Shirk: The Most Treacherous of Deeds

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ِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِِ

البينة Al-Baiyyinah البينة
Shirk: The Most Treacherous of Deeds

What is Shirk?
There are many who say that it means “sharing partners with Allah”.
But this dear reader does not give the full picture of what shirk
means. In this issue we will therefore examine the meaning of shirk,
its origins and the reasons Allah has made the Mushrik (one who commits
shirk) an eternal dweller in the hellfire.
The scholars of Islam have defined shirk as making similarity between
Allah and his creation in something in which only Allah is able to do,
such as if a person asks of the creation (e.g. human, tree or stone)
for rain, this would be making The Creator and created similar. This is
because only Allah is able to send rain.
Also some scholars have defined it as worship or directing worship
towards other than Allah i.e. the creation. These definitions are
consistent and support each other.
We therefore define shirk as: “Making similarities between The
Creator and the created in acts of worship and thereby directing acts
of worship to other than Allah”.
The Origin of Shirk
It is often stated by some of the philosophers and atheists that the
natural basis of man is Shirk, and that Tawheed was later invented by
man. This is however a false notion.
Ibn ‘Abbas said: "Between Noah and Adam were ten generations, all of
them were upon Sharee'ah (law) of the truth, then they differed. So
Allah sent prophets as bringers of good news and as warners".
The Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) said that he related
from his Lord: "I created all my servants upon the true Religion (upon
Tawheed, free from Shirk). Then the devils came to them and led them
astray from their true Religion. They made unlawful to people that
which I had made lawful for them, and they commanded them to associate
in worship with Me, that which I had sent down no authority."
Also the Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) said: “Every
child is born upon the Fitrah but his parents make him a Jew or a
Christian or a Magian. It is like the way an animal gives birth to a
natural offspring. Have you noticed any born mutilated, before you
mutilate them?"
After this clear explanation, it is of the utmost importance for the
Muslim to know how Shirk spread amongst the believers, after they were
upon Tawheed
The origin of shirk is given in the tafseer of Surah Nuuh which is
found in Sahih Bukhari. Allah says in Surah Nuuh:
وَقَالُوا لَا تَذَرُنَّ آلِهَتَكُمْ
وَلَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّا وَلَا سُوَاعًا
وَلَايَغُوثَ وَيَعُوقَ وَنَسْرًا
وَقَدْ أَضَلُّوا كَثِيراً وَلَا
تَزِدِالظَّالِمِينَ إِلَّا ضَلَالًا
23. "And they have said: 'You shall not leave your gods, nor shall you
leave Wadd, nor Suwa', nor Yaghuth, nor Ya'uq, nor Nasr (names of the
idols);
24. "And indeed they have led many astray. And (O Allah): 'Grant no
increase to the Zalimun (polytheists, wrong-doers, and disbelievers,
etc.) save error.' "
Ibn 'Abbas relates:
"Indeed these five names of righteous men from the people of Nuuh. When
they died Shaytaan whispered to their people to make statues of them
and to place these statues in their places of gathering as a reminder
of them, so they did this. However, none from amongst them worshipped
these statues, until when they died and the purpose of the statues was
forgotten. Then (the next generation) began to worship them."
So we can see that because of going overboard in their love for these
righteous men, the people fell in to shirk as they eventually began
using them as intermediaries between Allah.
This is what we find most world religions are upon. In Christianity,
Buddhism, Hinduism and others, the people have put (sometimes
righteous) men in the same category as The Creator of the Heavens and
the Earth. In addition often you would not find any of these men saying
directly “I am the creator of the heavens and the earth, so worship
me”. It is because people become attached to these personalities,
rather than what that personality has said and taught, that they have
gone astray.
The Greatest Sin
Allah Says in Surah Nisaa Ayah 48:
إِنَّ اللّهَ لاَ يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ
بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَن
يَشَاء وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللّهِ فَقَدِ
افْتَرَى إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا
“Verily, Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with him
in worship, but He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He
pleases, and whoever sets up partners with Allah in worship, he has
indeed invented a tremendous sin.”
So why is this action the worst of all sins (that Allah does not
forgive the one who dies upon this way)? The answer is simple. We have
already established that Allah is The Creator of all things, even the
people and objects who the different religions worship. Therefore why
worship these other creations? We must be aware that when we associate
partners in worship, we are not giving Allah His rights as our Creator,
Sustainer and Protector. For example performing the acts of stealing,
murder or adultery would take away the rights of men. But the right of
Allah is to be worshipped alone with no associates. This is why the
Prophet (صلي الله عليه و سلم) said: “The greatest of
sins is to worship other than Allah who has created you.”
We therefore end this issue with the reminder that Allah is our Creator
and Lord so therefore worship him alone without bringing or associating
or directing any form of worship to anyone or anything else.

Mini Case Study on Shirk: Hinduism
One of the foundations of Hinduism is that Almighty God can manifest
himself into many different forms (such as cows, elephants or monkeys)
because as they claim he is all powerful and all mighty and therefore
capable of this transformation. Hence they will say that their worship
is not idol worship, but worship of Almighty God manifest in these
creatures and images. And this notion is refuted in many ways:
(1) God Almighty is the all powerful and all mighty and these creatures
that you worship are not all powerful and all mighty. These creatures
themselves have to nourish themselves by what Allaah has provided for
them and as explained earlier Allaah is their provider who possesses
all power and strength and he is not the one being provided for.
(2) We as human beings also must not describe a thing except as how it
has described itself. If we do opposite to this we will be liars. For
example if it is that I described Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin as
charitable and upstanding men of good character one would say that I am
a liar. Yet many have chosen to speak about God and describe him with
other than which he had described himself. ■