In the Holy Qur’an, Allah, the One God, makes it very clear that He will forgive anything except Shirk – associating partners with Allah. One such verse relates:
Surely Allah will not forgive that a partner be associated with Him; but He will Forgive whatever is short of that to whomsoever He pleased. Ans whoso associates partners with Allah has indeed devised a very great sin. Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4, verse 49
This is very concerning for us, as we see throughout the world that many people do worship or put things before God. Hence why Muslims worry for mankind and try to explain the importance of this teaching. As for us Shirk is a very great sin which from what we understand can prevents us from getting into heaven. For us, we are taught that we should always put Allah first before everything and everyone and never put anything on same level or more than God.
I think one of the reasons why this doesn’t happen is due to the poor concept that some people may have about the One God. We are very fortunate, that the Holy Qur’an explains all about Allah and His attributes and gives us a very clear picture of who we should be worshipping. For instance, we are told that God is Al-Qawiyy, the All-Powerful, that Ash-Shaheed, He is Everywhere and that He is Al-Aleem, the All-Knowing. Therefore, we can understand that unlike us, God does not have weaknesses or limitations or lack of knowledge and so it helps us get a clear picture of who we should be worshipping and about our own weaknesses. We can then use these attributes – names, to call on Allah about any particular thing, for instance, in these worrying days, we can call on Allah as An-Nasir, the Best Helper and Al-Muhaimin, the Best Protector. If we hear of anyone getting ill, then we can call on Allah as Ash-Shafee, the Best Healer etc. Furthermore, it then helps us, by knowing His wonderful names, to try and develop ourselves by following those names, for instance Ar-Raheem, the most Merciful, we too should try to be as merciful as we can, Al-Wadood, the most Loving, we should also show love and kindness to all. There are 99 names of God in the Holy Qur’an to help us understand who we are worshipping.
These days materialism has a great pull and mankind run after the pleasures of the world and not really caring about the next life or even what is the real reason of this life. For a Muslim, we will constantly strive to put God first and totally submit ourselves to God. This is in fact what the word ‘Muslim’ really means, ‘one who has submitted totally to God’. It is a battle that we constantly facing every day to turn to God and not get too caught up in materialism.
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi as said:
Shirk here does not merely mean bowing before stones etc. rather, it is also shirk that you should depend entirely on worldly means and more importance on worldly idols. This is what Shirk is. (Al-Hakim)
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth successor of the Promised Messiah, has said about the different forms of Shirk:
If an employee exceeds the limits of due obedience to his employer, and by way of flattery praises him and believes that his sustenance depends on him, that too is a form of Shirk.
If someone is proud of his sons and believes that he has so many sons who are growing up and would gain employment, make earnings and take care of him, that too is shirk.
Such people rely entirely upon their sons who if they turn out to be disobedient, or die in accidents, or become disabled; then the entire support of such people thereby falls to the ground.
The Holy Qur’an also explains about good and evil. The importance of believing in Allah and worshipping and the dangers of not following Allah.
The Holy Qur’an relates Chapter 7, verses 15-19
He (Satan) said, ‘Respite me till the day when they will be raised up’.
God said ‘Thou are of those who are respited.’
‘He (Satan) said, ‘Now, since Thou hast adjudged me to be erring, I will assuredly lie in wait for them on Thy straight path; then will I surely come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left, and Thou will not find most of them to be grateful.’ God said, ‘Get out hence, despised and banished. Whosoever of them shall follow thee; I will surely fill Hell with you all.’
Again in Chapter 17, verses 65-66
And entice whomsoever of them thou canst with thy voice, and urge against them thy horsemen and thy footmen and share with them in wealth, and their children, and make promises to them.’ And Satan promises them naught but deceit.
These verses show that it is through suggestion that Satan will entice man to do what he wants. As it mentions in the first verse:
I surely come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left.
indicates that Satan will be approaching them from all ways and means.
Again, from the second verse:
share in them in wealth, and their children and make promises to them.
shows that through material ways we will be enticed.
Satan must be laughing his head off, he will use power, greed, hate, material wealth anything to take you off that path of goodness. Sadly, when we look around the world today, it seems that Satan is being very successful, that despite being warned that this is what he is going to do, everyone is falling into the trap to such an extent that the majority of people today don’t really have real righteousness, a real belief in a living God. Yes, they will feel that what they are doing is good, it is not harming anyone, but are they doing it for God? Or are they doing it for themselves?
I am always impressed by the early Christians, they showed great conviction and true submission. They were willing to face certain death by the lions, rather than give up their faith. Sadly, most people today are too materialistic and love money more than God. But fortunately, the Muslims still have that intense love for God and would put their faith before themselves. Sadly, they are being misguided and sometimes mislead to become suicide bombers, but you have to admire their faith, however misdirected it is, it shows conviction.
So must make sure that whatever we do or say, we are always do it for the sake of Allah and strive to always put Allah first and keep striving to win His pleasure and love.