[Explaining] Kufr (rejecting) and Ijtanaba (avoiding) of the Taghut.
The slave’s emaan (belief) is not correct until he makes kufr (rejection) of the taghut (all that is worshipped besides Allah). Allah says, then, whoever rejects the taghut and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold… (2:256) and this ayah is the tafseer (explanation) of the shahadah (testimony), laa ilaha ila Allah, which comprises rejection and affirmation.
The rejection, meaning: the rejection of all that is worshipped from other than Allah and the slave achieves/accomplishes this with his belief/conviction of the falsehood of the worship of other than Allah and with this he leaves this worship (of other than Allah) abhoring/detesting/hating it and rejecting its people (i.e. knowing they are kuffar who worship other than Allah) and opposing and rejecting them (in this worship of other then Allah). And this is the meaning of the rejection of taghut, and this is the description Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab gave of the rejection of taghut.
Ibn Kathir said, and the saying of Allah,
(Whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break) (2: 256) is in reference to, “Whoever shuns the rivals of Allah, the idols, and those that shaytan calls to be worshipped besides Allah, whoever believes in Allah’s Oneness, worships Him alone and testifies that there is no deity worthy of worship except Him, then,
(then, he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold.) (2:256)
Therefore, this person will have acquired firmness (in the religion) and proceeded on the correct way and the straight path.
Then Ibn Kathir said that Umar bin Al-Khattab said the Taghut is the shaytan, and Ibn Kathir said, `Umar’s statement that Taghut is shaytan is very sound, for this meaning includes every type of evil that the ignorant people of Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic era of ignorance) fell into, such as worshipping idols, referring to them for judgment, and invoking them for victory.
Ibn Kathir said Jabir said, “The taghut are soothsayers upon whom the devils descend.”
Mujahid said “Taghut is a devil in the shape of man, and they refer to him for judgment.”
Imam Malik said, “Taghut is every object that is worshipped instead of Allah.”
And in the tafsir of the verse, Have you not seen those who claim to have believed in what was revealed to you, [O Muḥammad], and what was revealed before you? They wish to refer legislation to ṭāghūt, while they were commanded to reject it (4:60), Ibn Kathir said, the ayah has a general meaning, as it chastises all those who refrain from referring to the Qur’an and Sunnah for judgment and prefer the judgment of whatever they chose of falsehood, which befits the description of Taghut here.
Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahu Allah) said regarding the Taghoot, “It is everything in which man exceeds his limits, whether it being worshipped, followed, or obeyed. So the Taghoot of every community is he from whom judgment is sought, instead of what Allah and His Messenger have ruled; or those whom they worship besides Allah; or whom they follow without a proof from Allah; or whom they obey, while not knowing if it is in accordance to the Judgment of Allah. So these are the Tawagheet of the world; if you were to contemplate regarding them and see the conditions of the people with them, you would see that most of them have turned away from worshiping Allah Alone, to worshiping the Taghut; away from seeking judgment from Allah and His Messenger, to seeking judgment from the Taghut; away from obeying Him and following His Messenger, to obeying and following the Taghut.”
Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab said, “Tāghūt generally is anything that is worshipped besides Allah (subhnahu wa ta’ala) and is happy with such worship including the one who is worshipped, followed or obeyed besides Allah and His messenger; these are all Tāghūt.” The Tawagheet (pl. of Taghoot) are many, but their heads are five:
The First: The Devil who calls the people to worship other than Allah. The proof for this is Allah’s saying: “Did I not command you O children of Adam, that you should not worship the devil. Verily, he is a plain enemy to you.” [Surah YaaSeen: 60]
The Second: The tyrannical and oppressive ruler who changes Allah’s rulings. The proof for this is Allah’s saying: “Have you not seen those (hypocrites) who claim to have faith in that which has been revealed to you, and that which was revealed before you, and they wish to go for judgement (in their disputes) to the Taghoot, when they have been ordered to reject them? But the devil wishes to lead them far astray.” [Surah An-Nisaa: 60]
The Third: The one who judges by other than what Allah has revealed, and the proof for this is Allah’s saying: “And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, then they are the disbelievers.” [Surah Al-Maa’idah: 44]
The Fourth: The one who claims to have knowledge of the Unseen, apart from Allah. The proof for this is Allah’s saying: “He alone is the All-Knower of the Unseen, and He does not disclose His Unseen matters to anyone. Except to a messenger whom He has chosen, and then He makes a band of watching guards (angels) to march before him and behind him.” [Surah Al-Jinn: 26-27] And He says: “And with Him lie the keys to the Unseen, no one knows them but He. And He knows whatever there is in the land and in the sea; not a leaf falls except that He knows about it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything fresh or dry, but that it is written in a Clear Record.” [Surah Al-An’am: 59]
The Fifth: The one who is worshipped apart from Allah, while being pleased with being worshipped. The proof for this is Allah’s saying: “And whoever amongst them says: ‘Verily, I am a God besides Him (Allah)’, then this person’s recompense will be the Hellfire. That is the way We recompense the wrongdoers.” [Surah Al-Anbiyaa: 29]
Sheikh Muhammad Hamid Al Faqiy said, from the words of the Salafi scholars we understand that: Taghut is the one who is preventing the slave and turning him away from worshipping Allah, being sincere in the deen, [and] obeying Allah and HIs messenger, these can be shayateen from the jinn and people, trees, stones, and other things. And what is included in this with no doubt is every man-made law from other than Islam and the Islamic laws, i.e. including every man-made law to judge human blood, chastity and goods, every law that lifts/removes the punishments of Allah’s shari’ah, every law that cancels the prohibition of interest (riba), adultery, fornication (zina) and alcohol, is a taghut. Actually, every single rule of these is itself a taghut. In the same way, every book written to turn away from the truth (haq) and from the shari’ah brought by the messenger of Allah, regardless of what the intention of the author is, whether he has written it knowingly or without knowledge, is a taghut.”
The Sheikh Sulaiman Ibn Sahmaan said,: “Tāghūt are of three types:
1 – Tāghūt (of) Hukm (rule, law and judgement),
2 – Tāghūt (of) Ibādah (worship), and
3 – Tāghūt (of) Ta’ah (obedience) and (of) Mutaaba’ah (following).”
To summarise what has preceded, the most comprehensive saying regarding the meaning of taghut is the saying of the one who said, the taghut is everything that is worshipped besides Allah, and this is the saying of Imam Malik, and the saying of the one who said, the taghut is the shaytaan, and this is the saying of the majority of the sahabah and the tabi’een. And what is added to these two sayings, then, they are branches from them. And these two sayings return to a single base that has an apparentness/an outward manifestation and a reality, so whoever looks to the apparent/what is manifest (that you can see with your eyes) says the taghut is: everything that is worshipped from other than Allah, and who looks to the reality (what is really behind all of the worship of other than Allah which is apparent to the eye) says that the taghut is: the shaytan, and that is because the shaytan is the caller to worship of what is worshipped besides Allah just as he is the caller to all disbelief (kufr), Allah said, Do you not see that We have sent the devils upon the disbelievers, inciting them [to evil] with [constant] incitement? (Maryam: 84). Thus, all who disbelieve and everyone who worships other than Allah, then it is the adornment of the shaytan, and everyone who worships other than Allah then he verily worships the shaytan in reality just as Allah said, “Did I not enjoin upon you, O children of Adam, that you not worship Satan – [for] indeed, he is to you a clear enemy” (Ya-Sin: 60), and Allah said – about Ibrahim alaihi asalam – “O my father, do not worship Satan” (Maryam: 44), with that his father was worshipping idols just as Allah says, And [mention, O Muḥammad], when Abraham said to his father Āzar, “Do you take idols as deities? Indeed, I see you and your people to be in manifest error.” (Al an’aam: 74). Thus the devil is the greatest taghut, thus everyone who worships an idol made from stone, or a tree, or a man, then he verily worships the shaytaan, and everyone who goes judgement to a man, or law or constitution besides Allah then verily they have gone for judgement to the shaytan and this is the meaning of tahakum to the taghut.
So, to sum up according to the apparent (what we see) the taghut: is everything that is worshipped other than Allah, and to sum up according to the reality (what is behind all of the apparent worship of other than Allah) the taghut is: the shaytan.
And whoever separates according to the apparent, says it is everything worshipped, followed, obeyed, or judged in disputes by other than Allah, and it is the saying of Ibn Al Qayyim, and near to this is the saying of Sulayman ibn Sahmaan. And all of this returns to the meaning of worship, thus the following, the obedience, and the going for judgement (to other than the law of Allah) are all worship that should not be done except to Allah as Allah says, Follow, [O mankind], what has been revealed to you from your Lord and do not follow other than Him any allies. (Al-A’raf: 3). So, this is in following, and Allah says, Say, “Obey Allah and the Messenger. But if you turn away – then indeed, Allah does not like the disbelievers.” (Aali ’Imran: 32). And this is in obedience, and Allah says, “and He shares not His legislation with anyone” (Al Kahf: 26) and this is in judgement (to other than the law of Allah). Thus singling out Allah in following, obedience and referring disputes to His judgement all enter into singling out Allah with worship – which is making Allah one in His worship – exactly like singling out Allah with the prayer, du’a, and the sacrificing, and these are all acts of worship, and Allah said, “And We sent not before you any messenger except We revealed to him that, “There is no deity except Me, so worship Me.”” (Al-Anbiya: 25), thus worship is a comprehensive word for encompassing all of what Allah loves and is pleased with of the sayings, actions, what is apparent and what is hidden.
So the comprehensive saying about the meaning of taghut according to the apparent/what we see is that it is everything that is worshipped besides Allah, and as for the detail then it is found in the Qur’an and Sunnah of two categories of taghut, the taghut of ‘ibadah and the taghut of legislation.
As for the taghut of ‘ibadah then it is mentioned in the saying of Allah, “But those who have avoided ṭāghūt, lest they worship it” (Az-Zumar: 17). And it is everything that is worshipped besides Allah, such as devils, people who are dead or alive, animals, or inanimate objects like a tree, a stone, a star from the stars, whether it is worshipped by offering a sacrifice to it, or du’a to it, or praying to it, or obedience and following in opposition to the law of Allah. We must mention that those people who are worshipped besides Allah are those that are pleased with it and excludes the likes of ‘Issa ibn Maryam and other than them of the prophets, angels and righteous because these individuals and beings were not pleased with being worshipped and so are not given the name taghut. Ibn Taymiyyah said regarding the verse in which Allah says, And [mention] the Day when He will gather them all and then say to the angels, “Did these [people] used to worship you?” They will say, “Exalted are You! You, [O Allah], are our benefactor excluding [i.e., not] them. Rather, they used to worship the jinn; most of them were believers in them.” (Saba: 40,41) meaning the angels did not command them with that.
The taghut of ruling/legislation is mentioned where Allah says, “They wish to refer legislation to ṭāghūt” (An-Nisa: 60), and it is everything you turn to for legislation besides Allah like constitutions, man-made laws, or a judge who rules by other than what Allah revealed like a leader, a judge, or other than them.
It has been said that “they wish to go for tahakum to the taghut”, the meaning of taghut in this verse is everything that pulls you from the book of Allah and the sunnah of His prophet to the judgement/law of a system or man-made laws or blind-following or inherited habits and customs or heads of tribes.
