Particular practices shirk or Not?
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam
Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and
Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Assalaamu alaykum wa Rahmathullaahi Ta’Ala
Wa Barakaathuhu I thought this Question is important because this is connected
to SHIRK, which is the MOST HEINOUS CRIME. Which of the following should I
consider to be Holy or special and of more respected than any ordinary thing?
In what way should I consider the following items and how can I respect these
so that I don’t commit SHIRK ?
1. Zam-Zam Water (can I believe that
drinking Zam-Zam water can protect me from danger or can bring me any benefit )
2. Dates,other fruits from
3. Prayer Mats, Counters, Counting Chains
purchased at
4. Prayer Mats, Counters, Counting Chains
purchased elsewhere Is it Shirk if I eat (NOT treating special ) 1. Food,
sweets which they distribute at Mosques during Laylathul Qadr 2. Food, sweets
which they place before them during their recital of Moulood and fatiha( I do
object to Moulood,Fatiha for dead family members, but elders don’t listen to me
) 3. The packets of sweets which send by Mail from Nagoor, Ajmer and other
sweets from Dargah.( I do Not believe in Dargah prayers nor do I visit them but
elders do not listen ) How should I respect the 1. picture of Kaaba 2. pictures
of other Important sacred places in Saudi 3. pictures of any mosques anywhere
else in the world 4. Audio/video cassettes, cd, vcd which contains Quran or
hadeeth if they do not have any sacred text on them.
5. Is it wrong if I lay my feet on my
computer processor in which I have saved quran or hadith (because it is placed
near my feet ) Is it wrong if I throw into the dust bin 1. Wedding Invitations
which contain Bismillaahi Al-rahmaani Al-raheeymi in Arabic or in English. 2.
Visiting cards of persons which contain words like Abdul Gafoor, Muhammad,
names of sahaabis etc. Please excuse me if I have asked anything that is of
very trivial importance. Please answer my Question with refernce from
Quran/hadith so that I can show to others and also please tell whether such
habits of respect were followed by Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) and please tell
me which of the following of the above are SHIRK. Thank you very much.
WAssalaam
(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there
is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai, nobody!) worthy of
worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His
slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
As you have rightly said,
in the sight of Allah Subhanah,
the most heinous of all sins is ‘shirk’ or associating, invoking,
worshipping or sharing of any of Allah’s Attributes with anyone or
anything else. This sin of ‘shirk’ is
so heinous and so monstrous, that Allah
Subhanah has declared this sin unforgiveable on the Day of Judgment, and made
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5
Surah Maidah verse 72:
Whoever commits ‘shirk’ (invoking
anything with Allah), Allah shall
forbid for him
Allah says in the Quran: Chapter 4 Surah An-Nisa Verse 48
Shirk (associating other deities with Allah) is the only sin that Allah
does not forgive, and He forgives, whomsoever He pleases, sins other than
this. For whosoever associates any
other partner with Allah, does indeed forge a big lie and commits the most
heinous sin
All the prior communities that were destroyed in the times
gone by were all destroyed and annhiliated by the All Mighty Lord, because they were engrossed in this most
heneous of all sins in the sight of Allah;
‘shirk’!!!
Q-1. Zam-Zam Water (can I believe that drinking
Zam-Zam water can protect me from danger or can bring me any benefit )
The water of
the Zam Zam well are indeed blessed by Allah Subhanah. But by itself, the Zam Zam waters cannot protect anyone from any danger, nor can they bring any benefit to
anyone. We, as believers, must drink, wash, or use this water in the manner it was used
by the Messenger of Allah (saws).
To believe that anything or anyone other than Allah can
protect or benefit us, is a form of
shirk.
Allah says in
the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah Yunus verses 106-107:
And do not call
besides Allah, any being that can
neither do you any good nor any harm.
For if you will do so, you shall
be one of the doers of wrong. If Allah
afflicts you with a calamity, there is
none to remove it, but He Himself. Likewise,
if Allah wills to bestow a favor on you, there is none to withhold Allah’s bounty. He bestows His bounty on anyone of His
servants He wills. And He is The
Forgiving, The Merciful.
Q-2:
Dates,other fruits from
Again, like the water of the Zam Zam well, the dates or fruits of Makkah might have
their own inherent qualities of being a particular fruit, which are beneficial to the ones who eat
them. But they should not be
considered holy, simply because they
have originated from the holy city of
Q-3: Prayer Mats, Counters, Counting Chains
purchased at
Q-4. Prayer Mats, Counters, Counting Chains
purchased elsewhere
One may use
the prayer mats, counters, or counting chains or beads according to
their qualities. But just because they
have been brought from Makkah, does not
make them holy or things with baraka or shifaa! These things may be used for their usefulness, and nothing more. Even if these things were purchased from some place else on
earth, they would have the same
usefulness as the ones purchased from Makkah.
Q-5:
Is it Shirk if I eat (NOT treating special ) 1. Food, sweets which they
distribute at Mosques during Laylathul Qadr
If someone is distributing food on a particular night for the
pleasure of Allah, that food is
absolutely legal for the believers to consume.
But if someone is distributing this food in the name of
some holy man or grave, etc. or in any name other than that of Allah
Subhanah, it would not be halaal for
the believers. The one who
distributes such food in the name of some holy man or grave, and for earning the pleasure of some
personality, dead or alive, is involved in shirk. The one who eats this food, and believes that he will be blessed by the
grave or person in whose name the food is being distributed, will also be involved in shirk!
Q-6: Food, sweets which they place before them
during their recital of Moulood and fatiha( I do object to Moulood,Fatiha for
dead family members, but elders don’t listen to me )
To make a
celebration and a feast out of the Mulood or Fateha are not from the Sunnah of
the Messenger of Allah (saws), and thus
an innovation or bidah in the deen of Islam.
The believers must avoid going or taking part in these gatherings, leave alone eating the food and sweets
which are being distributed there.
Q-7: The packets of sweets which send by Mail
from Nagoor, Ajmer and other sweets from Dargah.( I do Not believe in Dargah prayers
nor do I visit them but elders do not listen )
The Durgahs
are the modern temples of shirk! The
food or sweets that come from any of these Durgahs are forbidden as food for
the believers, as someone else’s name
have been associated with this food distribution other than the One Lord of the
Worlds.
Q-8: How should I respect the 1. picture of Kaaba
The Kaabah and
the Sacred Mosque are holy and worthy of honor, because they house the Sacred House of Allah. Any picture of the Sacred House must be
looked upon only as a picture. To bow
down to the picture, or to kiss the
picture, or do any rite of worship
towards the picture would be a form of shirk!
A picture should be treated like a picture, and not the actual place.
Q-9:
pictures of other Important sacred places in Saudi.
Q-10: pictures of any mosques anywhere
else in the world
Treat it like a picture,
nothing more! And do not treat
it like the real place.
Q-11: Audio/video cassettes, cd, vcd which
contains Quran or hadeeth if they do not have any sacred text on them.
Treat them
with the respect that they hold the sacred words of Allah and His Messenger
(saws), and see and hear them and
obtain guidance from them just as a believer would obtain guidance from reading
the actual Quran and Hadiths.
Q-12: Is it wrong if I lay my feet on my computer
processor in which I have saved quran or hadith (because it is placed near my
feet )
Because the computer processor is honored to hold the
Sacred Words of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one should avoid putting his feet on them; just as a believer would never lay his feet
on the Glorious Quran or the Books of Hadith. But if one unintentionally does lay his feet upon the computer
processor, there is no harm; provided he had no intention of dishonoring
the Divine Words.
Q-13: Is it wrong if I throw into the dust bin.
Q-14:
Wedding Invitations which contain Bismillaahi Al-rahmaani Al-raheeymi in Arabic
or in English.
Q-15:
Visiting cards of persons which contain words like Abdul Gafoor, Muhammad,
names of sahaabis etc.
If there is a
page or pages which have the Divine Words of the Glorious Quran written on
them, it would be prudent to shred
them, rather than simply throw them
into the dust-bin. But if he does
throw them in ignorance, without the
intention of dishonoring the Divine Words of Allah, there is no harm.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
