Transcript Neighbours - Islam's Green

Shirk
The Greatest Sin!
Meaning of Shirk:
- The famous Arabic linguist Ibn Faaris defines it
as ‘…to add or append, not being single or one.’
- Ar-Raaghib al-Asbahani (d. 425 AH) said “Shirk
is defined as affirming partners with Allaah.”
- Ibn Mas’ood asked the Prophet (sallallaahu
alayhi wassallam) “What is the greatest sin?” he
replied “To take alongside Allaah a partner (nidd)
even though it was He that created you.” (alBukhari and Muslim)
Incorrect Definitions of Shirk
“…The belief that other than Allaah has
full power…”
“…to believe that an entity is a lord
besides Allaah…”
“…to believe that there is a creator
besides Allaah…”
The above definitions would mean that
the mushrikeen who the Prophet
(sallallaahu alayhi wassallam) was
sent to did not commit shirk!
“We only worship them in order that
they bring us closer to Allaah in
ranks”
{az-Zumar (39): 3}
“And they worship other than Allaah
that which neither harms them nor
benefits them, and they say, ‘These
are our intercessors with Allaah’”
{Yoonus (10): 18}
Definition of an ‘ilah’
• Ibn Abbaas said ‘…one whom everything
turns to, and is worshiped.’
• The mufassir ar-Raghib al-Asbahani said
‘Ilah is a name given to every object that is
worshipped.’
• The famous lexicographer of Arabic, Ibn
Manzoor said ‘…any object that is taken
as an object of worship.’
• Al-Fayroozabadi: ‘every object that is
worshipped is an ilah for the one that
worships it.’
Important points
• The jaahiliyyah Arabs believed in Allaah,
and that He created everything, and gives
life and death, yet this did not cause them
to enter Islaam.
• The people whom the prophet was sent to
worshipped different objects. Some
worshipped idols and stones, whereas others
worshipped angels and prophets. Yet the
Prophet did not distinguish between these
people and considered them all equal in their
disbelief.
• The reason these people worshipped
other objects was that they desired
these objects to intercede on their
behalves with Allaah. They said that
they have a high status and thus, by
pleasing them, they would in turn please
Allaah.
• The Prophet was sent to mankind in
order that people worship Allaah alone.
He was not sent so that he be
worshipped besides Allaah, or that
people turn to saints and graves in
order that they be venerated.
The Prophet’s Stance on Shirk
• The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wassallam)
prohibited building mosques over graves,
as this is one of the primary methods
through which shirk is sanctioned. Once
Umm Salamah mentioned the beautiful
churches she had seen in Ethiopia. The
Prophet said, “whenever a pious person
died amongst them, they would build
places of worship over their graves and
carve images. Such people are the worst
of mankind in the sight of Allaah.”
• He also forbade burying the dead inside
mosques, for it too is one of the
primary ways that leads to shirk. He
prayed on his deathbed: “O Allaah! Do
not make my grave an idol that is
worshipped.” (Muwatta’)
• He forbade worshipping Allaah at places
where shirk occurs.
• The Prophet also prohibited the Muslims
from excessively praising him, as this is
one of the ways to shirk.
• He (sallallaahu alayhi wassallam) said: “Do
not excessively praise me as the Christians
did with Jesus the Son of Mary. Rather, I
am only the slave of Allaah and His
messenger.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
• The Prophet also forbade image-making,
which is how shirk began in history. Thus
by stopping this, he (sallallaahu alayhi
wassallam) blocked one of the paths to
shirk. The most severely punished on the
Day of Judgement will be those who tried
to imitate Allaah’s creation. (Bukhari)
• The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wassallam)
commanded the companions to level all
graves (which are raised with monuments
built on them) and destroy images that
they came across. Ali ibn Abi Taalib told
Abu’l-Hayyaj al-Asadi to do this. (Saheeh
Muslim).
• During the Battle of Hunayn when some of
the new Muslims wanted a ‘Dhaat Anwaat’
as the mushriks had one.
Ash-Shawkaanee said:

“Shirk is to make du’a to other than
Allaah in matters in which only Allaah
should be asked, or to believe that a
certain object has powers that only
Allaah has, or to intend to please an
object with an act that should only be
done for Allaah.”
Allaah says,
“So do not attribute to Allaah equals
while you know (that there is
nothing similar to him).”
{al-Baqarah (2): 22}
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Therefore, shirk involves believing in a partner
along with Allaah. Such a ‘partner’ could be in
lordship (ruboobiyyah) or in worship (uloohiyyah) or
in attributes (asmaa’ wa’s-sifaat).
The essence of shirk involves giving Allaah’s
rights to other that Him.
To therefore claim that a certain object or deity
has the power to bless one with one’s needs is
shirk.
To prostrate or make du’a to other than Allaah is
also shirk.

To claim that any created object knows
everything, or can hear any plea directed to
it, is shirk. Whenever any specific right of
Allaah is given to any other object, whether
that object be a living being or an
inanimate object, real or imagined, shirk
has taken place.
Tawheed Came Before Shirk:
Human beings were created upon the pure
worship of Allaah, before they deviated
into the practice of shirk and there are
many proofs for this. Allaah created
humans with a natural inclination (fitrah)
which is ingrained in everyone, and guides
people about right and wrong.
It is due to this that all peoples know that
murder, lying an stealing are evil actions
and that looking after people, being kind
to parents are good acts. This fitrah was
placed in every single person at the time
of Adam’s creation. When Allaah created
Adam and the progeny of Adam, He made
a covenant with them. The covenant is
known as the mithaaq in Arabic, and it
specified that only Allaah is the true Lord
deserving of worship.
Allaah says,
“And mention when your Lord took
from the children of Adam – from
their loins – their descendents and
made them testify of themselves,
(saying to them), “Am I not your
Lord?” They said “Yes, we have
testified.” (This) – lest you should
say on the day of Resurrection,
“Indeed, we were of this unaware.”
{al-A’raaf (7): 172}
The mithaaq is referred to in the hadeeth
where the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi
wassallam) narrated that Allaah said: “I have
created My servants, all of them, pure (and
inclined towards worship), but the Shayaateen
came and diverted them from the religion. They
prohibited them from matters that I allowed and
commanded them to associate partners with
Me…” (Saheeh Muslim).
The mithaaq is ingrained into the
subconscious of human beings,
even though they do not remember
it. Allaah’s prophets delivered the
message of the pure worship of
Allaah, which is in the fitrah. So
when a person hears the prophet’s
message, she/he becomes inclined
towards it, as it conforms with
her/his natural way.
• The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wassallam) said:
•
“Every child is born upon the fitrah; then his parents
make him a Jew or a Christian.” (Bukhaaree)
Ibn Qayyim (raheemahullaah) wrote: “The fitrah
is open to knowledge of Islaam and the love
of Islaam. The fitrah necessitates
acknowledgement and love (of Allaah)…so
every single child is born in a state in which
he or she acknowledges the Lordship (of
Allaah). So if the child were left without any
preventive factors, he would not turn away
from the fitrah to anything else.” (Shifaa al-
The People of Nooh
• The distinguished scholar of hadeeth Shaykh
Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaanee (raheemahullaah)
stated “It is established in Islaam and the Sharee’ah
that mankind in the beginning was a single nation
upon true tawheed then shirk gradually overcame
them. The basis for this is the saying of Allaah,
“Mankind was one Ummah then Allah sent
the Prophets as bringers of good tidings and
warners”
{al-Baqarah (2): 213}
• Ibn Abbaas, may Allaah be pleased with
him, said “between Prophet Nooh (Noah)
and Aadam, peace be upon them both,
were ten generations, all of them were
upon the Sharee’ah of truth, but then they
differed. So Allaah sent Prophets to bring
good news and also warn their people.”
• Shaykh al-Albaanee then went on to say
that this refutes the philosophers and
atheists who claim that the natural basis
of man is Shirk, and that Tawheed evolved
in man!
The Opposing Views (Evolution
Model)
• Religion began with humanity worshipping
the forces of nature due to their
amazement at the cataclysmic and
devastating effects of their environments
and the natural world. Thus, thunder,
lightening, earthquakes, volcanoes etc
were believed to be conceived of
supernatural beings. Thus, humans sought
ways to appease the beings through rites,
rituals, prayers and sacrifices.
• The native North Americans, who
believe in spirits of the river and of
the forest, are used as examples of
this early stage in the evolution of
religion, known as Animism.
Eventually Diathesis emerged in
which all of the supernatural powers
were confined in two main gods,
usually a god of good and a god of
evil.
• According to the evolutionists, an
example of this stage can be seen in
the religion of the Zoroastrians of
Persia. When tribes gave way to
nations, tribal gods in turn gave way
to a national god and monotheism
was supposedly born. Thus,
according to this view, monotheism
has no divine origin.
It was merely a by-product of the
evolution of early man’s superstitions
based on the lack of scientific
knowledge.
What’s the evidence against this?
The evidence which proves that humanity’s
monotheistic concept of One God
degenerated into idol-worship, manworship, saint worship, and minor gods is
extensive. Islaam believes that humans
beings started out as worshipping God
alone then after deviated into various
forms of polytheism as have just been
mentioned. Islaam holds that God sent
Messengers to all the tribes and nations of
the Earth to guide them back to the path
“We (Allaah) indeed sent to
every nation Messengers
(saying) “worship Allaah and
leave aside Taghoot (false
deities)”
{an-Nahl (16): 36}
• Thus, we find amongst all of the so-called
primitive tribes that have been discovered,
the belief in One Supreme God. The
central America Mayans believe in One
God who created everything, whom they
call ‘Itzamna,’ [1] the Mende peoples of
Sierra Leone in West Africa believe in One
God who created the universe and spirits
who they call ‘Ngewo,’[2]
[1] John Hinnels, Dictionary of Religions
(Penguin Books: 1884), p. 93
• [2] ibid, p.210
• in the ancient Babylon the main deity of
the city, ‘Marduk,’[1] was seen as the
Supreme God. In Hinduism, ‘Brahman’ is
the impersonal Eternal Absolute One God
having no beginning and no end.[2]
[1] ibid, p.204
• [2] ibid, p.68
In the Yoruba religion, followed by over 10
million people in West Africa (mainly
Nigeria), there is One Supreme God,
Olorius/Olodumare (The Lord of the
Heavens). Nevertheless, modern Yoruba
religion is characterised by a multitude of
Orisha worship rites which thus render the
religion closer to polytheism.
One of the first Western scholars to
acknowledge the significance of the trend
from monotheism to extreme polytheism
was Stephen Langdon of Oxford.
Wilhelm Schmidt discovered in his
studies that he found the primitive
cultures at the lowest cultural levels
had the purer concepts of God.
According to Schmidt we find this
form of belief among the Pygmies of
central Africa, the south-eastern
Australian Aborigines, the native
Americas of north-central California,
the primitive Algonquians, and to a
certain extent the Koryaks and Ainu.
Sameul Zwemer spoke of the monotheistic
character of the Bushmen, as well as
many peoples of the Arctic cultures which
he maintained is “Clear…even to a
cursory examination.”[1]
[1] Samuel Zwemer, “The Origin of
Religion – By Evolution or by Revelation,”
(Trans. Vict. Institute, Volume 67; 1937)
p. 189
Dangers of Shirk
1. Shirk is the only unforgivable sin in the
sight of Allaah,
“Indeed, Allaah does not forgive
association with Him, but He
forgives what is less than that for
whomever He wills.”
{an-Nisaa (4): 116}
If a person dies practicing shirk, or not
having repented from it, they will not
be forgiven.
2. Shirk prohibits a person from
entering Paradise,
“Indeed, he who associates others
with Allaah – Allaah has forbidden
him Paradise.”
{al-Maa’idah (5): 72}
3. Shirk is so evil that it destroys all of a
person’s good deeds,
“And it was already revealed to you
and to those before you that if you
should associate (anything) with
Allaah, your work would surely
become worthless, and you would
surely be among the losers.”
{az-Zumar (39): 65}
The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi
wassallam) said “Do not commit
shirk with Allaah, even if you are cut
into pieces, or burnt.” (Ibn Maajah)
Knowing Shirk
Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman said “The
companions would ask the Prophet about
good, but I would ask about evil as I was
scared that I might fall into it.” (Muslim)
A poet said,
Learn evil so as to avoid it,
Whoever does not know evil from good, will
fall into it (i.e. evil)
Categories of Shirk
Shirk is not of one type and can be put into
different categories which each look at shirk
from a different view:
FIRST: a category that looks at shirk in relation
to tawheed.
SECOND: a category that looks at shirk from its
various levels.
THIRD: apparent or hidden shirk.
Shirk in the Categories of Tawheed

a.
i.
ii.
1. Shirk in Ruboobiyyah. As Tawheed arRuboobiyyah means affirming the Existence
and Actions of Allaah, there are a number of
ways in which shirk can take place in it.
Shirk by denial:
Denying that creation has a Creator.
Denying the perfect existence of Allaah by
denying His Names and Attributes.
Denying all of Allaah’s Names and Attributes is
denial of Allaah’s Lordship, even if a person
verbally acknowledges the existence of Allaah.
Everything that exists must be characterised by
certain attributes that distinguish it from other
things.
iii. Denying the rights that He is entitled to such
as claiming that Allaah is one with creation or
that the universe is eternal.
This is like the theory of wahdat ul-wujood
(unity of existence) perinialism and pantheism.
Such a the sufis Ibn Arabi and al-Hallaaj and
other extremist sufis.
b. Shirk by affirmation – when one affirms
another creator or lord besides Allaah. Certain
extreme quasi-Islamic sects fall into this when
they consider that their religious leaders can
control the universe; and have the power to
give life & death.
2. Shirk in Uloohiyyah
Tawheed in Uloohiyyah means that acts of
worship are directed to Allaah only. Thus, to
direct any act of worship to other than Allaah
is an example of shirk in Uloohiyyah.
Examples of acts of worship that are due only
to Allaah are du’aa, prayer, prostration, vows
and oaths. Shirk in Uloohiyyah is the most
common type of shirk amongst people.
3. Shirk in Asmaa wa’sSifaat
Tawheed al-Asmaa wa’s-Sifaat involves affirming for
Allaah the Most beautiful Names and Perfect
Attributes. So shirk within this category can take
place in a number of ways:
a.
By comparing Allaah to the creation.
b.
By comparing creation to Allaah, when creation is
given the Names and Attributes that belong solely
to Allaah. So to claim that a certain saint knows
everything, or can hear the plea of any worshipper,
is in fact shirk is Asmaa wa’s-Sifaat.
c. By deriving the names of idols from Allaah’s names,
this was the practice of the Jaahiliyyah Arabs.
The Qur’aan mentions shirk in these three categories,
Allaah says,
“Say, (O Muhammad), “Invoke those you
claim (as deities) besides Allaah.” they do
not possess an atom’s weight (of ability) in
the heavens or on the earth, and they do not
have therein any partnership (with Him),
nor is there for Him from among them any
assistant.”
{Saba’ (34): 22}

A verse which mentions shirk in Uloohiyyah
is,
“So whoever would hope for the meeting
with his Lord – let him do righteous
work and not associate (yushrik) in the
worship of his Lord anyone.”
{al-Kahf (18): 110}

Shirk in Asmaa wa’s-Sifaat is also negated
frequently in the Qur’aan,
“And He does not share in His legislation
with anyone”
{al-Kahf (18): 26}
“And there is no equal to him”
{al-Ikhlaas (112): 4}
Major and Minor Shirk
In the Qur’aan and sunnah, it can be seen
that shirk is not all of one level. The
Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
said, “The matter I fear for you most is
minor shirk – riya (showing off).”
(Musnad Ahmad)
Major shirk is that of making partners with
Allaah. Minor shirk is that which does not
expel one from Islaam. Examples are showing
off, giving an oath by using a name other than
Allaah’s Names (such as swearing “by jove”,
by one’s parents, or one’s honour – this exalts
an object that is not worthy), and attributing
occurrences to creation by saying for example,
“were it not for the policeman, we would have
been robbed.”
Causes of Shirk
Exaggeration – Going to extremes with
regards to pious people and objects.
Raising their status and transgressing the
bounds. The Prophet said “Beware of
extremism, for the people before you were
destroyed due to it.” (Musnad Ahmad)
Ibn Qayyim said: “Of the primary causes of
idol-worship is the exaggeration of the
created. So a person is raised above his
actual status until he is worshipped.”
• Callers to Evil – who influence people with false
arguments and eloquence.
• Following Ancestors and Culture – one of the
main causes of shirk is due to many people not
questioning the beliefs of their forefathers, or the
religion of their society. Allaah says,
“And when it is said to them: ‘Follow what has
been revealed by Allaah’, they respond,
‘Rather, we will follow what we found our
forefathers doing.”
{al-Baqarah (2): 170}
•
Shaytaan beautifies shirk, and acts of
shirk thus become romanticised.
• Incorrect comparisons – the first to do
this was Iblees when he felt that he was
better than Adam, merely because he
was created from fire and Adam was
created from clay.
1. Comparing the creation to the Creator,
by giving any object of creation attributes
that belong solely to Allaah.
2. Comparing the Creator to the created.
For example, some say “Just like an
average person cannot approach a king
except through a minister or aide, so
too it is not possible for a sinful
person’s du’a to be answered until he
goes through a Prophet or saint.” Thus,
Allaah is compared to a king!? This
analogy is in fact a proof against those
who try to use it!
3. Comparing pious people to prophets.
Some people try to seek “blessings” or
“barakah” from ‘saints’ or ‘marabouts’ or
‘pirs’ or ‘shaykhs’. Yet this was a special
matter exclusive to the Prophet, the
4.
Comparing the life of dead prophets with the
life of the living. The belief that prophets are
alive in their graves continuing a life similar to
the life of this world drives many people to
ask dead prophets (alayhim-salaam) for
favours and du’as. The type of life that a
prophet enjoys after his death is completely
different to the one that we experience in this
world, to say that they are the same leads to
shirk. There is no evidence that the prophets
can hear conversations that take place at
their graves.
The only matter that the Prophet (sallallaahu
alayhi wassallam) stated reaches him after
death is the sending of salutations upon
him, for Allaah has assigned special
angels to bring him these salaams. Other
than that there is no evidence that
requests reach him as well, henceforth,
none of the companions ever requested
any matter from him after his death.
A Common Doubt
“How can you compare the Prophet or
AbdulQaadir al-Jeelaanee to idols?”
The response to this is in emphasising the
fact that shirk is not dependent upon who
is worshipped, but the fact that other than
Allaah is being worshipped.
Imaam as-San’anee quote.