WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF SHIRK?

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Answer: Shirk [associating partners with Allah] can be of two types: practical shirk and heart-based shirk.

- Practical Shirk refers to directing acts of worship to someone other than Allah, such as praying or fasting for a creature. Prayer and fasting are acts of worship that should only be directed to Allah alone. If someone does this, they have committed shirk, whether they believe the object of worship has divinity or not.

- Heart-based Shirk refers to believing in the lordship [rububiyyah] and divinity [uluhiyyah] of another deity besides Allah, even if no acts of worship are directed to that deity. Merely believing in the divinity of someone other than Allah is considered shirk, regardless of whether one performs any worship towards that entity.

This type of shirk is unquestionably a deviation from the true faith, and it is a sin that Allah does not forgive, as He says in His noble book:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افْتَرَى إِثْماً عَظِيماً

"Indeed Allah does not forgive that partners should be ascribed to Him, but He forgives anything besides that to whomever He wishes. Whoever ascribes partners to Allah has indeed fabricated [a lie] in great sinfulness." [1] 

And Allah also says:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَمَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلالاً بَعِيداً

"Indeed Allah does not forgive that any partner should be ascribed to Him, but He forgives anything besides that to whomever He wishes. And whoever ascribes partners to Allah has certainly strayed into far error." [2]

Shirk can also be classified as either major shirk [Ash-Shirk Al-Akbar; الشرك الأكبر] or minor shirk [Ash-Shirk Al-Asghar; الشرك الأصغر]. The major shirk is what we just described. As for the minor shirk, it refers to actions like showing off [Riya'a; رياء] in worship. Minor shirk does not remove one from the fold of Islam, although it nullifies the reward of the act of worship in which one was showing off.

There is another categorization of shirk: it can be either clear shirk [Ash-Shirk Al-Jalli; الشرك الجلي] or hidden shirk [Ash-Shirk Al-Khafi; الشرك الخفي]. Clear shirk is when someone worships someone other than Allah alongside Allah, as we mentioned earlier. Hidden shirk has various forms, some of which are mentioned in the sayings of the Imams from Ahl Al-Bayt, peace be upon them, such as:

مَنِ ابْتَدَعَ رَأْياً فَأَحَبَّ عَلَيْهِ أَوْ أَبْغَضَ عَلَيْهِ.

"‘It is one’s inventing an opinion and thereafter love and hate [people] on that basis.’." [3]

Another form of hidden shirk is when someone obeys Satan knowingly, or follows a person in disobedience to Allah, which is also considered shirk. This is alluded to in Allah's statement:

وَمَا يُؤْمِنُ أَكْثَرُهُمْ بِاللَّهِ إِلَّا وَهُمْ مُشْرِكُونَ

"And most of them do not believe in Allah without ascribing partners to Him." [4]

Another example of hidden shirk is when someone says: "If only Allah had done otherwise, or decreed a different judgment," they have committed shirk.

As for what the Salafis mention regarding types of shirk such as seeking intercession [Tawassul] from the saints and prophets, calling upon them [Istigatha], asking for their needs from them after their death, or making vows to them; none of these acts are considered shirk, whether major or minor. No proof has been provided to show that these are acts of shirk. To consider these matters as forms of worship is incorrect. We have addressed all these issues in our book "Dirasat fi Al-Fikr As-Salafi".

And Allah is the All-Knowing.

References

[1] The Holy Qur'an 4:48

[2] The Holy Qur'an 4:116

[3] Al-Kafi, Ash-Shaykh Al-Kulayni, Volume 2, Book 1, Chapter 169, Hadith 2

[4] The Holy Qur'an 12:106

The original text in arabic can be found here

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Question: What is the definition of shirk?

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