Shirk 101

The Antithesis of Tawheed

For a PDF version of this post, complete with red coloring of key words in the ayahs, click here.

{حُنَفَاءَ لِلَّهِ غَيْرَ مُشْرِكِينَ بِهِ وَمَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَكَأَنَّمَا خَرَّ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَتَخْطَفُهُ الطَّيْرُ أَوْ تَهْوِي بِهِ الرِّيحُ فِي مَكَانٍ سَحِيقٍ (31)} سورة الحج

“Turning away [from all else], towards Allah, not associating partners with Him; and whoever assigns partners to Allah, it is as if he had fallen from the sky, and the birds had snatched him, or the wind had thrown him to a far off place.” [22:31]

 

{فَكُبْكِبُوا فِيهَا هُمْ وَالْغَاوُونَ (94) وَجُنُودُ إِبْلِيسَ أَجْمَعُونَ (95) قَالُوا وَهُمْ فِيهَا يَخْتَصِمُونَ (96) تَاللَّهِ إِنْ كُنَّا لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ (97) إِذْ نُسَوِّيكُمْ بِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (98) وَمَا أَضَلَّنَا إِلَّا الْمُجْرِمُونَ (99) فَمَا لَنَا مِنْ شَافِعِينَ (100) وَلَا صَدِيقٍ حَمِيمٍ (101) فَلَوْ أَنَّ لَنَا كَرَّةً فَنَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ (102) إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَةً وَمَا كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ (103) وَإِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الرَّحِيمُ (104)} سورة الشعراء

“Then they will be thrown on their faces into it (the Fire), they and those who were in error, and the whole army of Iblees all together. They will say while disputing therein, ‘By Allah, we were truly in a manifest error, when we equated you (false gods) with the Lord of the worlds; And none has brought us into error except the criminals; now we have no intercessors, nor any close friend (to help us). If we only had a chance to return (to the world), we shall truly be among the believers!’ Truly, in this is indeed a sign, yet most of them are not believers. And verily your Lord, He is truly the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful.” [26:94-104]

 

The Arabic root, sh-r-k [ش ر ك] sheen raa’ kaaf, merely means “to associate”. Thus an association or partnership, as in business, is called sharikah in Arabic. And the common word for “participation” is mushaarakah. Those words have no negative connotation, unlike shirk. 

After learning about the proper relationship between Allah and His creation, we can summarize shirk by saying it is proportioning or equating to the creation any of Allah’s exclusive characteristics or rights. This can occur in matters of creed regarding Allah’s attributes and sovereignty as well as worship of the heart or body if directed to other than Allah.

Scholars generally divide shirk[1] into two or three categories:

• Major shirk, which is apostatic, so whoever does it has committed an act of apostasy
• Minor shirk, which is a major sin, but does not remove its perpetrator from faith.
• Hidden shirk, as some scholars add a third category, to refer to shirk of the feelings of the heart.

We will look to all these meanings insha’Allah, each on separate pages, and then on the final page, the meaning of Taghut, and blocking the avenues to shirk.

 

 

What came first in human history? Tawheed or Shirk?

Allah tells us that the first human was Adam, and that He taught Adam language. After Adam and Eve’s disobedience and fall from Paradise, they repented and Allah forgave them. Ibn ‘Abbaas says that ten generations existed between Adam and Noah[2], and that people during this era were all monotheistic, even if they had other sins.

Early scholars of Quranic exegesis told the story of how shirk began, commenting on Allah’s statement,

{وَقَالُوا لَا تَذَرُنَّ آلِهَتَكُمْ وَلَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّا وَلَا سُوَاعًا وَلَا يَغُوثَ وَيَعُوقَ وَنَسْرًا (23)} سورة نوح

“And they have said: ‘You shall not leave your gods, nor shall you leave Wadd, nor Suwaa’, nor Yaghooth, nor Ya’ooq, nor Nasr.” [71:23]

They said, “They were righteous people between the time of Adam and Nuh, and they had followers who used to adhere to their guidance. Then, when they died, their companions who used to follow them said, `If we make images of them, it will increase our desire to perform worship when we remember them.’ So they made images of them. Then, when those people died and other people came after them, Iblees approached them and said, `They (your predecessors) used to worship these statues and they were granted rain by their worship of them.’ Thus, they (the latter people) worshipped them.”[3]

Contrarily, modern Western academics, after embracing atheism, believe that humans evolved from apes and then, as they were fearful of the world around them[4], sought the help of supernatural powers behind the forces of nature to protect them. So, according to today’s[5] academics, they deified the sun, the moon, clouds and rain, fertility gods and goddesses, etc. Later, they decided to simplify things, or because they grew a little skeptical, and believed in one God. And now, they think the most advanced human understanding is to disbelieve in supernatural forces all together.

In response to these claims, we must first realize that monotheists leave no artifacts of their faith, and thus, archaeologists will not recognize the remains of a monotheistic settlement, and the earlier humanoid settlements they discovered have no traces of idolatry. It could also be because monotheistic settlements carried on and continued humanity. Whereas the polytheistic ones were the doomed.

{قُلْ سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلُ كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ مُشْرِكِينَ (42)} سورة الروم

“Say: travel in the land and see what was the end of those before. Most were idolaters/associationists.” [30:42]

{فَلَوْلَا نَصَرَهُمُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ قُرْبَانًا آلِهَةً بَلْ ضَلُّوا عَنْهُمْ وَذَلِكَ إِفْكُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ (28)} سورة الأحقاف

“Then why did those whom they had taken for gods besides Allah, as a way of approach (to Allah) not help them? Nay, but they vanished completely from them (when there came the torment). And that was their lie, and their inventions which they used to concoct.” [46:28]

Second, most of the communities that atheists recollect, such as the Romans and Greeks, were in fact pre-dated by the monotheistic communities of Israel. Even the “patriarchal period”—the time of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, pre-dated the polytheism of the Egyptians. Also, monotheism was known by other communities even earlier than this, as many historians and archaeologists, for example, assert that before Hindu and Buddhist influence, their peoples were pure monotheists. The fact that human beings are wired by their fitrah to worship Allah Alone also strongly suggests that even if a community of peoples were without the influence of a prophet or Messenger in their history, they would still be inclined towards monotheism. However, because of Iblees’ influence on man, the vast majority turned away from tawheed.

Finally, the idea that if something can be “scientifically explained”, God doesn’t “exist therein”. Or if something remains mysterious, then there’s possibility for God to exist therein. This is called the “god of the gaps” theory which demonstrates the insincerity of atheists to understand God and religion. Going back to the famous “watchmaker analogy” it would be like finding a watch, and discovering that since it has gears, a battery, etc, then it must not have had a maker. Monotheists throughout time have always believed that God created a complex natural physical system of causes and affects, and does not personally touch any of it or show Himself in this lifetime.