Concept of SHIRK, what is it? Please explain the best you can in Quranic context.
Is it possible to show that this matter can be settled between various groups about tawheed and shirk in light of the quranic teaching?
Re: Concept of SHIRK, what is it? Please explain the best you can in Quranic context
Praise is due to Allah whose worth cannot be described by speakers, whose bounties cannot be counted by calculators and whose claim (to obedience) cannot be satisfied by those who attempt to do so, whom the height of intellectual courage cannot appreciate, and the diving of understanding cannot reach; He for whose description no limit has been laid down, no eulogy exists, no time is ordained and no duration is fixed. He brought forth creation through His Omnipotence, dispersed winds through His Compassion, and made firm the shaking earth with rocks.
The foremost in religion is the acknowledgement of Him, the perfection of acknowledging Him is to testify Him, the perfection of testifying Him is to believe in His Oneness, the perfection of believing in His Oneness is to regard Him Pure, and the perfection of His purity is to deny Him attributes, because every attribute is a proof that it is different from that to which it is attributed and everything to which something is attributed is different from the attribute. Thus whoever attaches attributes to Allah recognises His like, and who recognises His like regards Him two; and who regards Him two recognises parts for Him; and who recognises parts for Him mistook Him; and who mistook Him pointed at Him; and who pointed at Him admitted limitations for Him; and who admitted limitations for Him numbered Him.
Whoever said in what is He, held that He is contained; and whoever said on what is He held He is not on something else. He is a Being but not through phenomenon of coming into being. He exists but not from non-existence. He is with everything but not in physical nearness. He is different from everything but not in physical separation. He acts but without connotation of movements and instruments. He sees even when there is none to be looked at from among His creation. He is only One, such that there is none with whom He may keep company or whom He may miss in his absence.
From the first sermon of Imam Ali recorded in Nahjul Balagha
Re: Concept of SHIRK, what is it? Please explain the best you can in Quranic context
Dear Pagluu, as we all know that Allah is a unique being as par quran and none of the people who claim to be muslims think anyone else is God other than Allah yet people argue over terms tawheed and shirk, why?
The argument is mainly between brelvies and shias on one side and deobandies, wahbaies and salafies on the other just to point out as a reference.
The point is why we muslims fail to understand terms like tawheed and shirk in quranic context as concepts?
Re: Concept of SHIRK, what is it? Please explain the best you can in Quranic context
Surah Furqan
الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَلَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ شَرِيكٌ فِي الْمُلْكِ وَخَلَقَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَقَدَّرَهُ تَقْدِيرً
25:2 He to whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: no son has He begotten, nor has He a partner in His dominion: it is He who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions.
وَاتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِهِ آلِهَةً لَّا يَخْلُقُونَ شَيْئًا وَهُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ وَلَا يَمْلِكُونَ لِأَنفُسِهِمْ ضَرًّا وَلَا نَفْعًا وَلَا يَمْلِكُونَ مَوْتًا وَلَا حَيَاةً وَلَا نُشُورًا
25:3 Yet have they taken, besides him, gods that can create nothing but are themselves created; that have no control of hurt or good to themselves; nor can they control death nor life nor resurrection.
Re: Concept of SHIRK, what is it? Please explain the best you can in Quranic context
According to 25:3, some people have taken Ali ra, others have taken Muhammad s.a.w and saints as gods,
though
none of them can create anything
they themselves were created
they have no control of harm and benefit to themselves
they cannot control death, life or resurrection
Yet people worship them in the name of Wasila, Barakah and whatever!
Re: Concept of SHIRK, what is it? Please explain the best you can in Quranic context
Dear friends, the interesting thing for us would be to try and understand word SHIRK from root SHEEN,RAA and KAAF. The concrete root meaning of this root is partnership. There are also derived root meanings of this root as well but for our purpose the given meaning will do.
The main question that we need to solve is, is partnership of God and mankind acceptable in any shape or form or does islam stop mankind from shiraakat of all sorts with God? Is all kind of shirk forbidden or does quran only forbids a particular kind of shirk? Is it possible for anything to exist and function without being part of divine plan?
If we read the quran we are clearly told that Allah has his party and shaitaan has his party. When we have parties we have partners or associates. If association of any kind of anything with God is shirk then how can universe or anything in it exist and function without being in partnership with Allah?
The answer to this question should leave none in doubt that in the quranic context the concept of shirk is not as it is understood by our deobandi, wahabi and salafi brethren.
So the concept that Allah does not enter any kind of partnership with anyone is utterly wrong in light of the quran. However, when Allah enters in partnership with anyone he has his own purpose in mind. One must remember that as far as quran is concerned there is no other God than Allah so there is no chance of partnership between Allah and any other God because no other God exists as far as the quran is concerned.
This being the case why the quran stops mankind from shirk and what does shirk really mean in the quranic context?
The only answer is that people attribute other things that are not Gods with attributes of God knowing that they are not Gods. Doe this answer our original question? No it does not. Why not? Because it is Allah himself who uses same attributive labels for others that he uses for himself. For example, Allah is raheem and he also tells us his prophet is also raheem. Allah sees and so do other living things, Allah hears and so do other living things. This means that any word can be used for anyone other than God which God uses for himself as his own attribute and it is not shirk unless Allah objects to use of any word as a label for anyone else other than him. So are there any words that if we use them for anyone else they will mean the kind of shirk that is forbidden in islam in the quran by Allah?
Please try and answer this question as best as you can to solve this problem.
May Allah open up our minds through his message so that we have proper understanding of islamic concepts in their own proper contexts.
Re: Concept of SHIRK, what is it? Please explain the best you can in Quranic context
Dear friends, the verses quoted from the quran tell us that Allah has no equal ie there is no other God than Allah himself. However, there are verses in the quran which tell us Allah has a party and it is known as HIZBULLAH in opposition to HIZBUSH SHAITAAN ie party of satan.
This means shiraakat or partnership with Allah is not right in one sense but ok in another sense ie Allah has no rival or supporter in one sense and that sense is, none is there of his own kind to oppose or support him but then he says he has partnership with people who support his goal and related guidelines and program. This very clearly sets out for us limits regarding definition of kufar and shirk.
The definition of shirk therefore is that there is no God other than Allah and that is why only and only his rule must prevail throughout his kingdom. So anyone who lives by rule of any other is committing the kind of kufar and shirk the quran forbids and warns about consequences. This is perfect definition of concept of tawheed and shirk but there is a problem with this definition and that problem is that none of the people who claim to be muslims are really muslims if they accept to live by rule of other than Allah.
On this basis one has to say that today the whole ummah seems to be involved in kufaro shirk because it is not living by rule of Allah. You will agree that the quran is book of law and it is law of God and muslims today are not living by it instead they are paying lip service to it and they think they can get away with it that is why they continue living that way instead of learning the quran as a divine constitution and spreading its message as a divine manifesto so that mankind come together on that basis and the human society could be based upon the given divine constitution so that there is peace in the world and so that humanity could make progress and prosper instead of tearin g each other apart.
The quran talks about mushrikoon and the reason it calls them as such is not because they believe in other Gods like Allah but because they attribute the right of rule to others than Allah. You see in any organisation the head of it has to be only and only one otherwise organisation cannot come about and even if their is one already it falls apart if there arises rivalry. So any party that opposes divine rule is called party of shaitaan ie the opposing party. In the quranic explanation all who oppose divine rule are shayaateen=the opponents.
So people regardless they claim to be muslims or nonmuslims if they attribute ruler-ship to any other in the kingdom of God against the set out divine program and purpose they are kafiro mushrik in sight of God. So it should be clear to all all that ruling systems against the ruling system of Allah lead to kufar and shirk because they lead mankind to goals other than peace ie they mislead people and that is why there is strife or fasaad in the world. It shows consequences of falling in to kufar and shirk very clearly before our very eyes.
This is why accepting rule by anyone other than Allah is kufar and shirk because it takes away mankind from objective and program of Allah that Allah has set out for mankind. So any goal or program that takes mankind away from goal and guidelines of Allah and his program is kufar and shirk.
There is no other way to define kufar and shirk in quranic context as I understand the quran. I will be grateful if anyone can define kufar and shirk as clearly as I have stated it here. This definition is a challenging one for all people who claim to be muslims or nonmuslim and are fighting over what is kufar and shirk.
All people are especially invited to show how they can bring peace in the world unless they accept peace as a goal and certain guidelines as basis to lead humanity to peace. If they have no goal and related guidelines and program that benefits mankind and do not accept the quranic message either then they lose the right to be called human beings because they are at the level of animals intellectually.
People are animals and that is what they are proving to the whole world by their harmful and destructive actions against each other against tyhe clear advice of God, their creator. The quranic way is the only way if we want to solve human differences and be one people. Any other way is just kufar and shirk and only and only a way to ditch of hell of our own making. The question is, for how long more people want to continue living like this in terrible pain and suffering? The answer rests with mankind themselves.
If we want peace then we need a goal that is acceptable to all and guidelines that work in favour of mankind. Failing to realise that will keep us living in hell in this world. So all must do their bit because peace cannot be brought about without willing cooperation between people. The willing cooperation between people is impossible unless we educate each other along the line the quran teaches us because we have not come up with anything better ourselves.
In all this explanation the main point is definition has to be based upon objectivity or purpose because of which terms are coined. Now if purpose or objective is of such vital importance then all roles of all characters must also be defined by way of over all purpose or goal. This is why attributing all sorts of tasks and powers to other than God would be kufar and shirk as well.
It is for this reason a messenger sent by Allah has no extraordinary powers that he does not need for performing his set out task or mission. However he must have the abilities to do his job he is chosen to do. All prophets were human beings just like all other human beings and the only things that distinguished them were their receiving of message from God and delivering it to rest of humanity and working hard for bringing about the rule of God in the world for the good of mankind.
Muslims are supposed to be good people because they ought to take the message of God they received from their prophet to rest of mankind in absence of their prophet in order to bring about divine kingdom for the good of mankind. It seems they are not doing their job as good as they ought to. The result is they are in pain themselves and the rest of human race is still waiting for divine kingdom to come. This is why muslims and nonmuslims all need to wake up and stop acting stupid.
This explanation should leave none in doubt as to what tawheed or monotheism really means. It is not about paying lip service to God and living as we like by our own man made rule.
Law is not given for pooja paat but for organising and regulating human society so that mankind could have a good life. Disorganised and unregulated life is life of jungle animals. Humans must prove they are better than animals by behaving better and better behaviour has to be organised and regulated behaviour in order to prevent harmful and destructive interaction between people themselves as well as between people and rest of natural world.
regards and all the best.
Re: Concept of SHIRK, what is it? Please explain the best you can in Quranic context
In my view, when someone believes in the power of anything other than God and his attributes, it;ll be counted as shirk
Such as believing in the power of Fame, wealth, anger, power, envy ..
For instance someone worships anger, anger gives him energy, he cooks anger in his heart, he thrives on anger, he runs on anger .. anger gives him control and power over others ... when he gets angry he gets consumed by it ..he keeps thinking about things that feed his anger and fuel his inner fire. Then that person worships anger and not God.