ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Strengthening of the Faith Chapter Six : Prohibition of Shirk in Worship The definition of worship: 'lbadah (worship) implies those activities which Allah the Almighty has specified and taught to His slaves for His honor and gratification. Here, we are going to explain as to what those activities are, which Allah has ordained us to perform in His honor so that we should not perform them for any entity other than Allah and thus avoid committing the Shirk.

Worship is meant for Allah Alone: "And indeed We sent Noah to his people (and he said): 'I have come to you as a plain warner. That you worship none but Allah, surely I fear for you the torment of a painful Day.'" (V.ll:25, 26) It means that there has always been a strife between believers and the non-believers ever since the Prophet Noah {Peace be upon Him} was sent to this earth.

The beloved slaves of Allah have always maintained and spread the word that we should never express our reverence to any entity, whatsoever, in a manner which is strictly prescribed for Allah, and the acts which have been outlined and delineated to show our respect to Allah only, must not be performed to propitiate any other entity.

Prostration is for Allah only: Allah says: not to the sun nor to the moon, but prostrate to Allah who created them, if you (really) worship Him.} (V.41:37) {Prostrate This verse explains that in Islam, the prostration is the right of the Creator only and therefore, we should not prostrate to any creature, be it the moon, the sun, a Prophet, a saint, a jinn or any angel.

If someone maintains that making a prostration to a creature was permissible in the earlier religions, for instance, the angels prostrated to Adam {Peace be upon Him} and Prophet Jacob {Peace be upon Him} prostrated to Prophet Joseph {Peace be upon Him} and hence there is no harm if we make a prostration to a saint as a token of showing our respect to him. We must remember that such a thing proves and confirms one's Shirk and thoroughly deprives him of Faith.

According to the laws which were prevalent during the period of Adam {Peace be upon Him}, it was permissible to marry one's sisters. Presenting this fact as an evidence, what is the harm if these people marry their sisters. But harm does certainly lie there, because the incestuous relationship with one's sisters is a matter which is forbidden forever and is not permissible under any circumstances.