Shirk Akbar

﷽

This means ascribing to someone other than Allah something that belongs only to Allah, such as Lordship (rububiyyah), divinity (uluhiyyah) and the divine names and attributes (al-asma’ wa’l-sifat).

This kind of shirk may sometimes be outward, such as the shirk of those who worship idols and graves, or the dead or absent.

Or it may sometimes be hidden, such as those who put their trust in other gods besides Allah, or the shirk and kufr of the hypocrites. For even though their (hypocrites’) shirk puts them beyond the pale of Islam and means that they will abide forever in Hell, it is a hidden shirk, because they make an outward display of Islam and conceal their kufr and shirk, so they are inwardly mushriks but not outwardly.

Shirk Akbar is further divided into sub-types discussed in this section.