The Root Cause of Idolatry and the Obligation of Jihad:
In the Light of Hadith and Statements of the Scholars
Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
❖ Question:
What became the cause of idolatry?
❖ Answer:
The cause of idolatry was excessive veneration of human beings. In the earlier nations, when a pious person passed away, people exaggerated in honoring his grave. Gradually, images of such revered individuals were made, and after the passage of time, those images began to be worshipped.
Evidence from Hadith
❀ Sayyidah ‘Ā’ishah (RA) narrates that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ fell ill, one of his wives mentioned a church she had seen in the land of Abyssinia, which was called Mariah. Sayyidah Umm Salamah (RA) and Sayyidah Umm Habibah (RA) had visited Abyssinia and described the beauty of that church and the images inside it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then raised his head and said:
أولئك إذا مات منهم الرجل الصالح بنوا على قبره مسجدا، ثم صوروا فيه تلك الصور، أولئك شرار الخلق عند الله
“These were the people that when a righteous man from among them died, they built a place of worship over his grave, and then made images in it. They are the worst of creation in the sight of Allah.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 1341; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 528)
Statements of the Scholars
❀ ‘Allāmah Mullā ‘Alī al-Qārī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1014 AH) writes:
Their intent was that these ignorant ones from the People of the Book or from a group among the Jews and Christians, whenever a righteous man, whether a Prophet or saint, passed away, they would build a mosque upon his grave, establishing a place of worship, calling it a church. Then they placed images of the righteous there, as reminders and for encouragement in worship through them. Later generations came, and Shayṭān beautified those earlier deeds for them, telling them that their forefathers used to worship these images. Thus, they fell into idol worship.
(Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ: 7/2558)
❀ Excessive veneration of the saints led to their images being made after death. After the passage of time, grave worship began, and eventually, idols were erected. Hence, grave worship is in reality idol worship. From the beginning until now, shirk has spread among mankind through this very path.
❀ Qāḍī ‘Iyāḍ (d. 544 AH) states:
The ignorant believe that turning towards graves in prayer is a means of nearness (to Allah). This belief was the very foundation of idol worship.
(Ikmāl al-Mu‘lim: 3/441; al-Mufhim by al-Qurṭubī: 2/628)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar (d. 852 AH) writes:
The story of the righteous was the beginning point of the people of Nūḥ worshipping idols. Those after them followed their path.
(Fatḥ al-Bārī: 8/669)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Kathīr (d. 774 AH) states:
The origin of idol worship was exaggeration concerning graves and their occupants. The Prophet ﷺ commanded that graves be leveled and effaced. Exaggeration about human beings is forbidden.
(al-Bidāyah wa’l-Nihāyah: 14/172)
❀ ‘Allāmah al-Qurṭubī (d. 671 AH) says:
Grave worship leads to the worship of those buried in them, just as this was the cause of idol worship.
(Tafsīr al-Qurṭubī: 10/380)
❀ Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) states:
Indeed, the origin of shirk in the world was the worship of righteous humans and their statues. They themselves were the intended objects. Another type of shirk originated in the worship of celestial bodies, such as the sun, moon, or other stars. The idols were crafted as talismanic representations of these stars. The shirk of the people of Ibrāhīm (AS) was wholly or partly of this kind. Another type of shirk was based on the worship of angels or jinn; idols were made in their honor. Otherwise, lifeless idols were never worshipped for their own sake but due to the reasons that necessitated such worship. The shirk of the Arabs was mostly of the first type, though it contained aspects of all forms.
(Majmū‘ al-Fatāwā: 17/460)
❀ ‘Allāmah Ibn ‘Ābidīn al-Shāmī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1252 AH) writes:
The fundamental reason for idol worship was making the graves of the righteous into places of prostration.
(Fatāwā Shāmī: 1/380)
Conclusion:The spread of shirk in the world has always been rooted in the exaggeration of love and reverence for saints and pious people, which led to grave worship, image-making, and ultimately idol worship.
