SHIRK- Its seriouness!!

Shirk

It means ‘to share’ or ‘associate’. Islamically, it refers to the act of assigning partners to Allah in whatever form it may take. One who commits shirk is a ‘mushrik’.

Associating any other deity with Allah, or attributing any of the qualities of His Divinity and Lordship to any other human being or to anything else in this creation constitutes Shirk.

Severity of Sin

Associating partners with Allah is the greatest and unpardonable offence in Islam at the time of death. It pollutes the source of the Pure Religion and taints the mind and heart. We read in the Qur’an:

Lo! Allah forgiveth not a partner should be ascribed unto Him. He forgiveth all save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners to Allah, he hath indeed invented a tremendous sin. (al-Nisa’ 4:48)

A person who indulges in shirk is described in the Qur’an:

He who associates others with Allah is like him who falls from the heaven and is snatched away by the birds or carried by the wind to some far off region. Such is his state. (al-Hajj 22:31)

The above verse describes the man who falls from the worship of Allah like a man who falls from heaven. His being taken up with false objects of worship is like the falling man being picked up in the air by birds of prey. But the false objects of worship cannot hold him permanently in their grip. A fierce blast of wind - the Wrath of Allah - comes and snatches him away and throws him into a place far, far away from any place he would not have imagined - into the hell of those who defied Allah.

If any ruler, or in fact any Muslim, categorically rejects that Allah is the Sovereign and ultimate law-maker, then that person commits shirk. (see al-Ma’idah 5:41-50)



Categories of Shirk

1) Shirk in Rububiyah

a) Shirk by Association

This is when one recognises a supreme or main god by His dominion but it is shared by other lesser gods, spirits, mortals, heavenly bodies or earthly objects. The definition given to this is POLYTHEISM. For example:

Hindus - delegate Allah’s creative, destructive and preservative powers to other gods.

Christianity - believe Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God’s partners in all of His dominion. Shirk is committed in their belief is seen in that Jesus alone pronounces judgement on the world and in their belief that Christians are helped and guided by the Holy spirit.

Zoroastrians - believe in a god of good and a god of evil, each with equal and opposing power.

Some Muslims - believe that souls of saints and pious humans can affect the affairs of this world, even after their deaths. This results in them grave worshipping for their prayers to be answered.

Or have they chosen earthly deities? And can these deities restore the dead to life? Had there been other gods in heaven or earth besides Allah, there would have been confusion in both. (al-Anbiya’ 21:21-22)

b) Shirk by Negation

The other extreme is to deny Allah’s existence altogether, i.e. ATHEISM. For example:

Buddhism - explicitly deny Allah’s existence.

Pharaoh - in the time of Musa (AS), is mentioned in the Qur’an:

He proclaimed, ‘I am your lord, the Most High.’ (al-Nazi’at 79:24)

Darwin - his theory of evolution of man from a glorified ape provided scientific basis to reject Allah’s existence.

Communism - believe that everything in existence is matter in motion. They believe that God is a figment of man’s imagination created by the ruling classes to justify their hereditary rule and divert the attention of the oppressed masses from the realities in which they live.

2) Shirk in al-Asma’ wa al-Sifat

This occurs when one gives Allah the attributes of His creation as well as the act of giving the created beings Allah’s names and attributes.

a) Shirk by Humanization

Giving Allah the qualities of human beings - this is why idols are commonly moulded or carved to take human form, for example:

Hindus and Buddhists - the idols look like Asian men.

Christians - believe that Jesus was God incarnate; that the Creator became His creation. You will commonly see images of God in churches and cathedrals (classically, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted by Leonardo Da Vinci).

b) Shirk by Deification

This is where created beings or things are given claim to Allah’s names or attributes. The common ones in pre-Islamic Arabia were:

al-Lat - taken from Allah’s name, al-Ilah

al-’Uzza - taken from Allah’s name, al-’Aziz

Manat - taken from Allah’s name, al-Mannan.



3) Shirk in al-’Ibadah

a) Major Shirk (al-Shirk al-Akbar)

This occurs when any act of worship is directed to other than Allah. It represents the most obvious form of idolatry which the prophets were specifically sent by Allah to call the masses of mankind away from - polytheism.

Surely we have sent to every nation a Messenger saying, worship Allah and avoid µaghut (false gods) (al-Nahl 16:36)

Taghut is anything which is worshipped along with Allah or instead of Allah. This implies that our love is directed to other than Allah. He told Prophet Muhammad (pbuh):

Say: If you love Allah, follow me and Allah will love you. (Al-’Imran 3:31)

If man allows the love of anything or anyone to come between himself and Allah, then he has worshipped that thing. Therefore money can become one’s god or even one’s own desires could.

The worshippers of the Dirham will always be miserable. (Bukhari)

Have you not seen the one who takes his desires as his god? (al-Furqan 25:43) .This contradicts:

I have not created Jinn or mankind except to worship Me. (al-Dhariyat 51:56)



b) Minor Shirk (al-Shirk al-Asghar)

i) ar-Riya’ (Showing off)

Mahmud ibn Lubayd reported:

Allah’s messenger said, ‘The thing I fear for you the most is al-Shirk al-Asghar.’ The companions asked, ‘O messenger of Allah, what is minor shirk?’ He replied, ‘ar-Riya’, for verily Allah will say on the Day of Resurrection when people are receiving their rewards: ‘Go to those for who you were showing off in the material world and see if you can find any reward from them.’’ (Ahmad, al-Tabarani, Bayhaqi)

Mahmud ibn Lubayd said:

The prophet (pbuh) came out and announced, ‘O people, beware of secret shirk!’ The people asked, ‘O messenger of Allah, what is secret shirk?’ He replied, ‘When a man gets up to pray and strives to beautify his prayer because people are looking at him; that is secret shirk.’ (Ibn Khuzaymah)

ii) Shirk al-Khafi (Inconspicuous Shirk)

This is when one is inwardly dissatisfied with a situation ordained by Allah. To lament and constantly say ‘if only I had done such and such a thing then so and so would not have happened...’ is such an example.

Because minor shirk is the most difficult to detect we must be on our guard the most. One must always check one’s intentions as bad intentions can nullify good deeds leading to serious consequences in the hereafter. In a narration of Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet (pbuh) said:

On the Day of Judgment the foremost among those to be judged will be the martyr. Having called the martyr, Allah will remind him of His bounties and His favours. This martyr will acknowledge all of them. The Divine Power will say: ‘What are your acts in exchange of these bounties?’ This (martyr)