What Is Shirk?

[Aisha123]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

By Shaykh Saleh al-Fawzaan
Source:calgaryislam.com

The greatest kind of apostasy is to commit ash-shirk in one's worship of Allaah, to worship others along with Allaah, like slaughtering for other than Allaah, or taking an oath by other than Allaah, or prostrating to other than Allaah, or seeking help from other than Allaah in affairs that no one has power over except Allaah. This is the greatest kind of apostasy.
Allaah, the Most High, has said: Verily, whosoever sets up partners in worship with Allaah, then Allaah has forbidden Paradise for him, and the Fire will be his abode. [al-Ma`idah 5:72]

Verily, Allaah does not forgive that partners be ascribed to Him, while He forgives what is less than that for whomever He pleases. And whoever has ascribed a partner to Allaah in worship, verily he has invented a tremendous sin. [an-Nisaa 4:48]

And whoever has ascribed a partner to Allaah has verily strayed far indeed. [an-Nisaa 4:116]

So shirk - ascribing partners to Allaah - is the most dangerous kind of apostasy. It is to worship other than Allaah by offering any kind of worship, like supplication, slaughtering, taking oaths, [and] seeking help in affairs that only Allaah - the Glorified and Exalted - has power over, such as calling upon the dead, or seeking help from graves or the dead. This is the most dangerous and greatest kind of apostasy, and it is something that many who ascribe to Islaam are upon. They construct tombs, make tawaaf (walk in circles) around them, slaughter for them, take oaths by them, and seek nearness to them. They say they do this to get closer to Allaah! So they seek nearness to the tombs, and in their assumption they are drawing closer to Allaah? Why did they not simply seek nearness to Allaah from the beginning, and abandon these mazes of confusion?

Let them draw near to Allaah, for He is close and one Who responds! Why would you seek nearness to the created beings, saying they are bringing you close to Allaah? Is Allaah, the Glorified and Exalted, far away? Has Allaah closed His doors? Is it that Allaah does not know about His creation, nor does He hear them or see what they are doing? Rather, Allaah is close and o*ne Who responds!

Allaah says: And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (tell them), I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor). [al-Baqarah 2:186]

And your Lord said: "Invoke Me, (and ask Me for anything) I will respond to your (invocation). [Ghafir 40:60]

Indeed, He is close and one Who responds! So why would you go and call upon other than Allaah, saying, "This brings me closer to Allaah?"

[This is the same exact statement of the mushrikeen aforetime, found in Allaah's Book. They used to say:] "We worship them only that they may bring us near to Allaah." [az-Zumar 39:3]

It is as if [they believe] Allaah does not know or have any knowledge! This is how the jinn and human devils have beautified their statements for them, while they claim Islaam as their Religion, testify Laa ilaaha illaAllaah, pray and fast.

However, they have mixed these actions with ash-shirk al-akbar (major shirk), so they leave the Religion of Islaam, even though they pray, fast, and make Hajj. Anyone who sees them would assume they are Muslims.

So it is obligatory for us to be aware of this. To ascribe partners to Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, is the greatest and most dangerous of all sins. Even with its evil and its danger, many of those who ascribe to Islaam have still fallen into it. However, they do not call it by its name - shirk - rather they call it "at-tawassul', "drawing close" or they call it "seeking intercession," or they call it names other than shirk. However, names do not change realities. Shirk is still shirk, and it is the most dangerous kind of apostasy and the most common kind that people fall into, even though it is something clear in the Book of Allaah and in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah (salallaahu 'alaihi wasallam). Warnings against it and threats of punishments are clear, as there is no Soorah in the Qur'aan free of a warning against shirk. Despite this, they read the Qur'aan, and they do not stay away from shirk.

And perhaps someone may come and say, "These people are ignorant, so they are to be excused on account of their ignorance."

So we say: To what end will people be excused on account of ignorance, while the Qur'aan is being recited? They are memorizing the Qur'aan and reciting it. Verily, the proof has been established against them by way of the Qur'aan: Say: "Allaah (the Most Great!) is Witness between me and you; And this Qur'aan has been revealed to me that I may therewith warn you and whomsoever it may reach. [Al-An'aam 6:19]

So then the proof has been established upon everyone that the Qur'aan has reached, and there is no excuse for them.

Allaah, The Most High, has said: Verily! Allaah does not forgive that partners be ascribed to Him, while He forgives what is less than that for whomever He wants." [an-Nisaa 4:116]

"Verily! Allaah does not forgive that partners be ascribed to Him." This shows that shirk is the greatest of all sins, since it is something that Allaah will not forgive unless the person who committed it repents from it.

"While He forgives what is less than that," meaning less than shirk, like fornication and adultery, drinking alcohol, stealing, taking part in ribaa (usury). All of these things are less than shirk, and thus the o*ne who commits them is under the Will of Allaah. They have committed major sins and they are considered fusaaq, disobedient o*nes. However, they have not fallen into shirk; they have o*nly fallen into major sins that decrease their faith and cause them to be labeled with disobedience. If they were to die without having repented, then they would be under the Will of Allaah; if He wants, He will forgive them due to the Tawheed that was with them, and if He wants He will punish them because of their sins and, then later, they will be admitted to Paradise due to the Tawheed that was with them. This is what happens to those who commit major sins less than shirk.

And His statement, "While He forgives what is less than that," shows that all sins other than shirk may be forgiven, and that shirk is the greatest and most dangerous of them. This shows the true danger of shirk, and that is the greatest of sins.




Authentic Islamic website in Bangla: homepagedesignwithslices

[Aisha123]

Author: Imaam Muhammad Ibn Saalih al-Uthaymeen
Source: Majmoo Fataawa wa Rasaa’il Ibn Uthaymeen, and al-Qawl ul-Mufeed Sharh Kitaab at-Tawheed

Shirk is of two types, major shirk which puts a person beyond the pale of Islaam, and lesser shirk.

The first type, major shirk, is, every type of shirk which the Lawgiver described as such and which puts a person beyond the pale of his religion – such as devoting any kind of act of worship which should be for Allaah to someone other than Allaah, such as praying to anyone other than Allaah, fasting for anyone other than Allaah or offering a sacrifice to anyone other than Allaah. It is also a form of major shirk to offer supplication (du’aa) to anyone other than Allaah, such as calling upon the occupant of a grave or calling upon one who is absent to help one in some way in which no one is able to help except Allaah.

The second type is minor shirk, which means every kind of speech or action that Islaam describes as shirk, but it does not put a person beyond the pale of Islaam – such as swearing an oath by something other than Allaah, because the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam) said,

“Whoever swears an oath by something other than Allaah is guilty of kufr or shirk.”

The one who swears an oath by something other than Allaah but does not believe that anyone other than Allaah has the same greatness as Allah, is a mushrik who is guilty of lesser shirk, regardless of whether the one by whom he swore is venerated by people or not. It is not permissible to swear by the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam), or by the president, or by the Ka’bah, or by Jibreel, because this is shirk, but it is minor shirk which does not put a person beyond the pale of Islaam.

Another type of minor shirk is showing off, which means that a person does something so that people will see it, not for the sake of Allaah.

The ways in which showing off may cancel out acts of worship are either of the following,

The first is when it is applies to an act of worship from the outset, i.e., the person is not doing that action for any reason other than showing off. In this case, the action is invalid and is rejected, because of the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah which was attributed to the Prophet (sal-Allaahu ‘alayhe wa sallam), which says that Allaah said,

“I am so self-sufficient that I am in no need of having an associate. Thus he who does an action for someone else’s sake as well as Mine will have that action renounced by Me to him whom he associated with Me.” [Muslim, Kitaab az-Zuhd, no. 2985]

The second is when the showing off happens later on during the act of worship, i.e., the action is originally for Allaah, then showing off creeps into it. This may be one of two cases,

The first is when the person resists it – this does not harm him.

For example, a man has prayed a rak’ah, then some people come along during his second rak’ah and it occurs to him to make the rukoo’ or sujood longer, or makes himself weep, and so on. If he resists that, it does not harm him, because he is striving against this idea. But if he goes along with that, then every action which stemmed from showing off is invalid, such as if he made his standing or prostration long, or he made himself weep – all of those actions will be cancelled out. But does this invalidation extend to the entire act of worship or not?

We say that either of the following must apply,

Either the end of his act of worship was connected to the beginning (with no pause); so if the end of it is invalidated then all of it is invalidated.

This is the case with the prayer – the last part of it cannot be invalidated without the first part also being invalidated, so the whole prayer is invalid.

Or if the beginning of the action is separate from the end of it, then the first part is valid but the latter part is not. Whatever came before the showing off is valid, and what came after it is not valid.

An example of that is a man who has a hundred riyals, and gives fifty of them in charity for the sake of Allaah with a sound intention, then he gives fifty in charity for the purpose of showing off. The first fifty are accepted, and the second fifty are not accepted, because the latter is separate from the former.

[amanda34]

Hi

Shirk or polytheism means to consider anyone god other than the God, Allah.[1] Shirk is also associating partners with him, giving his characteristics to others beside him, or not believing in his characteristics

Thanks

Christian Mission