it and care not to give prece dence to anything over religion, then they can become akin to them [the Companions]. Now , I will mention some basic precepts which must be kept in mind. Belief in the Unity of God The primary article of faith in Islam is that God does exist , and He is One. The Holy Prophet sa had to endure tremendous hardships to spread this belief. Since idols were the major source of income and livelihood for Meccans, it was very difficult for them to forsake these idols. When the Holy Prophet sa attempted to remonstrate them against the idols, they conve ned a meeting and appointed someone to approach t he Holy Prophet sa and request him to desist. This man came to the Holy Prophet sa and said, “If you wish for wealth, we will gather an abundance of wealth a nd lay it in a heap before you. I f you wish for power, we are all prep ared to accept you as our ruler. I f you wish for your counsel to be accepted, then from this day , we will not act upon anything without your advice. I f you are suffering from some ailment , we are ready to obtain treatment for you. However, desist from speaking against the idols. ” The Holy Prophet sa replied, “If you put the sun in my right hand and the moon i n my left even then I will not stop proclaiming that there is O ne God and He has no partner. ” Clearly, this [the Oneness of God] is such an important article of faith that salvation is not possible without it. Therefore, God Almigh ty says that He will forgive other sins , but H e will never forgive shirk [a ssociating partners with Alla h ]. These days shirk is quite rampant and although Muslims do not worship idols, they have taken up the worship of graves in stead. It is also shirk when women