In the Name of Allaah, The Beneficent, The Merciful
This Declaraion which came afer a long and deep assessment. of the reality of our contemnporary worid:
evaluating all its successes,
and empathizing with all its pains, sufferings and disasters... makes us believe for certain that the most important reasons for the present worid crisis have to do with the absence of human conscience
as well as the abandonment of religious morals and instead, the embrace of individualism and materialistic philosophies
that idolize the human being
Murder, rape, child molesting and genocide. These are all some of the appalling crimes which occur in our world today. Many would think that these are the worst possible offences which could be committed. But there is something which outweighs all of these crimes put together: It is the crime of shirk (associating partners with the sole Lord and Creator).
Some people may question this notion. But when viewed in a proper context, the fact that there is no crime worse then shirk, will become evident to every sincere person.
All the prophets of God including; Adam, Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and the tribes, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them), invited the people , to worship The One God without any partners, son or associates. In order to understand why must worship Allaah (The One God,) we must first accept the Oneness of the Lordship of Allaah i.e. Tawheedur-Ruboobiyyah. This means to believe that there is only One Lord for everything that exist, its Creator, Organizer, Originator, Planner, Sustainer, Authority, Giver of Security, etc. and this is Allaah (One God). The belief in the Lordship of One God cannot be separated by the act of worshipping the One God i.e. Tawheedul-Uloohiyyah. This means to believe that none has right to be worshipped (e.g. praying, invoking, asking for help from the unseen, swearing, sacrificing, pilgrimage, fasting, giving charity, etc.) but Allaah. The final aspect of Tawheed is the Oneness of the Names and Attributes of Allah
Laa illaaha illullaah is the foundation of Tawheed (Islamic Monotheism) and Islam. It is a complete system of life, through which, all forms of worship (of Allaah) are realized. That happens when a Muslim submits himself to Allah, and calls upon Him alone, and refers all issues (of right and wrong) to His Law, to the exclusion of all other systems of law. "The word ilah (i.e. God), means the One who is obeyed and not defied, out of one sense of awe and reference, love, fear, and hope, placing one’s trust in Him, asking Him and supplicating Him alone. Whoever directs any of these matters (which are the rights of Allaah) to a created being, has detract from the sincerity of his statement La ilaha illa- Allaah. And he has worshipped that created being to the extent he directed those matters toward it".
There is no doubt that the above crimes are indeed terrible, but their comparison with shirk shows that they do not hold much significance in relation to this travesty. When a man murders, rapes or steals, the injustice which is done is directed primarily at other humans. But when a man commits shirk, the injustice is directed towards the Creator of the heavens and the earth; Allah. When a person is murdered, all sorts of reasons and explanations are given. But one thing that the murderer cannot claim, is that the murdered was someone who provided him with food, shelter, clothing and all the other things which keep humans aloft in this life.
But when a person commits shirk, they attempt to, willingly or unwillingly, direct an injustice towards the One who has provided them with all these necessary things - and often a whole lot more. This Being who provides us with all our needs and wants is of course Allah, the Lord of this universe. So is it right for us to commit this offence against the one who has provided us with all that we could possibly need? This is the ultimate form of ingratitude which humans display, and will eventually cause many people eternal pain. The severity of this crime has been established, but until now you may have been wondering 'what exactly is shirk?'
The Reality of Shirk
In the issue we talked about Tawheed (the Oneness of Allah). Shirk is its exact opposite. Linguistically, shirk means a partnership or to share or associate. However, Islamically it is to give to other than Allah, that which belongs solely to Allah. This means that parts of Allah's creation are given powers and attributes which belong to Allah, thus, ultimately sending worship to other then Allah alone. These parts of the creation therefore become partners with Allah.
The purpose of our creation is outlined in the Qu'ran when Allah says:
"I did not create the Jinn[1] and mankind except to worship Me"
The Prophet said: "Whoever says Laa illaaha illullaah sincerely will enter Paradise"
No gods are worshiped with God Allah. (Reported by Bazzar and declared authentic by Imaam al-Albaanee in Saheeh al-Jami
