The Major Sins Series - Shirk - Abu Usama At-Thahabi 217
By Abu Usamah | 2026-01-15T15:18:24.489189+00:00 | Topic: Repentance
The Major Sins Series - Shirk
By Abu Usama At-Thahabi
Opening
As-salāmu 'alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh
(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - Bismillahir-Rahmānir-Rahīm)
Introduction to Imam al-Dhahabi's Methodology
The beginning of the book of al-Imam al-Dhahabi, rahimahullāhu taʻālā. Al-Imam al-Dhahabi, in his book, he did what the ulama of the sunnah used to do.
The books of the ulama of the sunnah, they have kalām that's khalīl, and the adillah that are kathīrah. They have a little speech, but they have a lot of proofs. All of the books of the people of the past, especially in aqidah, they used to be like that. Today it's the opposite way.
The books have a lot of kalām, and hardly any dalīl. And the dalīl that you will find in the books, sometimes it goes against what the people are trying to prove. So al-Imam al-Dhahabi's book is a book of proofs, and only seldom would you find him making any comments.
The First Major Sin: Shirk with Allah
He said, rahimahullāhu taʻālā:
"The first major sin is shirk with Allah the Most High. And it is that you make for Allah the Most High a rival while He created you, and you worship along with Him other than Him, such as a stone, or a human being, or the sun, or the moon, or a prophet, or a shaykh, or a jinn, or a star, and other than that."
He said, the first kabīrah is that you make shirk with Allah subhānahu wa taʻālā. The greatest and the foremost major crime is to make shirk in all of its manifestations. Shirk al-akbar, or shirk al-asghar.
He went on to say, and what is shirk? Shirk is for you to make a partner with Allah subhānahu wa taʻālā. And he's the one who created you. Shirk is for you to worship Allah and to worship that individual.
Or for you to worship a rock, or a tree, or the moon, or the sun, or a jinn, or a shaykh, or a star, or an angel. All of that is from the shirk. So to make shirk with Allah subhānahu wa taʻālā, by slaughtering for a dead man is a kabīrah from the kabā'ir, shirk.
For any of us to call on Rasulullah sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam while he's in his grave is not permissible in this shirk. So he went on to give the adillah for that. The first dalīl, as al-Imam al-Dhahabi does from his minhaj.
What's the minhaj of al-Imam al-Dhahabi in his book? It's similar to al-Imam al-Nawawi in his book, Riyād al-Şāliḥīn. He'll bring the chapter, and then he'll explain what the chapter is about by doing what? By bringing the Quranic ayat, which is a
proof that the Quran with the scholars of the past, it took precedence over the sunnah in terms of which one goes first. Neither one should be split from the other.
You have to keep the Quran and the sunnah together. As Rasulullah says șallallāhu alayhi wa sallam:
إِنِّي أُوتِيتُ الْقُرْآنَ وَمِثْلَهُ مَعَهُ لَنْ يَتَفَرَّقَا حَتَّى يَرِدَا عَلَيَّ الْحَوْضَ
"I have been given the Quran and its like along with it. They will never be separated until they come to me at the fountain."
So no one can say I'm taking the Quran and not the sunnah. I'm taking the sunnah not the Quran. No, but the people of the past, they used to give the taqdīm, preference to the Quran first.
Memorize the Quran. You want to write something and you want to prove the point? Bring the dalīl from the Quran first. So this is the minhaj of Imam al-Dhahabi.
To bring the Quran and then the ahadith that explain that and then he'll explain.
Quranic Evidence for the Prohibition of Shirk
First Ayah
The first ayat is the statement of Allah taʻālā:
"Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills."
Allah taʻālā will not forgive anyone who makes shirk with him. But he will forgive anything other than that. Any and every kabā'ir, if you're doing it, if I'm doing it, if we're falling into all of the kabā'ir together. Allah will forgive you for that if you die.
Saying, lā ilāha illallāh. But if you stayed away from all of the kabā'ir and you only fell into shirk, Allah is not going to forgive you for that shirk if you didn't know what you were doing. That is not permissible.
So that's the dalīl that shirk is a kabīrah from the kabā'ir and that Allah will not forgive that sin. That's the waid.
Second Ayah
The second ayah that he brings is the statement of Allah subhānahu wa taʻālā:
"Indeed, he who associates others with Allah - Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire."
Verily, the one who makes shirk with Allah, Allah has made Jannah haram upon him. Rasulullah, his mother and his father, his uncle and his grandfather, any good non-Muslim, mother Teresa, anyone who died saying other than lā ilāha illallāh after Muhammad came, the Jannah is haram and it doesn't accept that individual. Abdullah ibn Masʻūd radiyallāhu 'anhu said an authentic hadith that's been collected by the Imam Muslim:
قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ لَا يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ مَنْ كَانَ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ مِنْ كِبْرٍ
"The Prophet șallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said: 'He will not enter Paradise who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride.'" [Sahih Muslim, Hadith 91]
He will not enter into the Jannah. The one who has one speck like this pen makes when you do like this on a piece of paper, that speck of kibr in his heart, Jannah is haram for him.
He can't get in. Haram. And kibr is not shirk, kibr is not kufr.
In and of itself is not kufr. But if you have any arrogance in your heart because of your lineage, your profession, your color, how much money you have. If you have any kibr in your heart, Jannah is haram for you until that kibr is taken out of your heart.
Either you get rid of it or Allah azza wa jalla pushing the hellfire and burns it off of you or He just forgives you. But He won't allow anyone to go into Jannah who's mutakabbir. Similarly, shirk and kufr is greater than kibr.
So He made the Jannah haram on the one who has shirk. He will not forgive that.
Third Ayah
The last ayah that al-Imam al-Dhahabi brought, Ikhwan, is the statement of Allah taʻālā:
"Indeed, association [with Him] is great injustice."
When Luqman said to his son, subhānahu wa taʻālā. When he advised his boy and he advised his little son as it relates to the correct aqeedah. And he told him, verily making shirk is a tremendous zulm. So Luqman advised his son and he put him on the aqeedah sahihah. Shirk is zulm.
The Meaning of Al-Hikmah and Zulm
We've mentioned a number of times the definition of al-Hikmah. And when we talk about al-Hikmah, we're not talking about the sunnah al-Hikmah. No, we're talking about wisdom al-Hikmah.
We're talking about the Hikmah that we told you so many times. Who wants to tell us what is al-Hikmah in al-Islam? Al-Hikmah is having the ability to put everything in its proper place. Saying what needs to be said, the way it should be said, to who it should be said to and so forth and so on.
You're not hakeem until you can do that. She is not hakeema until she can do that. Allah is Al-Hakeem because He knows where to put everything.
You're a Muslim, He knew that you should be a Muslim. You have a lot of money, He knew you should have a lot of money. You don't have a lot of money, He knew that.
Your mother died, He knew that was the best thing for you. So you have to be patient with your issue because Allah is Al-Hakeem. And don't ask, why me, why this? That's al-Hikmah, putting everything in its proper place.
The opposite of that Ikhwan, putting everything in the wrong place, that is zulm. Zulm is putting everything in the wrong place, al-Zulm. So Luqman said to his son إِنَّ الشَّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ
Shirk is a great zulm, putting things in the wrong place. We have a car, HT04YBK. HT04YBK, can you move your car? Zulm is putting everything in the wrong place.
The Three Types of Zulm
There are three types of zulm in al-Islam. Three types of zulm. Everyone is falling into one of these three.
First Type: Zulm Against Oneself
The first zulm, is the zulm that the person makes against himself. Yazlimu nafsah. He oppresses himself.
Rasulullah sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said:
مَا يَنْبَغِي لِمُؤْمِنٍ أَنْ يُذِلَّ نَفْسَهُ قِيلَ وَكَيْفَ يُذِلُّ نَفْسَهُ يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ؟ قَالَ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، يَتَعَرَّضُ لِلْبَلَاءِ لِمَا لَا يُطِيقُ
"It is not befitting for a believer to disgrace himself." They said, "How does the believer disgrace himself, ya Rasulullah?" He said, "He puts himself in a situation that he cannot handle."
It's not acceptable, it's not befitting for a man or a woman believing to lower themselves, to disgrace themselves.
They said, how does the believer disgrace himself, ya Rasulullah? He said, he puts himself in a situation that he can't handle. He puts himself in a situation that he can't handle. He's not a scholar, but he wants to make the people think he's a scholar.
So he wants to debate someone who has knowledge. So he can't handle it, and he's put down as a result of that. He wants to get married, but the sister has three, four, five kids before him.
More than likely he's not going to be able to handle. Don't oppress yourselves. So he gets married, and then zulm comes later on.
He oppressed himself. Zulm of the nafs is a person not eating, not drinking, praying too much. So do not oppress yourselves.
The Prophet came into one of his homes, and there was a woman in the home. He asked, who is that woman? Because it's the haqq of the man to know what's going on in his house. For no reason he asked, who is that woman? Aisha began to tell him, ya Rasulullah, that's so and so, fulana, her ibadah is out of this world.
Rasulullah şallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam told them:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَنْ يَمَلَّ حَتَّى تَمَلُّوا عَلَيْكُمْ بِمَا تُطِيقُونَ فَوَاللَّهِ
"Verily Allah will not become bored until you become bored. You people should worship Allah according to what you can handle."
Fervently Allah will not become bored with your ibadah until you become bored. So they are those people who go overboard, and they oppress themselves by not eating, by not drinking.
He was traveling and the man fell out. He asked him, who is that? They said, he's fasting, ya Rasulullah, while we're traveling, he's fasting. And it's so hot.
لَيْسَ مِنَ الْبِرِّ الصَّوْمُ فِي السَّفَرِ
"It is not righteousness that you fast while you're traveling."
He told him. Have mercy upon yourself, don't make dhulm, don't go overboard. And how many jama'at they go overboard by making dhulm on themselves.
Rasulullah prepared to give the khutbah, Ikhwatifillah. Before giving the khutbah, he saw a man standing in the sun. He asked, who is that? They said, that's Abu Isra'il.
A dalīl, you can take the kunyah, Abu Isra'il. Someone told a brother, who called his son Isra'il, that's tashabbuh bil kuffar. You're being like the kuffar, like the Jews.
No, the man's kunyah was Abu Isra'il. He has taken an oath, ya Rasulullah, to stand in the sun, not to talk, and he's going to fast. Rasulullah told the people, sallallāhu alayhi wa sallam, tell the man to talk, to get in the sun, to sit down, and tell him to complete his fast.
Standing in the sun is not from Islam, leave it alone. Not talking is not from Islam, leave it alone. To take an oath that you're going to stand up and not sit down is not from Islam, leave it alone.
But to take an oath that you're going to fast is from Islam. So continue the oath. So the point is, ikhwatifillahi dhulm an-nafs.
Second Type: Zulm Between People
The second dhulm obviously is the dhulm that we do between ourselves. He's married, but he's going outside of the marriage looking for satisfaction. Dhulm, to his wife.
He was married, and he has a child or two, and he's not paying child support. He left the children and the mother by themselves. Dhulm, to the ākhirīn.
He has a mother who gave birth to him, and because the mother is jāhilah, ignorant, and she loves the dunya, and she has a lot of kalām even, and most of the fitness from her, he cuts her off, and he chooses wife over his mother, and she gave birth to him. Dhulm, to his mother. So you make qiyās from all of that.
Allah ta ālā told us in the hadith al-qudsi:
يَا عِبَادِي، إِنِّي حَرَّمْتُ الظُّلْمَ عَلَى نَفْسِي، وَجَعَلْتُهُ بَيْنَكُمْ مُحَرَّمًا، فَلَا تَظَالَمُوا
"O My servants, I have made oppression haram upon Myself, and I have made it haram among you, so do not oppress one another." [Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2577]
I've made dhulm haram upon myself. I don't oppress none of you people. Not one bit. I made it haram upon myself, that I will not oppress a single person. Every judgment that I give you, and every situation that you're in, it is not dhulm to you.
Because I made it haram upon myself, tabāraka wa taʻālā, that I will not oppress any of you. So do not oppress one another.
Third Type: Zulm Against Allah
And the last type of dhulm, the dhulm that the person has as it relates to Allah ʻazza wa jalla.
They asked Rasulullah, Ya Rasulullah, ayyudhanb aʻzam qāl, an taj al lillāhi naddan wa huwa khalaqaka. Ya Rasulullah, which sin is the worst? He said that you will make with Allah a partner, and Allah created you. Like now, ikhwan, this is the season to be jolly according to these kuffar.
So now a man or a woman, they make minimum wage in their job. They may even be on public assistance. And in attempt to make sacrifices for their children, they go beyond the call of dhuli, and they begin to buy gifts for their children for Christmas.
And they're poor, they don't even have the money to do that. But they're going to try to practice their religion. It's the season to be jolly according to them.
And then after purchasing five, six, seven hundred pounds worth of gifts, that they don't have the ability to afford, they turn around and tell the child, Santa Claus brought that for you. Which person in his right mind? Which parent in his right mind would do good for your child? And then your child comes, and he thanks the neighbor for what his mother had to do. Wake up every two or three hours in his first formidable months.
A Warning Against Shirk in Worship
Our friends, our brothers, our guests who were here for the first time. They're here for the first time. Wallahi, we don't want to run you away.
We don't want to run you away. But at the same time, we don't want to stand before Allah for not telling you loving Rasulullah șallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam means following him and taking his sunnah. Loving Rasulullah does not mean going overboard and making dua to Rasulullah.
That is shirk and that's dhul. Ya Rasulullah, Ya Rasulullah, Ya Ali, Ya Ali. That is shirk and that's dhul.
And for that reason, when they said to Rasulullah and they made him a partner, by saying it is as Allah wants and as you want, Ya Rasulullah. This light is on because you want it on, Ya Rasulullah. This person is born because you wanted him born, Ya Rasulullah.
Rasulullah took his finger, sharifah, and pointed it in a man's chest and he said to that man:
"Have you made me a partner with Allah?"
Just say, mashallah, by himself. This light is on because Allah wanted it on. Not because the man put it on, not because I want it on, because Allah wants it on.
So to ask anyone other than Allah as the imam said, a nabi, a jinn, an angel, any of that is shirk, and it's not permissible.
Important Points from Imam al-Dhahabi
Now, for the statement of an imam at Dhahabi, he mentioned those ayat of the Quran, and then he went on to explain the ayat, or to make a point and he said, very important statement:
"So whoever makes shirk with Allah, the Blessed and Most High, then dies as a mushrik, he is from the people of the Fire, definitively. Just as whoever believes in Allah and dies as a believer, he is from the people of Paradise even if he is punished."
Pay attention to this point, ikhwan. Al imam at Dhahabi is saying, the one who makes shirk and he dies making shirk is from the people of the naar, qat an.
No choice, lā mahāla, he's going to be in the hellfire, because Allah made Jannah haram, for the one who makes shirk. And in contrast, the one who believes in Allah, and he dies as a believer, he will be from the people of the Jannah, even if he is punished. So ikhwatifillah, pay attention to these two points right here.
Number one, al imam at Dhahabi is teaching us, those of us who are part of this jamaah, that jamaah, the khilafah, jihad, these issues like this we hear every week, issues that are from al-Islam. Al imam at Dhahabi is showing us in a practical way, how the ulema of al-Islam started with the most important issues. He didn't start with jihad, he didn't start with the khilafah, not taking care of the khilafah, leaving off jihad, intentionally as a kabira from the kabair.
"Whoever dies and he never participated in jihad anywhere, and never spoke to himself about jihad, he died on a branch of hypocrisy."
Since he's been living, there are places where there were real fatwa, jihad over there, and he's living. He never made jihad, nor did he say to himself, I wanna make jihad, I'm just looking for an opportunity to go and do it.
Nor did he say that. And he died like that. Never making jihad, and never saying to himself, I wanna make jihad.
Rasulullah said he dies on one of the branches of hypocrisy. So not to what? To make jihad? And not to make jihad? He's a kabira from the kabair. Why didn't he mention that? Number one, because that's not what we understand from Rasulullah șallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam. That's not what we understand from the Qur'an.
We understand that the mujahid, who puts a tamīm around his arm, he has no jihad. The one who establishes a khilafah, but the Muslims are worshipping this and that, and this and that. What is that khilafah? So the very first issue is, al-aqeedah, ikhwan.
Al-aqeedah. The second thing is, al-imam al-dhahabi is making a point, that we have to understand, and that is, anyone who makes shirk, knowingly in his shirk al-akbar, and he dies on that, he's from the ashāb an-nār. Anyone who dies doing any and everything, all of the kabair combined, that he dies saying, lā ilāha illallāh, that person will go to jannah.
That person will go to jannah, even if you don't like it. Despite your nose, he's going to jannah. As long as he doesn't make shirk.
So you can think of the worst sins, homosexuality, may Allah save us from that. May Allah save us from that crime. Al-imam al-dhahabi brings this in his book.
A person falls into that, and he dies saying, lā ilāha illallāh, Allah ‘azawajal is going to put him in jannah. So that is a point of al-aqeedah. So this is the salafiyah of al-imam al-dhahabi.
Hadith Evidence Mentioned by Imam al-Dhahabi
Finally he said, Ikhwan, in this chapter:
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2654; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 87)
"The Prophet șallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said: 'Shall I not inform you of the greatest of the major sins?' They said, 'Yes, O Messenger of Allah.' He said, 'Associating partners with Allah.'"
Explanation of the Three Hadith
In addition to the ayahs that have preceded, Allah subhānahu wa taʻālā has mentioned in the Rasulullah șallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam has mentioned the hadith. Shall I not tell you about the major sins? The biggest of the major sins. They said, what is it? He said that you make shirk.
So that's the dalīl. The second hadith, stay away from the seven major sins. And he mentioned the first one is shirk.
And then finally the hadith, man baddala dīnahu faqtulūh. Whoever changes his religion, then kill him. Whoever changes his religion, then kill him.
That's not talking about the Yahudi who changes his religion from Yahūdia to Nasrāniya. It's not talking about the Christian who changes his religion from Christianity to Judaism. It's not talking about the Magian who changes his religion from a Magian to being a person who doesn't believe in Allah at all.
This is talking about the Muslim, man or woman, who changes their religion from Islam to anything else, kill him in the Islamic state. Because he has made a form of shirk and that he has legislated for himself what Allah subhānahu wa taʻālā said was haram. And it's haram for him to change his religion.
So the Muslim who changes his religion, the penalty for that is death because he said it was halal. He made it istihlāl. He said it's okay for me to change my religion.
So that's the kufr. He followed his hawā and it became the god for him. So those ahadith and other than them, they show the importance of being a person who is on tawhid and being a person who's away from falling into a shirk.
The Hadith About the Fading of Islam
The Prophet told us, Ikhwan, about the time that we're dealing with șallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam, and it's going to get worse. When he said in the hadith, that's been collected by Imam Ahmad and the authority of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, radiyallāhu 'anhumā:
He said رَسُولَ اللَّهِ. Islam is about to fade away the way the embroiderment on your clothes fade away you have a brown shirt, a blue shirt when it's brand new it's solid blue, solid brown the more you wash it, it fades more and more and more Islam is about to fade away like that from the people the way the thawb fades away to the point where the Muslims are not going to know what is Siyam of Ramadan they won't even know Ramadan they won't know the Salah they won't know Hajj and they won't know the Zakat and in one day the ayat of the Quran the Quran will be taken away from the people in one night to the point where they won't remain with the people a single ayat Yaseen is an ayat Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim to some of the ulama of al-Islam is an ayat of the Quran Qul huwa Allahu ahad is an ayat of the Quran Afillah, shak is an ayat from the Quran none of that will remain Saad is an ayat from the Quran Taha none of that will remain in the earth in one night but there will remain two types of people an old man and an old woman they will say we found our mothers and fathers saying
this word so we're saying this word they used to say lā ilāha illallāh so we're saying lā ilāha illallāh and that will suffice them doing that time the fact that they didn't make shirk they didn't pray because they didn't know salah their parents neglected them so they're ignorant and they're excused because of their ignorance and those are the worst people who are going to come those people who the hour won't be established until you won't hear the word Allah Allah people won't make salah people won't say taqillah people won't say I believe in Allah people won't say Ya Allah Allah's name won't be mentioned in the earth lā taqūmu sāʻa illā alā ashad din nās shurūran the hour won't be established except I'm the worst people they won't even say Allah Allah so this is the description of the Muslims doing that time but those people who say lā ilāha illallāh what if they're not doing that time lā ilāha illallāh is going to benefit them because it is the miftāḥ that will save and protect you from ash-shirk staying in the hellfire forever Rasulullah used to fight the people for the kalima of lā ilāha illallāh Rasulullah șallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam called to it for 13 years he was sure to plant the seed and the understanding of lā ilāha illallāh in the minds of the people and I say there is no jihad if we were making jihad right now and they were a group of people and they had a tamīma on their arm our primary jihad would now be to tell him don't do that as our brother and if he refuses we have to get away from that individual because we may be destroyed for the shirk that's taking place here so there's no khilafa for the Muslim nation if our aqeedah isn't right so that's the first chapter of Imam Ad-Dhahabi's book al-kabā'ir the kitab of ash-shirk billahi subhāna wa taʻālā.
Conclusion
We're not going to get into the second chapter because it is a long chapter and it is the chapter of al-qatal murdering people like the Muslims are murdering people here in Birmingham he's a crackhead so he murders another Muslim because they're in that life he sells crack so he murders another Muslim because he owes him money or he wants to move on his territory his sister ran off and got married or something happened in a marriage so they call it an honor killing and there's no honor in that type of killing for you to take the law into your own hand or to kill someone who doesn't deserve to be killed driving around in your car and you're not paying attention to what you're doing and you kill people is a serious issue selling khamr having a store where you sell khamr and people drink khamr and drive or drink khamr and take ecstasy and then they go to the party and die, drop dead from a heart attack you helped to kill him so the next chapter is the chapter of al-qatal two people becoming upset with each other and they start to fight and his niyat is not to kill him but he punches him and he falls and he hits his head the wrong way and he kills him that's the next chapter and it's a pretty extensive chapter so we're not going to get into it at all inshallah wa taʻālā.
End of Khutbah