INTRODUCTION
Consequences of ‘shirk’ are very serious
Those who commit ‘shirk’, all of their good deeds are rejected.
If a person commits ‘shirk’, that is, he associates partners with Allaah, all his good deeds (Swalaat, Roza, Zikr, Hajj and Zakaat, etcetera) will be rejected.
On the Day of Judgment, when his deeds will be brought to account, he will see that all his good deeds have been rejected – all his good deeds will be naught and invalid and his score of good deeds will be zero in his book.
This is because in the holy Qur’an, Allaah Ta’alah says:
In the holy Qur’an the names of twenty-five prophets are mentioned. And in ‘surah al-An’am, verse 83 – 88 the names of eighteen prophets have been mentioned. These prophets are: Isa ibn Maryam, Yahya ibn Zakariyya, Zakariyya, Ilyas, Yunus, Dhu’l Kifl, Ayyub, Sulayman ibn Dawud, Musa ibn Imran, Harun ibn Imran, Shu’ayb, Yusuf ibn Ya’qub, Ishaq ibn Ibrahim, Isma’il ibn Ibrahim, Lut, Salih, Hud, Idris (Alaihimous salaam)
After having mentioned their names Allaah Ta’alah says: “if they were to join other gods with Him, all that they did would be in vain for them”. In this verse, Allaah Ta’alah is showing us that if it happens that the prophets commit ‘shirk’, their good deeds too will be in vain.
It is important that we Muslims must have the firm conviction that none of the prophets of Allaah Ta’alah have ever committed any sins. All the prophets were honest, honourable, virtuous and in way of Truth. They all called the people to believe in Allaah Ta’alah as the Only God. And Allaah Ta’alah has supported them all the way through by empowering them to perform miracles to show mankind that the message they were spreading was the Truth. Prophets are perfect beings and they are a perfect example to mankind.
Here Allaah Ta’alah is explaining to mankind that committing ‘shirk’ is a very grave act that destroys and ruins a person’s life in the hereafter. Therefore we should not just believe what Tom, Dick and Harry tell us and fall prey to ‘shirk’.
The final result : ‘Shirk’ makes (jannat) paradise (haraam) forbidden and makes hell an eternal dwelling place for he who commits it. Even if the person regrets or feels sad for having committed ‘shirk’ it won’t solve his problem in the hereafter.
‘Shirk’ is the most degrading act that exists
- (i) ‘Shirk’ brings a person to the lowest level of disgrace when it comes to his dignity and honour.
- (ii) ‘Shirk’ is the root of all sins and superstitions. For instance, ‘shirk’ causes people to believe that, jinn, souls, humans, animals and other things such as rocks, trees, water, stars, sun, etcetera have certain divine powers. All these are superstitious practices that were born out of ‘shirk’ in the time of ignorance.
- (iii) ‘Shirk’ is an injustice. When people praise, glorify and worship the creation and other creatures instead of praising, glorifying and worshipping their Creator (who has given them life), then this act of theirs, becomes the greatest injustice towards their Creator.
- (iv) ‘Shirk’ brings worries, fears and nervousness because that person believes in the power, capacity and anger of other divinities (creatures) that are false gods. In fact, he is supposed to have the fear of Allaah instead of fearing these useless creatures.
What is ‘shirk’?
‘Shirk’ in the Islamic term means:
- (i) Assigning the divine attributes, powers and the honour of Allaah Ta’alah to things or objects or creatures that belong to Allaah Ta’alah Himself.
- (ii) To worship other things or creatures apart from Allaah.
- (iii) To worship other creatures so as to rival in the worshipping of Allaah.
- (iv) To believe that the source of power that can cause good or bad is from others instead from Allaah.
The verses of the holy Qur’an clearly show that ‘shirk’ is a very grave act.
First Quranic verse:-
Shirk is the biggest crime that exists
Murder, terrorist attack (killing innocent people through terrorism), stealing, are some of the greatest crimes of man. Many people think that these serious crimes are the most offensive ones that can be committed people. But there is one crime that is more serious than all these serious crimes put all-together. That crime is the act of committing ‘shirk’.
There is no doubt that those mentioned crimes above are very serious crimes indeed but ‘shirk’ is the number one most serious crime than any of these. ‘Shirk’ is the number one crime on the top of the list of the most serious crimes. Any other crimes other than ‘shirk’ come after it.
So the question we ask ourselves is, how is it possible that ‘shirk’ is the most serious crime that exists?
When a person commits ‘shirk’ he commits a very grave injustice towards the One who provides for him his necessities of life (food, clothing, shelter, air, water, sun, etcetera) to sustain him. All his life, every second of it, his Creator keeps on bestowing him with His infinite favours, bounties and blessings. So, is it not then a great offence to commit ‘shirk’ towards Allaah Ta’alah who has blessed us so abundantly? If this is our way of thanking Him, then it is our ingratitude in its most extreme form. How ungrateful are we?
The minimum or the least that we could do to show Allaah our gratitude is to distance ourselves from all and any kind of ‘shirk’ and be His obedient servant all our life.
Second Quranic verse:-
Shirk is an unforgivable sin
Note carefully what Allaah Ta’alah is telling us here that He will forgive any other sins except ‘shirk’. This means that all other sins are forgivable but ‘shirk’ is not! That verse itself is enough to make us think, reflect and understand what kind of sin ‘shirk’ is.
If a person has committed other sins (not shirk) and has repented later, Allaah will forgive him. If he has died without having repented, it is possible that Allaah Ta’alah will forgive him. Or Allaah Ta’alah will punish him in the hell fire and when his punishment is over, He will allow him to be admitted in Jannat(Paradise).
However, a person who has committed ‘shirk’ and died without repenting, Allaah Ta’alah will never forgive him and jannat (paradise) is forbidden for him.
Third Quranic verse:-
Jannat (Paradise) is forbidden for he who commits ‘shirk’
In the above verse the message is clear that he has associated partners to Allaah Ta’alah ‘jannat’, that is Paradise, will be forever forbidden for him. He will dwell in the hell fire for eternity and will never come out of it.
Fourth Quranic verse:-
Those who commit ‘shirk’ nullify all their good deeds
When a person commits ‘shirk’ all his good deeds go in vain. Allaah Ta’alah wipes out all his good actions. And therefore in his book of accounts there are no good deeds at all. In other words zero good deeds for him.
Allaah Ta’alah is warning us that ‘shirk’ is a dangerous and catastrophic thing. It destroys, wipes out, nullifies and cancels all the good actions (or good deeds) that a person has done in his life.
The Biggest Loser
A person may have spent his entire life doing good things but because he was negligent of ‘shirk’ and did not stay away from it, this is what will happen to him on the Day of Judgment:-
On the Day of Judgment, he will find out that he is the biggest loser. Irrespective of all his good deeds and sacrifices that he has put behind them, his balance of good deeds in his book will be zero and ‘jannat’ (paradise) will be forbidden for him as he will not be allowed to enter it. He will dwell in the hellfire forever.
‘Oh regret, Oh regret’ but it will be Too Late, Too Late !!!
Fifth Quranic verse:
‘Shirk’ is an injustice and an oppression
Hazrat Muhammad (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) has explained that ‘shirk’ is ‘zulm'(wrong) :- associating partners with Allaah Ta’alah. So, those who do commit ‘shirk’, will be guided and there is security for them in ‘akhirat (life after death) and these people will be guided.Sixth Quranic verse:
Those who commit ‘shirk’ are impure
The above verse describes those who commit as filthy, unclean and impure and they can only be purified through having ‘imaan'(belief in the Oneness of Allaah).
Why should ‘shirk’ be known and feared?
Allaah Ta’alah created humans with Tawheed (belief in the Oneness of Allaah Ta’alah) in them. But it is only after they (humans) have been created that they became pagans (that is, they started committing ‘shirk’).
Hazrat Muhammad (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) has said: ‘ Each child is born is on ‘fitra’, that is, he is naturally pre-disposed to accept Allaah as One God (this is called ‘tawheed’), but it is his parents that make him a Jew or a Christian…”
It is because of this that it is important for a Muslim to know what ‘shirk’ is and how it has been propagated by people when in fact at the origin mankind was created in ‘tawheed’ (belief in the oneness of Allaah).
To avoid ‘shirk’ we should learn what it is and how it manifests in people’s life.
Many Muslims think that they are safe from ‘shirk’ and that they are not affected by it because they have read the ‘kalimah’
What is the kalimah? It is the Islamic creed that one reads to testify that ‘there is no god worthy of worship, except Allaah, and that the prophet Muhammad ‘sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam’ is His last messenger.’
Hazrat Muhammad (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) has said: “the thing that I fear most for my people is ‘shirk Al-Asghar’ (minor shirk)” [Tabrani]
Hazrat Muhammad (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) was talking to his ‘sahabas’ (sahabas were the best people after the prophets – his companions) and he was telling them that the thing he feared most for them was ‘shirk’.
So, it is very important that we strive hard to remove all traces of ‘shirk’ from our belief and actions.
Fear ‘Shirk’
Hazrat Ibrahim (Alaihis salaam), was the father of prophets, The Friend of Allaah Ta’alah and he believed in the oneness of Allaah Ta’alah, and here he was asking, supplicating and invoking Allaah Ta’alah: “Oh Allaah, protect me and my family from ‘shirk’.”
A du’a (prayer of supplication) that Hazrat Muhammad (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) used to ask
‘Allaahummah inni a’ouzou bika an ushrika bika wa ana a’lam wa astaghfiruka lima la a’lam’.
‘Oh Allaah I seek refuge in You from committing ‘shirk’ (associating partners) with You and I ask You to forgive for things that I do unknowingly.’
Hazrat Muhammad (sal lal laahu alaihi wa sal lam) and the ‘sahabas’ used to ask Allaah Ta’alah to protect them from ‘shirk’.
Do we truly fear ‘shirk’?
Do we ask Allaah Ta’alah to protect us from ‘shirk’?
Conclusion
- 1) ‘Shirk’ is the biggest crime that exists
- 2) ‘Shirk’ is a sin that Allaah Ta’alah will not forgive
- 3) With exception to ‘shirk’, Allaah will forgive all other sins if He wills so
- 4) Jannat (Paradise) is forbidden for those who commit ‘shirk’
- 5) He who commits ‘shirk’, all of his good deeds are nullified
- 6) ‘Shirk’ is a big injustice and an oppression.
- 7) Those who commit ‘shirk’ are unclean.
So, it is important that:
- 1) We need to work on our ‘imaan’ (faith in Allaah)
- 2) Supplicate and beg Allaah Ta’alah to protect us from ‘shirk’
- 3) Stay away from all beliefs that contains ‘shirk’ or even traces of it in them
- 4) Stay away from all practices that involve act of ‘shirk’ or in which there are traces or signs of ‘shirk’