9/7/16, 2: 48 PM
How a Person Falls into Major Shirk
Bismillāh wal-Ḥamdulillāh.
Based upon the verses of the Qurʾān, aḥādith of the Messengerصَلَّى
اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) ), and statements of the scholars of Tawḥīd, their explanations
and elaborations in their works, the following can be presented as a
summary of the numerous steps through which a person is led into committing
major shirk and calling others it:
The First Step: Shayṭān
uses his grief and his love of the deceased relative and inspires him to
embellish and decorate the grave and to
build over it. He believes that this is from loving the deceased and venerating
and respecting him. People start competing with each other in order to beautify
and embellish the grave. They are deceived by Shayṭān into thinking this is from venerating their dead relative
and that not rivalling what others have done would be to belittle him and to
disrespect him.
The Second Step: The beautification of the grave and its
embellishment requires maintenance, leading a person to visit frequently.
During these visits, Shayṭān inspires him with the idea that
making duʿā to Allāh (عَزَّوَجَلَّ) by the grave is
commendable, if not better than making duʿā at home or the mosque, and that it is more likely to be
responded to, especially because it is being made in proximity to a dead
righteous person.
The Third Step: Over time, the person moves from making duʿā to Allāh directly by the side of the
grave to making duʿā
to Allāh through the dead person in the form of asking Allāh by the status (jāh)
or right (ḥaqq) of the dead person. Shayṭān inspires this person to wrongly believe that Allāh must answer his duʿā with mere mention of the status or
right of the deceased. It is at this juncture where Shayṭān will mislead him away from legitimate, legislated tawassul (seeking means of nearness to Allāh
by asking Him through one’s own righteous deeds) and puts him on the path
towards invoking the deceased directly (having made him believe that this is tawassul),
thereby leading him to eventually fall into major shirk.
The Fourth Step: Once a person has been accustomed to
invoking Allāh through the
right and status of the deceased, its a natural step to
invoke the deceased directly and ask for his intercession (shafāʿah) with Allāh. Shayṭān inspires him to believe that the deceased hear and
respond. Rather than suffice himself with his own duʿā which does not appear to be answered,
he reasons that the dead person is closer to Allāh (due to his piety and also
the fact that he is deceased and in the barzakh). So he asks the deceased to invoke Allāh (عَزَّوَجَلَّ) on his behalf
and ask for the fulfillment of his needs whether attaining some good or
repelling some harm. He may start addressing the deceased directly by standing
at his grave, and then later he may invoke the deceased from a distance, away
from the grave.
The Fifth Step: Shayṭān
then inspires him to believe that winning favour with the deceased will help to
get the deceased to intercede for him with Allāh and that he must venerate and
respect the deceased through acts of
devotion. It is here that the deceased and his grave will be taken as an idol
worshipped besides Allāh and the door is opened for all others act of worship
to be directed to the deceased: istighāthah (seeking rescue in times of
hardship), istiʿānah (seeking aid in matters which only Allāh has
power over), dhabh (sacrificing animal) and so on. Shayṭān then inspires them to believe this is the right of the
deceased, that they be venerated and respected
like this (by granting them the right that belongs only to Allāh).
The Sixth Step: Then Shayṭān
inspires them to call the people to this and to make the grave and the deceased
as a celebratory location (ʿīd)
and a place of devotion which is most
beneficial for them in this life and the next. This person will then show enmity
to anyone who calls for duʿā
to be made only to Allāh and who expounds the Tawḥīd
of the Messengers, that none has the right to be worshipped but Allāh alone and
who explains that respecting the deceased does not mean granting them a right
which belongs only to Allāh (عَزَّوَجَلَّ). This person
will claim that this is belittling and
disrespecting the righteous dead and that this itself is war against Allāh
because the righteous dead are from his
awliyāʾ, and not fulfilling their “rights” is the greatest of crimes.
Thus
the deception is complete and Shayṭān has misguided them through this cunning , step by step,
just as he did in history with the people of Nuḥ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ) and others. He takes them away from worshipping and invoking
only Allāh, to invoking deities besides Him.
Written by: Abu Iyaaḍ Amjad
Rafiq | @abuiyaadsp
15th Dhul Hijjah 1437/ 17th September
2016
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