Distinction
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Guidelines to distinguish major shirk from minor shirk
The scholars have stipulated guidelines to distinguish major shirk from minor shirk when shirk is mentioned in the texts of shari’ah. These guidelines include the following:
1 – When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) states clearly that this action is minor shirk, such as in al-Musnad (27742) where it is narrated that Mahmud ibn Labid said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“The thing that I fear most for you is minor shirk.” They said: “O Messenger of Allah, what is minor shirk?” He said: “Showing off, for Allah will say on the Day when people are recompensed for their actions: ‘Go to those for whom you were showing off with your deeds in the world, and see what reward you find with them.’”
2 – When the word shirk is used in the texts of the Quran and Sunnah in the indefinite form [without the definite article al-]. This usually refers to minor shirk, and there are many examples of this, such as when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“Incantations, amulets and love spells are shirk.”
What is meant by shirk here is minor shirk, not major shirk.
Amulets are things that are hung on children such as turquoise beads and the like, which they claim will protect them from the evil eye.
Love spells are something that they do, claiming that it will make a woman beloved to her husband and a man beloved to his wife.
3 – If the Sahabah understood from the texts of Shari’ah that what was meant by shirk here was minor shirk, not major. Undoubtedly the understanding of the Sahabah carries weight, because they are the most knowledgeable of the people concerning the religion of Allah, and the most knowledgeable as to the intent of the Lawgiver.
For example, Abu Dawud (3910) narrated from Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“Tiyarah (superstitious belief in omens) is shirk, tiyarah is shirk,” three times, and there is no one among us but (will have some of that) but Allah will rid him of it by means of tawakkul (putting his trust in Allah).
The words “there is no one among us…” are the words of Ibn Mas’ud, as was explained by the prominent scholars of hadith. This indicates that Ibn Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) understood that this was minor shirk, because he could not have said, “There is no one among us…” referring to major shirk. Moreover, major shirk cannot be eliminated by means of tawakkul, rather it is essential to repent therefrom.
4 – If the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) interpreted the words shirk or kufr in a manner which indicates that what is meant is a minor form thereof and not the major form.
For example al-Bukhari (1038) and Muslim (74) narrated from Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani that he said:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) led the morning prayer for us at al-Hudaybiyah following rainfall during the night. When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) finished, he turned to face the people and said to them: “Do you know what your Lord has said?” They said: “Allah and his Messenger know best.” He said: “This morning one of My slaves became a believer in Me and one a disbeliever. As for him who said: ‘We have been given rain by the grace of Allah and His mercy,’ that one is a believer in Me, a disbeliever in the stars; and as for him who said: ‘We have been given rain by such-and-such a star, that one is a disbeliever in Me, a believer in the stars.’”
The interpretation of the word kufr here is given in another report narrated from Abu Hurayrah who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“Do you not know what your Lord said? ‘I do not send any blessing upon My slaves but a group among them become kafirs thereby because they refer to the stars and attribute things to the stars.'"
This explains that if a person attributes rainfall to the stars by believing that they caused it to fall – when in fact Allah has not made the stars a means of causing rainfall – his kufr is a kind of ingratitude for the blessing of Allah. It is well known that ingratitude for the blessing of Allah is minor kufr. But if a person believes that the stars are controlling the universe and they are the ones that cause the rain to fall, then this is major shirk.
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