What is Shirk

 Shirk:

         Belief in monotheism is the first belief of man, polytheism and all its forms are later creations. The first man of the world believed in monotheism. The first human was Hazrat Adam (peace be upon him). He was the first prophet of Allah Almighty. He also taught the same faith to his children, but as the human population increased and people began to scatter here and there, gradually people forgot the true teachings and became misguided and began to believe in many gods instead of one Allah. He made them gods along with Allah.These people were so frightened by what they saw as dangerous that they mistook it for a god and started worshiping it, thus they created a god of fire, a god of the sea and gods of winds etc. On the other hand, he also started worshiping the things that benefited him. The worship of cows etc. started for this reason. To guide these people, Allah Almighty sent several prophets one after the other, who reminded them of the forgotten lesson of monotheism and condemned polytheism. Shirk has been called a great injustice in the Holy Quran.

Allah Almighty says:

Surah Luqman verse 13:

Translation: 

               Indeed, polytheism is a great injustice.

In Quraan Majeed:

Surah Al-Nisa' verse 48:

Translation:

         Allah does not forgive that anyone should be associated with Him .But apart from that, he will forgive whomever he wants.

 The literal meaning of shirk is "participation" and "complicity". In the term of religion, the meaning of Shirk is to consider someone as a partner in the requirements of Allah's personality or attributes. Thus there are three types of shirk:

(1) Shirk in self.

(2) Shirk in attributes.

(3) Shirk in the requirements of attributes.

(1): Shirk in self:

                               Its meaning is to consider someone else as a sharer in the reality of Allah. One form of this is to believe the same reality in someone else and consider him as the consort and equal of Allah Ta'ala. And the second is to consider Allah Ta'ala someone  as child or to consider someone as Allah Ta'ala's child, because the reality of father and child is the same.

Therefore, just as believing in two Gods or three Gods is Shirk, similarly, believing someone to be the son or daughter of Allah Ta'ala is also Shirk.

 Allah says: 

Surah Al-Ikhlaas verse 3, 4:

Translation:

         He does not have any children, nor is he the child of anyone, and there is no one equal to him.

(2) Shirk in attributes:

                              Its meaning is to believe in someone else's attributes like Allah's and to prove the same knowledge, power or will to someone else. Considering someone else as eternal or considering someone else as omnipotent, all these are shirk in the attributes of Allah Ta'ala.

 Allah Almighty says:

  There is nothing like it.

Every creature is in need of Allah Ta'ala, because whatever attribute is found in it is given by Allah Ta'ala, while all the attributes of Allah Ta'ala are personal and not given by anyone.

(3) Shirk in the requirements of attributes:

                                       Allah Almighty is the owner of great attributes. The requirement of the greatness of these attributes is that only he should be worshipped, and the foreheads should be bowed before him. Only He should be considered as entitled to true obedience and love and believe that He is the one who works. Supreme power is in his hands only. And no one's law has any status compared to his laws.

 It is stated in the Quran

Translation:

You only worship Allah.