ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Wahhabism Is Belief In Invisible Power The Basis of Shirk (Polytheism)? There is no doubt that a sincere request for fulfilment of needs is possible only when the person making the request reckons the requested person or entity to be powerful and capable enough to fulfil his need. Sometimes, this power is an apparent and a physical one such as when we ask someone for water and he fills the vessel with it and hands it over to us.

Sometimes too, this power is an invisible power, far from the natural channels and beyond the domain of physical laws. For example, a person believes that Imam Ali (‘a) could lift the door of the fort of Khaybar which was not within the power of an ordinary man and pull it off not by human power but by an unseen power. Or that 'Isa ('a) could, by his curative healing, cure the incurable disease without the use of medicine or any kind of operation.

If belief in this unseen power is such that it is supported by the Power and Will of Allah, it will be similar to the belief in the physical power which does not involve shirk (polytheism). This is because the same God who has placed the physical power in that particular person also gives the unseen power to another person but without assuming the creature to be the Creator and without taking that person to be independent of God.

The Views of Wahhabis They say: If someone asks one of the awliya Allah, whether dead or alive, to cure his sick ones or to find his lost ones or to help him in repaying his debt, such requests involve the belief in the sovereignty and power (of the one whom he asks) where he is prevailing over the natural system and the laws in force in the world of creation.

Belief in such sovereignty and power of someone other than God is the same as the belief in the divinity (Godliness) of that person and asking something from him under this bond will be shirk (polytheism). If a thirsty person in the desert asks for water from his servant, he has observed the order prevailing over the laws of nature and such an asking will not be shirk (polytheism).

However, if he asks water from a Prophet (s) or an Imam who is concealed under the soil or lives in some other place, then such a request involves the belief in his unseen sovereignty (of providing him with water without the physical causes and means) and such a belief is exactly the same as the belief in the divinity of that person.