Will you describe the quagmire of shirk (polytheism)?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Throughout history, most of the people believed in Allah but they fell into shirk (polytheism) directly or indirectly. The mushriks (polytheists) of the Era of Jahiliyya could not know Allah:  مَانَعْبُدُهُمْ اِلاَّلِيُقَرِّبُونَٓا اِلَى اللّٰهِ زُلْفٰىۜ “We only serve them (idols) in order that they may bring us nearer to Allah” (az-Zumar, 3).  The following people could not know Allah and could not get rid of shirk:

-Those who worship some invisible spiritual beings like angels and jinn,

-those who regard oppressors like Pharaoh as deities,

-those who regard a prophet like Hz. Isa (Jesus) a part of divinity,

-those who regard an animal like a cow as holy and worship before it,

-those who worship objects like a stone, the moon and the sun,

-those who think nature is a deity,

-those who are prevented by causes,

-those who deify their own desires.

A Muslim who is a member of the religion of oneness might fall into shirk. The Prophet attracts attention to it as follows:

"The thing that I fear most for my ummah is associating others with Allah. I do not say that they will worship the sun, or the moon or idols. They will do deeds for the sake of anyone other than Allah and have hidden desires." (Ibn Majah, Zuhd, 21)

It is called shirk khafiyy, that is, secret shirk. Qurtubi evaluates those who utter the following statements and similar ones within the scope of secret shirk: "But for such and such a person, we could not have been saved”, “If it were not for the dog, thieves would enter our house.” (Qurtubi, IX, 179)

The statements that we frequently hear today like “the doctor cured me”, “the drugs cured me” are statements that remind of shirk. When a Muslim gets ill, he goes to see the doctor and uses medication but he attributes the cure to Allah.

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