Associating partners with Allah
Imam Ibn al-Jawzi, may Allah have mercy on him, is a distinguished personality of the Islamic world, about whom Allama Dhahabi writes: ”الشيخ، الإمام، العلامة، الحافظ المفسر، شيخ الإسلام، مفخر العراق“
Many of his works are published, circulated, and popular in the Islamic world. Among them is a book titled “Tadhkirat Uli al-Basa’ir fi Ma’rifat al-Kabair” in which he informed the Muslim Ummah about major sins and clarified their ugliness and abomination so that people strive to avoid them and become deserving of Allah’s pleasure and mercy. Under the title “Al-Kabirah al-Ula,” he discussed the greatest sin in Islam, which is shirk (associating partners with Allah). Everyone can be disagreed with except the Imam of the universe, the pride of creation, Muhammad, peace be upon him, whose every word and action must not only be agreed with but is a condition of faith. والله يوفقنا
At the request and command of my respected teacher, Fazilat al-Sheikh Hafiz Zubair Ali Zai, may Allah preserve him, I have translated the “Al-Kabirah al-Ula” section of this book for the readers of the monthly magazine Al-Hadith.
May Allah Almighty make it beneficial for the people. Ameen (Muhammad Siddiq Raza)
Allah Almighty has said: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَىٰ إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا﴾
Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.
Similarly, Allah Almighty said: ﴿إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ﴾
Indeed, shirk is a great injustice.
And Allah Almighty also said: ﴿إِنَّهُ مَن يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ الْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَاهُ النَّارُ﴾ Whoever associates partners with Allah, then Allah has forbidden Paradise for him, and his refuge is the Fire.
Whoever dies while associating partners with Allah will certainly be among the inhabitants of Hellfire, even if he has performed many good deeds. Allah Almighty informed about the polytheists by saying:
﴿وَقَدِمْنَا إِلَىٰ مَا عَمِلُوا مِنْ عَمَلٍ فَجَعَلْنَاهُ هَبَاءً مَّنثُورًا﴾
And We will come to him, and We will scatter his dust, whatever he did.
Then the killing of such (polytheists) is also permissible as Allah Almighty said: ﴿فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَيْثُ وَجَدتُّمُوهُمْ﴾ So kill the polytheists wherever you find them. (It should be noted that this is not the responsibility of the general public but of the Islamic state, which must make every effort to reform those who claim Islam but fall into shirk. If they do not repent, then the state should act according to Islamic laws against them, just as Sayyiduna Abu Bakr Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, waged jihad against those who withheld zakat. The issue of Tawhid is certainly more important and prior to prayer and zakat. Also, mere affiliation with a group or sect is not sufficient to accuse someone of this crime unless a specific individual is proven guilty. Undoubtedly, some serious scholars and many common people are averse to and safe from grave worship shirk, so they cannot be accused of this crime merely based on their sect. However, for those afflicted with shirk, it is extremely necessary for the Islamic state to fulfill its responsibility by applying all Islamic rulings.) /Muhammad Siddiq Raza
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: من بدل دينه فاقتلوه Whoever changes his religion (i.e., leaves Islam and becomes a disbeliever), kill him.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, also said:
ألا أنبئكم بأكبر الكبائر؟ الإشراك بالله … إلخ
Shall I not inform you of the greatest of the major sins? (Then he said:) Associating partners with Allah…
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: اجتنبوا السبع الموبقات … إلخ
“Beware of the seven destructive sins…”
(What is shirk?) Shirk is to associate any partner with Allah, the Glorious and Exalted, or to worship besides Allah any stone, tree, human, moon, sun, stars, any prophet, jinn, angels, or spiritual guides (pirs), etc.
(Grave worship) Some ignorant people who claim to follow Islam fall into these matters due to their ignorance. Among them are those who affiliate themselves with certain sheikhs, such as Pir Ahmad bin al-Rifai (founder of the Rifai order), Pir Yunus, Pir Uday, or any other sheikh.
They remain engrossed in the mention and love of these pirs besides Allah, stay in seclusion near their graves, kiss them, prostrate to them, plead with these sheikhs for relief from difficulties, seek forgiveness, and request fulfillment of their needs and necessities. In reality, this grave worship laid the foundation for idol worship, and this grave worship is a form of shirk with Allah. Lat and Uzza: those whom the polytheists used to worship. (They were humans and creatures.)
Mujahid, Abu Salih, and Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them, read the word
with emphasis and said: Lat was a righteous man who used to give water mixed with honey to pilgrims. When he died, the polytheists took up seclusion at his grave and began to worship him.
Uzza was said to be a tree, which the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, sent Sayyiduna Khalid bin Walid, may Allah be pleased with him, to cut down.
Scholars have also stated that Wadd, Suwa’, Yaghuth, Ya’uq, and Nasr were the names of righteous people who lived between the times of Sayyiduna Adam and Sayyiduna Nuh, peace be upon them. Imam Muhammad bin Jarir al-Tabari narrates with his chain that Thawri heard from Musa, who heard from Muhammad bin Qais regarding the statement of Nuh, peace be upon him: ﴿وَلَا يَغُوثَ وَيَعُوقَ وَنَسْرًا﴾
He said: These were righteous people from the intermediate period between Nuh and Adam, and they had followers who used to imitate them. When they died, their followers said: Why don’t we make pictures of these elders? This method will increase our desire for worship because whenever we remember them, we will be encouraged. Then they made their pictures. When those who made these pictures died and the next generations came, Satan put this idea into their hearts and said: Your elders used to worship these very images. They used to seek rain through them, and then the later generations began to worship them. Qatadah said: These are idols (gods) whom the people of Nuh used to worship, and later the Arabs also made them objects of worship. This shows that the (unlawful) veneration of pictures of saints and righteous people laid the foundation for the worship of idols and statues. Therefore, the Lawgiver forbade the veneration of graves, praying there, and seclusion at them because this very thing caused previous nations to fall into major shirk.
For this reason, we find some misguided peoples upon whom Satan has prevailed. They grovel humbly and submissively before graves and while hearing the mention of their sheikhs, and they worship them with such devotion that they do not show in mosques nor during the golden hours of pre-dawn. Among these misguided people, some prostrate to graves, and this behavior is shirk with Allah. We seek refuge in Allah from this.
It is authentically proven from the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, that he said:
اللهم لا تجعل قبري وثنا يعبد فى الارض، اشتد غضب الله علىٰ قوم اتخذوا قبور أنبيائهم مساجد
O Allah! Do not make my grave a place of worship on earth. Severe is the wrath of Allah upon the nation who made the graves of their prophets places of worship.
Through this statement, the Prophet, peace be upon him, warned his Ummah against the behavior of Jews and Christians. If there is such a severe warning for prostrating to the graves of the Prophets, peace be upon them, then what can be expected regarding prostrating to these sheikhs? (That is, how severe will the warning be?)
The Prophet, peace be upon him, forbade praying between graves, saying:
لا تجلسوا على القبور، ولا تصلوا إليها
Do not sit on graves, nor pray facing them.
Similarly, pleading to these sheikhs to fulfill needs, swearing by them, becoming emotional at their mention—things they do not do even when hearing the Divine Remembrance and Quranic verses—are also prohibited.
Whoever seeks help from anyone other than Allah (in a manner beyond the means), as these mad devotees of sheikhs do, saying: O my master, O Sheikh so-and-so (or Ghaus Pak, or Mu’in al-Din Chishti, etc.), has certainly associated partners with Allah. Allah Almighty says:
﴿فَلَا تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ أَندَادًا وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ﴾
So do not associate partners with Allah while you know.
“Undad” means partners whom you seek help from and worship.
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said:
إذا سألت فاسأل الله، وإذا استعنت فاستعن بالله
When you ask, ask Allah; and when you seek help, seek help from Allah.
Whoever asks forgiveness from anyone other than Allah, or requests fulfillment of needs, or seeks help (beyond the means) from others has committed shirk with Allah. Similarly, swearing by anyone other than Allah, such as by the life of a certain sheikh, or the Prophet, or the Kaaba, or a trust, is strictly forbidden. Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with them both, heard someone swear by the Kaaba and said: Do not swear by anyone other than Allah, for I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, say:
من حلف بغير الله فقد كفر وأشرك
Whoever swears by anyone other than Allah has committed disbelief and shirk.
Al-Hakim declared it authentic according to the conditions of the two Shaykhs, and Dhahabi agreed with them.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said:
من حلف بالأمانة فليس منا
Whoever swears by a trust is not one of us.
An-Nasa’i narrated from Qatila, a woman of the tribe of Juhaina, may Allah be pleased with her, that a Jew came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and said: Your people commit shirk when they say “By Allah’s will and your will” and swear by the Kaaba. The Prophet, peace be upon him, instructed the companions that when they intend to swear, they should say: “By the Lord of the Kaaba,” and the other should say: “By Allah’s will, then your will.”
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Sawat, may Allah be pleased with him, that:
إن الرقى والتمائم والتولة شرك
(Shirk) includes exorcism, incantations, and acts performed to create love, which are acts of shirk.
Tawlah: a type of magic performed to create love in the husband’s heart for his wife.
Tama’im: plural of Tamimah, which is the amulet hung around a child’s neck under the false belief that it wards off the evil eye. (This belief is false.)
Similarly, showing off in deeds, performing righteous deeds to display them to people or with the intention that people say: He is a good man or very religious and praise him, Allah Almighty said: ﴿قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوحَىٰ إِلَيَّ أَنَّمَا إِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ ۖ فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاءَ رَبِّهِ فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًا﴾
Say, “I am only a human being like you, to whom it has been revealed that your god is one God. So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous deeds and not associate anyone in the worship of his Lord.”
So performing righteous deeds to show off to people is minor shirk.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said:
يقول الله – عز وجل – أنا أغنى الشرركاء عن الشرك، فمن عمل عملا أشررك فيه معي غيري، فهو للذي أشرك، وأنا منه بريء
Allah Almighty says: I am most free of need from the shirk of those who associate partners with Me. Whoever does an action in which he associates others with Me, I will abandon him and his shirk.
And in Sahih Muslim, there is a hadith about three types of people who will be the first to be thrown into Hellfire among Allah’s creation: the reciter of the Quran, the warrior, and the generous, because their recitation, jihad, and generosity will be for showing off. We pray to Allah Almighty to protect us from every shirk that we know and do not know. For this, we seek forgiveness from Allah Almighty; indeed, He is the Most Generous, the Most Merciful. (الكبيرة الأولى End.)
