The Ruling on Dividing Shirk into Primitive and Civilized
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Your Eminence! There is a question, which is that we read in some books: that some people have divided shirk (associating partners with Allah) into two types: primitive shirk.
And civilized shirk.
And they said regarding primitive shirk: That it is the shirk of graves, idols, and statues.
And that civilized shirk is: What people are currently falling into, such as worshipping desires, loving authority, and judging by other than what Allah has revealed, and so on. What is your opinion on this new division?
Our opinion is that this is an innovated division. The predecessors from the Salaf (the earliest generations) of this Ummah (the Muslim community) did not divide it this way.And the Salaf of the Ummah only said: Shirk is of two types: minor and major.
And apparent and hidden.
So major shirk is: That which takes one out of the religion,And minor or hidden shirk is: and that which does not take one out of the religion.
This is the correct division upon which the Salaf of the Ummah were; however, what he mentioned regarding the fact that loving authority, wealth, and status is a type of shirk is correct.For the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Woe to the slave of the dinar, woe to the slave of the dirham, woe to the slave of the khamsah, woe to the slave of the khumaylah) So he made those whose hearts became attached to this, and it became their greatest concern, a type of worship.
As for striking with what our Salaf mentioned, or rather with what the texts also brought;The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (The thing I fear most for you is minor shirk,So he was asked about it, and he said: riya' (showing off in worship)) .
In any case, the division you mentioned is an innovation and should not be adopted; but the statement that a person who is engrossed in this world, is pleased when he obtains it, and is angry when he loses it, has fallen into a type of shirk; because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called this being a slave to it.
The questioner: And does the worship of desires fall under that?
The Shaykh: Yes.
And civilized shirk.
And they said regarding primitive shirk: That it is the shirk of graves, idols, and statues.
And that civilized shirk is: What people are currently falling into, such as worshipping desires, loving authority, and judging by other than what Allah has revealed, and so on. What is your opinion on this new division?
Our opinion is that this is an innovated division. The predecessors from the Salaf (the earliest generations) of this Ummah (the Muslim community) did not divide it this way.And the Salaf of the Ummah only said: Shirk is of two types: minor and major.
And apparent and hidden.
So major shirk is: That which takes one out of the religion,And minor or hidden shirk is: and that which does not take one out of the religion.
This is the correct division upon which the Salaf of the Ummah were; however, what he mentioned regarding the fact that loving authority, wealth, and status is a type of shirk is correct.For the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Woe to the slave of the dinar, woe to the slave of the dirham, woe to the slave of the khamsah, woe to the slave of the khumaylah) So he made those whose hearts became attached to this, and it became their greatest concern, a type of worship.
As for striking with what our Salaf mentioned, or rather with what the texts also brought;The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (The thing I fear most for you is minor shirk,So he was asked about it, and he said: riya' (showing off in worship)) .
In any case, the division you mentioned is an innovation and should not be adopted; but the statement that a person who is engrossed in this world, is pleased when he obtains it, and is angry when he loses it, has fallen into a type of shirk; because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called this being a slave to it.
The questioner: And does the worship of desires fall under that?
The Shaykh: Yes.