Understanding Shirk: Common Daily Life Examples and How to Avoid Them

Recognizing and Avoiding Shirk in Everyday Life

SOME COMMON DAILY LIFE EXAMPLES OF SHIRK

Rape, theft, fornication and murder are among the most horrible crimes, and even though they are terrible, the crime of shirk is of a completely different severity, because with shirk you are directing an injustice towards the One  who provided you with everything you could possible need.

The word shirk in Arabic means regarding someone as the partner of another and in sharee’ah terms it means ascribing a partner or rival to ALLĀH. ALLĀH says:

فَلَا تَجۡعَلُوا۟ لِلَّهِ أَندَادࣰا وَأَنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ

Then do not set up rivals unto ALLĀH ˹in worship˺ while you know ˹that HE Alone has the right to be worshipped˺ {Al-Baqarah: Verse 22}

Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (may ALLĀH be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of ALLĀH (ﷺ) said, “Whoever dies while associating partners with ALLĀH will enter Hellfire.” And I said in his presence, “Whoever dies without associating partners with ALLĀH will enter Paradise.” {Al-Bukha‌ri‌ #1181, Muslim #92}

Now, you probably know what major shirk is— for example praying to statues, invoking others than ALLĀH and so on. And you would never do this, right? However, there are other types of shirk which a lot of us slip into.

The scholars have categorized shirk into different types: ash-shirk ul akbar (major shirk), ash-shirk ul asghar (minor shirk) and ash-shirk ul khaafee (hidden shirk). This is a very broad topic and requires study, however to increase our productivity instantly we will look at some common daily life examples of shirk so you can learn how to avoid them.

. “Let me ask this peer or saint to help me . . .”

Some people believe that other people are able to bestow mercy, forgive sins, overlook bad deeds, and give blessings like only ALLĀH  can. These people are sometimes called peers, saints, or awliyā and their followers sometimes even invoke them. This is a form of major shirk and means you are ascribing to someone other than ALLĀH something that only belongs to ALLĀH. Only ALLĀH is the source of mercy, forgiveness, and blessings. ALLĀH says: “Say (O Muhammad): I possess no power over benefit or harm to myself except as ALLĀH wills. If I had the knowledge of the Unseen, I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth, and no evil should have touched me.” {Al-A’rāf: Verse 188}

. “Who says you should wear hijāb? I mean it’s not a law here…”

Obedience to any authority against the order from ALLĀH is a type of major shirk and is called shirk-at-Taa’a. An example is a state that makes it illegal to wear the hijāb or have a beard. ALLĀH says: "They (Jews and Christians) took their Rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides ALLĀH..." {At-Tawbah: Verse 31}

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “They (i.e. Rabbis and monks) made legal things illegal, and illegal things legal, and they (i.e. Jews and Christians) followed them; and by doing so they worshipped them.” {At-Tirmidhi}

How many Muslims nowadays have an aversion against the sharee’ah?

.  “If it hadn’t been for him I wouldn’t have made it! “

Another common mistake people make is saying: ‘Had it not been for him, I wouldn’t have been here’. Or ‘Had it not been for ALLĀH and you, this wouldn’t have happened’ or ‘Had it not been for the dogs, we would have been robbed as well’.

In the first, you are not even mentioning ALLĀH and in the second two you are gathering the Creator and the creation in an affair. Rather say: ‘As ALLĀH wills, and then you will’ or ‘Had it not been for ALLĀH and then for you.’ The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Do not say: ‘What ALLĀH wills and So-and-so wills’; rather say: ‘What ALLĀH wills then what So-and-so wills.’” {Ahmad #23265}

These and many more such as swearing by other than ALLĀH, showing off are ways by which association of partners with ALLĀH occurs on a daily basis knowingly or unknowingly.