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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Basic Beliefs of Islam Chapter 8 : Polytheism - Shirk The antonym of Tawhid is Polytheism. Polytheism or Shirk means to consider anyone god other than the true God. It is the most heinous and unforgivable crime. Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (as) has said : Among all sins, Shirk is the most sinful act. Kinds of Shirk or Polytheism. There are many kinds of Shirks, but the Holy Prophet (sws) has classified them into two main categories, which are as follows.

1 - Shirk-e-Akbar. ( Major Shirk - Open and apparent Shirk ) 2 - Shirk-e-Asghar. ( Minor Shirk - Concealed or hidden Shirk ) SHIRK-E-AKBAR OR MAJOR SHIRK. [OPEN SHIRK] Major Shirk or Shirk-e-Akbar means explicitly open polytheism. Definition of Major Shirk. Major Shirk is of two kinds. 1- To associate anyone with Allah Taala as His part. 2- To associate Allah's attributes to someone as his own. Associating Allah with someone or something as His par t means, to believe in more than one God.

i.e., two, three, and many separate gods or two, three, or many inseparable gods. Associating Allah's attributes to someone or something means, giving His attributes, like His knowledge or His might, to anyone else. Or considering or por traying anyone like Him. He believes in many gods, separate or inseparable. He associates anyone in anyway with God as a par t of Him. He portrays anyone in anyway possessing supernatural powers like God.

He portrays or characterizes any Prophet or Imam or a leader as God or like God or a part of God. All such people are known as polytheists or mushriks. It is impor tant to know more about all kinds of Shirk in order to refrain from them completely. Idol worship - Believing in many gods. It is the most apparent kind of Shirk. All religions in which people worship many gods or idols or anyone other than God or associate God with anyone, are polytheistic religions.

The followers of these religions are Mushriks. There are many religions which practice idol worship. Zoroastrians believe in two gods - god of evil (darkness) and god of goodness (light). Buddhists do not believe in God. But Buddhists worship the statue of Gautam Buddha as their god. So do the followers of Jainism. They both are polytheistic religions. In Hinduism, there are three main gods, and traditionally 33 million other gods and goddesses.

In order to call themselves monotheistic, they say that behind all these gods, there is also a single spiritual entity called Brahma.