SHIRK – THE FORMS OF SHIRK
(POLYTHEISM) SECOND EDITION 2019
ASSEMBLED BY MALLAM ABBA ABANA, KUBWA,
ABUJA, NIGERIA
http://variousislamicdawadocuments.blogspot.com
https://web.facebook.com/abba.abana
emails:gonidamgamiri@yahoo.com;
abba.abana@gmail.com
SATURDAY 4th JANUARY 2020
CE AND 8th JUMUDAL ULA 1441 AH
BismillahWalhamdulillah
Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'alaRasulillah. As-Salaam Alaikum WA-Rahmatullahi
Wa-Barakatuhu.
Praise be to
Allaah; we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah from
the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides will
never be led astray, and whomsoever Allaah leaves astray, no one can guide. I
bear witness that there is no god but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad
(Sallalhu Alaihi Wa salam) is His slave and Messenger.
CONTENTS OF THE ARTICLES FOR DAWAH BEFORE
RAMADAN
PREAMBLE
Some People asked
and others get confused on ‘’What is
Shirk’’?
Shia and Mushrikeen foisted/imposed these
questions to me and declined to comment to them because of hypocrisy aspects
involved: Define for us who is a "Mushrikeen"? As according to you
everyone else except yourselves regardless of whether they are believers or Muslims,
are mushrikeen or kaffirs or heretics and most of your time is spent calling
every other person a Kaffir!
What have you done for Islam? Give
us some examples of the achievements you have made? Why 60-70 % of the Muslims
are in poverty? Why Muslim women are being discouraged or stopped from
receiving education? Why do your women adorn the black which Nabi hated the
most and said it’s the colour of my enemy? What are Islamic colours? Whose
colour are you actually adorning? Let us know!
In this brief
article; we will discuss that Shirk basically is; that is Polytheism, i.e. the
worship of others along with Allah. It also implies attributing Divine
Attributes to any other besides Allah. It particularly implies associating
partners in worship with Allah or to believe that the source of power, harm or
blessings is from others besides Allah.
SHIRK IS NEW
Allah then tells us that Shirk was new among mankind. It was
not in existence in the beginning. He tells us that people were believers in
one religion and that religion was Islam. Ibn `Abbas said: "There were ten
centuries between Adam and Nuh. They were all on Islam.
Then differences among people took place. They worshipped
idols and rivals. So Allah sent extensive evidence and irrefutable proof with
His Messengers.''
(So that those who were to be destroyed (for rejecting the faith)
might be destroyed after a clear evidence, and those who were to live might
live after a clear evidence.)﴿
Holy Quran chapter 8:42)
Allah's statement: (And
had not it been for a Word that went forth before from your Lord...) means
that if Allah had not decreed He would not punish anyone until the evidence is
established against them. And also that if He had not given creatures a respite
until a defined term had passed, He would have judged among them in what they
disputed. Then He would have caused the believers to be happy and delighted and
the disbelievers to be miserable and wretched.
SHIRK – THE FIVE FORMS OF SHIRK PART 1 OF 6
A word many of us
have heard and yet not fully understand is Shirk. You find many Muslims getting
confused over this in daily and practical life. Theoretically, it makes sense.
During the dars, or the lesson with the usthad, it makes sense, but in day to
day life the lines of shirk get blurry. Insha’Allah we have put together the
five forms of shirk that were outlined by IbnTaymiyyahrahimahumullah along with
practical examples so you can easily follow in sha’ Allah. Broadly there are
five (5) forms of shirk. Let us go over them with you one by one In Shaa’
Allah.
1. SHIRK IN WORSHIP
We only worship
Allah, we only pray to Him, we only do (SAJIDA)
& RUKU, to Him and we only say certain praises and glorifications to
Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) and we cannot use them for anyone else. When someone
is elevated the way Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) should be elevated, or if people
praise someone or something in a way that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) should be
praised, then you will not accept it.
You can praise
people, but there are certain kinds of praises that are only for Allah
(Subhanahu Wa Taala). For example, Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) says in Surah
Jinn:
وَأَنَّ ٱلۡمَسَـٰجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدۡعُواْ
مَعَ ٱللَّهِ أَحَدً۬ا (١٨)
And that Masaajid
(the places of prayer) are to be for Allaah alone, so do not invoke anyone
along with Allaah. [Holy Quran Chapter 72:18]
So inside the
masjid, the only one you should call out to is Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala). If
anyone else is being called out, then deep inside it shouldn’t sit right with
you.
Sadly some
Muslims hold the view that if they go to a specific masjid, a shrine or a
gravesite of a Saint or Pious person and give Sadaqa or recite Qur’an at that
site then it’s going to count for more. Or that when you ask DUA through them
the chances of Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) answering the dua is greater. Know
dear reader that no one is going to come between us and Allah. Even Our Prophet
Muhammad (Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam) does not come “between” us and Allah. His
(Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam)’s mission was to connect us to Allah directly, the
sahaba (radhiallahuanhum) never sought Allah’s help “through” rasulullah
(Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam). They asked him (Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam) to
make dua for them when he was alive, but never did they go to his blessed grave
(Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam) and ask him to ask forgiveness from Allah on their
behalf.
The primary
difference between us and Christians is that when they say they pray to God,
what they actually mean is that they pray to God “through” Jesus. We as
Muslims, when we pray to God, we pray to God “through” no one. We pray directly
to Him (Subhanahu Wa Taala).
So that’s the
first thing, direct worship ONLY to Him and we DO NOT ascribe partners or
people in any way to the level of divinity. This means we only do (Sajida),
Ruku, glorifications and praises to Him alone. I hope this is all clear?
SHIRK – THE FIVE FORMS OF SHIRK PART 2 OF 6
2. SHIRK IN OBEDIENCE.
In this world,
whom do we obey? Think!!!
We obey parents,
we obey teachers in a classroom, we obey elders, we obey laws, the police (if
the police ask you to pull over, you pull over), your boss at work, your coach
on the playing field etc. so there are lots of different people we obey in
life.
But to be a slave
of Allah, we say we obey Allah. The question is we obey Allah and we obey
others too! So is that a kind of shirk?
No it’s not a
kind of shirk…. UNLESS you break ONE rule.
That rule is, if
obeying someone else means that you’re going to disobey Allah, then it is
shirk.
We will say that
again: if you have to obey someone else. But obeying that someone else means
that you disobey Allah, then it is shirk.
We will give you
an example: You’re supposed to pray. Whose command is that? Is Allah’s.
Your DAD says
“don’t pray” or he says “pray later… pray in an hour”. Now you have a conflict
of obedience to parent or obedience to Allah. Guess what you got to do?
No matter how
much trouble you get in, you have to obey Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala).
We’ll give you
another scenario just so we know you’re thinking in the correct lines.
You’re just about
to bite into some delicious HALAL KFC (i.e. restaurant in Nigeria). If you have
lived in the west, you’d know how rare it is to find halal KFC (i.e. restaurant
in Nigeria).
Just when you try
to bite into the chicken your dad says “come here! I need you to help me with
the laundry right now”. Who do you obey in that case?
Your answer
shouldn’t be “but Daaaad! The chicken is halal!”
Allah didn’t
command you to eat the halal KFC (i.e. restaurant in Nigeria).
The only time you
get to disobey your dad (or anyone else for that matter) is when obeying him
means that you are clearly disobeying Allah.
Similarly the obedience
to a King, A Country, A Government, A Boss, and A Friend, all of it is fine,
unless it means disobedience to Allah. So that’s what we mean by disobedience
to Allah.
Now we move to
the third part….
SHIRK – THE FIVE FORMS OF SHIRK PART 3 OF 6
3. TRUST
Third element of
being slaves of Allah is trust. Do I trust my parents? Yes! Do I trust my
teachers? Most of them yes. Do I trust my employer? In many cases, yes. Do I
trust my friends? Sure! Do I trust my wife? Of course!
So we are saying
you have to trust Allah. But is it true that we can ONLY trust Allah? In some
things yes…. When it comes to the unseen…
And when it comes
to really defining what is best for you, or the future, when it comes to
defining what is right and what is wrong, what is priority and what is not
priority, then you have to trust whose decision? Allah’s decision is the best
decision. You have to trust it.
You also have to
trust Him in that whatever you’re going through right now is better for you.
You have to trust
Him that no matter what, you must be grateful.
That takes a lot
of trust. That type of trust may not be possible with other people. It may be
that your boss fired you and then said to you “this is good for you, trust me”,
you will have a tough time trusting him on that.
Also with
everyone else, trust is earned. Everybody else, trust isn’t free. I don’t trust
anyone. I trust my mother with my life. Because at one point, my life was in
her hands. She literally had my life in her hands. Worst case, she could have
dropped me. I could not have survived without her. So I absolutely trust my
mother.
I trust my
father, he raised me; he has worked tirelessly all his life to put a roof over
my head and food on the table and give me the tools I need to succeed in my
life. So I have to trust him.
Trust with a wife
or husband doesn’t come naturally. You don’t know this person, and all of a
sudden they are now half your life. It takes time to build trust.
If the husband
says I’ll be home at 8pm and he comes back at 11pm and the second time he does
the same thing, then the third time will the wife be able to trust the husband
about it?
Trust with
friends. Is it natural or is it earned? It’s earned.
Most
relationships, trust is earned. You can’t just have it, it’s earned over time.
Business partners
can build trust over time. At first they will have strong contracts and they
will ‘lawyer-up’ to protect themselves, but after 10 years of doing business
together and after going through a lot of difficulty together, they become
friends and they realise that they can trust each other.
Thing is we don’t
have to have a back and forth with Allah so we can build a trust with Him
(Subhanahu Wa Taala). It is already supposed to be there, because if you think
your life was in the hands of your mother, you didn’t realise, your mother’s
life and yours has always been in the hands of Allah.
We have left our
entire life to Him anyway, the heart beats in my chest are actually left to
Him. I forget to recharge my phone batteries; but without my own doing, Allah
controls my heartbeat, it never goes out of charge, my digestive system, my
cognitive abilities etc. none of them are in yours or my hands. They are
entrusted to Him already.
So Allah
(Subhanahu Wa Taala) does not need to earn your trust. He should be trusted. In
Arabic, it’s called THAWAKKUL. We must have thawakkul or reliance and trust in
Allah and His decisions.
Also, on a side
note. Every other person whom you trust today, will disappoint you or hurt you
in some way. Even though you trust them. It’s possible that they will not be
able to come through for you. Maybe someone you look up to or your own parents.
But the only one
you can always rely on no matter what is Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala).
Now we come to
the fourth part:
SHIRK – THE FIVE FORMS OF SHIRK PART 4 OF 6
4. LOVE.
We have to love
Allah. And the love for Allah needs to be intense.
This one is a
hard one to explain, so I need your full attention.
Allah (Subhanahu
Wa Taala) says:
وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَندَادً۬ا يُحِبُّونَہُمۡ
كَحُبِّ ٱللَّهِۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ أَشَدُّ حُبًّ۬ا لِّلَّهِۗ وَلَوۡ
يَرَى ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوٓاْ إِذۡ يَرَوۡنَ ٱلۡعَذَابَ أَنَّ ٱلۡقُوَّةَ لِلَّهِ
جَمِيعً۬ا وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَدِيدُ ٱلۡعَذَابِ (١٦٥)
{Holy
Quran Chapter 2.165. And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others
besides Allah as rivals (to Allah). They love them as they love Allah. But
those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else). If only, those who do
wrong could see, when they will see the torment, that all power belongs to
Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment.
Love is to do
with who or what occupies your heart and your thoughts throughout the day. If
you love someone, you love thinking about them, you want to be with them, if
you love something, you want to have it, you want to consume it, that’s what
love is, practically speaking.
The question is
though, what do we spend most of our time doing?
Fiddling with our
phones, playing mind numbing games, listening to music, watching movie after
movie or TV series after TV series, isn’t that what’s taking most of our time?
Think of a little
boy who loves a girl. He took a picture of her when she wasn’t even looking and
he stares at it all day. He thinks of her all the time. He thinks about her,
even when he’s praying.
He made WUDHOO,
he’s doing (Sajida), and he‘s doing (Sajida) in the direction of the (Ka'aba);
allegedly he’s doing (Sajida) to Allah, but his heart is doing (Sajida) in a
different direction.
Do you understand
this problem? The heart is for someone else.
And this is a
kind of shirk that you can do even when you’re at the (Ka'aba). You could be
standing in front of the (Ka'aba) in the first row doing (Sajida) to Allah and
still be doing this Shirk. That’s the shirk of love.
Trust me when I
say that this is a scary shirk. To me personally, it’s the scariest of all the
types of shirks. Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala) says:
Holy Quran
Chapter (9) sūrat l-tawbah (The Repentance) verse 24
قُلۡ إِن كَانَ ءَابَآؤُكُمۡ وَأَبۡنَآؤُڪُمۡ
وَإِخۡوَٲنُكُمۡ وَأَزۡوَٲجُكُمۡ وَعَشِيرَتُكُمۡ وَأَمۡوَٲلٌ ٱقۡتَرَفۡتُمُوهَا
وَتِجَـٰرَةٌ۬ تَخۡشَوۡنَ كَسَادَهَا وَمَسَـٰكِنُ تَرۡضَوۡنَهَآ أَحَبَّ إِلَيۡڪُم
مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ وَجِهَادٍ۬ فِى سَبِيلِهِۦ فَتَرَبَّصُواْ حَتَّىٰ
يَأۡتِىَ ٱللَّهُ بِأَمۡرِهِۦۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يَہۡدِى ٱلۡقَوۡمَ ٱلۡفَـٰسِقِينَ (٢٤)
Sahih
International: Say, [O Muhammad], "If your fathers, your sons, your
brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce
wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more
beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait
until Allah executes His command. And Allah does not guide the defiantly
disobedient people."
So Allah
(Subhanahu Wa Taala) in the strongest terms warns us about loving anything more
than Loving Him and His messenger (Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam) and His cause.
My dear brothers
and sisters, this love thing is a tough one. Because if we don’t figure this
thing out, then we are falling under shirk.
So what is the
shirk of love? It is committed when my love for my parents, my children, or my
wife, or my job, or my car or my house is not based on the love I have for
Allah. I’ll say that again:
You can love your
friends, you can love your wife, the husband, the children, you can love the
parents….
So what does that
mean practically? How do you understand that concept?
Out of love for
them, you do things Allah doesn’t like, or you do things Allah hates, then that
is shirk in love. That love is making you turn away from Allah and from what He
loves.
Let us elaborate.
It’s okay in
Islam to love money. It’s not haram. Allah actually says among the things that
man loves is money. So it comes naturally to us to love money. Also, do you
know why people love money? Not just because you can buy lots of stuff. But
because you have to give up a part of your life to earn it. You have to slave
away at an office or a farm or a truck, you have to do work to earn money. To
give up a part of your life to earn it. So that money you have in your hands is
actually a part of your life that you gave up. It’s hard to let go of it. Have
you ever heard people say “this is my life’s savings”? Sounds familiar? So you
have to have a love of it, it’s natural.
But when that
money takes you away from what Allah loves then you’ve got yourself a problem.
Then you’re committing the shirk of love. Allah doesn’t deny you love.
Allah doesn’t say
you can’t have love for anything else. It’s part of being Insan Human is to
love people, pets, money, things etc. But Allah is saying that if that love
takes you away from Me, then that’s unacceptable.
There are people
who LOVE their house, they can’t even think of leaving it, they’ve spent so
much time building it, cleaning it and decorating it. They can’t imagine losing
the house.
What they don’t
realise it is that whether they like it or not, one day, very soon, they will
be leaving that house and someone else is going to occupy that house and they
won’t be anywhere near it.
As much as you
love that house today, one day you’re going to look back and regret that love
that you had. You’ve got your love placed in the wrong place.
Is it Okay to
love a house? Of course! I actually love my tiny little apartment I live in.
But it becomes a problem if I love my apartment so much that I forget that
there’s another house awaiting for me in the hereafter created by Allah.
Instead I say.. “nooo I don’t want that house, I just want to stay here
forever”. Nauzhubillah!
Some of you may
even take haram loans in order to finance your homes upon your wife’s request.
She keeps pestering you for a home and you can’t afford it; but she keeps
saying, “don’t you love me enough? Don’t you want to see me happy?” So you go
on a mortgage to pay for it. Completely disregarding that Allah says you will
be waging war against Allah and His Rasul(Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam) by taking
interest.
Isn’t that a
problem? That’s shirk in love.
How can you say
you love Allah when your heart truly doesn’t love Allah?
My brothers and
sisters, this is a warning to myself first and foremost, this is something that
we need to seriously watch out for.
I cannot test
this one for you, nor can you check this for me. Because it is deep down inside
and you have to watch out for it yourself.
Here’s a good
litmus test to figure out if you’re committing this type of shirk. Think of
what you love the absolute most; maybe it’s a horse, cattle, goats, sheep,
maybe it’s a device, maybe it’s the house, it’s the car, maybe it’s the
person…. The object of what you love in this world, which is more than anything
else in this world to you, once you’ve got that thing in your head, now in your
imagination deprive yourself of it. Imagine it’s no longer there.
That person is no
longer there, the money, the house, or whatever that thing is, is no longer
there……., and you’re still totally fine, you’re completely OKAY. It’s not a
problem to you…., why? Because you still have Allah. Then you’re fine.
Alhamdulillah
But if that thing
that you love is taken away, and you’ve just lost it mentally and emotionally…
and you don’t know what to do with yourself, you don’t want to live anymore, or
you’re in serious depression, then you have a shirk problem.
You know, the
love of Allah above all else, having this love will save your life. Wallahi..
We will say this again… IT WILL SAVE
YOUR LIFE. There are people who love their career, there are people who
love their appearance, they work out 10-12 hours a day, they love seeing
themselves in the mirror, they post shirtless pictures of themselves on Facebook,
Whatsapp and twitter, and if those same people get sick, if those same people
get hospitalized, and they lose their physique; or the people who love their
money and love their job, lose their job and lose all their savings, and they
no longer have the status that they used to enjoy, they no longer have the car
they used to drive, the house they used to have, the school their children used
to go to, if they no longer have those things, you know what a lot of those
people do when they lose it?
They lose Iman.
They cannot take it anymore. Or worse, they commit suicide.
In other words,
our love of all things, actually makes us weak. The only one love that you can
survive no matter what happens to you in this life and you’ll still survive,
you’ll still be fine, is the love of Allah, because:
Holy Quran
Chapter 27.88
وَتَرَى
ٱلۡجِبَالَ تَحۡسَبُہَا جَامِدَةً۬
وَهِىَ تَمُرُّ مَرَّ ٱلسَّحَابِۚ صُنۡعَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَتۡقَنَ كُلَّ شَىۡءٍۚ
إِنَّهُ ۥ خَبِيرُۢ بِمَا تَفۡعَلُونَ (٨٨)
''And
call not, besides Allah, on another god. There is no god but He. Everything
(that exists) will perish except His own Face. To him belongs the Command, and
to him will ye (all) be brought back.''
Your parents are
not going to be here forever and neither are you. We don’t know which one Allah
will take first. We don’t know. We are grateful that our parents are alive and
that our children are alive, but life is not in my hands and it is not in your
hands.
But the idea that
everything we have around us and everyone we have around us is temporary, so
love it, but love it to an extent, but the love we have for Allah is beyond
limit. The house He has built for us in Jannah in His Company, is beyond limit.
If you can internalize this truly, then life will become easy for you. And when
you do internalize that, I can tell you from personal experience, if you
internalise that even a little bit, Allah will open the doors of this world for
you.
You’re not
obsessed with this world and Allah will give you and will give you and will
give you. He will give you because He knows you want something far bigger. Not
a stupid car, or a mortgage or a million dollars, all these things in this
world to you means nothing except earning the love of Allah (Subhanahu Wa
Taala). So love is a big one.
Finally we come
to the last form of shirk.
SHIRK – THE FIVE FORMS OF SHIRK PART 5 OF 6
Instead of giving
you the word for it, We want to explain the concept first and then I’ll give
you the name for it.
Pretend you got a
job, you got a new job. On this job, you have to do five tasks. They give you
your contract, and the contract says, here are the five things you need to do.
a, b, c, d and e. these are the five things I need you to do every single day.
Spend an hour each on a, b, c, d and e. you have a 5 hour job. Fine.
At the end of the
day you go to your manager, and he asks you “how was your first day”? So you
say, “it was pretty good”. So the manager asks, “how was your work? Did you do,
a, b, c, d and e”? So you say, “yeah
it was pretty good, I did e, f, t, w,
z”.
The manager is a
little confused, because he didn’t ask you to do e, f, t, w, and z. he asked
you to do a, b, c, d and e. the
manager asks “why didn’t you do what I told you to do?”
You say “well, I
felt more comfortable with e, f, t, w,
and z. and a lot of the others in the office were doing e, f, t, w, and z. I really enjoyed the work. Thank you for
the job”.
If you keep doing
this, are you going to be keeping that job for long?
You better get
your act together. Because when you get a job, what you have to do at that job
is not determined by you. What you have to do is determined by your employer.
When you take a
class at school, your professor says you have to do two midterm exams and two
assignments on a topic specified by him and they need to be handed in on time.
If none of the above criteria is met, then you will fail the class.
So if you want to
survive his class, do you say, “no I feel like doing one assignment and I
really hate exams”? Or do you have to follow by his terms?
My teacher and I
have a relationship. What the terms of that relationship are, are defined by
the teacher, not me.
I hope you are
following me so far?
At my job, I have
a relationship with my employer, but the terms of those relationship are
primarily defined not by me but my employer.
BUT in all of
these cases, there is still room for some negotiations. Isn’t that true?
For example in a
marriage where there are two people, that relationship is actually almost
entirely made up of negotiations. You have to figure out who picks up the kids
from school, who is going to drop them off, who’s doing the groceries, who’s
doing the laundry, who’s doing the cooking and then who is doing the dishes?
You divide the responsibilities. That’s what you have to do. At least in a
normal relationship.
Now we have a
relationship with Allah. He is RABB
(MASTER) and we are His Abd (slaves). Who gets to decide what my
responsibilities are as a slave? Do I have any say in this? Actually none. I
have no say in what this relationship will look like.
So this last item
is “the terms of the relationship”. In other words, I don’t get to decide what
worship means, what obedience means or what trust means or what love means. I
don’t get to decide what any of it means. He will decide that for me.
I don’t come up
with my own definition. Now this is very important.
Are there people
who believe in God? Sure. But they say “to me worshipping God means to be a
good person, I don’t have to pray to show it”. Are there people who when they
talk about their relationship with God, they start with “well, to me….”
So we have a
relationship with Allah, but the terms of the relationship will not come from
whom? YOU.
You can’t say “to
me this is what this relationship means”. It’s NOT up to you.
He’s the Master
(Rabb), He gets to decide. You are a slave, which mean you have NO say in it
whatsoever.
So you can’t say
“to me one prayer is enough” or “to me, I worship God through dance”. “Hajj is
interesting, but to me Hajj should be more about going to New Zealand because
there are mountains and breath-taking landscapes and I will appreciate Allah’s
creation more if I went to New Zealand instead of Makkah”.
Well that’s nice
you feel that way, but it’s not up to you. The terms of what is expected of you
will not come from you, it will come from Allah (Subhanahu Wa Taala). And I can
tell you with a huge amount of confidence that there are a vast number of
Muslims in the world who do not understand this concept. Who feel that their
relationship with Allah is based on what they feel it should be.
Some of them go
“I am willing to give Him Friday prayer, I am going to give Him that much, but
what I do during the rest of the week is my business”. Or “I will recite Qur’an
everyday but I will still earn my living by working at the bar”. So some people
decide when they listen to Allah and when they won’t listen to Allah (Subhanahu
Wa Taala).
Some think “I am
willing to give Allah a long beard, but I am not willing to give my sisters
their share of the inheritance” even though that’s in the Quran. But a beard
I’ll give Him.
What are people
doing? They are taking things that they feel like taking and rejecting things
that they feel like rejecting. Well, this accepting and rejecting isn’t up to
us once you have accepted Allah’s slavery.
So if you start
defining the terms of the relationship, then this is also a form of shirk.
So let’s recap,
there is shirk in worship, obedience, trust, love and there is shirk in who
gets to define slavery to Allah. The definition of it, the expectations of it
have to come from Allah. If you put yourself on the negotiation table with
Allah, then that means you have put yourself at the same level as Allah. So
that is Shirk.
Bi’iznillah, I
hope this is all clear to you now and I pray that Allah guides us and keeps us
guided on His path and we pray that Allah (Azza Wa Jalla) grants us clarity and
the courage to be His slaves at all times and that Allah protects us from
falling into any form of Shirk.
Allahumma ameen.
6.0 WHAT IS THE TRUE MEANING OF SHIRK?
One of the most
important obligations is to know the meaning of SHIRK, its seriousness and its
different types, so that our Tawheed (belief in the Oneness of Allaah) and our
Islam may be complete, and our faith may be sound. We say – And Allaah is the
Source of strength and true guidance comes from Him:
Know – may Allaah
guide you – that the word shirk in Arabic means taking a partner, i.e.,
regarding someone as the partner of another. It is said [in Arabic]:
ashrakabaynahuma (he joined them together) when he regarded them as two of
equal status; or ashraka fi amrihighayrahu (he introduced another into his
affair) when he made two people involved in it.
In terms of
sharee’ah or Islamic terminology, shirk means ascribing a partner or rival to
Allaah in Lordship (ruboobiyyah), worship or in His names and attributes.
A rival is a peer
or counterpart. Hence Allaah forbids setting up rivals with Him and he condemns
those who take them (rivals) as gods instead of or besides Allaah in many
verses of the Qur’aan. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱعۡبُدُواْ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُمۡ
وَٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِكُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ (٢١) ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلۡأَرۡضَ فِرَٲشً۬ا وَٱلسَّمَآءَ
بِنَآءً۬ وَأَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً۬ فَأَخۡرَجَ بِهِۦ مِنَ ٱلثَّمَرَٲتِ
رِزۡقً۬ا لَّكُمۡۖ فَلَا تَجۡعَلُواْ لِلَّهِ أَندَادً۬ا وَأَنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ (٢٢)
(21)
Who has made the earth your couch, and the heavens your canopy; and sent down
rain from the heavens; and brought forth therewith fruits for your sustenance;
then set not up rivals unto Allah when ye know (the truth). (22)”[ Holy Quran
Chapter al-Baqarah 2:22]
وَجَعَلُواْ
لِلَّهِ أَندَادً۬ا
لِّيُضِلُّواْ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦۗ قُلۡ تَمَتَّعُواْ فَإِنَّ مَصِيرَڪُمۡ إِلَى ٱلنَّارِ
(٣٠)
“And
they set up rivals to Allaah, to mislead (men) from His path! Say: ‘Enjoy (your
brief life)! But certainly, your destination is the (Hell) Fire!’”[Holy Quran
Chapter Ibraaheem 14:30]
In the hadeeth it
is narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“Whoever dies claiming that Allaah has a rival, will enter Hell.” Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 4497; Muslim, 92.
The Types Of Shirk:
The texts of the
Qur’aan and Sunnah indicate that shirk and the ascribing of rivals to Allaah
sometimes puts a person beyond the pale of Islam and sometimes does not. Hence
the scholars divided shirk into two types which they call shirk akbar (major
shirk) and shirk asghar (minor shirk). There follows a brief description of
each type:
1 – Major Shirk
This means
ascribing to someone other than Allaah something that belongs only to Allaah,
such as Lordship (ruboobiyyah), divinity (uloohiyyah) and the divine names and
attributes (al-asma’ wa’l-sifaat).
This kind of
shirk may sometimes be outward, such as the shirk of those who worship idols
and graves, or the dead or absent.
Or it may
sometimes be hidden, such as those who put their trust in other gods besides
Allaah, or the shirk and kufr of the hypocrites. For even though their
(hypocrites’) shirk puts them beyond the pale of Islam and means that they will
abide forever in Hell, it is a hidden shirk, because they make an outward
display of Islam and conceal their kufr and shirk, so they are inwardly mushriks
but not outwardly.
Shirk may sometimes take the form of beliefs:
Such as the
belief that there is someone else who creates, gives life and death, reigns or
controls the affairs of the universe along with Allaah.
Or the belief
that there is someone else who must be obeyed absolutely besides Allaah, so
they follow him in regarding as permissible or forbidden whatever he wants,
even if that goes against the religion of the Messengers.
Or they may
associate others with Allaah in love and veneration, by loving a created being
as they love Allaah. This is the kind of shirk that Allaah does not forgive,
and it is the shirk of which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَندَادً۬ا يُحِبُّونَہُمۡ
كَحُبِّ ٱللَّهِۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ أَشَدُّ حُبًّ۬ا لِّلَّهِۗ وَلَوۡ
يَرَى ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوٓاْ إِذۡ يَرَوۡنَ ٱلۡعَذَابَ أَنَّ ٱلۡقُوَّةَ لِلَّهِ
جَمِيعً۬ا وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَدِيدُ ٱلۡعَذَابِ (١٦٥)
''Yet
there are men who take (for worship) others besides Allah, as equal (with
Allah); they love them as they should love Allah. But those of faith are
overflowing in their love for Allah. If only the unrighteous could see, behold,
they would see the Punishment: that to Allah belongs all power, and Allah will
strongly enforce the Punishment. [Holy Quran Chapter al-Baqarah 2:165]
Or the belief
that there are those who know the Unseen as well as Allaah. This is very common
among some of the deviant sects such as the Raafidis (Shi’ah), extreme Sufis,
and Baatinis (Esoteric Sects) in general.
The Raafidis
believe that their imams have knowledge of the unseen, and the Baatinis and
Sufis believe similar things about their Awliya’ (“Saints”), and so on. It is
also shirk to believe that there is someone who bestows mercy in a manner that
is befitting only for Allaah, so he shows mercy as Allaah does and forgives
sins and overlooks the bad deeds of his worshippers.
Shirk may
sometimes take the form of words:
Such as those who
make du’aa’ or pray to someone other than Allaah, or seek his help or seek
refuge with him with regard to matters over which no one has control except
Allaah, whether the person called upon is a Prophet, a wali (“saint”), an angel
or a jinn, or some other created being. This is a kind of major shirk which
puts one beyond the pale of Islam.
Or such as those
who make fun of religion or who liken Allaah to His creation, or say that there
is another creator, provider or controller besides Allaah. All of these are
major shirk and a grave sin that is not forgiven.
Shirk may sometimes take the form of actions:
Such as one who
sacrifices, prays or prostrates to something other than Allaah, or who
promulgates laws to replace the rulings of Allaah and makes that the law to
which people are obliged to refer for judgement; or one who supports the
kaafirs and helps them against the believers, and other acts that go against
the basic meaning of faith and put the one who does them beyond the pale of
Islam. We ask Allaah to keep us safe and sound.
2 – Minor Shirk
This includes
everything that may lead to major shirk, or which is described in the texts as
being shirk, but does not reach the extent of being major shirk.
This is usually of two types:
1 – Being
emotionally attached to some means which have no basis and for which Allaah has
not given permission, such as hanging up “hands”, turquoise beads etc on the
grounds that they offer protection or that they ward off the evil eye. But
Allaah has not made them the means of such protection, either according to
sharee’ah or according to the laws of the universe.
[Translator’s
note: the “hands” referred to are objects made of metal, pottery etc, usually
blue or turquoise in colour, that some people hang up to ward off the evil eye,
according to their mistaken belief]
2 – Venerating
some people or things in a way that does not go so far as ascribing lordship to
them, such as swearing by something other than Allaah, or saying, “Were it not
for Allaah and So and so,” etc.
The scholars have
stipulated guidelines to distinguish major shirk from minor shirk when shirk is
mentioned in the texts of sharee’ah. These guidelines include the following:
(i) – When the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) states clearly that this
action is minor shirk, such as in al-Musnad (27742) where it is narrated that
Mahmoud ibnLabeed said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: “The thing that I fear most for you is minor shirk.” They
said: “O Messenger of Allaah, what is minor shirk?” He said: “Showing off, for
Allaah will say on the Day when people are recompensed for their actions: ‘Go
to those for whom you were showing off with your deeds in the world, and see
what reward you find with them.’” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in
al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 951.
(ii) – When the
word shirk is used in the texts of the Qur’aan and Sunnah in the indefinite
form [without the definite article al-]. This usually refers to minor shirk,
and there are many examples of this, such as when the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Incantations, amulets and love spells
are shirk.”
Narrated by Abu
Dawood, 3883; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 331.
What is meant by
shirk here is minor shirk, not major shirk.
Amulets are
things that are hung on children such as turquoise beads and the like, which
they claim will protect them from the evil eye.
Love spells are
something that they do, claiming that it will make a woman beloved to her
husband and a man beloved to his wife.
(iii) – If the
Sahaabah understood from the texts of sharee’ah that what was meant by shirk
here was minor shirk, not major. Undoubtedly the understanding of the Sahaabah
carries weight, because they are the most knowledgeable of the people
concerning the religion of Allaah, and the most knowledgeable as to the intent
of the Lawgiver. For example, Abu Dawood (3910) narrated from IbnMas’ood (may
Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “Tiyarah (superstitious belief in omens) is shirk, tiyarah is
shirk,” three times, and there is no one among us but (will have some of that)
but Allaah will rid him of it by means of tawakkul (putting his trust in
Allaah). The words “there is no one among us…” are the words of IbnMas’ood, as
was explained by the prominent scholars of hadeeth. This indicates that
IbnMas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) understood that this was minor
shirk, because he could not have said, “There is no one among us…” referring to
major shirk. Moreover, major shirk cannot be eliminated by means of tawakkul,
rather it is essential to repent therefrom.
(iv) – If the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) interpreted the words shirk
or kufr in a manner which indicates that what is meant is a minor form thereof
and not the major form. For example al-Bukhaari (1038) and Muslim (74) narrated
from Zayd ibn Khaalid al-Juhani that he said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) led the morning prayer for us at al-Hudaybiyah
following rainfall during the night. When the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) finished, he turned to face the people and said to them:
“Do you know what your Lord has said?” They said: “Allaah and his Messenger
know best.” He said: “This morning one of My slaves became a believer in Me and
one a disbeliever. As for him who said: ‘We have been given rain by the grace
of Allaah and His mercy,’ that one is a believer in Me, a disbeliever in the
stars; and as for him who said: ‘We have been given rain by such-and-such a
star, that one is a disbeliever in Me, a believer in the stars.’”
The
interpretation of the word kufr here is given in another report narrated from
Abu Hurayrah who said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: “Do you not know what your Lord said? ‘I do not send any
blessing upon My slaves but a group among them become kaafirs thereby because
they refer to the stars and attribute things to the stars. This explains that
if a person attributes rainfall to the stars by believing that they caused it
to fall – when in fact Allaah has not made the stars a means of causing
rainfall – his kufr is a kind of ingratitude for the blessing of Allaah. It is
well known that ingratitude for the blessing of Allaah is minor kufr. But if a
person believes that the stars are controlling the universe and they are the
ones that cause the rain to fall, then this is major shirk.
Minor shirk may
sometimes take the form of outward actions, such as wearing talismans, strings,
amulets and the like, and other words and deeds. And sometimes it may be
hidden, like a little bit of showing off.
It may also take the form of beliefs:
Such as the
belief that something may be a cause of bringing benefit or warding off harm,
when Allaah has not made it so; or believing that there is barakah (blessing)
in a thing, when Allaah has not made it so.
It sometimes
takes the form of words:
Such as when they
said, “We have been given rain by such and such a star,” without believing that
that the stars could independently cause rain to fall; or swearing by something
other than Allaah, without believing in venerating the thing sworn by or
regarding it as equal with Allaah; or saying, “Whatever Allaah wills and you
will,” and so on.
It sometimes
takes the form of actions:
Such as hanging
up amulets or wearing a talisman or string to dispel or ward off calamity,
because everyone who attribute powers to a thing when Allaah has not made it so
either according to sharee’ah or according to the laws of the universe, has
associated something with Allaah. This also applies to one who touches a thing
seeking its barakah (blessing), when Allaah has not created any barakah in it,
such as kissing the doors of the mosques, touching their thresholds, seeking
healing from their dust, and other such actions.
This is a brief
look at the division of shirk into major and minor. We cannot go into great
detail in this short answer.
7.0 SUMMARY OF MAJOR SHIRK (POLYTHEISM)
We are
summarizing here the above points of the five forms of Shirk parts 1 to 5 to
enable us understand more and capture the topic.
Shirk
(polytheism) is the opposite of Tawheed (monotheism) and it is classified into
two main categories: major Shirk and minor Shirk.
First, major
Shirk is classified into three categories, which are contrary to the three
categories of Tawheed. They are:
1. Shirk in
Ruboobiyyah (Lordship) and it has two types: Shirk by negation, which is the
worst type of Shirk, like the Shirk of Fir‘awn (Pharaoh) when he said (what
means): {What is the Lord of the worlds?} [Holy Quran Chapter 26:23]
قَالَ فِرۡعَوۡنُ وَمَا رَبُّ
ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ (٢٣)
This also
includes the Shirk of the philosophers who advocate the idea of the
pre-eternity of the universe (meaning that the universe had no beginning which
basically contradicts the fact that Allaah initiated the creation of the world
which was until then non-existent) and that the universe has always existed and
has never been and will never be nonexistent. It also includes the Shirk of
pantheists who adopt the same beliefs as atheists but mix them with some of the
Muslims’ beliefs. In addition, this type of Shirk includes those who deny
something of the Names or Attributes of Allaah The Almighty like the extremists
from among the Jahmiyyah and Qaraamitah Sects.
The second type
of Shirk in Ruboobiyyah is Shirk by association. It refers to the act of
associating others with Allaah The Almighty without denying any of His Names or
Attributes and without denying His lordship. It is like the Shirk of the
Christians who believe in the Trinity and the Magians who attribute good events
to light and bad events to darkness. This also includes the Shirk of those who
believe in the stars as the power that controls the universe, and the Shirk of
the Sabians. This type of Shirk also includes those who claim that the souls of
the deceased righteous believers can affect the affairs of this world, fulfill
needs, remove calamities and help whoever one calls on them.
2. The second
category of major Shirk is Shirk in Al-Asmaa’ was Sifaat (the Names and
Attributes of Allaah). It has two types, one of them is drawing a resemblance
between the Creator and the creation, such as when a person says that the Hand
of Allaah is like his, or that the Hearing of Allaah is like his or that His
Istiwaa’ (rising) is like his, and this type is known as the Shirk of
Mushabbihah (those who liken Allaah to his creation). The other type is when
false gods are given names derived from the Names of Allaah The Almighty who
Says (what means): {And to Allaah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them.
And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names.
They will be recompensed for what they have been doing.} [Holy Quran Chapter
7:180]
وَلِلَّهِ
ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ فَٱدۡعُوهُ
بِہَاۖ وَذَرُواْ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلۡحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسۡمَـٰٓٮِٕهِۦۚ سَيُجۡزَوۡنَ مَا
كَانُواْ يَعۡمَلُونَ (١٨٠)
Ibn ‘Abbaas
mentioned that the polytheists derived the names of their gods from the Names
and Attributes of Allaah The Almighty.
3. The third
category is Shirk in Worship and it is divided into three sub-categories:
The first is
Shirk in the rites of sacrifice and rituals, like when one offers his
supplication, vows and sacrifices to anyone other than Allaah The Almighty and
when he appeals to others for help. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {If
you invoke them, they do not hear your supplication; and if they heard, they
would not respond to you. And on the Day of Resurrection they will deny your
association. And none can inform you like [one] Acquainted [with all matters].}
[Holy Quran Chapter 35:14]
إِن
تَدۡعُوهُمۡ لَا يَسۡمَعُواْ دُعَآءَكُمۡ وَلَوۡ سَمِعُواْ مَا ٱسۡتَجَابُواْ
لَكُمۡۖ وَيَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِيَـٰمَةِ يَكۡفُرُونَ بِشِرۡڪِكُمۡۚ وَلَا يُنَبِّئُكَ
مِثۡلُ خَبِيرٍ۬ (١٤)
۞
According to the
scholars’ consensus, whoever takes an intermediary between himself and Allaah
The Almighty, and directs his supplications to this intermediary and asks him
to intercede on his behalf is to be identified as a disbeliever.
The second
sub-category is Shirk in submission, when one submits to the rulings that are
stipulated by those who are not authorized by Allaah The Almighty, that state
the lawful and the unlawful. Allaah The Exalted Says (what means): {They have
taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allaah, and [also] the Messiah,
the son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there
is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.}
[Holy Quran Chapter 9:31]
ٱتَّخَذُوٓاْ
أَحۡبَارَهُمۡ وَرُهۡبَـٰنَهُمۡ أَرۡبَابً۬ا مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡمَسِيحَ ٱبۡنَ مَرۡيَمَ وَمَآ أُمِرُوٓاْ
إِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُوٓاْ إِلَـٰهً۬ا وَٲحِدً۬اۖ لَّآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَۚ سُبۡحَـٰنَهُ ۥ
عَمَّا يُشۡرِڪُونَ (٣١)
In a Hadeeth on
the authority of ‘Adiyy ibn Haatim he narrated that he once came to the
Prophet, wearing a golden cross. The Prophet, ordered him to take it off and
‘Adiyy took it off and threw it. The Prophet, then recited Soorah Baraa’ah
(Chapter 9) until he reached the verse (which means): {They have taken their
scholars and monks as lords besides Allaah} [Quran 9:31] ‘Adiyy commented that
they did not worship them. The Prophet, told him that their scholars and monks
would make lawful what Allaah The Almighty had made unlawful and vice versa and
they used to obey them and that was how they worshipped them. [At-Tirmithi,
Al-Bayhaqi and At-Tabaraani. Al-Albaani: Hasan (Sound)]
Moreover, Allaah
The Almighty Says about those who imitate polytheists in considering dead
animals as lawful food (what means): {And if you were to obey them, indeed, you
would be associators [of others with Him].} [Quran 6:121]
وَلَا
تَأۡڪُلُواْ مِمَّا لَمۡ يُذۡكَرِ ٱسۡمُ
ٱللَّهِ عَلَيۡهِ وَإِنَّهُ ۥ لَفِسۡقٌ۬ۗ وَإِنَّ ٱلشَّيَـٰطِينَ لَيُوحُونَ
إِلَىٰٓ أَوۡلِيَآٮِٕهِمۡ لِيُجَـٰدِلُوكُمۡۖ وَإِنۡ أَطَعۡتُمُوهُمۡ إِنَّكُمۡ
لَمُشۡرِكُونَ (١٢١)
The third
sub-category is Shirk of love, for Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And
[yet], among the people are those who take other than Allaah as equals [to
Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allaah. But those who believe are
stronger in love for Allaah.} [Holy Quran Chapter 2:165]
(١٦٤) وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَندَادً۬ا يُحِبُّونَہُمۡ
كَحُبِّ ٱللَّهِۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ أَشَدُّ حُبًّ۬ا لِّلَّهِۗ وَلَوۡ
يَرَى ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوٓاْ إِذۡ يَرَوۡنَ ٱلۡعَذَابَ أَنَّ ٱلۡقُوَّةَ لِلَّهِ
جَمِيعً۬ا وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَدِيدُ ٱلۡعَذَابِ (١٦٥)
The second main
category of Shirk is minor Shirk, which refers to everything that has been
prohibited in Sharee‘ah because it may lead to major Shirk. It is called Shirk
because it is liable to lead to major Shirk, like for instance swearing by
something or someone other than Allaah The Almighty. The Prophet (Sallalahu
Alaihi Wa Salaam), prohibited this and called it Shirk and confirmed that the
one who swears by anything other than Allaah The Almighty has become a
polytheist. [At-Tirmithi, Abu Daawood and Al-Haakim]
ImaamIbn
Al-Qayyim mentioned some of the types of minor Shirk like when one pretends to
be pious for the sake of winning people’s appreciation, swears by someone other
than Allaah The Almighty, associates a creature’s will with the will of Allaah
or raises his voice while reciting the Quran in order to be heard and praised.
In a Hadeeth on
the authority of Mahmood ibn Labeed the Prophet , mentioned that what he feared
most for Muslims was minor Shirk, meaning ostentation. [Ahmad]
However, if
someone originally and totally performs the acts of worship only to show-off,
meaning he prays, fasts, remembers Allaah The Almighty and recites the Quran
solely to impress others and win their praise, then he is committing major
Shirk.
Minor Shirk does
not result in apostasy, however, it is graver than adultery and drinking
alcohol, but it still does not reach the same level of major Shirk. Fatwa Date:
Muharram 9, 1433 / 5-12-2011
8.0 SHIRK – THE FIVE FORMS OF SHIRK PART 6 OF
6
Major and Minor Shirk – A Clarification
*What is Shirk (Polytheism) and its
manifestations (in Islam)?*
*What is Shirk?*
Shirk basically
is polytheism, i.e. the worship of others along with Allah. It also implies attributing
divine attributes to any other besides Allah. It particularly implies
associating partners in worship with Allah or to believe that the source of
power, harm or blessings is from others besides Allah.
*Types of Shirk*
There are three
types of Shirk, namely:
(1)
Ash-Shirk-al-Akbar, i.e. major Shirk
(2)
Ash-Shirk-al-Asghar, i.e. minor Shirk
(3)
Ash-Shirk-al-Khafi, i.e. inconspicuous Shirk.
Ash-Shirk-al-Akbar (The major Shirk):
The major and
serious polytheistic form, it has four aspects:
(a) Shirk-ad-Du’â,
i.e. invocation.This aspect implies invoking, supplicating or praying to other
deities besides Allah.
Almighty Allah
says:
“And when they
embark on a ships they invoke Allah, making their Faith pure for Him only, but
when He brings them safely to land, behold, they give a share of their worship
to others,” (Holy Quran Chapter – V.29:65)
(b)
Shirk-al-Niyyah wal-Iradah wal-Qasd. This aspect implies intentions, purpose
and determination in acts of worship or religious deeds not for the sake of
Allah but directed towards other deities.
(c)
Shirk-at-Tâ’a. This aspect implies rendering obedience to any authority against
the Order of Allah.
Almighty Allah
says:
“They (Jews and
Christians) took their Rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah (by
obeying them in things which they made lawful or unlawful according to their
own desires without being ordered by Allah), and (they also took as their lord)
Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary), while they (Jews and Christians) were commanded
(in the Torah and the Gospel) to worship none but One Ilâh (God i.e., Allah),
Lâ ilâha illâ Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He). Praise and
Glory be to Him, (far above is He) from having the partners they associate
(with Him).” (Hoy Quran Chapter – V.9:31).
Once, while
Allah’s Messenger (Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam) was reciting the above Verse,
‘Adi bin Hatim said, “O Allah’s Prophet! They do not worship them (rabbis and
monks).” Allah’s Messenger said, “They certainly do. They (i.e. Rabbis and
monks) made legal things illegal, and illegal things legal, and they (i.e. Jews
and Christians) followed them; and by doing so they really worshipped
them.”(Narrated by Ahmad, At-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Jarir). (Tafsir At-Tabari,
Vol.10, Page No. 114).
(d)
Shirk-al-Mahabbah. This implies showing the love which is due to Allah Alone,
to others than Him.
Almighty Allah
says:
“And of mankind are some who take (for
worship) others besides Allah as rivals (to Allah). They love them as they love
Allah. But those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else). If only
those who do wrong could see, when they will see the torment, that all power
belongs to Allah and that Allah is Severe in punishment.” (Holy Quran Chapter –
V. 2:165)
(2)
Ash-Shirk-al-Asghar Ar-Riyâ’ (The minor Shirk, i.e. acts performed to show off)
Any act of
worship or any religious deed done in order to gain praise, fame or for worldly
purposes, falls under this minor form.
Almighty Allah
says:
“Say (O Muhammad
(Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam): ‘I am only a man like you, it has been inspired
to me that your Ilâh (God) is One Ilâh (God i.e Allah). So whoever hopes for
the meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a
partner in the worship of his Lord.’ ” (Quran – V. 18:110)
(3) Ash-Shirk-al-Khafi (The inconspicuous
Shirk).
This type implies
being inwardly dissatisfied with the inevitable condition that has been
ordained for one by Allah; conscientiously lamenting that had you done or not
done such and such or had you approached such and such you would have had a
better status, etc.
The Noble Prophet
Muhammad (Sallalahu Alaihi Wa Salaam) said:
“Ash-Shirk-al-Khafi
in the Muslim nation is more inconspicuous than the creeping of black ant on
black rock in the pitch-darkness of the night.” And this inconspicuous Shirk is
expiated by saying thrice the following sentences within a day and a night: “O
Allah! I take Your refuge from that I should ascribe anything as partner in
Your worship, being conscious of that, and I beg Your pardon for that sin which
I am not aware of.”
Major and Minor Shirk – A Clarification
The texts of the
Quran and Sunnah indicate that shirk and the ascribing of rivals to Allah
sometimes puts a person beyond the pale of Islam and sometimes does not. Hence
the scholars divided shirk into two types which they call shirk akbar (major
shirk) and shirk asghar (minor shirk). There follows a brief description of
each type:
1 – MAJOR SHIRK
This means
ascribing to someone other than Allah something that belongs only to Allah,
such as Lordship (ruboobiyyah), divinity (uloohiyyah) and the divine names and
attributes (al-asma’ wa’l-sifaat).
Major Shirk may
sometimes take the form of beliefs
Such as the
belief that there is someone else who creates, gives life and death, reigns or
controls the affairs of the universe along with Allah.
Or the belief
that there is someone else who must be obeyed absolutely besides Allah, so they
follow him in regarding as permissible or forbidden whatever he wants, even if
that goes against the religion of the Messengers.
Or they may
associate others with Allah in love and veneration, by loving a created being
as they love Allah. This is the kind of shirk that Allah does not forgive.
Or the belief
that there are those who know the Unseen as well as Allah. It is also shirk to
believe that there is someone who bestows mercy in a manner that is befitting
only for Allah, so he shows mercy as Allah does and forgives sins and overlooks
the bad deeds of his worshippers.
MAJOR SHIRK MAY SOMETIMES TAKE THE FORM OF
WORDS
Such as those who
make dua or pray to someone other than Allah, or seek his help or seek refuge
with him with regard to matters over which no one has control except Allah,
whether the person called upon is a Prophet, a wali (“saint”), an angel or a
jinn, or some other created being. This is a kind of major shirk which puts one
beyond the pale of Islam.
Or such as those
who make fun of religion or who liken Allah to His creation, or say that there
is another creator, provider or controller besides Allah. All of these are
major shirk and a grave sin that is not forgiven.
MAJOR SHIRK MAY SOMETIMES TAKE THE FORM OF
ACTIONS
Such as one who
sacrifices, prays or prostrates to something other than Allah, or who
promulgates laws to replace the rulings of Allah.
2 – Minor shirk
This includes
everything that may lead to major shirk, or which is described in the texts as
being shirk, but does not reach the extent of being major shirk.
This is usually of two types:
1 – Being
emotionally attached to some means which have no basis and for which Allah has
not given permission, such as hanging up “hands”, turquoise beads, amulets, etc
on the grounds that they offer protection or that they ward off the evil eye.
But Allah has not made them the means of such protection, either according to
shareeah or according to the laws of the universe.
2 – Venerating
some people or things in a way that does not go so far as ascribing lordship to
them, such as swearing by something other than Allah, or saying, “Were it not
for Allah and So and so,” etc.
The scholars have
stipulated guidelines to distinguish major shirk from minor shirk when shirk is
mentioned in the texts of sharee’ah. These guidelines include the following:
(i) – When the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) states clearly that this
action is minor shirk, such as in al-Musnad (27742) where it is narrated that
Mahmoud ibn Labeed said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him) said: “The thing that I fear most for you is minor shirk.” They said:
“O Messenger of Allah, what is minor shirk?” He said: “Showing off, for Allah
will say on the Day when people are recompensed for their actions: ‘Go to those
for whom you were showing off with your deeds in the world, and see what reward
you find with them.’” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah
al-Saheehah, 951.
(ii) – When the
word shirk is used in the texts of the Quran and Sunnah in the indefinite form
[without the definite article al-]. This usually refers to minor shirk, and
there are many examples of this, such as when the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: “Incantations, amulets and love spells are shirk.”
Narrated by Abu Dawood, 3883; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah
al-Saheehah, 331.
(iii) – If the
Sahaabah understood from the texts of sharee’ah that what was meant by shirk
here was minor shirk, not major. Undoubtedly the understanding of the Sahaabah
carries weight, because they are the most knowledgeable of the people (after
the prophet) concerning the religion of Allah, and the most knowledgeable as to
the intent of the Lawgiver. For example, Abu Dawood (3910) narrated from Ibn
Mas’ood (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) said: “Tiyarah (superstitious belief in omens) is shirk,
tiyarah is shirk,” three times, and there is no one among us but (will have
some of that) but Allah will rid him of it by means of tawakkul (putting his
trust in Allah). The words “there is no one among us…” are the words of Ibn
Mas’ood, as was explained by the prominent scholars of hadeeth. This indicates
that Ibn Mas’ood (may Allah be pleased with him) understood that this was minor
shirk, because he could not have said, “There is no one among us…” referring to
major shirk. Moreover, major shirk cannot be eliminated by means of tawakkul,
rather it is essential to repent there from.
(iv) – If the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) interpreted the words shirk
or kufr in a manner which indicates that what is meant is a minor form thereof
and not the major form. For example al-Bukhaari (1038) and Muslim (74) narrated
from Zayd ibn Khaalid al-Juhani that he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) led the morning prayer for us at al-Hudaybiyah
following rainfall during the night. When the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him) finished, he turned to face the people and said to them: “Do
you know what your Lord has said?” They said: “Allah and his Messenger know
best.” He said: “This morning one of My slaves became a believer in Me and one
a disbeliever. As for him who said: ‘We have been given rain by the grace of
Allaah and His mercy,’ that one is a believer in Me, a disbeliever in the
stars; and as for him who said: ‘We have been given rain by such-and-such a
star, that one is a disbeliever in Me, a believer in the stars.’”
Minor shirk may
sometimes take the form of outward actions, such as wearing talismans, strings,
amulets and the like, and other words and deeds. And sometimes it may be
hidden, like a little bit of showing off.
MINOR SHIRK MAY ALSO TAKE THE FORM OF BELIEFS
Such as the
belief that something may be a cause of bringing benefit or warding off harm,
when Allah has not made it so; or believing that there is barakah (blessing) in
a thing, when Allah has not made it so.
MINOR SHIRK SOMETIMES TAKES THE FORM OF WORDS
Such as when they
said, “We have been given rain by such and such a star,” without believing that
that the stars could independently cause rain to fall; or swearing by something
other than Allah, without believing in venerating the thing sworn by or
regarding it as equal with Allah; or saying, “Whatever Allah wills and you
will,” and so on.
MINOR SHIRK SOMETIMES TAKES THE FORM OF
ACTIONS
Such as hanging
up amulets or wearing a talisman or string to dispel or ward off calamity,
because everyone who attribute powers to a thing when Allah has not made it so
either according to sharee’ah or according to the laws of the universe, has
associated something with Allah. This also applies to one who touches a thing
seeking its barakah (blessing), when Allah has not created any barakah in it,
such as kissing the doors of the mosques, touching their thresholds, seeking
healing from their dust, and other such actions.
9.0 CONCLUSION:
What the Muslim
must do is to avoid shirk in both its minor and major forms. The greatest sin
is shirk and transgression against the unique rights of Allaah, which are to be
worshipped and obeyed alone, with no partner or associate.
Hence Allaah has
decreed that the mushrikeen will abide forever in Hell and has told us that He
will not forgive them, and He has forbidden Paradise to them, as He says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily, Allaah
forgives not that partners should be set up with Him (in worship), but He
forgives except that (anything else) to whom He wills; and whoever sets up
partners with Allaah in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin”[ Holy
Quran Chapter al-Nisa’ 4:48]
إِنَّ
ٱللَّهَ لَا يَغۡفِرُ أَن يُشۡرَكَ بِهِۦ وَيَغۡفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٲلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُۚ
وَمَن يُشۡرِكۡ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدِ ٱفۡتَرَىٰٓ إِثۡمًا عَظِيمًا (٤٨)
“Verily,
whosoever sets up partners (in worship) with Allaah, then Allaah has forbidden
Paradise to him, and the Fire will be his abode. And for the Zaalimoon
(polytheists and wrongdoers) there are no helpers”[ Holy Quran Chapter
al-Maa'idah 5:72]
لَقَدۡ ڪَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓاْ إِنَّ
ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلۡمَسِيحُ ٱبۡنُ مَرۡيَمَۖ وَقَالَ ٱلۡمَسِيحُ يَـٰبَنِىٓ
إِسۡرَٲٓءِيلَ ٱعۡبُدُواْ ٱللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبَّڪُمۡۖ إِنَّهُ ۥ مَن يُشۡرِكۡ
بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدۡ حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيۡهِ ٱلۡجَنَّةَ وَمَأۡوَٮٰهُ ٱلنَّارُۖ
وَمَا لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ مِنۡ أَنصَارٍ۬ (٧٢)
Every wise and
religiously-committed person should fear shirk for himself and should turn to
his Lord, asking Him to help him avoid shirk, as al-Khaleel [Ibraaheem – peace
be upon him] said:
“and keep me and
my sons away from worshipping idols”. [Holy Quran Chapter Ibraaheem 14:35 –
interpretation of the meaning]
وَإِذۡ قَالَ إِبۡرَٲهِيمُ رَبِّ ٱجۡعَلۡ
هَـٰذَا ٱلۡبَلَدَ ءَامِنً۬ا وَٱجۡنُبۡنِى وَبَنِىَّ أَن نَّعۡبُدَ ٱلۡأَصۡنَامَ (٣٥)
One of the salaf
said: “Who can claim to be safe from this after Ibraaheem?”
So the sincere
believer’s fear of shirk should increase as should his desire for his for his
Lord to keep him away from it, and he should say the great du’aa’ which the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught to his companions
when he said to them: “Shirk among you will be more subtle than the footsteps of
an ant, but I will teach you something which, if you do it, both minor and
major shirk will be kept away from you. Say: Allaahumma innia’oodhubika an
ushrikabikawaanaa’lamwaastaghfiruka lima la a’lam (O Allaah, I seek
refuge with You from associating anything with You knowingly, and I seek Your
forgiveness for that of which I am unaware).” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani
in Saheeh al-Jaami’, 3731
The above refers
to the difference between major and minor shirk, defining each and describing
its types.
With regard to
the difference between them as far as the ruling is concerned:
Major shirk puts
a person beyond the pale of Islam, so the one who does that is judged to be out
of Islam and to have apostatized therefrom, so he is a kaafir and an apostate.
Minor shirk does
not put a person beyond the pale of Islam, rather it may be done by a Muslim
but he still remains in Islam; but the one who does that is in great danger
because minor shirk is a major sin. IbnMas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him)
said: “If I were to swear by Allaah falsely, that is better for me than if I
were to swear by something other than Him sincerely.” So he regarded swearing
by something other than Allaah (which is minor shirk) as being worse than
swearing by Allaah falsely, and it is well known that swearing by Allaah
falsely is a major sin.
We ask Allaah to
make our hearts steadfast in adhering to His religion until we meet Him, and we
seek refuge in His Might – may He be glorified – from going astray, for He is
the Ever-Living Who never dies, but the jinn and mankind will die. And Allaah
knows best and is most wise, and to Him is the final return of all.
Allaah Knows
best.
REFERENCES/SOURCES
1)
http://www.shaadhamid.com/2014/11/shirk-forms-shirk/; www.byislam.com
2)
https://www.newmuslims.com/lessons/11/,
3)
http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaId&Id=7386en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirk_(Islam);
www.britannica.com/topic/shirk
4)
islam.stackexchange.com/.../what-is-shirk-in-islam
5) www.iqrasense.com/about-islam/what-is-shirk-polytheism...
6)
questionsonislam.com/question/what-shirk-and...
7)
www.thoughtco.com/shirk-2004293; islamqa.info/en/answers/34817
8). Dr. M.
Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali, Ph.D., Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan – Islamic University,
Al-Madinah Al-Munawwara. Source: Noble Quran – English Translation of the
meanings and commentary
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