Tuning Into Reality - The Foundations of Qur’anic Wisdom

8/6/2019 Tuning Into Reality - The Foundations of Quranic Wisdom

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The Foundations of Quranic Wisdom(Translated from the original Urdu work of Dr.Israr Ahmed by Dr.Yousuf Raza)

In the Light of the 2 nd Ruku of Surah Luqman

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The first two lessons in this Short course of the Quran were on Surah Al-Asr and Ayat-ul-Birr. Now weembark, with the name of Allah, on the third lesson; the 2 nd Ruku (passage) of Surah Luqman. This Surahis in the 21 st Juz of the Quran and the 2 nd Ruku comprises of 8 ayaat. It is the 31 st Surah. Lets begin with

a translation of this passage to get a general idea of the topics that will be covered:

031.012 And, indeed, We granted Wisdom unto Luqman: Be grateful to Allahfor he who is grateful isbut grateful for the good of his own self. Whereas he who chooses to be ungrateful, verily Allah is Self-

Sufficient, ever to be praised.

031.013 And remember when Luqman said to his son when he was advising him: "O my son! Ascribe no partners unto Allah: for, definitely, to ascribe partners to Him is a tremendous wrong (tremendous

injustice)."

031.014 And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents: in travail upon travail did his mother

bear him, and in years twain was his weaning: (hear the command), "Show gratitude to Me and to your parents: to Me is (your final) Goal.

031.015 "But if they strive to make you ascribe partners with Me things of which you have noknowledge, obey them not; yet bear them company in this life with kindness, and follow the way of those

who turn to me (in love): in the end, unto Me you all must return, and I will tell you the truth (and meaning) of all that you were doing."

031.016 "O my son!" (said Luqman), "If there be (good deed or bad deed) the weight of a mustard-seed and it were (hidden) in a rock, or (anywhere) in the skies or in the earth, Allah will bring it forth: for Allah

understands the finest mysteries, (and) is well-acquainted (with them).

031.017 "O my son! establish regular prayer, enjoin what is right, and forbid what is wrong: and bear with patient constancy whatever befalls you; for this is firmness (of purpose) in (the conduct of) affairs.

031.018 "And turn not your cheek away from people in (false) pride, nor walk in insolence through theearth; for Allah loves not any arrogant boaster.


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031.019 "And be moderate in your pace, and lower thy voice; for the harshest of sounds without doubt isthe braying of the ass."

Al-Qur'an, 031.012-019 (Luqman [Luqman])

You probably already gathered from the translation, that these ayaat talk about the same 4 points wealready spoke about in a new style and order. This is so because the Sirat-i-Mustaqim is the same and itsmilestones are the same. So the purpose of the Quran is that it expresses the same Path of Guidancein different styles and mannerisms. However the same basic topic is not just expressed in a different,but there are different facets of it and different ideas and important lessons also presented.

TawhidIf you pay attention you would see that of the three fundamental creeds, Iman in Allah, is expressed inthe most comprehensive manner; the negation and affirmation. In the affirmative aspects you see thatIman in Allah is projected by the call to be grateful to Him, and the negation is expressed by thecommand to refrain from associating partners with him. So if you develop within yourself that gratitudefor Allah and refrain from associating anything or anyone with Him, then you wouldve achieved Iman in

Allah and all its required states.

ProphethoodAs opposed to that you would notice that Iman Bi-Risalah is not mentioned anywhere in the teachings of Luqman. None of the three components of Iman Bi-Risalah i.e. Prophets, revelations and angels find amention. This is so because over here basic aspects of wisdom, the foundations of the Quranic wisdomare being mentioned with reference to a person (Luqman) who was neither a prophet nor a messenger,

and neither was he the follower of any messenger or prophet. We are being taught here that if anuncorrupted human nature embarks on a journey to discover the truth, with a pure intention, then hewould reach the level of Iman in Allah without the aid of revelation or prophet.

Life after deathHowever Iman Bil Aakhira is elaborated. The real essence of the belief in an Afterlife is the convictionthat the deeds of a human being are not without consequence; both good and evil would be

appropriately re-compensated. In that context one of the most important advices Luqman gives to hisson is:


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"O my son!" (said Luqman), "If there be (but) the weight of a mustard-seed and it were (hidden) in arock, or (anywhere) in the heavens or on earth, Allah will bring it forth: for Allah understands the finest

mysteries, (and) is well-acquainted (with them).

So this is the essence of the Iman in Al-Akhira that none of your actions are inconsequential and theywill definitely amount to something. However, the Day of Judgment, Reward and Punishment, Heaven

and Hell, have not been directly mentioned here. This is so because to understand those realitiesguidance of a Prophet or a Messenger is indispensible. Here only that aspect of Iman bil Aakhira ismentioned which a human can reach with his own wisdom without the aid of revelation and

messengers, using his innate nature and uncorrupted rational faculty.

The Foundation of WisdomThere is an innate gnosis of the Creator and Cherisher in the heart of a human, albeit sleeping. The

foundation of wisdom is that the person re-awakens this gnosis in his heart and mind. The certainconsequence of a healthy nature and an uncorrupted thought is gratitude . A sound mind and a correctthought process would result in the recognition of the Real Creator. In other words wisdom mandatesthat your sense of gratitude is focused on the Real Owner, Master, Sustainer and Cherisher. And thisgratitude necessitates that the human being completely abstains from all kinds of shirk ( ascribing

partners to Allah) and establishes Tawhid. This is exemplified in Luqman who was granted with thiswisdom and as a consequence of his uncorrupted nature and sound state of mind he attains to thegnosis of Tawhid and the sense of gratitude. So he says to his son in the most loving and affectionatemanner:

Behold, Luqman said to his son by way of instruction: "O my son! Join not in worship (others) with Allah:

for false worship is indeed the greatest injustice."

Fulfilling RightsWe saw in Surah Al-Asr and Ayah Birr, that right after Iman, amal-i-Salih was mentioned. Here too thefirst aspect that appears after Iman in Tawheed is that of fulfilling rights; and specifically fulfilling the

rights of the parents is the foremost. We see in numerous places in the Quran that immediately after acommand to fulfill the rights of Allah by obeying and worshipping him alone with no partners we are


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commanded to fulfill the rights of our parents. So we see the same over here; after Luqmans advice to

his son to establish Tawhid it is mentioned from Allah that:

And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents

Similarly in Surah al-Baqarah:

002.083 And remember We took a covenant from the Children of Israel (to this effect): Worship none but

Allah; treat with kindness your parents

And in Surah al-Anaam:

006.151 Say: "Come, I will rehearse what Allah hath (really) prohibited you from": Join not anything as

equal with Him; be good to your parents;

And in Surah al-Isra:

017.023 Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents.

Special Right of the MotherThe ruku that we are studying gives specially emphasized the importance of the right of mothers. Allah

commands that after gratitude to Him, gratitude to parents should be given due importance:


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And We have enjoined on man (to be good) to his parents: in travail upon travail did his mother bear him, and in years twain was his weaning: (hear the command), "Show gratitude to Me and to thy

parents: to Me is (thy final) Goal.

Treating parents with kindness comes under the broader heading of Rights of Humans. In the course of this worldly life we become obligated with rights to a lot of our fellow beings and everyone should be

concerned about fulfilling these rights; our parents are on the top of this list. Without a doubt the

biggest favor on a human is that of Allahs , who is the Creator and the real Cherisher and Provider.

After Allah however, the biggest debt a person owes is to his parents; who raised him, fed him at the

cost of their own food and comforted him at the cost of their own comfort and whenever he was indistress they were in distress for him. And from parents the mother gets precedence. Therefore aftermentioning parents in this ayah special mention is given to the mother. She suffered weakness overweakness carrying the child in her womb. She nursed him for two years; the child stuck to her chest likea parasite attaining his nourishment at the cost of hers. So with these huge favors the parents and

specially the mother are on top of the list a human is obligated to.

To further elaborate the importance of the mother it would be appropriate to mention two ahadith.

One of them states that, Paradise lies under the feet of your mother, implying that serving onesmother is one of the important means of attaining paradise.

In the second narration a companion asked the Prophet , Who is most deserving of my best

treatment? The Prophet replied: Your Mother The companion asked again, Then who? he

received the answer, your mother, he asked a third time, Then who? he received the answer Yourmother the companion asked a fourth time and was answered, Your father. So we understand fromthis hadith that a mother has 3 times greater rights than a father.

A fine point One point that deserves mention here is that in the course of Luqmans advise to his son, after advisinghim not to indulge in shirk he does not mention his own rights himself. It does not behoove him to do

so. Rather Allah finished the subject for Luqman and inserted this factor in the course of Luqmans

advices.

Now naturally a question arises here: What if these the rights of Allah and the rights of parents clash?What if the parents ask their child to commit shirk ? This is a practical problem. There was a significant

population of youth in the people who responded to the call of the Prophet. Of these Saad bin Abi


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Waqas and Musab bin Umair deserve special mention here. Their mothers were polytheists. They

were asking them by demanding their rights as mothers to come back to the religion of their forefathers.They even threatened hunger strikes. Naturally the rightly guided, uncorrupted natures of theseyoungsters were presented with a dilemma. Naturally people of their character have an awareness of their parents rights. The Quran presents the solution to this problem:

031.015 "But if they strive to make thee join in worship with Me things of which thou hast no knowledge,

obey them not

As you can see it doesnt say that all their rights are now abrogated. They will not be obeyed as far asshirk is concerned but they will be treated fairly in all other respects:

yet bear them company in this life with justice (and consideration)

And it was made crystal clear that treating them well does not imply itiba (following) as far as that isconcerned you would only follow a person who has turned his face towards Allah:

and follow the way of the one who turns to me

It is not obligatory to follow in the footsteps of polytheist parents in thought or practice.

RecapAlhamdulillah we have taken a birds eye view of the first half, i.e. the first 4 ayaat, of this ruku. Beforemoving on lets summarize what we studied so far.

The first ayah introduces Luqman. With the second one his advice starts with emphatic emphasis on

abstaining from polytheism. In the next two ayaat Allah reminds us something which He inherentlyplaces in human beings anyway and revelation further strengthens that inherent moral value. Then itwas explained what a monotheist is required to do if there is a clash between the rights of Allah and therights of the parents. Then again Luqmans advice to his son continues; he talks about the consequencesof worldly actions i.e. Life after death. From here to the end of this ruku are some practical steps that

Luqman advises.


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It would be beneficial at this point to compare this ruku with the topics brought up in Surah al-Asr and

Ayat-ul-Birr. We saw in Surah al-Asr that the comprehensive term Iman was used and that was furtherelaborated in Ayat-ul-Birr. Compared to that, here we see that as far as Iman in Allah is concerned it ispresented as a call towards being grateful to Him and abstaining from polytheism. As for I man bil

Aakhirah goes it is presented in the context of meeting the consequences of actions. Then Amali Salih

were mentioned in one comprehensive phrase in Surah al-Asr whereas Ayah Birr spoke about threeimportant aspects of Amali Salih . Like we studied in Ayat-ul-Birr here too we see that the mention of

human rights takes precedence over worship; the rights of parents are advised and emphasized beforethe mention of Prayer. If you continue counting the righteous acts mentioned in this ruku then you

would see that humbleness, humility and modesty are stressed upon. Saar is the name of acamel disease in which its neck becomes fixed. When arrogance enters the heart of a human then hedevelops a swagger in his walk and impoliteness in his tone. By virtue of Luqmans advice thesemannerisms are warned against by saying that Allah does not like the arrogant and boastful people.Furthermore balance is advocated in every facet of a persons life.

In Surah Al-Asr the criteria mentioned was Tawasi bil-Haq . Over here that is comprehensively explained

by the terms, Amr bil Maroof wa nahin anil munkar. This immediately followed the command toestablish prayer:

O my son! establish regular prayer, enjoin what is just, and forbid what is wrong

Amr bil Maruf is a very pertinent term in our religion. So much so, that the purpose for the existence of

this Ummah is described using these words in Surah Aali-Imran where Allah says

003.110 Ye are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is

wrong, and believing in Allah.

In Surah al-Asr the last thing mentioned was Tawasi bis-Sabr . And Luqman too advises his son thus:


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and bear with patient constancy whatever befalls thee; for this is firmness (of purpose) in (the conduct

of) affairs.

Commanding right and forbidding wrong is not generally tolerated well. Mockery and derision, pains,trials and tribulations are inevitable. They would have to be tolerated with patience and perseverance.

This is the summary of the subjects covered under this ruku. We pray to Allah that he gives us a goodshare from this wisdom and that this does not just remain constrained to our minds rather it shouldmaterialize in our characteristics and attributes, our morals and behaviors, and become inseparablefrom our personality. Aameen!

Time to PonderReaders would know that it was discussed that there are two levels of understanding the Quran. First isTadhakur bil Quran, in that you excise the lesson and gist of the ayaat and the surahs. The other isTaddabur bil Quran i.e. diving deep into the depths of the Quranic wisdom; giving each word its dueright by pondering over it, the mutual relationship between the ayaat, and an attempt be made tounderstand the inner and outer order of the Surahs. We have done as much as was possible as far as thetadhakur was concerned now we need to turn our attention to the taddabur part.

This ruku is important in the sense that the foundations of Quranic hikmah ( wisdom) are determinedfrom here. Hikmat is a word used in Urdu as well and generally it is used in conjunction with philosophywhen we say falsafa-o-hikmat (Philosophy and Wisdom). But it is very important to understand thefundamental difference between them. Philosophy is solely dependent on the intellect; therefore itbuilds on the rules of logic. However hikmah is dependent on intuition and its structure is founded onthe soundness of human nature. The role of an uncorrupted intellect is that it builds on these

foundations and elevates the structure like a talented mason. The relationship between the humannature and human intellect is similar to that described in this ayah between kalima tayyibah and Amali Salih:

To Him mount up (all) Words of Purity; deeds of Righteousness raise them high.

Certain truths embedded in our nature which we experience at a sub-conscious level can neither be

ascertained nor refuted on the basis of logic. When intellectual thought builds on these inherent truths,the treasure earned is what will call, hikmah!

Linguistically all words arising from the root ha-ka-ma have a common connotation of maturity andfirmness. We have for example the word istehkam which is in common usage and indicates the strengthof something. Hikmah is the maturity of the human intellect and consciousness which gives rise to an

ability to differentiate right from wrong, to reach the right conclusions and to discern truths. When


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these attributes come together in a human being then we can say that he has earned the quality of

wisdom or hikmah .

Allah terms hikmah as a huge bounty, favor and blessing in an ayah where he says,

002.269 He granteth wisdom to whom He pleaseth; and he to whom wisdom is granted receiveth indeed a benefit overflowing; but none will grasp the Message but men of understanding.

Therefore whoever attains wisdom attains something very precious and rare. Wisdom is of great valuein our religion; the maturity and strength of the intellect, ability to discern truths and right from wrongand good from evil. So how honored is the one whom Allah honors with this honor. In the context of

wisdom the Messenger said:

A word of wisdom is the lost possession of a believer; he has the greater right to it wherever he findsit.

Whenever we find something of our posesstions that we lost, we jump to take hold of it withouthesitating knowing that no one can take it away from us. Similarly if a believer finds wisdom and sagacitysomewhere he has more right to it than anyone else.

First Foundation of Wisdom: GratitudeThis passage of the Quran while speaking with reference to Luqman established two foundations of wisdom. The first is shukar, ( gratitude) to the Creator. Its appropriate at this point to understand thelinguistics of the word shukar. Even though its a commonly used term in Urdu, if you ask anyone whatshukar is then they would probably respond by saying shukar is shukar. Majority of people will not be

able to find a synonym for it. What is shukar? Imam Raghib Asfahani beautifully expresses its meaning,Shukar is to understand and recognize a favor or a gift and admit and express the appreciation. Theopposite of shukar is kufar. The very first ayah of this passage reads,


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Any who is (so) grateful does so to the profit of his own soul: but if any is ungrateful, verily Allah is free of

all wants, Worthy of all praise.

Kufr is normally understood as a denial or rejection of something. Like if somebody rejects a basic creedlike Tawheed, or the perfect attributes of Allah or the Messengers or the finality of Prophethood or the

Day of judgment or heaven or hell. This is all one hundred percent correct but literally kufar is theopposite of shukar. Shukar is to realize a blessing and express the appreciation. And kufar is to hide, tobury, so when it comes with shukar it would imply ungratefulness.

If you were to deliberate a little you would realize that gratitude is innate and inseparable from a soundand uncorrupted nature ( fitrah). This truth extends even to animals; if you were to feed a hungry animalyou would notice that once satiated it would look up and an expression of gratitude would be visiblefrom his appearance. Thats nature and know that the sign of a healthy nature is the presence of a senseof gratitude. If this sense is lost then the ungrateful person that would result would not even realize norrecognize if a favor is done to him. Thats the kind of person whose nature is corrupted and polluted.

Arabs call a boiling spring ( Al-ain-u-Shukra). And a ( dabbatunShakurun) is an animal that becomes fat and stout after being well-fed. So hes called thus when thefood and nourishment manifests itself in the health of that animal. Therefore shukar is that naturalsense which emanates from the inside in response to a favor or blessing. Now using this natural sense of gratitude as a foundation a sound intellect will construct further. What is the reward for the intellect?That it recognizes its Real Benefactor and so his sense of gratitude inundates his heart and mind.

The world, in the mind of a child, is very limited. He considers that his parents feed him, protect him,feel for him, cure my ailments and pains; therefore his sub-conscious sense of gratitude is solely focusedon his parents. But as he grows older his thinking matures and his world expands he realizes that he isobligated to more than just his parents; his nation, his people, his tribethese are all my benefactors.So the horizons of his sense of gratitude are also expanding. A child with his limited understandingthinks his parents to be the source of everything for him and he develops a sense of gratitude for them

and this gradually builds up for the community, country, even to the forces of nature that are a sourceof provision and comfort for him. With further maturity he appreciates the earth as the source of hisfood, the rain which causes the dead earth to grow crops, the sun with its effects on the rain and in thenourishment of the crops as the centre of the life-giving process. So his gratitude then spreads andenvelops the universe. Now if a man takes another leap with his intellect moving one step forward hewould realize that the order, balance and perfection manifested in these exhibits of nature has to have

one source. The energy in the sun is not just their by itself but its been given to it. If anything has anyattribute then its been given to it. One Creator, One Master, One Benefactor! His blessings and favorsare spread throughout the expanse of this universe. What would the result be? When the intellectual

journey of the mind reaches this point then the gratitude that started with the parents, spread across toenvelop the universe would now focus on One Being and the person would realize that He alone is themost deserving of this gratitude! So the product of the collaboration of the human nature and intellect


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is the gnosis of the Unity of Allah (Tawheed) which begets gratitude to Him. This is expressed by Allah

thus:

And, indeed, We granted Wisdom unto Luqman: Be grateful to Allah

So we see that this (so that) expresses the logical and necessary conclusion of wisdom and sagacity.Therefore that intellect which does not result in the sense of gratitude swarming through your heart andmind is unworthy of being termed wisdom.

Furthermore there are three levels of this gratitude. Imam Raghib very eloquently discusses this. He saysthat the first level is to realize and recognize the blessing. If you place a rare and priceless diamond inthe hands of a child he wouldnt recognize its worth; hell think of it as another rock. So the gratitudethat should be engendered in him wouldnt be because he is incapable of recognizing the favor on him.The first level, therefore, would be to realize the favor for its real worth. The second level is Shukar-bil-lisan which is to express the praise and gratitude for your benefactor with your tongue; like we sayThank you, shukria or shukran. These would probably be one of the most oft-repeated words in adecent cultural society. The third level is Shukar-bil-Jawareh, which is to express gratitude with your

entire being. If a father gets his son a really good book and the son if hes a decent person would thankhim. But then if he consigned the book to the shelf to gather dust, and didnt benefit from it, then that ishis ingratitude. So to fulfill the right of a favor is also a part of gratitude.

To summarize, human nature mandates gratitude and the wealth of a sound intellect is to recognize its

Benefactor and Master. When these two come together in a person his heart overflows with gratitudetowards Allah and eulogies of praise and appreciation emanate from his tongue. Gratitude to Allah

necessitates that the person fulfills his rights to Allah and the greatest right that he owes Allah is what

is highlighted by Luqman when he tells his son:

"O my son! join not in worship (others) with Allah: for false worship is indeed the greatest wrong-doing."

The innumerable blessings that have been bestowed on a human, the favors that have been showeredon him obligate him to establish Tawhid and abstain from shirk. This is an incredibly important subject.

Second Foundation of WisdomLet us now focus on the second foundation of Quranic wisdom as it appears in this passage. This has todo with Maroof and Munkar i.e. good and bad deeds. Quran tells us that the human being is


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innately endowed by Allah to discern between good and evil. A human does not need to be told that it

is good to speak the truth and to lie is bad. Human nature recognizes truth to be good and lying to beevil; to fulfill a promise is good and not doing so is bad; being nice to your neighbors is liked andbothering them is abhorred; truthfulness and trustworthiness are noble and to betray trusts is vile. Sothe comprehensive term adopted by t he Quran that encompasses all these good actions is Maroof

which literally means something that is known and recognized. On the contrary the term enveloping allevil actions is Munkar which means that which is foreign and abhorred by the human nature. TheMiraculous Quran by adopting these terms thus has unveiled gems of wisdom. Not only do weunderstand that discernment of good from evil is inherent in the human nature but also that our naturalinclination is towards good actions. A human being naturally likes and leans towards good and abhorsevil. Its true that these natural predilections may be reversed under abnormal circumstances or due to a

corrupt social environment; but even still this innate nature would warn the human being and hisconscious would bite him telling him that he is going down the wrong path. It would fail at even that if the conscious is desensitized with time or his innate nature dead. Anyway this is the second foundationof Quranic wisdom and relates to Iman bil Aakhirah (faith in the Afterlife)

This would be elaborated further that if good should be compensated with good and evil with evil. If yousow wheat that is what you should reap and if you sow barley you should get barley. But in this life weusually see that good and bad are not appropriately compensated as they should be; there is a need foranother world; another life. If we reject the idea of another life then we would say that good and evilare equal. And sound human nature and an uncorrupted intellect can never accept that. Both our natureand intellect are firmly grounded on this; good is good and should result in good and evil is evil andshould result in evil. And this appropriate consequence of actions is what Luqman highlights when hesays:

031.016 "O my son!" (said Luqman), "If there be (but) the weight of a mustard-seed and it were (hidden)in a rock, or (anywhere) in the heavens or on earth, Allah will bring it forth

Actions of human beings cannot go to waste. These are those truths that Quran terms as Hikmah(Wisdom) and which a human being can unveil by himself. If you want to call this philosophy then wecan say that the philosophical structure of the Quran is raised on these foundations.

Elaborating some pointsA few points that we discussed under the heading of the Foundations of Quranic Wisdom require somefurther elaboration.


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1. It is obligatory on man to be grateful to Allah . The one who adopts this attitude of gratitude to

Allah will naturally increase in his gratitude to his other benefactors as well. The Noble

Messneger said:

Whoever is ungrateful to people is ungrateful to Allah

If a well is dry it doesnt matter who tries pull water out from it they wont be able to sincetheres nothing in there to begin. Someone who is bereft of a sound nature will neither havegratitude towards Allah nor towards other people.

2. If the sense of gratitude is alive in a man then his personality will develop in the right direction.Allah is not in need of anyones gratitude; He is Self-Sufficient and in and of Himself praiseworthy. The person himself would benefit from having this sense and his own self,

personality and character would develop on proper foundations.

3. It is imperative for a man to put himself before anyone else when involving in Amar bil Maroof and nahi anil munkar. It shouldnt be that we encourage others to do good and not do itourselves and stop and criticize others for evil while indulging in evil ourselves. In Surah al-Baqarah where the charge-sheet is being laid out against the Bani Israil one of the offensesmentioned is exactly this:

Do ye enjoin right conduct on the people, and forget (To practise it) yourselves,

A person should have both these attributes in him; he should be rectifying his own conduct and

advising others at the same time. These two go hand in hand with each other and one aids theother.

4. Also understand that the word Amar does not only mean command but also implies adviceand suggestion. Its meaning is dependent on the context.

5. Another point to be understood is that the ahadith (narrations) of our beloved Prophet

predominately emphasize nahi anil munkar ( forbidding the evil). In a society where evil is

tolerated, ignored and not stopped then that particular environment is not conducive towardsgood actions. Just like if a gardener ignores the weed and doesnt take it out, it would use up allthe nutrition in the soil and the atmosphere and the desired plants would not be able to grow.

6. The hadith mentioned in Muslim mentions three levels of forbidding evil.


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Whosoever of you sees an evil should change it with his hand; if hes incapable then with his tongue; if he cannot do that then with his heart

Whenever one of you sees an evil then the highest level of action for him is that he uses his strength toforbid it. If he cannot do that then he should vocalize his displeasure and advice against it. And if thesituation is not conducive then at least he should at least feel displeasure in his heart; this is the lowest

level. The Messenger said, and that is the weakest level of faith

If the feeling of displeasure is absent from the heart then one should know that there isnt even a grain

of Iman in his heart.

The Reality and types of Shirk Alhamdulillah we have studied the second Ruku of Surah Luqman. Now we intend to focus on thesecond ayah of this ruku because in it is the command to establish Tawheed in the context of abstainingfrom shirk; the essence and foundation of our deen is Tawheed. As Luqman told his son:

"O my son! join not in worship (others) with Allah: for false worship is indeed the highest wrong-doing."

The first point to be understood here is that according to the Quran shirk is the greatest sin and is

unforgivable. This was highlighted twice in Surah An-Nisa in ayah 48 Allah says:


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004.048 Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with Him; but He forgives anything else, to

whom He pleases; to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin Most heinous indeed.

In ayah 116 the same subject is repeated with the same vehemence and in the first part of the ayah theexact same words are used with last part being different:

004.116 Allah forgives not (The sin of) joining other gods with Him; but He forgives whom He pleasesother sins than this: one who joins other gods with Allah, Hath strayed far, far away (from the right).

Thereby emphasizing that the one who indulges in shirk has strayed so far away that there is no chanceof any forgiveness for him,.

Even people who claim to believe are susceptible to this crime as is mentioned in Surah Yousuf:

012.106 And most of them believe not in Allah without (also) associating (other as partners) with Him!

Implying that a lot of people come to believe in Allah but pure, unadulterated Tawheed is achieved by a

privileged few.

Hard it is to develop that Abrahamic eye

Sneaky desires sculpt idols in the heart

The third important point is that this fatal disease manifests itself in different forms; it is also pertinentto note that every age has its own specific shirk. If someone is unaware of the shirk of his time then itmay be well be that he is protected from all the previous day forms of shirk and may think himself to bea monotheist but unknowingly he may be indulging in the latest form of the shirk of his time. In my viewthe greatest and most prevalent form of shirk of our time is materialism. In our day and age there is


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certain belief and reliance on material things and reliance and trust in Allah , which is a necessary and

inseparable component of true faith, is missing. Iqbal highlights this in this verse,

Idols you trust and God you mistrust,

If this is not disbelief then what is?

The essence of Iman is tawakkul (reliance) and trust in Allah and its opposite is shirk and kufr . Wisdom

begets that we be wary of the different forms and understand Tawhid so well that whenever we seeshirk we recognize it for what is as the verse reads in Persian:

Wear whatever guise you want to

I will recognize you through your height

Our eyes should be so sharp when it comes to shirki that regardless of time or place we should be ableto recognize it no matter what garb Shaitan garbs it in; for that we need to really know the reality of shirk and only then will we be able to protect ourselves from it.

The fourth important point, which is the logical conclusion of the first three, is that it isnt that easy tostay completely protected from shirk . Numerous places in the Quran which mention Ibrahim end with

this statement, he was not of the polytheists. To understand the

significance of this certificate we need to remember the status and stature of Ibrahim . He is the

ancestor of Prophet Muhammad , Abu-ul-Ambia (father of prophets), Imam-un-Naas ( Leader of

humanity) Khalil-ullah ( Friend of Allah). In our salutations to Prophet Muhammad we mention Ibrahim as an example. After all of that we realize that the highest and greatest testimonial and certificate

anyone can get is when Allah says about him, My slave was safe and secure from all aspects of shirk.

Now we need to understand what shirk really is. What does it mean to associate partners with Allah;an action branded as zulmi azeem ( greatest injustice)? In Arabic the word zulm is literally defined as,

, which means to move something away from its rightful place and placeit somewhere else. This act is called zulm. To place everything where it belongs is justice. Now if you payattention you will realize there will always be one of two things involved in any kind of shirk. Either Allah is relegated from His High place to that of creation and He would be attributed with an attribute of


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creation would or something from creation is elevated to the level of Allah and it would be attributed

with an attribute of the Creator. Both these actions would fall under the category of

and therefore are the greatest possible forms of zulm ( injustice).

Let us now briefly discuss the different types of shirk. Even though it can be categorized in differentways, but the way I will present them before you, I hope you will find it to be easy to understand andcomprehensive. We can categorize it under three broad headings. First is Shirk fi-dhat (shirk with theBeing of Allah); the worst and most open kind of shirk . Then Shirk fi-sifaat (shirk in the attributes of Allah); this may result from a intellectual misunderstanding. Finally Shirk fil-Huqooq (shirk in the rightsof Allah). Now lets study each of these in turn.

Shirk fi-dhat To associate someone with the Being of Allah is of two types. Ironically the worst and most heinous of

these surfaced among those who were related to some prophet. The Jews designated Uzair to be the

son of Allah; the Arab Pagans, who believed in the prophethood of Ibrahim , considered the angels tobe the daughters of Allah; the Christians not only called Isa the son of God rather they went as far as

calling him the begotten son of God. This kind of shirk calls upon the wrath of Allah . This is expressed in

Surah Maryam thus:

o

o o

o

o 019.088 They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!"

019.089 Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!


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019.090 At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in

utter ruin,

019.091 That they should invoke a son for (Allah) Most Gracious.

019.092 For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a son.

The second type of shirk under this category is found in philosophical religions. Pantheism is anexample. To say that God interspersed Himself into the universe and now everything that exists is a partof God is another type of shirk; one of the worst of its kind. Then there is the creed of avatar; that godtakes human form or admixes with a human. This too is the heinous of the types of shirk.

Shirk fi-Sifaat Like we said before this is more of an ilmi kind of shirk. Human language has its limitations; the wordswe use to describe Allah are also employed to describe humans. Like we say Allah is present and we arealso present. Allah is living and we are living as well. Allah hears and sees and so do we. Now the usage

of similar words may cause a misunderstanding but when these words are used for Allah they carry adifferent connotation as compared to when they are used for the creation. We need to bear three

things in mind to avoid this misunderstanding: 1. Allahs Being and attributes are inherently His own andnot given to Him by someone else; for everything other than Him their existences and attributes aregranted by Allah. 2. The Being and the attributes of Allah are limitless and everything other than Him islimited and their attributes are limited. 3. Allah along with His attributes has always been and will alwaysremain. The creation on the other hand has a beginning and an end. If these three things are kept inmind then there shouldnt be any misunderstanding but if there is any carelessness regarding these then

you will fall in shirk.

Shirk fil-ibadah and its branchesNow let us discuss the third category and its subtypes i.e. ascribing partners to Allah in terms of Hisrights. If we were to calculate the rights of Allah we would not be able to. But there is one word that canenvelope all the rights and that is ibadah ; to refrain from ibadah of anyone other than Allah. Tounderstand this category we need to understand the word ibabdah in detail. The readers are requestedto memorize five points in this context.

The first and most important component of ibadah is itaah (obedience). Tawheed fil itaah impliesthat obedience to Allah comes before obeying anyone else. All other forms of obedience submit to theobedience of Allah; if someone or something is obeyed like Allah should be obeyed then that is shirk.

The Messenger

said,

There is no obedience to creation in disobedience to the Creator


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Obedience to parents, to teachers, and even rulers is secondary to obedience to Allah. If theyre

obedience involves disobeying Allah then that falls under shirk. Also note here that obedience to Allahwould be in following the example of the Messenger ; even the Quran reached us through him .

The second component is love. Love for all else comes secondary to love for Allah. No one can be loved

as is the right of Allah. Our hearts should be overflowing with love for Allah and love for all else submitsto divine love. If love for something else is equal to the love for Allah then know that that is shirk. Bothobedience and love are incredibly important. These are the principles which a man needs to adopt; tograsp them is the first step and once implemented they serve as the panacea for all ailments. In this

category too we include love of the Messenger . Like Obedience to Allah incorporates obedience to

the Messenger similarly love for Allah and His Messenger should be the predominant emotion in

ones heart.

The third component is dua (supplication). The Messenger said:

Dua is the essence of worship

Dua is worship

Therefore you supplicate to no one but Allah. Allah commands in the Quran:

028.088 And call not, besides Allah, on another god.

This is Tawheed-fid-dua. If you call on anyone else other than Allah then that would be shirk.

The fourth component is ikhlas ( sincerity). If there is any intention of flaunting or showing off any of theabove three components mentioned above then that is insincerity and falls under shirk. The Messenger

said:

Whoever prays to show-off committed shirk; whoever fasts to show-off committed shirk; and whover gave charity to show-off committed shirk.


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This is Shirk-i-Khafi ( hidden shirk) . The Messenger said that if someone is praying and he notices that

someone is watching me and so he prolongs his prostration then he just indulged in this kind of shirk. Hewas prostrating for Allah and for that person! So if i badah is done for fame and showing off then that isShirk fil-ikhlas .

To freely follow desires is also shirk. This was highlighted twice in the Quran. In surah al-Furqan Allahsays:

025:043 Seest thou such a one as taketh for his god his own desires (or impulse)?

And:

045.023 Then seest thou such a one as takes as his god his own vain desire?

The word used in both these ayaat is ilaah which is the same word as in our kalima-i-tawheed when we

attest that la ilaaha illallah. So we understand from this that stone idols are not the only objects of worship but the desires of the self can also be worshipped.

The hidden idols of the self also include that love of wealth which causes a man to lose his sense of halal and haram (permissible and forbidden). The Messenger said:

May the worshipper of dirham or Dinar be destroyed

Note the word the Messenger used here: abd (worshipper). If a person does not distinguish whether hiswealth is coming from permissible or forbidden means, whether it is rightfully his or illegitimatelygotten, then this desire and love for wealth means that he is as good as worshiping it and wealth is hisidol even if he is not physically bowing down to lakshmi devi like the Hindus.

The last and final component in this context relates to the rituals of worship which are specifically

reserved for Allah. No one will be prostrated to except Allah. Like Sheikh Ahmed Sirhindi refused to bowdown to Jahangir as was customary in that day and age. Iqbal depicts it thus:


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We could only discuss the broader types of shirk; but they adequately portray how pertinent this matteris. Every Muslim should take conscious measures to protect himself from this disease. The goal shouldbe to reach a strong level of certainty and trust in Allah. The more we have tawakkul (reliance) and trustin Allah and His Mastery the more secure we will be from all these categories of shirk. Like Iqbal said:

This one prostration that is so hard on you

Delivers you from a thousand other prostrations

1. infinite where as those of others are limited

If we are saved from shirk and establish tawheed in our lives then that is enough for oursalvation and success in the hereafter!

Documents

Tuning Into Reality - The Foundations of Qur’anic Wisdom