The Many Aspects Of Shirk
By Abdur-Raheem Green | 2026-01-15T13:40:31.413323+00:00 | Topic: Iman
The Many Aspects Of Shirk
By Abdur Raheem Green
Opening: The Testimony of Faith
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
Introduction: Seeking Allah's Guidance
We begin by praising Allah. We praise him. We seek his help and we ask for his forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide. And whomsoever Allah leaves to go astray, there is none to guide. And I testify and I bear witness that Allah alone is worthy of worship. And that Muhammad, he is Abdullah, he is the worshipper of Allah and he is Rasulullah, he is the Messenger of Allah.
After that, the best speech is the book of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad. And the worst of all the affairs are those matters that have been newly introduced into the religion. And every newly introduced matter in the religion is a bid'ah, an innovation. All of the innovations are misguidance, all the misguidance is going astray and all the going astray is in the fire.
The Gravity of Shirk
My dear brothers and sisters in Islam, may Allah have mercy upon you. Shirk is the most deadly of all the sins and all the crimes and all the oppression and all the wrongdoing that human beings can commit. There is no action, there is nothing that is worse than shirk. Murder, rape, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, selling drugs, blackmail, slander, all of these are heinous crimes. And none of us fail to know that these are heinous crimes. But the crime that is worse than all of them is shirk.
The Unforgivable Sin
Shirk is the one crime which Allah, He will never forgive. And this is what He has told us in His book. That Allah will not forgive shirk. He will forgive any sin that He wishes but He will never forgive shirk. He will never forgive shirk. And for those people who commit shirk, Allah has told us that paradise, that Jannah has been made haram for the people who make shirk. It is forbidden for the people who have made shirk. And that the hellfire will be their abode forever.
The Day of Judgment and Types of Oppression
Brothers and sisters, may Allah have mercy upon you. We cannot therefore underestimate the importance of this
sin, of this crime. Because on the day of judgment, when we stand in front of Allah, on a day that is promised, a day that is sure, a day that is inevitable, it will come to pass that Allah, He will raise us up naked, barefoot, uncircumcised. And that we will be assembled before Him on a day that is a day of terror and a day of fear. This is the day of judgment, Yawmul Qiyamah. One day of 50,000 years for the disbelievers. One day of 50,000 years.
The Three Types of Zulm (Oppression)
And on that day, there will be three types of oppression. Three types of zulm. The first type of oppression is the oppression that the human being has done against their own soul. And the disobedience that the human being has done to Allah by way of sins. But these are the sins, brothers and sisters, that are most easily removed due to the humiliations and the punishments and the terrors of the day of judgment. These are the sins that are removed due to tawbah, repentance.
And then there are the other sins. Those sins that we have committed against each other. The zulm that one human being has committed against the other. And these are not subject to forgiveness. Except that the one who is oppressed is recompensed by the one who oppressed him or her. So if two people did evil one against the other, then the only way for this to be sorted out is when the deeds are exchanged. So the person who was sinned against or the person who was oppressed will take the good deeds of that person who oppressed him or her. And if that person has no good deeds, then the sins of that oppressed person will be given to the oppressor.
The Eternal Punishment of Shirk
And then there is a third type of zulm that will never be forgiven. A zulm that its punishment is only eternal hellfire. Eternal existence in a place where Allah will burn the skin and recreate the skin and burn the skin. A place where Allah will pour upon its people boiling water that will scald their faces and burn their insides. A place where the only food is the tree of zakum, which has fruits like the heads of devils. Where their drink will be the pus of wounds, the pus of discharge from the genitals of the fornicators. This is the drink of the people of hellfire. And the people who made shirk with Allah, they will stay in that hellfire forever. They will never ever ever come out. Paradise has been made forbidden for them. And Allah will not forgive them. Allah will not forgive them.
No Deed Can Save the Mushrik
It doesn't matter what deeds you did. It doesn't matter what good you did. It doesn't matter how charitable you are. It doesn't matter whether you prayed or you fasted. It doesn't matter how pious you were. Whether you are Mother Teresa, Diana Spencer, whatever your name was, whatever your lineage was, whatever your ancestry was, whatever your tribe was, whatever your nation was, it will make no difference. If you meet Allah on the day of judgment, having committed shirk and not having repented from it, then your abode will be hellfire from when you will never come out.
Understanding Shirk: The Most Important Knowledge
So there is no subject and there is no issue that is more worthy of being studied and being learnt and being discussed than the issue of shirk. Brothers and sisters, we know, we should know as Muslims that we have a sworn enemy, Iblis, shaitan. Iblis has vowed that he will spend the rest of his life and Allah has given him life until the day of judgment. As long as we are alive and as long as mankind live, shaitan will live. And shaitan has sworn that he will mislead mankind, that he will mislead mankind and that he will take mankind to the hellfire.
It is the avowed purpose of shaitan and the single thing to which he dedicates his entire existence to mislead us and to take us to hellfire. And the way he will do that most effectively is by causing us to make shirk with Allah and to die having made shirk with Allah and not having repented from it. Shaitan is our enemy. We should take him as our enemy. So there is no issue that is more important than this issue. There is no subject that is more important than this subject for our salvation than to know about shirk and what is shirk.
Defining Shirk
What is shirk then? Shirk means ascribing partners and rivals to Allah. It means that we ascribe to Allah partners or equals either by attributing to something in the creation some of the power, some of the knowledge, some of the ability that is only belonging to Allah. Or that we give an act of worship and we perform an act of worship that should be directed only to Allah. We perform that act of worship to other than Allah. This is shirk.
Or that we describe Allah with those attributes that are only belonging to the creation. For example, we ascribe to Allah that He has a son. Or we ascribe to Allah some weakness or some quality that is only belonging to the creation. This constitutes shirk.
Categories of Shirk
In fact, traditionally the scholars in Islam they divided the issue into three categories for ease of explanation. Only for ease of explanation. Some scholars in fact divided it into two categories. Some divided it into three. Some maybe have more categories or some less. The issue is not anyway how many categories. But the benefit is in understanding the issue of shirk. And that we should avoid it.
First Category: Shirk al-Rububiyah (Shirk in Lordship)
So the first category of shirk that we need to discuss my brothers and sisters, may Allah have mercy upon you. Is what is called shirk al-rububiyah. Or it is shirk with Allah in His rububiyah. In His lordship. The proof that Allah is our Rabb is known to all of us. Alhamdulillah. And we say everyday at least I think 17 times a day:
Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen
This is the proof that Allah is the Rabb. He is the lord, the cherisher, the provider, the sustainer. And He is the only one who possesses those qualities. It is Allah alone that has power and control over all things. That Allah has the power and the control over all things. This lordship is exclusive to Allah.
Examples of Shirk in Lordship
So anybody who ascribes the power to create, the power to provide, the power of control, the dominion, and the kingship and the lordship to other than Allah, they have made shirk with Allah. They have made that thing equal to Allah. As for example the Christians who claim that Isa ibn Maryam is Allah. They claim that Isa alayhis salam, he is al-khaliq, he is the creator. They believe that Isa is the creator, that it is Isa who created everything. This is shirk.
Or as some people believe that there are in this universe saints who they call awliya around whom they are around a qutub who they believe is the pole of the universe. And that these awliya and this qutub that they control the affairs of the universe. And this is shirk. Or as some people believe that there are infallible imams who have complete power and control over the atoms of the universe. That they can control the universe. This is shirk in Allah's rububiyah.
Or as the Hindus believe that certain avatars and certain gods have control over the things of the universe. Then this is shirk. And as some people believe that the stars determine the fate and the condition of human beings. And that they have power and authority and that they cause things to happen and cause things not to happen. So whoever believes that the stars have that power, they believe that the stars have the power that only belongs to Allah, it is shirk.
Whoever believes that some object, some charm, some bracelet, some object has the power and the ability in and of itself to ward off evil or to bring good. Then this is shirk in Allah's rububiyah. And all of this is from the clear shirk about which no one should be confused. That Allah alone is Al-Khaliq. He is the creator. He is the one alone who in reality controls the affairs of the universe. That there is no good or no evil that can come to you except with the power and the permission of Allah. And there is nothing that can ward off evil and bring good except with the permission of Allah.
Second Category: Shirk in Worship (The Main Message of All Messengers)
And the second category of tawheed is that aspect in reality my brothers and sisters which the messengers came to clarify because indeed most of mankind, most of mankind believe in the tawheed of Allah, the oneness of Allah in His lordship. Even the pagan Arabs in the time of the Prophet Muhammad, most of them did not deny that Allah was the Rabb, that He was the Lord and the Cherisher and the Sustainer.
The Belief of the Pagan Arabs
Indeed the Qur'an tells us, the Qur'an tells the Prophet Muhammad to say:
Qul man rabbu as-samawati as-sab'i wa rabbu al-'arshi al-'azeem. Sayaqooloona lillah.
Say to them, O Muhammad, who is the Lord, the Rabb, the Cherisher of the seven heavens and who is Rabb al- Arsh al-'Azim, who is the Lord of the glorious throne. They will say, it is Allah.
The Mushrik Arabs, in the time of the Prophet Muhammad, believed in Allah. They believed Allah was the Rabb. They believed Allah sent down the rain. They believed Allah caused the crops to grow. They believed Allah was the Lord of the heavens and the earth. They believed Allah was the Lord of the glorious throne. They believed these things about Allah. Subhanallah, in some aspects, their tawhid was more pure than even some people who call themselves Muslims today. Subhanallah. Because they did not have this idea. They did not believe that their idols controlled the universe.
The Idols as Intercessors
They did not believe that their idols had power and control over the affairs of the universe. In fact, all that they believed about their idols is that they believed that they were intercessors between themselves and Allah. Indeed, this is exactly what the Qur'an mentions. That they say that these, meaning these idols, which in reality cannot benefit them and cannot harm them, they say, these are our intercessors. This is the means of shifa between us and Allah. This is what the Qur'an says and teaches us. This is the saying of the mushriks.
So they believed the idols were intercessors. They were intermediaries between them and Allah. They did not believe the idols controlled things. They believed that these idols were the means for them to get closer to Allah. They claim that when we worship them, we only do so to come closer to Allah.
Why Were They Called Mushriks?
So, the misguidance of the idol worshippers was not that they did not believe in Allah's existence. They believed in Allah's existence. And it is not that they did not believe that Allah was the Rabb. They believed Allah was the Rabb. In fact, they used to worship Allah. They used to pray to Allah in their times of distress. They used to make hajj. And they used to make sacrifice to Allah. They even used to say:
لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ Labbayka Allahumma labbayk
This was the mushriks.
So brothers and sisters, the pagan Arabs, they used to believe in Allah. So why then did the Prophet fight them? Why did the Qur'an chastise them as being misguided and being in error? Why did Allah refer to them as kuffar? If they believed in Allah and His Rabb and His Lordship and even they worshipped Him. Why? Because they made shirk with Allah in their ibadah. They gave worship to the idols and to the creation and they
The Reality of Following Previous Nations
As they made errors and mistakes, you will find the Muslims making errors and mistakes. As they
made innovations, you will find the Muslims making innovations. As they made shirk, you will find the Muslims making shirk. This is the reality.
So we have to be very careful. We have to be very careful. We have to be very careful. We have to be very careful. We have to be very careful.
And this is why the Prophet ﷺ said:
(Sahih al-Bukhari 7320, Sahih Muslim 2669)
"You will certainly follow the ways of those before you, span by span, and cubit by cubit, so much so that if they entered a lizard's hole, you would enter it."
And this is the reality. This is the reality. This is the reality. We have to be very careful. We have to be very careful. We have to be very careful.
The Cure for Shirk
So what is the cure for shirk? What is the cure for shirk? The cure for shirk is:
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Tawhid. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. The knowledge of Allah. 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made partners with Allah, there will be Muslims who will make shirk with Allah. This is something foretold by Rasulullah.
And the reality is, my brothers and sisters, that we find shirk is widespread amongst the people who call themselves Muslims. Sometimes it is just out of ignorance. Sometimes people think it is Islam. But this is the reality.
Fortune Telling and Knowledge of the Unseen
Subhanallah. I remember going to Pakistan. If you are in Australia, I don't know about Australia, but in England, in every street, nearly every street, you will find a pub. A pub, yeah? You have it here, the same here, right? Or you have bars here, right, and pubs. Every street corner, everywhere. You can't go far, you will see a pub. And most of us, we find that pretty disgusting. I don't know, when I walk past a pub, I like to go on the other side, because the stench from there, really makes me vomit. It's how I feel.
But you know, in Pakistan, I saw something worse. On every street corner, practically in cities, I saw a sign with a hand, with lines painted on it. You know what that means? That is a sign for a palm reader. Someone is gonna read your palm, and tell you a fortune, and tell you what's gonna happen in your life. Wallahi, that's worse than alcohol. Alcohol is a sin, that is shirk.
Allah Alone Knows the Unseen
Because that is ascribing to a human being, one of the qualities that only belongs to Allah. What is that? Ilmul ghayb. It is one of the names of Allah, Alimul ghaybi. Alimul ghaybi, Allah is the knower of the unseen. And Allah has told us in the Qur'an, that He alone is the one who knows the unseen. And He reveals only some of that knowledge to His chosen messengers. Only the prophets, the anbiya, they receive some knowledge of the unseen. Not all of it, some of it. From what Allah wills.
False Holy Men and Their Deception
Yet you will find today, many people will go to a man, they call him a sheikh. And they believe he is a holy man, and he will tell them, your child will be a boy, your daughter is sick. And I have met people like that. They have been... And I say, brother, you know, this man is upon falsehood. He is calling you to shirk. He claims, and his followers claim, that he has the knowledge of the unseen.
And they say, oh, but I went to him, and he didn't know anything about me, and I sat there, and he said, your daughter is waiting in the car, and she is sick, you should go to her. You see? He knows the unseen. It's karama, it's a miracle. And they made shirk with Allah. You know why? Because shaitan fooled them. Because they didn't have knowledge.
Because these people, magicians, fortune tellers, palm readers, and some people who pretend to be pious. Even they pray, and they do many things of zuhud. But because of the shirk they make, shaitan cooperates with them.
So the jinn is telling him, the shaitan is telling him about these things. So people will believe it, and they will go astray, and they will end up in the hell fire forever. Because they made shirk with Allah. They believe someone had knowledge of the unseen.
All Forms of Fortune Telling Are Shirk
To believe someone can read from your palm your future, is shirk. Because you believe they have the knowledge of the unseen. To believe that, they look in the stars, and I'm a Virgo, I'm a Leo, I'm a Pisces, I'm a this and that, and they're gonna tell you, what's gonna happen tomorrow, is shirk. You go to a soothsayer, he cuts open the animal, and he looks at the intestines, he says, oh, this and that. And you believe he's gonna cure you or help you, it's shirk. But you find these things widespread amongst the Muslims. Widespread. Subhanallah.
You will follow the ways of those who came before you, step by step, hand span by hand span.
Third Category: Shirk in Legislation (Making Halal and Haram)
The Prophet one day, he was reciting the ayah. The English meaning of the ayah:
اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِIttakhadhu ahbarahum wa ruhbanahum arbaban min dooni Allah
The Jews and Christians have taken their priests and their rabbis as lords besides Allah.
(Quran 9:31)
So one companion, Adi Ibn Hatim Atay, Adi Ibn Hatim Atay used to be a Christian. He heard this, he said, oh Rasulallah, we didn't used to worship them. You see, he was thinking, that we didn't used to pray to them and bow down to them and supplicate to them and... This is what he was thinking.
The Prophet's Clarification
And then the Prophet clarified it. He said, didn't they make halal for you what Allah made haram and you accepted it? And didn't they make haram for you what Allah made halal and you accepted it? He said, yes. We used to do that. And the Prophet said, that was your worship of them.
(Sunan at-Tirmidhi 3095)
Why? Because Allah is Ash-Sharri'. Allah is Ash-Sharri'. Allah is Al-Hakim and Allah is Al-Hakeem. Allah is the lawmaker. It is Allah who decides what is halal and what is haram. This is the right only of Allah. If anyone comes along and says, this thing that Allah made haram is halal and this thing that Allah made halal is haram, they have claimed to be Allah. They claim to have Allah's knowledge. They have made themselves equal with Rabbul Alameen. Subhanallah.
This is what the Prophet said, the priests and rabbis, they made lawful for you what Allah made unlawful and they made unlawful for you what Allah made lawful and you accepted it. That was your worship of them.
Fatwa Shopping: A Contemporary Problem
Is that not what we find taking place today, my brothers and sisters? Can anyone with eyes and ears and a heart, have you failed to notice this taking place amongst the Muslims? How many of us are fatwa shoppers? We go to the supermarket, we have five different types of Coca-Cola, ten different types of fizzy drinks, lots of different types of bread, we're shopping. And now we want to shop for fatwas. Which is the one I like? Which is the tasty fatwa?
It's not concern to you really whether Allah made it halal or haram. In fact, maybe the mufti out of his mistake. Because the scholar who makes a mistake, alhamdulillah, gets a reward. If he gets it right, he gets two rewards. Any human being can make a mistake. Even the greatest mufti, the greatest imams, even the four imams, even Abu Bakr and Umar and Uthman, they can make mistakes. They're human beings. Only Rasulullah, his statement, that is fact. It is from Allah. He is the only one who is truly ma'soom, is Rasulullah, whoever claims that someone else is ma'soom, infallible, whether it's an imam or a sheikh or anyone, then they have in fact ascribed to that person one of the qualities that we can only attribute to Rasulullah. It is in fact a type of shirk. It's claiming that they have prophethood even they don't call them prophets. It's claiming they have prophethood.
Following What We Know Is Haram
How often do we find that, brothers? Something we find, we know Allah has made it haram. But we go and look for... and we excuse ourselves saying, the mufti said, the scholar said, the sheikh said, Abdul Rahim said. That's our excuse. Even though it is in black and white in the Qur'an. We know from the prophet, from his sunnah what he said, that this thing is haram or this thing is halal.
How many people you find today saying, oh, the classic one is polygamy. Oh, polygamy, you know, that was for them. That was 1400 years ago, a man having more than one wife. Now they lay down lots of conditions. You don't find these conditions in the sharia. One of them is, you have to ask your wife. MashaAllah. Did we find anywhere the prophet going, Aisha, do you mind if I get married again, please? Where is this condition? Where is this condition? From the prophet, from Abu Bakr, from Umar, from Uthman, from Ali, from Abdullah ibn Masud, from Ibn Abbas, from Abu... from any companion, or any of the early scholars, they laid down this condition. You have to get permission.
Alhamdulillah, it may be good to discuss it with your wife. It may be good to get her to agree. But to say this is a condition and make it something that you make, it is part of the sharia. This is making something haram that Allah has made halal. Or at least you are limiting something that Allah did not limit it.
Rejecting the Sharia
How many people you say today, oh, no, it's only for exceptions. How many people you say to even the sharia? Oh, the sharia, that's for them, the law of the jungle. That's old harsh punishments, chopping of hands, stoning people to death. You know, we don't need that anymore. We have now western liberal law. Subhanallah.
Democracy: A Form of Shirk
And how many Muslims today you find calling for democracy? Do people know what is democracy? I like to have good opinion about my Muslim brothers. I think they only say that because they don't know what democracy is. They're ignorant. You know, they get amazed with the west and their helicopters and aircraft and cars and they think, oh, democracy, maybe that's the answer for us. I don't know, that's it.
What Democracy Really Means
What is democracy? You know what democracy is? It means the rule of the people. It means the people, the sovereignty is with, not Allah, with the people. It means the people decide what is halal and what is haram. It means the people decide what is the laws we should follow and what the laws we should not follow. That is democracy. The rule of the people.
So if they want to make homosexuality halal, they make it halal. If they want to make beer halal, they make it halal. Wallahi, if they want to make it compulsory for you to experience some, you know, homosexuality, because after all it's natural, they tell us now. Yes? They can make it law. They'll make it law. Who knows, maybe they'll make it law to kill Muslims. Why not? If enough of them say yes, votes, yes. 50%, 60%, that's it. It's the law now. Democracy.
Democracy vs. Islamic Belief
Is this compatible with Islam? Is it 50%, 20%, 1% compatible with Islam? We cannot believe as Muslims in democracy. We can live in this country. Alhamdulillah, we respect its laws. As long as it does not teach us to disobey Allah. But we can't accept it as a belief because it is contradicting what we believe that Allah is Ash- Sharri'. Allah is the lawmaker. Allah is the one who decides what is halal and haram, not the people. Yes?
So it is not possible that Muslims we could believe in democracy and accept democracy as they are now calling us. Over there in the US of A, George Bush and all of them telling us, you Muslims, you know now, maybe you accept democracy. So they make it nice, you see. Oh, you see all these fanatics and fundamentalists and people blowing everything up. It's because they don't have democracy. Subhanallah. So, you know, we need to liberate Muslim countries and give them democracy.
Democracy means what? That the sovereignty is with the people. This is shirk. Wallahi, do not for a minute fail to understand that they are calling us to disbelieve in Allah. They're calling us to make shirk.
The Jews and Christians Took Their Scholars as Gods
Wallahi, if Allah said about the Jews and the Christians, if they took their priests and rabbis as gods besides Allah, and the priests and rabbis are the knowledgeable ones, they are the ulama of the Jew and the Christian. And Allah did not accept that as an excuse. Do you think Allah will accept that we took every George Bush and Tony Blair and whatever, and they are the ones to decide for us what's halal and haram? They have no book and no scripture and no knowledge from Allah? No. Subhanallah.
The Permanence of Islamic Law
So, what is halal 1,400 years ago is halal today. And what was haram 1,400 years ago is haram today, and it will be until the day of judgment. And if anyone comes along and tells you that this thing which Allah has made halal is haram, even if he's the greatest scholar on the face of the earth, we love him and we respect him, but we don't follow people in their mistakes. And if you do that, it will be shirk. It will be shirk.
It is not permissible to make taqlid, to blindly follow any human being. It is not permissible to blindly follow any human being. If we know that someone brings something in contradiction to what Allah and His messengers say, how can we follow that person in contradiction to what Allah and His messengers say? How if you are a believer, if you are a Muslim? This is part of tawheed. This is part of avoiding shirk that we recognize that Allah is ash-shari'. He is the lawmaker.
Magic: Another Form of Kufr and Shirk
And there is another thing, brothers and sisters, I have to warn you about. These days with Harry Potter flying on his broom, and in Lord of the Rings, you know really today, they are pushing magic, magic, magic. And magic is also kufr. It is kufr. And it involves shirk. Because the magician is able to perform his tricks by worshiping shaitan or making shirk with Allah. And shaitan helps him to do these things. We find many Muslims enjoying it. Oh yes, mashallah.
Brothers and sisters, we have to understand once again, shirk is really amongst the most evil of the evil things. It is amongst the most evil of the evil things. It is the most evil of the evil things.
The Lesser Shirk: Riya (Showing Off)
This is a subject that I have only touched upon. This is the major shirk. This is the type of shirk that takes you out of Islam. How about the lesser shirk? What is the lesser shirk? Does anyone know what is the lesser shirk? Riya, showing off. That you do your deeds, not for the pleasure of Allah, but to impress people, to get fame, to get position, to get some worldly benefit.
Examples of Riya
It is like the one who prays, and then when he sees the people are watching him, oh, his prayer becomes even
longer, and his recitation becomes so sweet and nice, because he is praying to impress people. Or even the person who looks at people, oh, the people are looking at me, I will make my prayers short, because I don't want them to think that I'm showing off. He's still showing off. Because he's not doing his deed for Allah, he's doing it for the people. Because his deed is influenced not by what is pleasing to Allah, but by what people think. Because you can leave something to please the people, and you can do something to please the people.
So whoever does a deed seeking the pleasure of Allah, other than Allah, it is shirk, but it is not the shirk that puts you in hellfire forever. It is not the shirk that puts you in hellfire forever. It is called the lesser shirk. Shirk al-asghar, riya, showing off.
The Severity of Lesser Shirk
But how many of us are free from that? You know the sahaba, they used to consider showing off more serious than the major sins, like fornication and drinking and stealing. They used to consider showing off worse than that. Or doing your deeds for money, for power, for fame, for worldly desires, like making hajj, not to make hajj, but to make business. That is your intention. We know you're allowed to make business on hajj, but you don't make hajj to make business. Your intention for hajj has to be to make hajj. And the business is coincidental. But if you really make hajj to make business, or you are the imam of a mosque to take money, or you give dawah as a business, or you fight jihad for money, then this is not acceptable to Allah. This deed will not be accepted by Allah. This is the lesser shirk.
How Difficult It Is to Detect
And this, brothers and sisters, is something so dangerous. The Prophet, I think it was Ibn Abbas, he said, that it is like a black ant on a black rock in a dark night. That's how much you notice it. Will you notice a black ant on a black rock in a dark night? Would you notice a black ant on a black rock? You'll never see it. This is how riya is amongst us, showing off. It is very dangerous. It is very dangerous.
A Beautiful Hadith: The Five Commandments
So brothers and sisters, I want to finish by reading one very beautiful hadith of the Prophet. It's not very long. Inshallah, it's a very nice hadith, very beneficial. Okay. This hadith was collected by Ahmad and Tirmidhi. And it was narrated by Al-Harith Al-Ashari.
(Musnad Ahmad 17870, Sunan at-Tirmidhi 2863)
And the Prophet said, Verily Allah commanded Yahya, the son of Zakariya, with five words to act upon and to enjoin upon the children of Israel. But he put it off. Then Isa alaihi salam said to him, Allah has commanded you with five things to act upon and to tell the children of Israel to act upon it. Either you command them or I will. And so Yahya replied, I fear if you do it before me, I will be swallowed up by the earth and punished.
So he gathered the people together in Al-Quds. And they filled up the masjid. And he sat at the top of the wall and he said, Verily Allah, the blessed and exalted, has commanded me with five words to act upon and to call you to act upon.
The First Command: Worship Allah Alone
The first of them is that you worship Allah and you do not associate anything with Him. For verily the one who associates partners with Allah is like a man who buys a servant with his own wealth, be it gold or silver, and says to him, This is my house and this is the work that I have for you. So do it and render me its fruits. But the servant does it and he renders the fruits to another. However, which of you will be pleased with such a servant?
This is the example that Allah gave to Yahya ibn Zakariya of shirk. How many of you would like to have somebody if you have a business? You employ that person in the business and you say, work for me. That person takes their wages, that person takes their money, and then they go and work for someone other than you. How long will you employ someone like that? What would you do with someone like that? Would you be pleased with someone like that?
O brothers and sisters, we are breathing Allah's air, we are eating Allah's food, we are dressed in the clothes that Allah has provided for us. We are living the life that Allah has given us. Yet sometimes we find we are not working for Allah, we are working for other than Allah.
The Conclusion of the Hadith
And at the end of this hadith, because I won't read the rest of it, I'll just read the end. What the Prophet said, because also he enjoined upon them to pray and to remember Allah and to give the charity, the zakah. These are the things that Zakariya enjoined upon the Bani Israel. And with each he gave a beautiful example, but I'll leave that out now.
And the Prophet said, I too enjoin upon you five things, which Allah enjoined upon me. Hearing, obedience, striving, meaning jihad, migration, hijrah, and the jama'a, the community, the jama'a.
Warning Against Separating from the Community
Verily if someone separates himself from the jama'a, from the community, even by a hand span, he removes the bridle of Islam from his neck, unless he returns. And one who preaches with the call of Jahiliyyah will be amongst the inhabitants of hell. And then a man asked, O Messenger of Allah, even if he prays and fasts? And the Prophet replied, Even if he prays and fasts and claims to be a Muslim, so call by the call of Allah, who named you Muslims, believers in Allah.
The Call to Nationalism: Modern Jahiliyyah
Brothers and sisters, then I will finish with one last point. One other aspect of kufr and shirk that we find ourselves immersed in. And that is the call to nationalism. That is the call to tribalism. It is the call to
nationalism. It is that call that divides us, where people stand up and they call to the call of Jahiliyyah. They call to their nation. They call to my country, whether it's Lebanon, Turkey, Australia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia.
Everyone now is fighting and calling people to their nationality and to their nation. As if they are better and superior because of the country. The country that was devised for them by who? By the kufr, subhanallah. The call of Jahiliyyah. The Prophet called it.
So whoever calls with this call of Jahiliyyah, then they will be from the denizens of the hell. Whoever calls to nationalism and tribalism and parties and sects and groups and splitting this ummah, they call to the call of Jahiliyyah. They call and they will be the denizens of hell even if they pray and they fast and they call themselves Muslims.
Unity Upon the Rope of Allah
So brothers, Muslims, we are believers. We must cling to the jama'ah. We must cling to the community. We must cling to the jama'ah. Allah told us:
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُواWa'tasimoo bi-habli Allahi jamee'an wa la tafarraqoo
Hold all of you together to the rope of Allah and do not be divided.
(Quran 3:103)
And what is the rope of Allah? The rope of Allah is, as the Prophet said, Kitabullah. It is the Qur'an. It is the Islam, the deen, the Qur'an, and the sunnah. This is Hablillah, Kitabullah. This is what we hang on to. This is what we unite upon. This is what we go back. We treat what Allah has made halal as halal. What Allah has made haram as haram. And we should obey him and obey his messenger.
And that, my brothers and sisters, is the means for our returning to our strength to regain the victory and the help of Allah. To once again be the best of all nations on the face of this earth.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa 'ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam
Questions and Answers
Question 1: Asking Forgiveness Through the Prophet
Question: Is asking for God's forgiveness through the Prophet Muhammad shirk or is it just haram?
Answer: No, of course, asking forgiveness or asking anything through the Prophet Muhammad or Isa or any other prophet is shirk. To call upon any person whether he is a martyr or whether he is a prophet or a righteous person and seeking forgiveness through them or asking that person to ask Allah for forgiveness is shirk.
If the person is thinking about the hadith where the blind man came to the Prophet and he asked the Prophet to ask Allah to give me a dua that I can make and then most people who use this evidence they try and use this as an evidence to say that you can use the Prophet as a means of waseela to Allah you will always find that they fail to quote the full hadith of the Prophet.
If you keep on reading the hadith it clearly states that the man states Oh Allah, through my dua to you and through the Prophet Muhammad's supplication for me so he was in front of the Prophet asking the Prophet while the Prophet was alive on this earth. Okay? And then he made dua for himself and he, the Prophet made dua for him as is very clear from the hadith.
So sometimes this hadith is used in order to try and twist it to say, look, this man sought forgiveness through the Prophet but that is actually not what can be understood from that hadith if it is read correctly. Okay.
Question 2: Loving Someone Too Much
Question: Would it go into shirk to love someone too much a son, daughter, wife, friend etc?
Answer: That's a very good question. Absolutely. Absolutely. In fact Allah He mentions in the Quran that there are some people who love others as they should love Allah. But you find those who are the believers they are overflowing with their love for Allah.
If you love somebody with the type, there's a special love that you must give only to Allah. We do not love Allah in the same way that we love our wife or we love our children. It is a different type of love. In fact, if you have the love of astaghfirullah, I have to say this but I'm saying it because there are some people who actually claim that they have this type of love or they use this word but it's not correct. That they say that they love Allah astaghfirullah with the type of sexual love. Yes. But this is shirk. You're not allowed to love Allah with that type of love.
The love that you have, the hope that you have for Allah is the love of submission. And this is based upon what Allah said:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ(Quran 3:31)Qul in kuntum tuhibboona Allaha fattabi'ooni yuhbibkumu Allah
Say if it is true that you love Allah, Make ittiba of me, follow me.
(Quran 3:31)
Meaning, the people who love Allah follow Prophet Muhammad. So in Islam, the love for Allah is ittiba. It is following Allah's commandments. That is how we show our love for Allah by obeying Him.
So if we obey anybody, if we obey a ruler, if we obey a scholar, if we obey our wife, if we obey our husband, our children, in the level and the way that we should only obey Allah. So whatever they say, we do it. Whatever they command us, we do it. And we accept it and we love them so much that whatever they do, whatever they say, we do it. This is a type of shirk. Because that type of love of absolute obedience must only be for Allah. Jazakallah khair. Good question.
Question 3: Praying in a Chapel
Question: Is it haram to pray in a chapel? Why?
Answer: That's a good question. If the chapel does not have any idols in it, it is permissible to pray. On the basis that Umar ibn al-Khattab was invited by the Christians in Jerusalem to pray in their church and he said, I will not pray in there because of your idols. From that we can understand that if there were not any idols, he would have prayed in there. Anyway, this is the opinion of some ulama that I know. Maybe there is some ikhtilaf about it. But this is the understanding that has been given to me. So if there is a chapel without idols and without statues and so on and so forth, then it is permissible to pray in it. Wallahu alim. Based upon what Umar ibn al-Khattab said.
Question 4: Entering a Christian House
Question: Is it haram to enter a Christian house?
Answer: No, it is not haram to enter a Christian house.
Question 5: Honoring a Kafir
Question: Is it haram to call any kafir your eminence?
Answer: Okay, it is not correct to honor even the Prophet. Of course we are allowed to honor the Prophet. Please don't get me wrong here. But even the Prophet didn't allow, he didn't like to allow the Muslims to honor him too much. He said, I am Abdullah and I am Rasulullah.
Even when he used to walk in, he did not allow his companions to stand up for him. Even when he was praying and he was ill, and he had to sit down, he ordered the companions also to sit down. Because he said, you nearly did what the Christians do. And when their rulers are sitting, their leaders are sitting, they all stand in respect. So he didn't even like, even though they were not standing, he didn't even like them to do that.
So, in fact, to show that type of excessive respect by standing up for someone when they come in, let alone to call them your eminence, your honor. Because to honor a kafir is not correct. It's not correct. There may be some, one maybe think there may be some benefit in it. But it's better to call them Jane or Tony. I'd say, Hi
Tony, how are you? Why I call him Mr. Blair or your eminence? Or maybe prime minister. So inshallah, it's better not to use that. It's better not to do that, inshallah. Alhamdulillah. It's really not right. Okay.
Question 6: Changing Your Image
Question: Is it haram to change your image that Allah has given you? Meaning like makeup or coloring hair or plastic surgery.
Answer: Okay, we've got three different things here. Makeup for women is allowed for men. It's not allowed. I say that these days. You know, these days. I still haven't seen a brother coming to the mosque with lipstick, but... No, makeup for women is allowed. It is allowed. It is allowed for women. In fact, there's a hadith about that. The perfume for men is that which has a smell and the perfume for women is that which has a color. This is what the Prophet said. Okay.
So, how about coloring the hair? There is no prohibition in dyeing the hair, either for the men or the women. In fact, there is some hadith about the man dyeing the hair with henna or another thing that made the hair blonde. There's some hadith about that. And even the people who have grey, the grey beards, they can dye. In fact, it's the sunnah to dye the beard with henna. So, there's no harm in that.
But plastic surgery is not allowed. Unless you have some, you know, like accident and your face is like, you know, you go through the car windscreen or something like that. But otherwise, it's not allowed as far as I know to have plastic surgery to change the way that Allah made you in that way. That is not allowed.
Or, by the way, for women to pluck your eyebrows. The Prophet has cursed the women who pluck their eyebrows. They are cursed. This is another habit, unfortunately, we find practiced amongst Muslim women. Plucking the eyebrows, wearing wigs, extending their hair with extensions. That is all haram. And Allah has cursed the women who do that. All of that is prohibited. Extending your hair with hair extensions, plucking your eyebrows. These things are not allowed. This is not allowed. This is haram. Jazakallah khair. Okay. Jazakallah khair.
Question 7: Bowing as a Form of Greeting
Question: In some foreign cultures, bowing is a form of greeting and respect. Is bowing considered shirk?
Answer: That's a good question. Is it shirk? Certainly, bowing is the action. As you know, we do it in prayer. It is something that only should be done for Allah. Like sujood. So, this is something that is definitely haram. Whether it is shirk or not, I am not exactly sure. But it definitely could be shirk. Could be something that is shirk. Allahu alim. You should not anyway. It is not a habit. The Muslims should have bowing to each other and stuff like that. It is not correct. Bowing is something that we do only before Allah. Okay.
Question 8: Neglecting Prayer for Worldly Affairs
Question: Neglecting or debating acts of worship, prayers, whilst engaging in worldly affairs, work, study, etc.
Could this be considered a form of shirk?
Answer: It is not shirk. But it could take you out of Islam. Because the Prophet said, The difference between kufr and shirk and iman is the prayer. So whoever abandons it is a kafir.
(Sahih Muslim 82, Sunan at-Tirmidhi 2621)
This saying of the Prophet has been understood by some scholars. Some of the imams like Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He understood this to mean that the person who stops praying leaves Islam. They become a kafir. And they are a murtad until they begin to pray again. So according to the Hanbali madhab, and the way they understand this hadith, and many other evidences they have as well. Abandoning salah, the obligatory salah, is an act of kufr. It is an act of disbelief in Allah. And you have become an apostate if you abandon the prayers according to Ahmad ibn Hanbal. And other scholars have different opinions that it is a lesser kufr. But anyway, those are the two opinions in that regard. So it could be yes, it could take you out of Islam.
Question 9: Forgiveness of Minor Shirk
Question: Does Allah forgive minor shirk?
Answer: Allah forgives minor shirk and major shirk, and Allah forgives everything if you make tawbah. Allah forgives all shirk. If you say, Jesus is Allah, whatever shirk it is, if you make tawbah, and you repent to Allah, you say, Muhammad Rasulullah, you, all, alhamdulillah, that shirk is forgiven if you make true tawbah. Yes, and shirk al-asghar, showing off, is forgiven if you make tawbah. Otherwise, it is for Allah to forgive you or not on the Day of Judgment. It is for Allah to forgive you or not on the Day of Judgment.
Question 10: Women Entering the Mosque During Menstruation
Question: Is it haram for a woman to go into the mosque during the menstrual cycle? As some enter today.
Answer: That's a good question, and I don't know actually the answer to it. I know that definitely some scholars say, it is not allowed for a woman to go into the mosque in her menstrual cycle. I have no doubt that that is the opinion of some of the ulema. I've been to mosques where they've actually announced that during this conference, women cannot come if they are on their menstrual cycle. So I know it's the opinion of some ulema. What is the delil, is there ikhtilaf on it? I don't know, I haven't looked into it. So allahu alim.
Closing Remarks
Insha'Allah we'll finish it here, please. Insha'Allah if you got some more questions, insha'Allah tomorrow, Islam, the misunderstood religion. It's going to be insha'Allah a very important talk. I think you'll enjoy it, insha'Allah. It's really a lot to do with the 11th of September, Afghanistan, what happened and all that type of stuff. So I think please bring even your non-Muslim friends along to find out insha'Allah about Islam, insha'Allah.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh