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+'''Shirk''', or '''ascribing partners to God''' ({{ia|الشرک}}), is the opposite of [[tawhid]] and one of the [[grave sins]].
-{{Shi'a-Vertical}}
+Muslim scholars have divided shirk into shirk in God's essence, attributes, and actions, and shirk in worship. From another perspective, shirk is divided into two categories: manifest (jali) and hidden (khafi). Manifest shirk is usually discussed in theology and hidden shirk in [[ethics]].
-As there are stages and degrees of monotheism, there are degrees of polytheism. There are types of polytheism in contrast to the types of monotheism called for by the prophets.
+Following the desires, materialism, and ignorance are counted among the factors that have led to the development of shirk.
+The [[Qur'an]] counts the [[Ihbat]] (cancellation of the reward of obedience and good deeds), exclusion from God's forgiveness, deprivation of [[Paradise]], and entering [[hell]] among the consequences of shirk.
-===Theoretical polytheism===
+[[Ibn Taymiyya]] and his [[Wahhabi]] followers accuse [[Shiites]] and other Muslims who do [[tawassul]] of shirk. However, Shiites emphasize that tawassul is shirk only if it is accompanied by worshipping and believing in the divinity of the one who is implored.
-There are types of theoretical polytheism, as follows:
-* '''Essential polytheism:''' the view that there is a divine essence besides God. Some schools of thought have hold to two (dualism) or three ([[Trinity]]) or more independent eternal principles of creation, taking the world to be multi-polar or multi-focal. The belief that there is more than one principle for the world counts as essential polytheism, which goes against essential monotheism. Such a belief is incompatible with being a Muslim. Islam rejects any form of essential polytheism.
+==Definition==
+Shirk is defined as ascribing partners to God in what is exclusive to Him, such as necessity of existence, divinity, worship, and lordship. Shirk stands against tawhid, but some scholars maintain that shirk is the opposite of faith and that it may accompany faith, since shirk is applied in the Qur'an not only to idolaters but also to the [[People of the Book]] and sometimes to Muslims as well.
-* '''Attribute polytheism:''' such sort of polytheism, due to its speculative nature, is not common between ordinary people. This is held, instead, by some scholars who think about theology, but are not keen enough. [[Ash'arism|Ash'ari]] scholars developed theories that lead to this types of polytheism. This also counts as a sort of hidden polytheism, which may be compatible with being a Muslim.
+Mushrik is the one who ascribes partners to God—the one who believes that a being other than God has His exclusive attributes, that the control over a part of creation is delegated to someone other than God, or that someone other than God deserves to be worshipped or independently obeyed.
-* '''Creation polytheism:''' some schools of thought took God to have no analogues and partner, being the only principle of the world, but took some creatures to be his partners in creation. For instance, they believed that God is not responsible for the creation of misfortunes, defects, and in general, unpleasant events and phenomena; these are, they think, brought into existence by some creatures, without God involving in their creation. This is polytheism with regards to agency and creation, and is in contrast with act monotheism. This types of polytheism is also incompatible with Islam. However, some early stages of this might be categorized as hidden sorts of polytheism, which are still compatible with belief in Islam.
+==Types of Shirk==
+Similar to tawhid, shirk has the following types:
+* '''Shirk in God's essence''', which is to believe that there are several gods (polytheism) or that God's essence consists of two or more components.
+* '''Shirk in God's attributes''', or the belief that God's essence is ontologically distinct from His attributes.
+* '''Shirk in God's actions''', which stands against [[tawhid in action]] and is divided similarly to different types such as shirk in creation and shirk in lordship.
+#'''Shirk in creation''' is the belief in two or more independent creators such that none of them is inferior to the other ones. The belief in a creator for good and a creator for evil in some faith traditions is an example of this type of shirk.
+#'''Shirk in lordship''' has two types:
+:# Shirk in cosmological lordship: the belief that God created the world but delegated its regulation and management to other deities.
+:# Shirk in legislative lordship: the belief that someone other than God can independently legislate laws and regulations.
+* '''Shirk in worship''' is to worship anyone or anything other than God.
-===Practical polytheism===
+Shirk is also divided into theoretical and practical shirk; theoretical shirk relates to beliefs such as shirk in God's essence or attributes and shirk in creation and lordship, and practical shirk relates to shirk in worship.
-This type of polytheism is tied to human practices—it is polytheism with respect to worships. Some people worshiped woods or metals or stones or animals or stars or the sun or tress or the sea. There are still some people around the world who continue such practices. This is contrasted with worship monotheism.
-Moreover, if a person admires and honors a person other than God in ways that imply exclusively divine attributes for that person, then he or she counts as polytheist. For only God is the one who is absolutely worthy of admiration and free from any defect. Such characterizations for anyone other than God—whether in speech or in practice—counts as polytheism.
+==Shirk in the Qur'an and Hadith==
+A great number of Qur'anic verses address the issue of shirk and its prohibition. Some verses state that polytheists do not have any proofs for their belief but rely only on conjecture and desires. The Qur'an states that "Allah does not forgive that any partner should be ascribed to Him, but He forgives anything besides that to whomever He wishes" ([[Qur'an 4|4]]:48). Commentators have explained that the exclusion from God's forgiveness in this verse pertains to the case where a polytheist dies without repenting from his shirk; otherwise, all sins including shirk can be forgiven with repentance.
-There are degrees of practical polytheism. The highest degree, which is incompatible with Islam, is worship polytheism, which is an explicit sort of polytheism. However, there are tacit or hidden sorts of practical polytheism that Islam reproaches (though they are still compatible with the person being a Muslim). Thus [[hypocrisy]], egoism, selfish ambitions, love of money, and the like count as polytheism. These are, nonetheless, hidden sorts of polytheism.
+According to [[hadiths]], shirk is one of the [[grave sins]] as well. [[Abd Allah b. Mas'ud]] reports that the [[Prophet (s)]] stated that the gravest sin was to ascribe a partner or a similar to God.
-==Boundary of Monotheism and Polytheism==
+In a hadith attributed to [[Imam Ali (a)]], shirk is said to be of four types in the Qur'an: shirk of the tongue, shirk in actions, shirk of adultery, and shirk of hypocrisy. For the shirk of the tongue, reference is made to the verse "They are certainly faithless who say, 'Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary.' But the Messiah had said, 'O Children of Israel! Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Indeed whoever ascribes partners to Allah, Allah shall forbid him [entry into] paradise" ([[Qur'an 5|5]]:72); for the shirk in actions, the verse "And most of them do not believe in Allah without ascribing partners to Him" ([[Qur'an 12|12]]:106) is adduced; for the shirk of adultery, the verse "and share with them in wealth and children" ([[Qur'an 17|17]]:64) is quoted; and for the shirk of hypocrisy, the verse "So whoever expects to encounter his Lord let him act righteously, and not associate anyone with the worship of his Lord" ([[Qur'an 18|18]]:110) is cited.
-The boundary between monotheism and polytheism is worship monotheism which includes the lower degrees of monotheism as well.
-According to the definition of monotheism, if a person takes there to be a partner or analog for God in His creations or in His practical attributes such as creation, livelihood-providing and the like, then he or she is a polytheist.
+==Hidden and Manifest Shirk==
+Shirk is either majifest (jali) or hidden (khafi). Manifest shirk is to perform acts of worship such as bowing down, prostration, and offering sacrifices for someone or something other than God while believing the divinity of that person or thing. Hidden shirk includes such vices as materialism, following desires, and so forth. Expounding [[Qur'an 12]]:106, [[Imam al-Sadiq (a)]] is reported to have said that sayings such as "If it wasn't for so and so, I would be destroyed or afflicted" as an instance of hidden shirk. Also, a well-known hadith from the Prophet (s), according to which shirk is less noticeable than the motion of an ant on a black stone at a dark night, seems to refer to this type shirk. Hidden shirk is discussed mostly in ethics. Manifest shirk and hidden shirk are sometimes called greater shirk (al-shirk al-akbar) and lesser shirk (al-shirk al-asghar).
-The concept of monotheism reveals that the boundary between monotheism and polytheism is the belief that entities other than God are dependent or independent of Him. That is, if someone takes there to be an entity independent of God in his power, knowledge and other attributes, then he or she will be a polytheist. On the contrary, the view that God has created entities who have knowledge and power dependent on Him (that is, it is God who has given them such knowledge and power) does not lead to polytheism, since they are dependent on God and thus they do not count as partners for the divine essence.
+==Causes and Roots of Shirk==
+The following causes and roots have been mentioned for shirk:
+* Following conjectures. The Qur'an states, "And what do they pursue who invoke partners besides Allah? They merely follow conjectures and they just make surmises" ([[Qur'an 10|10]]:66).
+* Materialism. Many people are deeply attached to sensory objects, and understand everything, including God and His attributes and actions, in a material framework.
+* Ignorance. The Qur'an speaks of those who "without any knowledge" ascribe partners to God and maintain that He has sons and daughters ([[Qur'an 6|6]]:100).
-Ignorance of this boundary between monotheism and polytheism has led to some controversies. [[Ash'arism|Ash'ari]] scholars thought that the belief in the principle of [[causation]] (that objects in the world have causal effects) leads to polytheism. [[Wahhabi]]s maintain that the belief in the efficacy of human beings, natural phenomena and the like implies polytheism. The same is true, they think, of the belief that some persons other than God can heal the patients or help realize what people have prayed for.
+Love for the material world, following the desires, forgetting God, exaggerating about religious figures, fanaticism, and corrupt rulers are counted in the Qur'an among the factors that have promoted shirk.
-The above boundary or criterion shows that such thoughts are unfounded—it is rejected both by a rational analysis of what monotheism is supposed to be and by Qur'anic verses and hadiths.
+==Consequences==
+According to the Qur'an, the following are among the consequences of Shirk:
+* Deprivation of Paradise. According to Qur'an 5:72, Paradise is forbidden for polytheists.
+* Exclusion from God's forgiveness. Based on verses 48 and 116 of Qur'an 4, God's forgiveness does not include polytheists but may include other sinners.
+* Hell. Qur'an 5:72 proclaims that hell will be the abode of polytheists.
+* Annulment of the deeds. Shirk makes one's righteous deeds void and unacceptable.
-The [[Qur'an]] has attributed some causal efficacies to human beings, angels, and objects. it also attributes to [[Jesus (a)]] the Christ some supernatural powers, such as creation, bringing the dead to life, telling about what is hidden, and healing the patients:
+==Legal Rulings==
+In Islamic law, shirk is one of the grave sins. Based on the verse “The polytheists are indeed unclean: so let them not approach the Holy Mosque” (Qur'an 9:28), Muslim jurists have stated that polytheists are ritually impure and that they are not allowed to enter al-Masjid al-Haram.
+In his al-Nihaya, al-Shaykh al-Tusi regards permanent marriage between Muslim men and polytheist women as invalid, but he considers temporary marriage with Jewish or Christian women valid.
-{{cquote
+==Wahhabi Accusations against the Shi'a==
-|{{center|when you would create from clay the form of a bird, with My leave, and you would breathe into it and it would become a bird, with My leave; and you would heal the blind and the leper, with My leave, and you would raise the dead, with My leave}}
+Wahhabis consider tawassul to the dead, beseeching the Prophets or Friends of God, and seeking the blessings of the graves of religious figures among the instances of shirk in worship. Ibn Taymiyya believes that although asking the Prophet (s) or righteous people for prayer during their lifetimes is not shirk, it becomes shirk after their death. According to Ibn Taymiyya, whoever visits the grave of the Prophet (s) or a pious person and asks them for something is a polytheist; he must be required to repent, and if he refuses to repent, he has to face death penalty. Abd Allah b. Baz, a prominent contemporary Wahhabi mufti, also considers in his works asking the dead for healing, victory, and so forth an instance of the greater shirk. Wahhabis regard such practices as similar to the practices of the polytheists of the Age of Ignorance.
-|author= [[Qur'an 5]]: 110
+In response, other Muslim scholars state that the practices of the polytheists are not comparable to what Muslims do because polytheists believed in the divinity and lordship of their gods, but Muslims do not have such beliefs about the Prophet or the righteous figures to whom they do tawassul, and they never worship them. Rather, visiting the graves of the righteous people, honoring them, and asking for their prayers is an instance of venerating God and His sacraments and a means to get closer to Him.
-}}
+According to the Qur'an, asking for someone's prayer or intercession is a form of shirk in lordship if the one who is entreated is regarded as acting independently and without God's permission.
-This verse attributes many powers to a person, Jesus the Christ. But on the other hand, it emphasizes that all these are "by His leave", that is, Jesus did not do any of these supernatural acts independently; rather he depended in them on God. Such verses show that the belief that a person, such a prophet or Imam, can have the ability to do supernatural act, is not polytheism.
-[[Murtaza Mutahhari]] writes,
-:"The fact is that the boundary between monotheism and polytheism in the relation between God, human beings, and the world, is in terms of "from Him" and "to Him". The boundary between them in theoretical monotheism is "from Him". Every entity can be conceived of in monotheistic terms insofar as his essence, attributes and acts are known to be "from Him", whether or not it has any causal effects or not, and whether or not it has supernatural powers or not, because God is not the God of the divine realm; he is also the God of this world. He is as close to the nature as He is to the divine realm; thus the mere supernaturality of something does not turn it into a god. ... In the Islamic worldview, the world has a "from-Him" character. The Qur'an attributes to some prophets some supernatural powers such as bringing some dead back to life, but qualifies all of these attributions with the phrase "by His leave". This is expressive of the "from-Him" character of such acts, in order to prevent the thought that prophets have any independent powers. Thus the boundary between theoretical monotheism and theoretical polytheism is the character of being "from Him". The belief in the existence of an entity whose being is not "from Him" counts as polytheism. The belief in the efficacy of an entity whose efficacy is not "from Him" also counts as polytheism, whether or not it is a great natural entity, such as all skies and earths, or an unimportant phenomenon, such as a movement of a leaf."
 ==References==