Pre-islamic Age of Ignorance:  The Arabs of the pre-islamic age of ignorance period, after ‘Amr b. Luhayy, had mixed shirk into their prayers. It is recorded that the tribes of Quraysh, Kinane and Huza’a said, “O Allah, O Allah! O Allah, you have no partner. You have only one partner. You rule over him and his possessions.”[610] The Arabs used to refer to the idols Hubel and Isaf in their polytheistic prayers..[611]

They were involved in many other types of shirk. It is possible to give examples of all of these. For the sake of clarity, we consider it appropriate to deal with this issue in detail as the scholars have dealt with it. Scholars have dealt with this issue, which Islam emphasises, in five ways.

Shirk-i istiklâl[612]: Belief in the existence of two gods. Zoroastrianism falls under the scope of this belief.

Shirk-i teb’iz[613] : It is the belief in the existence of three gods originating from one God. Christianity falls under the scope of this belief.

Shirk al-taqrīb[614]: It is accepting that Allah is one, but accepting intermediaries in order to be close to Allah. In short, it can be called distant belief in Allah. Since they see Allah as an unapproachable being, they believe that their devotion and loyalty to the objects they hold sacred will bring them closer to Allah. Idolatry falls under the scope of this belief.

Shirk-i taqlīd[615]: Believing in the religion of one’s ancestors, even if it is wrong, is to commit shirk by imitating their wrong beliefs. Judaism falls under this belief.

Shirk-i esbâb[616]: It denies the Creator because of the dominant belief that matter is formed as a result of cause and effect. Atheism falls under this belief.

ISLAM: In Islam, shirk and other beliefs are dealt with in every aspect, the wrongs of these beliefs are pointed out and the necessary answers are given as follows.

Shirk-i istiklâl: Allah said, “Do not have two gods, it is one god, fear only Me.”[617]

Shirk-i teb’iz: Those who say that Allah is the third of three have certainly disbelieved. There is no god but Allah alone. If they do not renounce this, a painful torment will befall the disbelievers among them.[618]

Shirk-i takrîb: They take friends besides Him and say: “We serve them that they may bring us nearer to Allah”. Verily Allah will judge in what they differ. Allah does not guide the liar, the disbeliever.[619]

When it is said to them: “Follow what Allah has revealed”, they say: “Nay, we follow what we saw from our forefathers”. And if their forefathers were those who could not think and could not find the right path, will they do the same?

Shirk-i esbâb: They said: “Life is but our life in this world, and we shall not be resurrected again.” If only you could see them when they are brought before their Lord! Allah will say to them, “Is it not true that we shall be resurrected?” They say, “By our Lord, yes”. Allah will say to them, “Then suffer the torment for your disbelief.” [621]

Nowadays: All of the beliefs that existed in Jahiliyyah continue to exist today.

Shirk-i istiklâl: Beliefs such as Magianism[622] or Zoroastrianism, which are based on two gods, continue to exist.

Shirk-i teb’iz: The belief in three deities as parts of the whole is still seen in the Christian belief in the Trinity[623].

Shirk al-taqrīb: Idolaters who depend on the words of intermediaries to gain closeness to Allah are also found in this period.

Shirk-i taqlid: The Jews, who adhere to the religion of their ancestors in an imitative way, continue their beliefs in the same way today.

Shirk-i esbâb: The materialist mentality, which denies the Creator, continues its beliefs as in the jahiliyyah.

While the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the mercy of the worlds, who was described in the Torah and the Bible and who was sent when people were in these beliefs after waiting for many years, fulfilled his duty properly, blindly continuing to adhere to opposing beliefs gives some conclusions that need to be drawn. While he should be an example to those who are in the belief of jahiliyyah, the fact that there are many people who do not even have knowledge about the content of shirk despite saying “I am a Muslim” increases the situation to horrible dimensions.

Allah (swt) says:

Say, “Shall we call upon that which neither benefits nor harms us, except Allah, and after Allah has guided us to the right path, shall we return to our former state and become as confused as the one whom the devils tempted in an uncertain desert and left bewildered and his companions called to him, ‘Come to us’? Say, ‘Guidance is only from Allah, and what we are commanded is submission to the Lord of the worlds.'[624]

We need to know all the aspects of Shirk. The most important of these is the truths that are distorted so that their correct aspects are not understood. Accepting the news as it is without looking at where it comes from means that we are lost in the knowledge that we need to find life with its existence. Accepting information that has been distorted from its truth without questioning it will take that information away from its real purpose. In this regard, the Holy Qur’an says the following. O you who believe! If a corrupt (misguided) man brings you news, enquire into its truthfulness. Otherwise, you may unknowingly do evil against a people and then regret what you have done.[625] The fact that Satan and his friends try to instil in us that by saying “I believe” there is no possibility of associating shirk with Allah or that shirk is limited to worshipping idols is the basis of the point that the knowledge that is accepted today without being investigated has brought us to. In order to fully understand our explanation of the types of shirk, we need to know two things in terms of its scope. These are the concepts of “Lord” and “God”. Failure to know them well will lead to limiting those who fall into shirk only to the groups we have given as examples. In order for a person to be able to say, “I did not associate shirk with Allah,” he must have sufficient knowledge about the words “Lord” and “God”. Otherwise, even if he is in the mire of shirk, he will think that he has a clean report when he consults his heart due to the insufficient knowledge of his mind. This assumption, on the other hand, constitutes a sufficient condition for the occurrence of his own destruction. Due to their importance, the areas covered by these two concepts are briefly stated as follows.

According to Ibn al-Anbārī[626], Rabb means three things:

  1. To be the owner; that is, to be the sole owner and administrator of everything under his control and power. The Lord is the only one who owns and governs all of them and disposes of them as He wills, in accordance with His knowledge and will.
  2. Rabb, which means the master to be obeyed and bowed down to, is synonymous with the word “Mawla” in the Holy Qur’an. It also means the only master to be obeyed, whose orders are to be obeyed and whose prohibitions are to be avoided.
  3. Rabb means the one who corrects, purifies, refines, purifies and matures. That is to say, the Lord is the one who corrects everything, levelling the sharpness and protrusions, organising and disciplining it by changing it from one state to another in a complete way. As it is known, one of the main meanings of the word Rabb is “the one who disciplines”.

The kind of polytheism that occurs by thinking or accepting that there is an effective power other than Allah in the creation and direction of every event that takes place in the universe is the kind of polytheism that is addressed by the word “Lord”. The Lord means the one who is the one who disciplines and guides, the one who judges and legislates, the one who tidies up, the one whose word and judgement are worthy of being kept. As the verse states: “Know that to Him belongs the creation and the commanding.”[627]

Allah (swt) is the Owner. This means that He is the sole owner and manager of everything under His control: He is the Owner of the Day of Religion.[628]It is He who created man from a drop of water by giving him shapes, who gave his mother fresh and warm milk at his birth, which is his vital food, and made him inclined to walk and speak. Who has made a special effort for these? It is He who created man with defence and reaction mechanisms in place from the moment he was born and set up a maintenance and repair factory for his internal organs, which are in a struggle without any intervention. Who has made a special effort for these? He is the One who has created the oxygen necessary for his life while he is growing, the rain that penetrates the soil, and the various kinds of plants out of the soil with countless blessings. Who has made a special effort for these? It is He who corrects, purifies, guides, provides sustenance and healing. Who has made a special effort for these? It is He who has created me and guided me. He is the one who feeds me and gives me drink. It is He who heals me when I am sick. He is the One who will kill me and raise me up again. It is He whom I hope will forgive my sins on the Day of Reckoning.[629]

Is it compatible with reason and faith to take people who take their power from us as Lord, when there is a Lord who appreciates all these things that this servant can or cannot think of? Can this ingratitude be accounted for on the Day of Reckoning? Say to such people: “Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?” Say: “Allah.” Then say: “Have you taken friends besides Him who have no power to benefit or harm?” Say: “Are the blind and the sighted equal? Or are the darkness and the light equal?” Or have they found partners who create as He has created, so that this creation seems to them similar? Say: Allah is the Creator of all things. And He is the One, the One with unassailable power.[630]On the Day of Judgement, before the day when they will leave the world, we should avoid people who do not take their power from Allah azza wa jalla, and we should take a stance against them that symbolises our existence. It is explained that on the Day of Judgement, those who are appointed as lords and gods will flee from those who appointed them. Just as when we first created you, you have come to us alone again, you have left behind you all that we have given you, we do not see your intermediaries with you, whom you thought were our effective partners, all the ties between you have been severed, and the gods you thought were our partners have disappeared from you.[631]Allah (swt) is the one to be obeyed. He is the One to be obeyed in deeds and worship. He is the one whose commands are obeyed and whose prohibitions are avoided, and who is worthy to be prostrated to Him. This is because: These are the limits set by Allah. Whoever obeys Allah and the Prophet, Allah will place them in Gardens beneath which rivers flow, in which they will abide forever. This is the great salvation, the great success.[632]Otherwise, Allah (swt) is not appointed as the Lord. The situation of those who do not obey Allah (swt) is reported in the Qur’an as follows: Indeed, those who rebel against Allah and His Messenger (by not recognising the limits set by them and attempting to set their own limits) are degraded as those before them were degraded. But We have sent down clear signs. There is a humiliating punishment for the disbelievers.[633]The reason for this is that another authority has been appointed to command and forbid, to make lawful and unlawful. For this: Say: “My prayer, worship, life and death are for Allah, the Lord of all beings.”[634]

Deity is the common name of objects that are worshipped and worshipped. Based on the root of the word ‘ilah’, it means to worship, to be confused, to falter, to turn towards someone with the need for protection and peace, to love excessively, to be hidden and to be high. Here it is necessary to briefly explain what worship is. Worship means to love and be attached to with passion, that is, to regard as a deity. A deity is one who is worshipped. Today, people do not recognise the worship of others as worship because they do not fully know the necessity of worshipping Allah. For informative purposes, let us try to briefly explain the areas covered by the word “ilah”:

1) A deity is a being whom one recognises as worthy of worship. The deity of a person who believes in the Last Day is Allah (swt) alone. The Holy Qur’an has defined the boundaries of this belief to be lived as a Muslim as “La ilahe illallah (There is no god but Allah)” and “Iyake na’budu (We serve You and You alone)”. With the assertion of La ilahe illallah, it is said, “Never have any other gods”. This is a claim that must be proved in every aspect of life. The Muslim, who has identified Allah (swt) as his deity, is asked to prove it. The necessity of proof stems from the fact that nature does not accept a vacuum. This is due to the fact that unless there is a belief with defined boundaries, servitude can be done to someone else. Even the materialists who say “I do not recognise a god” today unknowingly serve people like Marx, Lenin, Mao, etc. Iyake na’budu constitutes the acceptance point of the claim that needs to be proved. It is the indispensable cornerstone of proof. It is the best chain of actions to gain the consent of God. The first stage of the action is prayer. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) emphasised the importance of prayer by calling it “the pillar of religion”.

2) Deity means the owner of mercy, blessings and power, who is declared to be the provider of all kinds of needs and from whom only help is expected. In the Holy Qur’an, which is the guide of the believer, our Lord, who is the teacher and trainer, informs us in the form of “Iyakea nesteiyn” and “Allahus samad”. Iyyake nesteiyn (We seek help only from you) means the all-powerful and the provider of all needs; it means that there is no one else but you, O Lord, from whom we expect mercy and blessing. Allah is the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient, the All-sufficient. This is out of the question for false gods. Whatever is given is given because of the expectation of himself or his ideology.

3) Deity means the being whose consent is sought, whose pleasure and closeness is aimed for. In Islam, this meaning of deity closes all doors of hypocrisy and dishonesty. In fact, the reason why shirk is considered as one of the greatest prohibitions is that it is not a dishonour to human beings. Otherwise, no one can harm Allah (swt) by associating shirk with Him. If a person says, “My Lord is Allah,” but continues to be hypocritical and dishonest, there is another deity that is trying to be appointed. This deity may be his own or someone else’s ego. If there is no hypocrisy or pretence, the paths of sincerity and sincerity to be close to Allah and to seek His pleasure will open by themselves. Seeking the pleasure or nearness of the true deity makes a person honourable, whereas seeking the favour of false deities through hypocrisy and dishonesty makes a person dishonourable. The Qur’an informs us how to ensure the pleasure and closeness of false gods so that they are not appointed by reminding us of the purpose for which we were created. Surely I have created mankind and the jinn only that they may worship me.[636] The meaning of “that they may worship me” is to unite Allah (swt). This is tawhid, which is Allah’s greatest commandment to mankind. When the Holy Qur’an says, “Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him” [637], it means that worshipping and obeying anything else along with Allah is associating partners. And some of the people obey other than Allah (for His pleasure and nearness), and associate partners with Him in judgement and command, and they love and cherish these partners as if they loved Allah. But the love of the believers for Allah is stronger, deep-rooted and lasting than theirs.”[638] The verse describes how they associate partners.

4) Another meaning of the word “God” is the one who sets rules to discipline the life of the servants and whose judgement is the most worthy to be implemented. The Holy Qur’an describes the Nimrods who oppose this as follows: Have you seen those who take their nafs as gods?[639]On the other hand, the Qur’an describes the situation of those who take them as friends as follows: The condition of those who take other friends and other supports besides Allah is like that of a spider who takes a house made of a web. Surely the most flimsy house is the spider’s nest. Would that they had realised this.[640]

Allah Almighty gives a very thought-provoking example when He describes the behaviour of those who follow falsehood and deny the truth. It is as follows: The rope to which the falsehood clings is very flimsy and weak, just like a spider’s web… It is doomed to break and disappear at any moment. The fate of those who took action against the prophets in the name of falsehood, disbelief and oppression is one of the clear evidences of its rottenness. It is also known that the spider weaves its web for hunting rather than for self-protection, and tries to cut the way of weaker creatures and make them fall into the web of death. The strong flies, the strong insects pierce the web and the weak ones get stuck in it. Is it not the same today? Weak-willed, self-interested people who have no concern other than their own interests are caught in the web of the irreligious, materialistic and perverts who exploit the country in a short time, and they suffer the disaster of breathing their last breath in that web. All spiders are poisonous except two types. They first kill their prey by poisoning them and then suck them. Materialistic unbelievers, who do not recognise a prophet or a book, also form their own associations. They come out with very attractive ideas. Like a spider’s web, their statutes are attractive and deceptive. They first poison those they catch with their own ideals and render them incapacitated,[641] then they start to make use of them and do not let them go until they turn them into pulp.[642]

We, as Muslims, should say to these Nimrods and those who think that their judgement is worthy of implementation: Call the objects that you think to be gods besides Allah. They have no influence or sovereignty over the heavens or the earth, not even the weight of a particle. They are neither partners in the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth, nor helpers to Allah: There is no god but He; He is the Hayy[644], the Qayyûm[645]. No sleep comes to Him, nor slumber. All that is in the heavens and the earth is His. Who can intercede with Him without His permission? He knows what His servants do and will do. Men know nothing of His knowledge except what He has revealed. And His Chair encompasses the heavens and the earth, and it is not difficult for Him to guard and watch over them. He is the Exalted, the Great.[646]

Shirk: Shirk means to give a share. In religion, it means believing that Allah has a partner or equal in His essence, attributes, judgement, divinity, worship or property, and adopting this belief.

[610] Ibn al-Kalbī, Kitabul al-Asnam, pg.6; Ibn Ishaq, Sīrah, pg.100

[611] Ibn Habib, Muhabbar, pg.311

[612] Being on your own, not depending on anyone, being independent

[613] To divide. To divide into parts, to belong to a part

[614] Approximation, about

[615] Attempting to emulate and resemble

[616] Causes, means, occasions, instruments

[617] Surah Nahl, Verse 51

[618] Surat al-Ma’ida, Verse 73

[619] Surat al-Zumar, Verse 3

[620] Surat al-Baqarah, Verse 170

[621] Surat al-An’am, Verses 29-30

[622] He who worships fire worships fire; he who is of the Zoroastrian religion

[623] In Christianity, it is the concept of God consisting of the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Jerusalem).

[624] Surat al-An’am, Verse 71

[625] Surat al-Hujurat, Verse 6

[626] A scholar of Arabic language and literature, Quranic sciences and hadith (b. 885- d. 940)

[627] Surat al-Araf, Verse 54

[628] Surah Fatiha, verse 4

[629] Surat al-Sharaa, Verses 78-83

[630] Surah Rad, Verse 16

[631] Surat al-Anam, Verse 94

[632] Surat al-Nisa, Verse 13

[633] Surat al-Fighting, Verse 5

[634] Surat al-An’am, Verse 162

[635] To feel closeness, affection.

[636] Surah Zariyat, Verse 56

[Surah al-Nisa, verse 36

[638] Surat al-Baqarah, Verse 165

[639] Surah Al-Jaziya, Verse 23

[640] Surah Ankebut, Verse 41

[641] Paralysed

[642] Celal Yıldırım, Asrın Qur’an Tafsiri in the Light of Ilmin, Anadolu Publications: 9/4643-4644.

[643] Surah Saba, Verse 22

[644] The eternal and eternal living

[645] He is the one who is in charge of all existence

[646] Surat al-Baqarah, Verse 255