TERM 3 - TAwheed - CLASS 3
SHIRK IN AL-ASMA WAS-SIFAT
Shirk in this category includes both the common pagan practice of giving Allah the attributes of His creation as well as the act of giving created eings Allah’s names and attributes.
1. Shirk by humanization
In this aspect of Shirk in al-Asma’ was-Sifat, Allah is given the form and qualities of human beings & animals. Due to man’s superiority over animals, the human form is more commonly used by idolaters to represent God in creation. Consequently, the image of the Creator is often painted, moulded or carved in the shape of human beings possessing the physical features of those who worship countless idols in the likeness of Asian men & consider them manifestation of God in creation. Modern day Christian belief that the Prophet Jesus was God incarnate; that the Creator became His creation, is another good example of this type of Shirk. There have been many so-called great Christian painters who painted pistures of Gos as a Naked old European man with long flowing white hair and beard. These pictures have in turn, been help by the Christian world in the highest esteem.
2. Shirk by deification
This form of Shirk in al-Asma’ was-Sifat relates to cases where created beings or things are given, or claim, Allah’s names or His attributes. For example, it was the practice of the ancient Arabs to worship idols whose names were derived from the names of Allah. Their main threee idols were: al-Lat, taken from Allah’s name al-Illah; al-‘Uzza, taken from al-‘Aziz & al-Manat, taken from al-Mannan. During the Prophet ﷺ’s era there was also a false prophet in a region of Arabic called Yamamah, who took the name Rahman which only belongs to Allah.
Among the Shi’ite sects is the Musayriyah of Syria, who believe that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ’s cousin & son in law, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, was a manifestation of Allah and give him many of Allah’s qualities. Among them too are the Ismai’ilis, also kniwn as Agha Khanees, who consider their leader, the Agha Khan, to be God incarnate. Also include in this category are the Druze of Lebanon who believe that the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi Amrillah, was the last manifestation of Allah among mankind.
Claims of Sufis (Muslim mystics) like al-Hallaj that they have become one with God and as such exist as manifestations of the Creator within His creation may also be included in this aspect of shirk in al-Asma’ was-Sifat. Modern-day spiritualists and mediums, such as Shirley Maclaine and J.Z.Knight, often claim divinity for themselves as well as mankind in general. Einstein’s theory of relativity (E=mc , energy is equal to mass times the square of the speed of light) taught in all schools, is in fact an expression of shirk in al-Asam’ was-Sifat. The theory states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed; it merely transforms into matter and vice versa. However, both matter and energy are created entities and they both will be destroyed, as Allah clearly states:
“Allah is the creator of all things…” (Qur’an 39: 62)
“Everything in [the world] will perish.” (Qur’an 55: 26)
The theory also implies that mass and energy are eternal having no beginning or end since they are supposed to be uncreated and transform into each other. However, this attribute belongs only to Allah who alone is without beginning or end.
Darwin’s theory of evolution is also an attempt to explain the evolution of lofe and its form from lifeless matter without the intervention of God. One of the leading Darwinists of this century, Sir Aldous Huxley expressed this thought as follows:
“Darwinism removed the whole idea of God as the creator of organisms from the sphere of rational discussion.”
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