Page 63 - True Wisdom Described in the Qur'an

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Obstacles to Wisdom

SHIRK - ATTRIBUTING PARTNERS TO ALLAH
Shirk means attributing partners to Allah and worshipping
gods other than Allah. The values a person, who commits shirk,
deifies can be making his ideals and passions the purpose of his
life, as well as deifying a person or another living thing. If he
sees these values as more important than pleasing Allah and if
he feels the same or more love towards them, it means he is as-
sociating them with Allah.
This is the shirk that is explained in the Qur’an, but most peo-
ple are unaware of this real meaning of shirk. They link "associat-
ing other gods with Allah" with people who worshipped the
idols they carved at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (saas).
However, in our times thousands of different types of shirk can
occur. For a person to say he believes in Allah while at the same
time not living his life in order to please Him, not practicing the
rituals He prescribed, not living by the morals Allah approves
of, but instead spending his time trying to turn his worldly
ideals into realities is also a form of shirk. In the same way, for-
getting our Creator and Provider, preferring and valuing an-
other being above Him, and, instead of pleasing Allah, using his
intellect and spending his time on trying to make this other
being happy and love him is also a shirk. It is possible to run into
people who associate their spouses, children, mothers, fathers,
marriage, school, career, possessions, worldly ambitions, and
even themselves with Allah. These people fall into the error of
shirk by in a way deifying these concepts or people of whom
they think so highly, and orienting all their deeds according to
this viewpoint. However, there is no god other than Allah, and
to say the opposite would be a lie against Allah and be unappre-
ciative of Allah’s greatness.