The Very Idea Of Shirk (Polytheism, Idol Worship) Is An Insult To God's Benevolence
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
26 December
2022
The writer
Arshad Alam has rightly raised the issue of Shirk (loosely, sacrilege, from
Arabic Shirkat: association / involvement) in his article, " The (Im)morality of Shirk in Islam. "
This
extremely obnoxious and exceedingly diabolical insistence that you cannot
worship any other god except for me just cannot come from a god (if at all it
does exist) who's all love and who has got o be all love.
All three
Semitic faiths have this putrid bilge called Shirk as Judaism and
Christianity also don't allow their followers to worship any other god. Islam
being the last one among the three Semitic faiths, borrowed religious concepts
and tenets from its predecessors and instead of changing or improving upon them
(Christianity and Judaism), it has worsened the things by putting an extra
ounce of adamancy and interpolations. Though a modern exegete will put his foot
down and try to convince you that the Books of all other faiths are flawed
barring the Quran, the reality is totally different.
Coming back
to Shirk, it must be noted that Shirk is a much rigid concept in
Islam that has a tribal tone and tenor. It blatantly smacks of tribal supremacy
as Allah was the predominant deity of the Quraish tribe of which Muhammad was a
member and which from the 5th century was distinguished by a religious pre-eminence
associated with its hereditary provision of the pre-Islamic custodians of the
Kaaba at Mecca.
More than
300-odd tribes and 10 main clans were constantly engaged in the battle of
hegemony. Establishing the respective deity as the One & Only was the
cardinal objective of every tribe. Here it must be mentioned, rather praised,
that Muhammad was a very fine and astute leader of men and he integrated and
coalesced forever embattled tribes into a coherent unit. He successfully
established the superiority of his Quraish tribe and its deity Allah. Muhammad
made it mandatory to follow ONLY the tribal deity Allah of the Quraish tribe.
No wonder,
Islamic Shirk stems from the Tribal Superiority Complex and Islam is
nothing but a bigger tribal manifestation. Even a liberal critic and translator
like Professor Reynold A Nicholson believed that tribalism was the essence of
Islam. That's the reason, while translating Rumi and other great Persian
mystics, he wrote that traditional and orthodox Islam would always consider the
Upanishadic Islam of Sufis with eastern values and elements as something
out of sync and incongruous with Muhammad's Islam. Mind you, he used the term,
Muhammad's Islam. Mixing tribal ethos with a nascent faith (read Islam),
Muhammad ossified the concept of Shirk and made it an unpardonable sin for the
Muslims.
The very
idea of Shirk is an insult to god's benevolence. Why should he lay down
conditions as to how to approach him? One ought to have fairly good knowledge
of different ways to reach god. One can huddle a lot many ways together to get
to the Supreme Being. This is basic human nature. Don't we all consult many
doctors when the case is complex? Pinning unwavering faith on just one option
is not always possible. I've seen a devout and quite educated Muslim woman
visit Dagdu Seth Ganpati temple in Poona when oncologists almost gave up on his
son who had been suffering from oesophagus cancer.
The point
is, one must have unflinching faith in Allah and nothing else is an idiotic
idea. Doobte Ko Tinke Ka Sahara. When one's vulnerable, one resorts to a
number of alternatives. Try out all options and remember Yaas Yagana Changezi's
famous couplet, " But-Parasti Mein Kaamil Mera Imaan Hua / Ik Kaafir Ki
Badaulat Main Musalmaan Hua " (My faith came to a T in idol worship/ I
became a Muslim thanks to an 'infidel').
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/shirk-insult-god-benevolence/d/128713