Shirk

1
Shirk

• The Greatest Sin!

2
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 Masood 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. (al-Bukhari
  and Muslim)

3
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

4

• 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

5

• 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

6
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.

7
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.

8

• 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.

9
The Prophets 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.
  (Bukhari and Muslim)

10

• 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.

11

• 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 Allaahs creation. (Bukhari)

12

• 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 Abul-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.

13
Ash-Shawkaanee said

• Shirk is to make dua 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.

14
Allaah says,

• So do not attribute to Allaah equals while you
  know (that there is nothing similar to him).
• al-Baqarah (2) 22

15

• 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 was-sifaat).
• The essence of shirk involves giving Allaahs
  rights to other that Him.
• To therefore claim that a certain object or deity
  has the power to bless one with ones needs is
  shirk.
• To prostrate or make dua to other than Allaah is
  also shirk.

16

• 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.

17
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.

18

• 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 Adams 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.

19

• 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-Araaf (7) 172

20

• 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).

21

• The mithaaq is ingrained into the subconscious of
  human beings, even though they do not remember
  it. Allaahs prophets delivered the message of
  the pure worship of Allaah, which is in the
  fitrah. So when a person hears the prophets
  message, she/he becomes inclined towards it, as
  it conforms with her/his natural way.

22

• 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-Aleel).

23

• The People of Nooh
• The distinguished scholar of hadeeth Shaykh
  Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaanee
  (raheemahullaah) stated It is established in
  Islaam and the Shareeah 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

24

• 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 Shareeah 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!

25
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.

26

• 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.

27

• 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.

28

• It was merely a by-product of the evolution of
  early mans superstitions based on the lack of
  scientific knowledge.

29

• Whats the evidence against this?
• The evidence which proves that humanitys
  monotheistic concept of One God degenerated into
  idol-worship, man-worship, 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 of monotheism.

30

• We (Allaah) indeed sent to every nation
  Messengers (saying) worship Allaah and leave
  aside Taghoot (false deities)
• an-Nahl (16) 36

31

• 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

32

• 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

33

• 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.

34

• One of the first Western scholars to acknowledge
  the significance of the trend from monotheism to
  extreme polytheism was Stephen Langdon of Oxford.

35

• 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.

36

• Sameul Zwemer spoke of the monotheistic character
  of the Bushmen, as well as many peoples of the
  Arctic cultures which he maintained is
  Cleareven 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

37
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

38

• 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-Maaidah (5) 72

39

• 3. Shirk is so evil that it destroys all of a
  persons 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

40

• The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wassallam) said
  Do not commit shirk with Allaah, even if you are
  cut into pieces, or burnt. (Ibn Maajah)

41
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)

42
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.

43
Shirk in the Categories of Tawheed

• 1. Shirk in Ruboobiyyah. As Tawheed
  ar-Ruboobiyyah 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.

44

• Denying all of Allaahs Names and Attributes is
  denial of Allaahs 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.

45

• 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.

46
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 duaa,
  prayer, prostration, vows and oaths. Shirk in
  Uloohiyyah is the most common type of shirk
  amongst people.

47
3. Shirk in Asmaa was-Sifaat

• Tawheed al-Asmaa was-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
• By comparing Allaah to the creation.
• 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 was-Sifaat.

48

• c. By deriving the names of idols from Allaahs
  names, this was the practice of the Jaahiliyyah
  Arabs.
• The Quraan mentions shirk in these three
  categories, Allaah says,
• Say, (O Muhammad), Invoke those you claim (as
  deities) besides Allaah. they do not possess an
  atoms 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

49

• 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

50

• Shirk in Asmaa was-Sifaat is also negated
  frequently in the Quraan,
• 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

51
Major and Minor Shirk

• In the Quraan 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)

52

• 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 Allaahs Names
  (such as swearing by jove, by ones parents, or
  ones 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.

53
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.

54

• 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

55

• 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.
• Comparing the creation to the Creator, by giving
  any object of creation attributes that belong
  solely to Allaah.
• Comparing the Creator to the created.

56

• 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 persons dua 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 companions did not attempt to seek
  blessings from Aboo Bakr, Umar or any of the
  major companions.

57

• 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 duas. 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.

58

• 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.

59
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-Sananee quote.