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Faizah · 01:20 PM

The Most Important Reasons for Shirk

Ghuloo/Exaggeration

This is the most important reason, without a doubt. Exaggeration of righteous people and their status is a type of Ghuloo. The most obvious proof for this is that the first incident of Shirk occurred due to the exaggeration of pious people, during the time of the people of Nooh ‘alayhis salaam. This was the start of Shirk; the exaggeration of saints. And saint worship is the biggest cause of Shirk today, amongst the Muslims and the Catholics, and the Catholics are notorious for this. The Muslims are no different, wherever you go in certain countries you will find a grave that is worshipped besides Allah. You will find that people make pilgrimages to this grave, and seek barakah from it, and they will actually make sajdah to this grave. Every third masjid has a grave in it, and the central theme of attraction is not the masjid but the grave, and people will come from far and wide just to worship this grave. And originally this person may have been a pious person, Allah knows best, but in general, most of them were people who did not fear Allah. As for ‘AbdulQaadir Jeylaani, we know nothing but good from him and his history, and we hope that he was indeed pious. But as for the Shirk that is associated with him today, he did not preach this. Rather, it was something his followers started. In our times, his grave is now a place of worship, an exaggeration of saints. Just like the people of Nooh did. That is why Ghuloo has explicitly been mentioned in the Qur’an;

“O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion.”

[An-Nisa 4:171]

This is because this is what the people of the book did; they exaggerated the status of Men and directed worship towards them. They put ‘Easa ibn Maryam above his status. Likewise, the Prophet SalAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘Those who exaggerate will be destroyed.’

The Callers to Shirk/Baatil

Of the examples of this is when Abu Talib approached death;

Narrated Sa’id ibn al-Musaiyab from his father:
‘When the time of death of Abu Talib approached, Allah’s Apostle went to him and found Abu Jahl ibn Hisham and ‘Abdullah ibn Abee Umaiya ibn al-Mughira by his side. Allah’s Apostle said to Abu Talib, “O Uncle! Say: None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, a sentence with which I shall be a witness for you before Allah.’ Abu Jahl and ‘Abdullah ibn Abee Umaiya said, “O Abu Talib! Are you going to denounce the religion of ‘Abdul Muttalib?” Allah’s Apostle kept on inviting Abu Talib to say it (i.e. ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah) while they (Abu Jahl and ‘Abdullah) kept on repeating their statement till Abu Talib said as his last statement that he was on the religion of ‘Abdul Muttalib and refused to say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’
[Saheeh Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 23, Number 442]

So Abu Jahl and ‘Abdullah ibn Abee Umaiya were amongst the callers to Baatil. So, as can be seen from above, this is one of the primary reasons for Shirk in this Dunya. In our times, we have ‘Ullemaa who have PhDs from various universities and institutions who are openly calling to Shirk, such as du’a to other than Allah, sacrificing to other than Allah, doing sajdah to other than Allah, and undertaking pilgrimages for other than the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. These people may have studied for decades, and appear to be very pious, i.e. long beards, wearing turbans etc. Yet they are Du’aat al-Baatil. These people can deceive others through not only their appearance, but also because they are fine orators and have eloquent speech, and through the use of weak and fabricated ahadeeth. So therefore the people are convinced by them. And that is why the Prophet SalAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘There will come a time when there will be callers to the gates of Hellfire. These people are shayateen in human form.” This is because Shayateen are of two types:

(i) Shayateen of the Jinn
(ii) Shayateen of the Ins (Mankind)

The majority of jinn fall in to the first category. However, there are some human beings, who are of normal birth, and their form is the form of a human, yet they are so evil that they are classified as shayateen, and amongst them are the callers of Baatil.

Obeying Culture/Forefathers

For example, ‘My father did it, so he must have been right’; ‘My ancestors did it so it must have been right’. And this is exactly the excuse of the Mushrikeen, throughout history and the generations; ‘We found our forefathers upon this, and we are going to follow their beliefs’.

“Nay! They say: "We found our fathers following a certain religion, and we do guide ourselves by their footsteps."

Just in the same way, whenever We sent a Warner before thee to any people, the wealthy ones among them said: "We found our fathers following a certain religion, and we will certainly follow in their footsteps."”

[Az-Zukhruf 43:22-23]

“When it is said to them: "Follow what Allah hath revealed:" They say: "Nay! We shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! Even though their fathers were void of wisdom and guidance?”

[Al-Baqara 2:170]

They said they would only follow what their fathers did. And this is also very common today. Those of us who are immigrants will have witnessed that this is used an excuse for committing Shirk in their native lands. And these excuses are the same excuses that the Mushrikeen of old used. Even though you are Muslims InshaAllah, don’t use this as an excuse to justify anything. It is stated in the Qur’an;

“He said: "What! Even if I brought you better guidance than that which ye found your fathers following?" They said: "For us, we deny that ye (prophets) are sent (on a mission at all)."”

[Az-Zukhruf 43:24]

So this evidence can be refuted, by reminding the Muslims that this was the same excuse used by the Mushrikeen of old, and this also the same reason that Abu Talib did not accept Islam. It was because of this ‘Asabiyyah, this Jahiliyyah this ancestral pride, that he did not accept Islam, and was therefore sentenced to Hellfire. This was also the case of the people of Nooh. As was stated previously, Shaytaan came to them with a lie, and told them that their ancestors worshipped those statues. And this lie was a sufficient enough reason to worship the statues, because of their ancestral pride.

Shaytaan’s Beautification of Shirk

Shaytaan tries to beautify Shirk to Mankind through his ways and means. And we find this clearly in the case of Nooh. What excuse did Shaytaan use for creating the idols? He used the excuse of Tawheed, so that they may be reminded of Tawheed when they looked at the idols. Yet he knew in the long term that it was likely to result in idol-worship. So Shaytaan started off by beautifying Shirk, so that people would fall in to it step by step. This why it is absolutely forbidden to have 3D statues and idols, and 2D hand drawn images of animals and humans. These are without a doubt Haram. And the main is because it leads to Shirk.

Shaytaan makes evil deeds, and in this case Shirk, seem beautiful. And he makes excuses, brings about doubts and Shubuhaat and Shahawaat, so that these callers to evil have evidences to use, e.g. fabricated ahadeeth, perverted ideas and concepts.

Incorrect analogies

Incorrect parables and analogies are very common cause of Shirk. An often used example is, ‘Just like the King, you cannot approach the King directly. The King is too holy, too noble to be approached directly. So you must go through people to approach the King. So too is Allah (wa A’udhubillah), like Nabi-Allah Muhammad SalAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ‘AbdulQaadir Jeylaani, Moinuddin Chisti, etc. and they will take up your du’a to Allah for you.’ There are many other types of analogies as well.

However, our religion is not based upon analogies. It is based upon the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah, and we only use Qiyaas when it is in accordance with the Qur’an and the Sunnah, not when it refutes the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah. When Allah says, ‘Worship Me alone’, you cannot make up a Qiyaas to go against this.

Here are some other reasons, briefly listed:

• Lying upon Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala

• Ignorance

• Arrogance

• Following your desires

• Not realising who Allah is

If someone understood the Asmaa and Sifaat of Allah, there is no way that he could fall in to Shirk.

	(#6 (permalink))
Faizah Min Ahlil Hadeeth Status: Offline Posts: 7,291 Reputation: 28719 Rep Power: 62 Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: ~ Daar as-Sa'aadah ~ Gender: Way of Life: Muslim	Re: A Critical Analysis of Shirk - 06-21-2007 The Most Important Reasons for Shirk Ghuloo/Exaggeration This is the most important reason, without a doubt. Exaggeration of righteous people and their status is a type of Ghuloo. The most obvious proof for this is that the first incident of Shirk occurred due to the exaggeration of pious people, during the time of the people of Nooh ‘alayhis salaam. This was the start of Shirk; the exaggeration of saints. And saint worship is the biggest cause of Shirk today, amongst the Muslims and the Catholics, and the Catholics are notorious for this. The Muslims are no different, wherever you go in certain countries you will find a grave that is worshipped besides Allah. You will find that people make pilgrimages to this grave, and seek barakah from it, and they will actually make sajdah to this grave. Every third masjid has a grave in it, and the central theme of attraction is not the masjid but the grave, and people will come from far and wide just to worship this grave. And originally this person may have been a pious person, Allah knows best, but in general, most of them were people who did not fear Allah. As for ‘AbdulQaadir Jeylaani, we know nothing but good from him and his history, and we hope that he was indeed pious. But as for the Shirk that is associated with him today, he did not preach this. Rather, it was something his followers started. In our times, his grave is now a place of worship, an exaggeration of saints. Just like the people of Nooh did. That is why Ghuloo has explicitly been mentioned in the Qur’an; “O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion.” [An-Nisa 4:171] This is because this is what the people of the book did; they exaggerated the status of Men and directed worship towards them. They put ‘Easa ibn Maryam above his status. Likewise, the Prophet SalAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘Those who exaggerate will be destroyed.’ The Callers to Shirk/Baatil Of the examples of this is when Abu Talib approached death; Narrated Sa’id ibn al-Musaiyab from his father: ‘When the time of death of Abu Talib approached, Allah’s Apostle went to him and found Abu Jahl ibn Hisham and ‘Abdullah ibn Abee Umaiya ibn al-Mughira by his side. Allah’s Apostle said to Abu Talib, “O Uncle! Say: None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, a sentence with which I shall be a witness for you before Allah.’ Abu Jahl and ‘Abdullah ibn Abee Umaiya said, “O Abu Talib! Are you going to denounce the religion of ‘Abdul Muttalib?” Allah’s Apostle kept on inviting Abu Talib to say it (i.e. ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah) while they (Abu Jahl and ‘Abdullah) kept on repeating their statement till Abu Talib said as his last statement that he was on the religion of ‘Abdul Muttalib and refused to say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’ [Saheeh Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 23, Number 442] So Abu Jahl and ‘Abdullah ibn Abee Umaiya were amongst the callers to Baatil. So, as can be seen from above, this is one of the primary reasons for Shirk in this Dunya. In our times, we have ‘Ullemaa who have PhDs from various universities and institutions who are openly calling to Shirk, such as du’a to other than Allah, sacrificing to other than Allah, doing sajdah to other than Allah, and undertaking pilgrimages for other than the sake of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala. These people may have studied for decades, and appear to be very pious, i.e. long beards, wearing turbans etc. Yet they are Du’aat al-Baatil. These people can deceive others through not only their appearance, but also because they are fine orators and have eloquent speech, and through the use of weak and fabricated ahadeeth. So therefore the people are convinced by them. And that is why the Prophet SalAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said, ‘There will come a time when there will be callers to the gates of Hellfire. These people are shayateen in human form.” This is because Shayateen are of two types: (i) Shayateen of the Jinn (ii) Shayateen of the Ins (Mankind) The majority of jinn fall in to the first category. However, there are some human beings, who are of normal birth, and their form is the form of a human, yet they are so evil that they are classified as shayateen, and amongst them are the callers of Baatil. Obeying Culture/Forefathers For example, ‘My father did it, so he must have been right’; ‘My ancestors did it so it must have been right’. And this is exactly the excuse of the Mushrikeen, throughout history and the generations; ‘We found our forefathers upon this, and we are going to follow their beliefs’. “Nay! They say: "We found our fathers following a certain religion, and we do guide ourselves by their footsteps." Just in the same way, whenever We sent a Warner before thee to any people, the wealthy ones among them said: "We found our fathers following a certain religion, and we will certainly follow in their footsteps."” [Az-Zukhruf 43:22-23] “When it is said to them: "Follow what Allah hath revealed:" They say: "Nay! We shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! Even though their fathers were void of wisdom and guidance?” [Al-Baqara 2:170] They said they would only follow what their fathers did. And this is also very common today. Those of us who are immigrants will have witnessed that this is used an excuse for committing Shirk in their native lands. And these excuses are the same excuses that the Mushrikeen of old used. Even though you are Muslims InshaAllah, don’t use this as an excuse to justify anything. It is stated in the Qur’an; “He said: "What! Even if I brought you better guidance than that which ye found your fathers following?" They said: "For us, we deny that ye (prophets) are sent (on a mission at all)."” [Az-Zukhruf 43:24] So this evidence can be refuted, by reminding the Muslims that this was the same excuse used by the Mushrikeen of old, and this also the same reason that Abu Talib did not accept Islam. It was because of this ‘Asabiyyah, this Jahiliyyah this ancestral pride, that he did not accept Islam, and was therefore sentenced to Hellfire. This was also the case of the people of Nooh. As was stated previously, Shaytaan came to them with a lie, and told them that their ancestors worshipped those statues. And this lie was a sufficient enough reason to worship the statues, because of their ancestral pride. Shaytaan’s Beautification of Shirk Shaytaan tries to beautify Shirk to Mankind through his ways and means. And we find this clearly in the case of Nooh. What excuse did Shaytaan use for creating the idols? He used the excuse of Tawheed, so that they may be reminded of Tawheed when they looked at the idols. Yet he knew in the long term that it was likely to result in idol-worship. So Shaytaan started off by beautifying Shirk, so that people would fall in to it step by step. This why it is absolutely forbidden to have 3D statues and idols, and 2D hand drawn images of animals and humans. These are without a doubt Haram. And the main is because it leads to Shirk. Shaytaan makes evil deeds, and in this case Shirk, seem beautiful. And he makes excuses, brings about doubts and Shubuhaat and Shahawaat, so that these callers to evil have evidences to use, e.g. fabricated ahadeeth, perverted ideas and concepts. Incorrect analogies Incorrect parables and analogies are very common cause of Shirk. An often used example is, ‘Just like the King, you cannot approach the King directly. The King is too holy, too noble to be approached directly. So you must go through people to approach the King. So too is Allah (wa A’udhubillah), like Nabi-Allah Muhammad SalAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, ‘AbdulQaadir Jeylaani, Moinuddin Chisti, etc. and they will take up your du’a to Allah for you.’ There are many other types of analogies as well. However, our religion is not based upon analogies. It is based upon the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah, and we only use Qiyaas when it is in accordance with the Qur’an and the Sunnah, not when it refutes the Qur’an and the authentic Sunnah. When Allah says, ‘Worship Me alone’, you cannot make up a Qiyaas to go against this. Here are some other reasons, briefly listed: • Lying upon Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala • Ignorance • Arrogance • Following your desires • Not realising who Allah is If someone understood the Asmaa and Sifaat of Allah, there is no way that he could fall in to Shirk. Last edited by Faizah; 06-21-2007 at 01:20 PM.