What is Shirk? The two situations where Muslims fall into Shirk and convince people involved in their action to constitute shirk according to Quran and Sunnah.
The term Shirk in the Islamic faith is used to refer to idolatry or polytheism which means deification, or worship of a deity, gods, or anything other than Allah. As opposed to Tawhid, which means the oneness of God. “Laillaha illallah” (There is no god but Allah, which means no other god but only one true God and He alone deserves to be worshiped. However, Islam preaches strict monotheism embedded in Tawhid (God is one, unique, and absolute). The term Shirk is derived from Shakara, meaning to share with someone, or to associate, include something. It also refers to attributing an equal partner to Allah or associating anyone or anything with Him. The Quran mentions in Surah Ali-Imran (Al- Qur’an 3:64) “Say! O people of the book! Come to common terms as between us and you, that we worship none but Allah, that we associate in partners with him, that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and partners other than Allah. If then they turn back, say ye “Bear witness that we at least are Muslims (bowing to Allah’s Will)”. It is narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said: “Whoever dies while supplicating to someone other than Allah whom he considers equal to Allah, will enter Hellfire. Therefore, I will discuss two situations where Muslims fall into Shirk and convince people involved in their action to constitute shirk according to Quran and Sunnah. According to, (Ramzy & Dastagir 2018), Shirk can be classified into two types namely Shirk Al-Akbar (Major sin), and Shirk Al-Asghar (Minor sin).
Shirk al-Akbar (Major shirk) occurs when any act of worship is directed to someone other than Allah. For example, praying to statues, idols, involving others than Allah. Denying the great attributes of Allah. Some people deny that Allah has the greatest qualities and attributes. They misuse the names of Allah like Ar Rahman and Ar Kareem. For example, most men in Islam are likely to say I love my wife more than anything else in this Dunia more than I love Allah, they cannot live without them. We have seen husbands worshipping their wives, even to such extent making songs praising them, drawing paintings of them, and posting in the walls of their houses. This is totally wrong! As Quran states “Love is a form of worship which, in its perfection should only be directed to Allah”, and nowadays we misuse the term Love and starts loving worldly things than Almighty Allah.
Islamically, the love of God is all about obedience to Allah. Love is only worshipped in the total surrender of one’s will to God. We have seen Muslims worshipping people instead of Allah. For example, some people start admiring, looking up to celebrities and loving singers and actors say “He is my Idol”. With numerous TV shows, movies, soapies, Muslims abandoned daily prayers to watch their favorite celebrities, such an act constitutes what is known as Shirk -al — malabbah, which means that you show the love which is due to Allah alone to others than Him.
Worshipping humans, animals, and idols is totally forbidden in Islam. We have seen some Muslims worshipping saints or travel to graves to ask for help and protection. They make Tawaaf around the graves and sacrifice in the name of dead people. All of this kind of activity is committing a major sin and the result of these acts is severe punishment.
In addition, there is also minor shirk most Muslims fall into it daily. Minor Shirk is described as Shirk — al-Asghar. These acts of shirk do not necessarily take someone away from Islam, but they are serious sin. For example, Ar Riyaa is a term that means performing any of the various forms of worship to show off and be praised by other people rather than doing it for the sake of Allah. Similarly, someone prays in front of people so the people can see that he or she is a very good Muslim or someone who only gives extra charity because people are watching and he wants to be seen as generous in the eyes of people. You shouldn’t do this individuals need to stay away from this act because it nullifies the good deed and you get no reward for it.
In a nutshell, Muslims should consider the consequences of committing shirk. However, Allah teaches us to obey and fear Him. Allah says “If you do love Allah, follow me, Allah will love you and forgive our sins (Qur’an 3:31). We should follow what Qur’an teaches us and the sunnah of the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam otherwise if we continue committing this sin, Allah will punish us in a Hellfire.
Ramadan Kareem!