Spiritual Disease and Its Cure by Imam Shams-ud-Deen Muhammad bin Abi Bakr bin Qayyim AlJ awziyyah

This aspect is less serious, because it is manifested in the actions of those who believe that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah ~. and that no one can harm or benefit someone, or give or remove something, except Allah ~. Alone; however not all their actions are devoted entirely to Allah ~- Their actions are divided between Allah ~. themselves, the devil and other people. This is the case of the majority of people, and is the polytheism mentioned by the Prophet ~ in the Hadith: "Polytheism in this Ummah is more hidden than the creeping of ants." They asked: "How do we save ourselves from it, 0 Messenger of Allah?" He ~ replied: "Say: 0 Allah, I seek refuge in You that I should associate anything (in worship) besides You, knowingly; and I seek Your Forgiveness for what is beyond my knowledge." 1 Allah ~ said: ( Say: I am only a man like you. It has been revealed to me that your God is One God (i.e. Allah). So whoever hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord) 2 i.e. just as He ~ is the only God and there is no other god but Him, then likewise one's worship should be devoted to Him, Alone. The polytheism in one's worship of Allah ~ cancels one's reward from Allah ~. and one may even be punished for any act which is not performed for the Sake of Allah ~ especially if it is an obligation (religious duty). Allah commanded that all of one's worship should be performed sincerely for Him, Alone; He ~ said: ( They were only ordered to worship Allah, making their religion sincerely His)3. Therefore, whoever is not sincere in his/her worship of Allah has certainly not acted according to the Command of Allah. Allah ~ said: "I am so Self-Sufficient that I am in no need of having an associate. Thus he who does an action for someone else's sake as well as Mine will have that action renounced by Me to him whom he associated with Me."4 One commits polytheism by devoting one's love and honour to other creations, just as much as one loves Allah. This type of polytheism is unforgivable, because Allah has ~ said: ( There are of mankind some who take (for worship) others besides Allah as rivals. They love them as they love Allah; but those who believe, love Allah more) 5. The people who adopt this kind of polytheism say to their gods, as they are gathered in the Hell-Fire: ( By Allah, we were truly in a manifest error. We held you (the false gods) as equals (in worship) with the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind,jinn and all that exists)) 6

Some people fall into polytheism when their words, intentions and actions are devoted to other false gods, besides Allah ~ -.Polytheism in actions is manifested in their prostration to others besides Allah, making circumambulation for others besides Allah, kissing other stones, apart from the Black Stone in the Ka'bah (the Haram mosque in Makkah), kissing graves and prostrating to them seeking the blessings of the dead. The Prophet ~ cursed those taking the graves of prophets and pious people as mosques, to perform Salat there; so what about those who take graves as places of idol worship , besides Allah ~ ? The Prophet ~ said: "Allah cursed the Jews and the Christians because they took the graves of their prophets as places for praying." 1 "Among the most evil people, to whom the Hour will come while they are still alive , are those who take their graves as mosques."2 "The anger on those who took the graves of their Prophets as places of prostration was terrible."3 "If any religious man died, amongst the people before you, they would build a place of worship at his grave and make these pictures in it. They would be the worst creatures in the sight of Allah on the Day of Resurrection.',4 This is the case of one who prostrated to Allah at a grave ; so what about the one who prostrated to the grave itself? The Prophet ~ said: "O Allah! Do not make my grave an idol that is worshipped."5 The Prophet ~ strongly and vigorously protected Monotheism, and so he ~ forbade performing optional Salat, to worship Allah ~ . at the time of the rising or setting of the sun, to prevent it from becoming an act of imitation of those who worship the sun, at those particular times. The Prophet ~ said: "No one should prostrate to anything except Allah '.m .''6