Highlighting Some of The Dangers of Shirk
﷽
All praises are due to Allâh (ﷻ) alone, we praise Him, and we seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allāh from the evil of our own souls and from our evil actions. Whomsoever Allâh guides will not be led astray and whomsoever He misguides, no one can guide. I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but Allâh, alone without partner or associate, and that Muhammad (ﷺ) is His slave and His Messenger. To proceed:
Shirk is defined as worshipping other than Him (i.e. Allâh) with Him. Shirk is not merely to worship an idol as many of us were taught, rather even showing off (doing your deeds for other than Allâh) or wanting to let others hear the good deeds you have done are forms of Shirk.
Let us give an example…
One of us is standing during the night establishing Qiyâm-ul-Layl (night prayer), then someone walks into the room; suddenly you start reciting more beautifully, you stand straighter, you even start crying - But you did all these actions just because someone entered the room. Then imagine during the day the person keeps rubbing their back and when s/he is asked what is wrong with his/her back s/he says:〝Nothing is wrong I stood for over 2 hours praying last night〞- But he only mentioned this so that people would know that he prays Qiyām-ul-Layl; these are examples of types of Shirk, even though it is minor Shirk, it is Shirk nonetheless.
Shirk is the most severe, most dangerous and most destructive of all sins. It is a bigger sin than one having illegal sexual relations with his own mother. Also, know, may Allâh make you from the people of Tawḥīd (and Sunnah), that Shirk is the greatest oppression. It is giving Allâh’s right to other than Him, just as Luqmân (عليه سلام) mentioned to his son in the Qurʾân:
وَإِذۡ قَالَ لُقۡمَٰنُ لِٱبۡنِهِۦ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُۥ يَٰبُنَىَّ لَا تُشۡرِكۡ بِٱللَّهِۖ إِنَّ ٱلشِّرۡكَ لَظُلۡمٌ عَظِيمٌ
And (remember) when Luqman said to his son when he was advising him: "O my son! Join not in worship others with Allâh. Verily! Joining others in worship with Allâh is a great Zulm (wrong) indeed.
Luqman 31:13
In the Qurʾân, Allâh ( عز وجل) says regarding those who die upon Shirk, this great oppression :
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَمَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَىٰ إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا
Verily, Allâh 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 Allâh in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin.
An-Nisâʾ 4:48
So, one could commit Shirk by taking other than Him (سبحانه) as someone/something to worship - This is Shirk in Allâh’s right of worship.
One could also commit Shirk in the Rububiyyah [Lordship] of Allâh by attributing Lordship to others other than Him - For example; claiming that it is Mother Nature who sends the rain and not Allâh.
There can also be Shirk in the Asmâ And Siffât [Names and Attributes] of Allâh, by attributing His Lofty Names and Attributes to other than Him.
These are some of the dangers of Shirk:
1. The one who commits Shirk is forbidden from paradise.
Allâh [ﷻ] tells us In Sûratul Ma’idah,verse 72:
إِنَّهُ مَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَاهُ النَّارُ ۖ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِنْ أَنْصَارٍ
...Verily, whosoever sets up partners in worship with Allah, then Allah has forbidden Paradise for him, and the Fire will be his abode. And for the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers) there are no helpers.
2. The one who commits Major Shirk, all his previous good deeds will be null and void (their deeds become reduced to nothing).
وَلَقَدْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ وَإِلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ لَئِنْ أَشْرَكْتَ لَيَحْبَطَنَّ عَمَلُكَ وَلَتَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
And indeed it has been revealed to you (O Muhammad ﷺ ), as it was to those (Allâh's Messengers) before you: "If you join others in worship with Allâh, (then) surely (all) your deeds will be in vain, and you will certainly be among the losers."
az-Zumar 39:65
In another Âyah, Allâh [ﷻ] also tells us what will happen to the deeds of those who ascribed partners with Him, or worship other than Him alongside Him :
وَقَدِمْنَا إِلَىٰ مَا عَمِلُوا مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ هَبَاءً مَنْثُورًا
And We shall turn to whatever deeds they (disbelievers, polytheists, sinners, etc.) did, and We shall make such deeds as scattered floating particles of dust.
Furqân 25:23
3. The one who commits Shirk is devoid of the Light of Allâh [ﷻ] in this life and the next.
Allâh عز وجل tells us in Sûratul Zumar, verse 22
أَفَمَنْ شَرَحَ اللَّهُ صَدْرَهُ لِلْإِسْلَامِ فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ مِنْ رَبِّهِ ۚ فَوَيْلٌ لِلْقَاسِيَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ مِنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ فِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ
Is he whose breast Allâh has opened to Islâm so that he is in light from His Lord (as he who is non-Muslim)? So, woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of Allâh! They are in plain error!
4. The one who commits shirk will not have the intercession of the Prophet (ﷺ) on the Day of Judgement.
Narrated Abû Hurairah (رضي الله عنه) :
I said: "O Allâh's Messenger (ﷺ) ! Who will be the be the most advantaged person, who will gain your intercession on the Day of Resurrection?" Allâh's Messenger (ﷺ) said: O Abû Huraira! "I have thought that none will ask me about it before you as I know your longing for the (learning of) Hadiths. The luckiest person who will have my intercession on the Day of Resurrection will be the one who said sincerely from the bottom of his heart "None has the right to be worshipped but Allah."
Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 99
5. The one upon Shirk will live a sad and depressed life. And will be subjected to the torment in the Hereafter.
فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَأُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمَا لَهُمْ مِنْ نَاصِرِينَ
"As to those who disbelieve, I will punish them with a severe torment in this world and in the Hereafter, and they will have no helpers."
Âl-ʿImrân 3:56
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ ۗ وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ ذُو انْتِقَامٍ
Truly, those who disbelieve in the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, for them there is a severe torment; and Allâh is All-Mighty, All-Able of Retribution.
Âl-ʿImrân 3:4
These are just a few points about the dangers of Shirk. It is upon us as Muslims to study these affairs, as well as the affairs that lead to Shirk, so that we are able to stay away from them. We have to know the bad to stay away from it.
I ask Allah (سبحانه) to protect us from Shirk and to keep us far away from it and its people.
AMMAN CIRCLE Editorial.
1/August/2022 | 3/Muharram/1444 (هــ).
