WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

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WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

There is a lot of division amongst muslims over the defintion of word shirk therefore could anyone explain what shirk exactly is that allah will not forgive.

Please only and only use the quran to define the word shrik and please do not insult anyone participating in this thread because of their views. We are all here to learn so please stay cool and give good evidences for your arguments and stand points.

thank you and all the best.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

my understanding of the definition is.....never to put anyone, thing,or symbol up next to allah we only follow and worship Allah..and love Allah the most
idolising is forbidden...

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

Shirk is a derivative from 'shareek' ..to be a partner - to/ accompanied .. aj-joined... . assuming with ....

Therefore, to partner ..accompny .. adjoind .....Make an equal or equivalent be it 'something' or someone ..a being .. to Allah Almighty ..IS Shirk.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

(1:5)

Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'een

You alone we worship and to you alone we pray for help

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

Thank you friends for taking part. Shirk in wordly sense is association or partnership of things in being or in propertr of a being or actions. In islam shirk is antonym of towheed.

Wordly shirk is possible in three form a)categorising things in being of the same category eg believing that there are more of the beings of the same kind. This is called shirk fizzaat.

b)Beliving that there are more than one beings that have similar ability or abilities or properties. This is known as shrik fissifaat.

c)Believing that there are more than one beings who are capable of doing the same thing in the very same way. This is known as shirk fil afaal or amaal.

Many people amongst muslims claim that waseelah and shifaat etc are shirk, is this the correct understanding of the quran? If yes, please provide evidences from the quran and if not why not? If possible kindly provide the evidences from the quran.

thanks and all the best.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

I thought defination of shirak comes from surah-e-Iklhaas.

[QUOTE]
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
[/QUOTE]
[Shakir 112:1] Say: He, Allah, is One.
[Pickthal 112:1] Say: He is Allah, the One!
[Yusufali 112:1] Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;

[QUOTE]

اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ
[/QUOTE]

[Shakir 112:2] Allah is He on Whom all depend.
[Pickthal 112:2] Allah, the eternally Besought of all!
[Yusufali 112:2] Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;

[QUOTE]

لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
[/QUOTE]
[Shakir 112:3] He begets not, nor is He begotten.
[Pickthal 112:3] He begetteth not nor was begotten.
[Yusufali 112:3] He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;

[QUOTE]
وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
[/QUOTE]
[Shakir 112:4] And none is like Him.
[Pickthal 112:4] And there is none comparable unto Him.
[Yusufali 112:4] And there is none like unto Him.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

brother Aqeel, surah ikhlaas has definition of towheed or monotheism the definition of shrik or polytheism is told in surah alkafiroon.

  • 109.001 * YUSUFALI: Say : O ye that reject Faith!
    PICKTHAL: Say: O disbelievers!
    SHAKIR: Say: O unbelievers!
    • 109.002 * YUSUFALI: I worship not that which ye worship,
      PICKTHAL: I worship not that which ye worship;
      SHAKIR: I do not serve that which you serve,
    • 109.003 * YUSUFALI: Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
      PICKTHAL: Nor worship ye that which I worship.
      SHAKIR: Nor do you serve Him Whom I serve:
    • 109.004 * YUSUFALI: And I will not worship that which ye have been wont to worship, PICKTHAL: And I shall not worship that which ye worship.
      SHAKIR: Nor am I going to serve that which you serve,
    • 109.005 * YUSUFALI: Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
      PICKTHAL: Nor will ye worship that which I worship.
      SHAKIR: Nor are you going to serve Him Whom I serve:
    • 109.006 * YUSUFALI: To you be your Way, and to me mine.
      PICKTHAL: Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.
      SHAKIR: You shall have your religion and I shall have my religion.
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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

Hmmm, Well i still understood Shirk better from your previous post "post 5"

I dont really get TOTAL grasp of shirak from surah-e-Kafiroon becoz it talks about us worshiping ALLAH and no one else and disbelivers not worshiping ALLAH. In a sense u r rite becoz worshiping anyone but ALLAH is Shirk.

I thought surah-e-Ikhlaas can define shirk becoz it is definition of Tauheed and once we understand Tauheed shirk can be defined as total opposite of Tauheed.

I must say its a very good topic. I have been discussing shia and sunni for a while and didnt even relaize i wud have hard time bringing up defination of shirk from Quran.

Wasalm
Aqeel

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

obeying manmade laws of tyrants and not shariah is shirk

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

Peace Mughal1

Just a small note that you have limited us to use the Qur'an for you definition yet you have posted this without abiding by your own rules.

Please go to places where this term is used:

Surah Luqman 31:13 - "... la tushrik biAllahi inna-(al)-shshirka lathulmun AAatheem"
(you) do no shirk with Allah, verily shirk is the highest zulm

hence Shirk is the highest crime

Surah Saba 34:22 - which translates to Say: "Call upon other (gods) whom ye fancy, besides Allah. They have no power,- not the weight of an atom,- in the heavens or on earth: No (sort of) share have they therein, nor is any of them a helper to Allah.

From here we can see that shirk is:

a) To call on other gods besides Allah (SWT)
b) The act of saying that power exists to concepts that have no power, not even an atom in any domain of understanding
c) The act of saying such concepts hold the status of "helper" or "share" the power

All of these three are concepts of shirk taken from this verse alone.

Surah Fatir:

35:14 If ye invoke them, they will not listen to your call, and if they were to listen, they cannot answer your (prayer). On the Day of Judgment they will reject your "Partnership". and none, (O man!) can tell thee (the Truth) like the One Who is acquainted with all things.

a) To believe that other 'gods' can listen to them
b) To believe that other 'gods' can answer them
c) To believe that other 'gods' are acquainted with all things/matters.

35:40 Say: "Have ye seen (these) 'Partners' of yours whom ye call upon besides Allah. Show Me what it is they have created in the (wide) earth. Or have they a share in the heavens? Or have We given them a Book from which they (can derive) clear (evidence)?- Nay, the wrong-doers promise each other nothing but delusions.

a) To believe in a presence or visible object as deity
b) To believe other entities have created in the Earth
c) To believe in others having a share in heaven
d) To believe that scripture can be revealed by other than Allah

All are aspects of shirk ...

It therefore follows from d) here that those people who used to change the scripture with their own hands, those who did so were putting themselves in the place of God. Hence any who followed their edited versions were in fact committing shirk. And so on ...

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

Thank you brother aqeel, yes surah al ikhlaas is a very good definitin of monotheism because it leaves no room as to what god means and what one god means.

Likewise surah al kafiroon leaves us in no doubt what polytheism means is faith in other gods than allah.

You are quite right that we just do not pay much attention some time to the quran when we read it till some one raises some question and then all of sudden we realise something that we never thought of before. Well that shows it is good idea to discuss thing becaue that helps learning.

Thanks and all the best.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

No dear Das Reich, that is not definiton of shirk. Because shirk simply put is belief not works. Belief is related to faith not works. You start with beliefs and come to works. For example if you do not believe in islam you cannot be a muslim just by doing islamic things. Likewise to do acts of shirk you need to be believer in shirk eg multiple gods ie polytheism is a belief in multiple gods just like monotheism is belief in one god or atheism is a belief in no god at all.

If some one believes in allah yet does not do what allah says then such a person commits sin not shirk. Shirk is also sin but not every sin is shirk. Shirk is a kind of kufar but not all kind of kufar is necessarily shirk. In short smaller thing is part of the bigger thing because the bigger thing is whole or more comprehensive.

If one denies shariah then one becomes kafir not mushrik. If one denies existence of one god in favour of multiple gods only then one becomes a mushrik.

regards and all the best

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

Thank you dear psyah and peace to you too.

Yes shirk is grave sin, a sin that if not repented from before death will not be forgiven as the quran state in 4/48 & 116 etc. The same is true about atheism and deliberate rejection of islam.

Most of the verses define monotheism and polytheism and the point to note here is the context in which quran was revealed ie some in makkah and some in madina. So people used to believe in idol gods, angels as daughter of allah and jesus as son of god or god. Coming to hindus they are used to believing in incarnations of god like christians. For example, in hinduism people believe in incarnations of shiva, brahma and vishnu etc ie rama, sita, krishna, radha etc are believed to be gods and godesses. The quran opposes such beliefs very clearly and gives a lot of solid reasons for such beliefs being wrong.

So it is very clear what the quran means by monotheism and polytheism when we look into the quran in light of real world belief systems.

All these are defined as shirk fizzaat. Shirk fissifaat cannot exist on its own nor can shirk fil afaal or amaal because amaal and afaal or sifaat need zaat to be part of it. ie sifaat can only be attributes or properties of something. If the thing does not exist its sifaat cannot exist either. Therefore shirk fissifaat or afaal cannot occur. In other words if one is not believed as god then one cannot have godly attributes or carry out godly actions.

This means if I do not believe in something as a deity, whatever I do for it cannot be defined as its worship or ibaadat. For example, if one does not believe in allah then whatever one does any for allah is not worship of allah. Likewise if one does not beloieve in an idol as god then whatever one does for the idol is not its worship.

However, some of the muslims like muhammad bin abdul wahab have redefined towheed and shirk and as a result the ummah has fallen in to dispute.

The question is, how to get it back in to one people who do not condemn each other as kafir and mushrik and kill each other?

Is it possible to prove one or the other right or wrong in order to settle the dispute? I think we can but does anyone else have similar view or do you think that it is impossible to do so?

regards and all the best.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

Salams Mughal1

Ok my point should be clearer with the following narrative: Although you are sharing with us your path towards an understanding the premise you have given us is quite difficult to achieve. For example shirk fizzat or shirk fissifat or shirk fiamaal are three terms, new ones that you have introduced. We have been trying to find the term "shirk" in the Qur'an. These subdivisions sound like something that scholars would do to classify the types of shirk not something that can be found in the Qur'an. All of a sudden we are being given three separate terms instead of the one. Now it is your obligation to show in the Qur'an where each of these three exist and furthermore to show in the Qur'an that some types of shirk are acceptable. Additionally you need to show that Abdul Wahab introduced the redefining of tawheed and shirk.

I am not a follower of Abdul Wahab because of the agreement that was made with the Al-Sauds causing a secularisation of Deen in the region. However every claim against him may not always be warranted either.

Coming back to the Qur'an, we can see that Christians and Jews are collectively called "People of the Book" together with some other groups. Are we saying according to your definition that Jews do not commit an unforgivable form of shirk but the Christian do? If so the term Mushrikeen has not been used for Christians ... why?

There is a problem that we need to overcome ... Do we worship Allah (SWT) because He is the Only One who deserves worship since ALL His Qualities are Unique to Him? Or do we worship Him because He is Deity and nothing else is supposed to be worshipped regardless of the Attributes? How would we identify Allah (SWT) in other nations who have another Name for Him? Somewhere we need to see the critical importance of the Asma WasSifaat as being the "MEANS" to understand how we should "feel" and "regard" Allah (SWT).

Also there is Riya' as mentioned in hadith, this will need to be clarified in what you have stated. This is a huge discussion actually and people of Athari, Asha'ri and Maturidi aqaid all have different slants on this, but each of them is considered acceptable. Some hardliners of any of these positions do not agree with me. Is there a resolution to this ... perhaps but first each and every one needs to be willing to listen to one another.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

u r sadly mistaken my friend , bowing to tyrants willingly is shirk
cuz that makes u a hypocrite

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

wa alaikum salaam dear psyah and thank you for replying.

You are absolutely right the quran does not mention such things but the quran is right in telling us the whole thing in just two short surah already mentioned.

The quran calls some jews and christians kufaar but not mushrik. It is because they rejected truth after believing it.

The quran defines only and only shirk fizzaat by saying there is none like un to him=allah. Word KUFU stands for classification or category ie allah belongs to category or kind of god. Just like humans belong to human kind and cats to cat kind.

There is no need to mention shirk fissifaat because allah is ever lasting and ever powerful ie all his sifaat are ever lasting not haadath=accidental like creation.

So people who believe in oneness of allah ie that allah is the only one of his kind, they become free of any kind of shirk. In other word it is not possible for a muslim to be mushrik as well, as a matter of rule ie oppsite are impossible to occur ie the while one is a muslim he cannot be a mushrik too.

regards and all the best.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

No dear Das Reich, it cannot be shirk no matter what because bowing to tyranny is not accepting the tyrant god.

For anything to be shirk in quranic sense it involves belief plus intention not mere act. For example, if I call you as a fellow human being then it is fine but if call you as a god then that is not fine.

There are many people confused about shirk this is why I am disccussing it. So many call each and every act shrik because they think one can become a mushrik merely by an act.

For example, sajda is haraam in islam for anyone else other than allah. However if one does make sajda to anyone other than allah does that person become a musrikh? It depends on what he believes about the thing he made sajda to or what his intention is or what his purpose is.

If the person did not believe that thing a god then one has committed no shirk whatsoever. However one has committed a grave sin by doing what he was told not to do.

The point is, it is wrong to categorise people as kaafir or mushrik or muslim merly on basis of actions they perform.

Let me explain it further. A man eats and donkey also eats, will it be right to call a man a donkey or a a donkey a man merely because donkeys and people both eat? The answer is no we cannot do that because if we did that then the whole thing will become a big confusion.

Another point is that the quran was revealed to a people who already spoke the language that is in the quran ie you do not send message to a people in a language that does not exist.

What this means is that people who had this langauge that is in the quran had already the knowledge of the words in the quran and they knew their definitions also.

So we cannot read the verses in the quran and interpret them in the way that the words in the quran become senseless and confusing.

Since the quran argues against the people that were there already who had certain beliefs, so we have no choice but to accept those meanings of the quranic words.

So definitions of words like monotheism, polytheism were already in circulation at the time and so we cannot interpret quranic verses accoring to our individual likings.

Therefore shirk that is unforgiveable sin is all about believing in multiples gods with allah or other than allah.

regards and all the best.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

Also, the sajdah made by the angels before Adam (s) clarifies that it is the belief in divinity of any other besides Allah that constitutes shirk and of course they committed no shirk even when they prostrated before Adam since they believed in the Oneness of Allah and were merely acting on His command. This is an eye opener for Wahabis who consider acts such as touching/kissing the tomb of Muhammad (s) to be tantamount to Shirk.

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Peace Geist

This was going to be my next point which leads on to a very heavy discussion on kufr and shirk ... I'll choose to leave it here though.

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Re: WHAT IS QURANIC DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

thats a very superficial understanding of shirk my friend
tell me if u abandon shariah and follow manmade laws who are you bowing to GOd or the tyrant
actions speak louder than words