Strengthening of the Faith

Chapter Seven : Prohibition of Shirk in Social Customs

This chapter contains various Verses and Ahddith which prove that the manner in which a man expresses his gratitude to Allah and dignifies Him in his day-to-day mundane affairs, observing and employing different modes, he must refrain from doing the same in respect of any entity other than Allah.

The whispering of Satan (Devil prodding):

Allah the Almighty says:

{They (all those who worship others than Allah) invoke nothing but female deities besides Him (Allah), and they invoke nothing but Satan a persistent rebel!" Allah cursed him. And he (Satan) said: 'I will take an appointed portion of your slaves. Verily, I will mislead them, and surely, I will arouse in them false desires; and certainly, I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and indeed I will order them to change the nature created by Allah.

And whoever takes Satan as a Wali (protector or helper) instead of Allah, has surely suffered a manifest loss. He (Satan) makes promises to them, and arouses in them false desires; and Satan's promises are nothing but deceptions. The dwelling of such (people) is Hell, and they will find no way of escape from it.} (V.4:117-l20)

The people who invoke deities other than Allah, they worship none but females (according to them). Someone calls upon Hazrat Bibi, someone Bibi Asiyah, someone Bibi Utawli, someone red fairy, someone black fairy, someone Satila, someone Masani and someone goddess Kali. These are merely fancies having no trace of reality.

These presumed male and female deities are none but delinquent fallacies and whisperings induced by Satan which the people have taken to be the objects of worship. The one who speaks and creates spectacles (by playing tricks) sometimes, is none other than Satan himself.

All the acts of worship which are being carried out by these polytheists are to propitiate none but Satan. According to them, they only make their vows and offerings to women, but in fact it is all seized upon by Satan. These things neither benefit them in terms of religion nor help them in their mundane affairs. Since Satan himself is a renegade and an outcast, how could he possibly benefit someone in terms of his religious and moral edification? Moreover, he is a sworn enemy to the mankind and hence no favor could ever be expected from an antagonist.

He has already stated in the presence of Allah saying, "I will convert many of Your slaves into my own slaves. I shall destroy their wisdom in such a manner that they will recognize their own ideas as authentic ones and follow them. They shall dedicate animals to me which shall be bar- coded with the sign of such vows which they would be making in my name. For instance,

they shall slit an animal's ears or amputate them, or they shall put a sash around it's neck, or color its forehead with henna, or embellish its face with trappings, or place a coin in its mouth. Be it as it may, any sign which denotes that this animal relates to a vow belonging to such and such deity is included in this category. Satan had already gone to the extent of saying that I shall hold such a sway on people that they shall be persuaded to deform the shapes and facial features created by Allah. Someone shall raise a plait in someone's name, someone shall perforate his nose or ear in the name of some deity, someone shall shave off his beard and someone shall exhibit his mendicancy by shaving off his eyebrows.

These are satanic deeds and are contrary to the Islamic teachings. Then the one who abandons Allah, the Munificent and follows the path of Satan, is bound to suffer a manifest loss. This is owing to the fact that first of all, Satan is an enemy to the human beings. Secondly, he is not capable of doing anything other than inducing whispering in the hearts of the people.

He beguiles and placates people momentarily by making false promises to them by suggesting that if you believe in such and such deity, your such and such wishes shall be fulfilled. He allures them with tremendous aspirations that if you could muster a certain massive amount of riches, you may acquire for yourself such resplendently beautiful garden, an orchard for a magnificent palace.

As long as these hopes are evanescent and never get materialized, the man gets fidgeted, forgets Allah in his spasmodic bewilderment and runs after the so-called deities. All his wild and erratic pursuits turn out to be a cry in the wilderness bearing no fruits as he acquires nothing except what has already been penned down in his destiny. This is nothing but a deceptive mirage and a whispering aroused by Satan.

The outcome of all this trumpery is that a man becomes entangled and enmeshed into the quagmire of Shirk and deserves the Hellfire. He falls prey to the ruses of the Devil so dangerously that despite trying his might and mane, he finds himself unable (and incapacitated) to get himself freed from his tentacles.

Polytheistic rituals in regard to the soliciting of children:

Allah the Almighty says:

{It is He Who has created you from a single person (Adam), and (then) He has created from him his wife (Eve), in order that he might enjoy the pleasure of living with her. When he had sexual relation with her, she became pregnant and she carried it about lightly. Then when it became heavy, they both invoked Allah, their Lord (saying): If you give us a Salih child (good in every aspect), we shall indeed be among the grateful. But when He gave them a Salih child (good in every aspect), they ascribed partners to Him (Allah) in that which He has given to them. High is Allah, Exalted above all that they ascribe as partners to Him.} (V. 7: 189,190)

It alludes to the fact that Allah Himself created the man originally gave him a wife and caused a feeling of love to grow between them. And when they expected a child, they made supplications to Allah that they would be extremely thankful to Him if He blessed them with a Salih child (i.e. good in every aspect of life and robust in health and sound in his mental faculties etc.) Once blessed with such a child according to what they longed for, they turned into the devotees of the so-called deities and started making vows to them.

Some people take their children to the graves of saints and some to their sanctums. Someone raises a braided plait on his shaven head in someone's name, whereas someone else either puts a sash (around one's neck)1 or a chain (around one's neck or feet). Someone even goes to the extent of committing such an inequity that he 1

A sash or chain of administering a vow People wear them at the time of making a vow, and take them off at it's completion. This is a custom observed by many people.

coerces and subjugates his child to turn into a mendicant (as a gratitude towards the accomplishment of his vow to a deity) and giving his children such polytheistic names like Nabi Bakhsh, Ali Bakhsh, Pir Bakhsh, Satila Bakhsh, Ganga Bakhsh, Jamna Das, etc. etc. As far as Allah is concerned, He is totally free from their callousness and insensitivity, but these dolts become deprived of their Faith.

Polytheistic rituals in Agriculture

Allah the Almighty says:

{And they assign to Allah a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created, and they say: 'This is for Allah' according to their pretending and this is for our (Allah's so-called) partners.' But the share of their (Allah's so-called) 'partners' reaches not Allah, while the share of Allah reaches their (Allah's so-called) "partners!" Evil is the way they judge!} (V.6:136) It means that even though there is no denying in the fact that all the grain and animals have been created by Allah, but despite having a cognizance of this fact, polytheists dedicate some things of theirs for the false deities other than Allah as like they dedicate for Allah and it is an astonishing reality that the tremendous amount of respect which they observe while dedicating these things to the other so-called deities, they fail to exhibit the same amount of veneration while apportioning Allah's share in their offerings.

Polytheistic rituals in regard to the cattle:

Allah the Almighty says:

{And according to their pretending, they say' such and such cattle and crops are forbidden, and none should eat of them except those whom we allow.' And (they say) there are cattle forbidden to be used for burden or any other work, and cattle on which (at slaughtering) the Name of Allah is not pronounced; lying against Him (Allah). He will recompense them for what they used to fabricate.} (V.6:138)

Some people express their opinion about a certain thing (by merely running a conjecture) that such and such thing is a unique one having a streak of oddity, and therefore it only behooves that particular person to have it. Some people do not use these animals as beasts of burden and do not let others ride them either, on the plea that as long as this animal is under a vow (made to such and such deity), it commands our respect and thus we are bound to hallow it as a sacred entity. Some people dedicate the animals to the so-called deities presuming that these acts shall go a long way to propitiate Allah and thus their long-cherished penchants shall be fulfilled, but fallacious are their conjectures and deeds for which shall they indeed be penalized.

Allah the Almighty says:

{Allah has not instituted things like Bahirah (a she-camel whose milk was spared for the idols and nobody was allowed to milk it) or a Saibah (a she-camel let loose for free pasture for their false gods, e.g. idols, etc. and nothing was allowed to be carried on it), or a Wasilah (a she-camel at it's first delivery and then again gives birth to a she camel at it's second delivery) or a Ham (a stallion-camel freed from work for their idols, after it had finished a number of copulations assigned for it, all these animals were liberated in honor of idols as practiced by pagan Arabs in the pre-Islamic period). But those who disbelieve invent lies against Allah, and most of them have no understanding.} (V.5:l03)

A ritual slit was used to be etched out on to the ear of an animal which was dedicated to a certain deity. This kind of animal was known as Bahirah. Had this animal been a bull, it was called Sdibah.. An animal which was declared to be under such a conditional vow that if the same gave birth to a male colt, it (the colt) would be given away as an offering. Now, if the said animal gave birth to both a male and female offspring at one stroke, they would refrain from giving away even the male colt as an offering. Such a pair of colts was called Wasilah. People would stop riding and putting their burden on an animal which gave birth to ten off-springs. Such an animal was called Ham. It has clearly been stated that all these practices are merely customs and rituals and have nothing to do with the injunctions of Shari 'ah.

Thus it becomes known to us that the acts of dedicating an animal to a certain deity, bar-coding it, and determining that such and such deity shall only accept a cow, a goat or a hen in terms of offerings (against vows made to them), are nothing but the myths and rituals of ignorance and are in contravention of the sanctified Islamic law.

Slandering Allah in the matters of lawful and forbidden things:

Allah the Almighty says:

{And say not concerning that which your tongues put forth falsely: 'This is lawful and this is forbidden,' so as to invent lies against Allah. Verily, those who invent lies against Allah will never prosper.}(V.16:ll6)

It means that one should not take it upon himself to determine as to what is lawful and what isn't, because such an act is the sole prerogative of Allah. This sort of thing shall only amount to inventing lies against Allah. It is wrong to be driven by one's own flights of fancies that if that particular assignment is undertaken after this particular fashion, it will click or else it shall go haywire, for one can never succeed by inventing lies against Allah.

Thus it becomes known to us that fostering such myths that one should not partake of betel leaves in the month of Muharram, one should not wear red dresses, the male should not eat the food of vowing in the name of Bibi, a food offering made in the name of a certain saint must contain those particular vegetables or the same should necessary contain Missi (a kind of female cosmetics in the olden days)

and henna etc., or declaring that such a food should not be eaten by a female slave or for the woman who remarries (either after the death of her first husband or after being divorced by him) or the ones belonging to the lower castes of the society, or an adulteress, declaring that the offering made in the name of Shah Abdul-Haque (a saint) has to be a Halwa (a sweet dish) necessarily which should be prepared with an utmost precaution and that it should not be had by someone who is addicted to using a hubble-bubble,

alleging that the offering made to Shah Madar (a saint) has to be Maleeda (a sweet dish); the one offered to Bu Ali Qalandar, has to be a dish of Siwaiyan (vermicelli) and the one offered in the name of the Companions of the Cave (Ashdbe-Kahf), a dish of meat and bread. Giving currency to such myths that on the occasion of someone's marriage or in the event of somebody's death, it is necessary to observe such and such customs, propagating such ideas that a woman should not remarry after the death of her husband, should not attend a marriage ceremony or should not marinate pickles,

fanning a superstition that this particular person should not wear blue clothes and that person should abstain himself from wearing red ones etc. All the above things are acts of Shirk and the people who perpetrate such things are in fact interfering in the matters which solely belong to Allah the Almighty and hence are inventing their own Shari' ah.

Giving credit to the influence of planets (Zodiac signs), is an act of Shirk:

Zaid bin Khalid bin Juhni {May Allah have mercy on him} narrated the following Hadith:

"One day the Prophet {Peace be upon Him} led us the morning prayer in Hudaibiyah pursuant to a night-long rain. After completing the prayer, he diverted his attention to the people and said, 'Do you know what your Rabb said?

' The Companions {May Allah be pleased with Them} answered that Allah and His Prophet {Peace be upon Him} knew the best. The Prophet {Peace be upon Him} answered, 'Allah said that among the slaves of mine who entered the morning, some were believers and some disbelievers. The one who said that this rain was induced due to the blessing and mercy of Allah has indeed affirmed his Faith in Me and denounced the stars and the one who said that this rain was caused and brought by such and such star1, has denounced me and affirmed his Faith in stars." (Al-Bukhari -Muslim)

It means that the one who cherishes such a belief that the stars (which are merely a creation of Allah) exercise their influence in the matters of the universe, Allah considers him as the one who negates Him. Such a person is none but a star-worshipper. The one who affirms that this universe is operative by Allah's command, is His beloved slave and not a star-worshipper. Thus, we understand that believing in propitious and unpropitious hours, making an inquiry as to which day or date is auspicious or inauspicious (to commence an activity) and giving one's credit to the observations of an astrologer are the activities which open the door to Shirk (polytheism). This is due to the fact that all these activities belong to astrology and these are only the star-worshippers who believe in them.

The astrologers are magicians and the magicians are disbelievers:

It is narrated by Ibn Abbas{May Allah have mercy on him} that the Prophet {Peace be upon Him} said:

"The one who learns a chapter of astrology in a way contrary to the commandments of Allah, has 1

'Naw' is translated as 'Zodiac'. It implies one's destiny, fate, horoscope or a certain position within the constellation. The expression implies the position of the moon in the sky. In the terminology of astrology, it implies those planets or the zodiac positions of the moon which are in a swinging motion day and night. They are attributed to be carrying special effects and specific modes of influence on each hour of the day and night. Astrologers pronounce something as auspicious or in auspicious by observing them, which is absolutely wrong.

learnt a part of magic. An astrologer is a soothsayer, a soothsayer is a magician, and a magician is a disbeliever." (Razin)1

It means that the Noble Qur'an states that the stars are a manifestation of the power and wisdom of Allah. They serve as an embellishment to the sky and a scourge to drive away the Devil.2The Qur'an never states that these stars have the power to interfere in the running of nature or that they have a direct bearing on the virtuosity and vices taking place in the world.

Now, if someone disregards the former merits of the stars and postulates that these heavenly bodies influence the worldly affairs and thus claims to have the knowledge of the unseen, he indeed is a polytheist. As the soothsayers, in the pre-Islamic period of ignorance, used to predict about the unseen by consulting the jinns, the astrologers do the same by consulting the stars which means that a soothsayer, an astronomer, a Rammal (a conjurer),

a Jaffar (a soothsayer) all follow the same creed. A Kahin (the one who prophesies about the future events) courts friendship with the jinns just like a magician and the same is not possible until one believes in them, invokes them and makes an offer to them. It all relates to infidelity and making partners to Allah. May Allah the Almighty save and preserve Muslims from committing acts or Shirk. Amin.