Shirk
and Kufr of the modern secular state
At the end of those revolutions Euro-Christian civilization,
which used to be based on faith in God and in His Sovereignty and Supremacy no
longer recognized the God of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) as Sovereign,
nor His Authority and His Law as supreme. The ‘modern secular state’ was now
recognized as ‘sovereign’, and that was Shirk! The authority and law of
the ‘modern secular state’ were now recognized as ‘supreme’, and that was Shirk!
The state had the authority to declare Halal (i.e. to declare legal
and permissible) that which the God of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) had
declared to be Haram (illegal and prohibited) – and it proceeded to do
so – and that was Shirk!
Shirk is a very
great sin. Indeed it is the greatest of all sins. It is the one sin that the God
of Abraham, Most High, declared that He would not forgive:
“Surely Allah does not (or will not) forgive Shirk. But He (can)
forgive everything else to whomsoever He wishes. And whoever commits Shirk has
committed an awesome sin”.
(Qur’an, al-Nisa, 4:48)
Whoever commits Shirk, and dies in that state, can
never enter into heaven:
“ …. Allah has made it
Haram for whoever commits Shirk to ever enter into heaven.Such (people) will
dwell in hell …. ”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:72)
The worship of idols is the most overt form of Shirk. This
form of Shirk has largely disappeared from the world today.
But there are other forms of Shirk that are also
described in the Qur’an. Pharaoh, for example, declared to Moses (‘alaihi
al-Salam): “I am your Lord-God
the Most High”, and he declared to the Chiefs of his people: “Oh
Chiefs! No God do I know for you but myself …”. That was Shirk! The worship of Pharaoh by the Egyptian
people required them to submit to his authority as the supreme authority in the
land of Egypt, and to recognize his law as the supreme law in the land of
Egypt. That, also, was Shirk!
The Qur’an has repeatedly admonished those who
establish Hukm, i.e., the system of law and justice, on the basis of
‘other than’ or ‘contrary to’ Allah’s authority and Allah’s law. However, when
the divine guidance reaches a people (such as Jews, Christians, Muslims), and
they accept that guidance, then the situation is quite different. If such
people have an opportunity to establish their control over territory and they
then fail to establish law and authority on the basis of the revealed Divine Law,
then the Qur’an unequivocally condemns them and accuses them of Kufr (disbelief),
Dhulm (injustice) and Fisq (wickedness and awesome sin):
“ …. And whoever fails to judge on the basis of that which Allah
revealed has committed Kufr (disbelief).”
“ …. And whoever fails to judge on the basis of that which Allah
revealed has committed Dhulm (injustice and oppression).”
“ …. And whoever fails to judge on the basis of that which Allah
has revealed, has committed Fisq (wickedness and enormous sin).”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:44 - 47)
Since the declaration by Pharaoh and its concrete
application in the land of Egypt were acts of Shirk, it followed
therefrom that the same declaration by the modern secular state was also an act
of Shirk! Since the God of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) declared
that: “Whoever fails to judge on
the basis of that which Allah revealed has committed Kufr (disbelief),
Dhulm (injustice and oppression)
and Fisq (wickedness and
enormous sin)”, and the modern secular state has done precisely that, it
followed therefrom that Jews, Christians, Muslims etc, who establish the
secular state after having received the Divine Law through the Torah, Psalms,
Gospel and Qur’an, would be guilty of having committed Kufr, Dhulm
and Fisq!
If a Jew, Christian, or Muslim, were to cast a vote in a
national election in a modern secular state, that vote would imply that he
considered that party he voted for to be fit to govern over him. And if that
party as government committed or commits Shirk, Kufr, Dhulm and Fisq,
then the implication would be that the Jew, Christian, or Muslim, would follow
his Party and his Government into Shirk, Kufr, Dhulm and Fisq! The
Qur’an has also denounced as Shirk the act of making Halal
whatever Allah had made Haram (and vice-versa). Thus revelation came
down from the God of Abraham (‘alaihi al-Salam) in which He denounced
Jews and Christians of such a monstrous sin:
“They took their Priests and Rabbis as Lord-Gods beside Allah;
and (they did this in respect of) the Messiah, the son of Mary (as well). But
they were not ordered other than to worship and serve one God. Glory is to Him.
He is far and above the Shirk which they commit.”
(Qur’an, al-Taubah, 9:31)
When the Jews acted in this way, David (‘alaihi al -Salam)
and Jesus (‘alaihi al -Salam) cursed
them:
“Curses were pronounced
on those among Banu Israil who rejected Faith, by the tongue of David and of
Jesus, the son of Mary, because they disobeyed and persisted in excesses. They
did not enforce the prohibition of that which was sinful and evil which they
committed: evil indeed were the deeds which they did.”
(Qur’an, al-Maidah, 5:78-9)
Whoever dies with a curse of a Prophet upon them have no
chance whatsoever of ever escaping from the burning flames of the hellfire! In
fact it is the height of hypocrisy for a people to declare that they worship
the God of Abraham and to then proceed to legalize that which He had made
illegal, and to prohibit that which He had made permissible:
“The Hypocrites, men and women, (have an understanding) with
each other: they enjoin evil, and forbid what is just, and are close with their
hands. They have forgotten Allah; so He hath forgotten them. Verily the
Hypocrites are rebellious and perverse.”
(Qur’an, al-Taubah, 9:67)
If it were an act of Shirk when Priests and Rabbis
made Halal that which Allah declared to be Haram, then it would
also be an act of Shirk when a government does the same thing now. And
if it earned the curses of Prophets at that time, it would do the same now!
Now the usual method of approach for studying this subject
is to weigh the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of participation by believers in the
electoral politics of the modern secular state. The defenders of the secular
state wax eloquently about its merits. Some argue: “If we do not participate in
electoral politics then we will have no political representation – no one to
struggle for our rights.” At a more serious level of thought another argument is raised: “Participation in
electoral politics is the necessary condition for any successful struggle to
change the godless political system.” The matter of Shirk is addressed
by way of a subterfuge: “We will participate in elections but will do so on the
basis of a public stand that we do not accept the secular constitution and the
secular state which it preserves. This escape clause will protect us from Shirk.”
Our
response is to point out that participation in
electoral politics in a secular state ipso facto signifies acceptance of
the secular character of the state. The secular state makes the same declaration that Pharaoh made to Moses (‘alaihi al-Salam). That declaration
is: The state is sovereign. Its authority is supreme. Its law is supreme. That is Shirk! When people vote
in elections in a secular state they thereby accept the claim of the state to
be sovereign. They accept its claim to supreme authority, and they accept its
law to be the supreme law. When believers vote in such elections, therefore, they
cannot escape from committing Shirk.
Secondly, when believers vote in elections in a secular state they
have to vote for a political party. If that party, as government, declared to
be Halal what the God of Abraham, Most High, made Haram, or
enforced laws as such, then that government committed Shirk. Around the
world today governments and parliaments of secular states have already declared
Halal nearly everything that Allah declared to be Haram. When
believers cast their votes for such political parties and governments that have
already committed Shirk upon Shirk, such votes would imply acceptance of
such people as fit to govern over them. Thus believers follow them into Shirk, Kufr, Dhulm and Fisq!
Thirdly, this method constitutes a violation and an abandonment of
the Sunnah of the Blessed Prophet of Islam (sallalahu ‘alaihi
wa sallam).
Political parties and governments around the world today are
comprised of those who disdainfully persist in declaring Halal that
which Allah declared to be Haram. When a people disdainfully persist in Haram
they pay a dreadful price. It is as plain as daylight that the modern secular
world is already paying precisely that price. What is it?
“….and then, when they disdainfully persisted in doing what they
had been forbidden to do, We said to them (i.e., We ordained for them) Be as
apes despicable!”
(Qur’an, al’Araf, 7:166)
What this implies is that they would now live like apes, so
incapable of exercising any restraint over their gross appetites and passions
that, by the ‘End Time’, they would be committing sexual intercourse in public like donkeys.
The modern secular state legalized the lending of money on
interest (Riba). An everincreasing number of modern secular states have
already legalized gambling (and lottery), the consumption and sale of
intoxicants (e.g. alcohol) and pork, the use of paper money that constantly
loses value. Abortion, homosexuality,
lesbianism, adultery and fornication.
Around the world today most modern secular states no longer
recognize Allah’s Law that a son must inherit twice as much as a daughter. They
declare such a law to be discriminatory against women, and they establish their
own laws that, they claim, are more just than Allah’s Laws. In fact their law
is no law. A man can leave his entire estate to a jackass and leave nothing for
his wife and children! The modern secular state has prohibited a man from
marrying more than one woman at a time since they claim that such would be
discriminatory against women. Rather they have made it mandatory for a man to
have no more than one wife at a time, and such, they claim, removes the
injustice against women that is present in Allah’s Law. This alternative has
resulted in a sexual revolution that is making a mockery of marriage itself! A
wife no longer has an obligation, legal or moral, to be obedient to her husband
since such would discriminate against the equality of the male and female. The
sun has never risen on a stranger world than the modern, relentlessly godless,
and awesomely glamorous modern
Euro-world, and that is surely an ominous sign!
The defining characteristic of the religion of Abraham
(‘alaihi al-Salam) is that there is no place whatsoever for Kufr (disbelief)
and Shirk (corruption of, or rejection of the worship of One True God) in it.
Yet the secular political system of the new essentially godless Euro-Christian
civilization – now known as modern western civilization, is based on Kufr and
Shirk. The United Nations Organization was founded on Shirk. The UN Charter declared that Allah Most
High is not al-Akbar! Articles 24
and 25 of the Charter declared that the Security Council has supreme authority
in the world in all matters pertaining to international peace and security, the
authority of the Security Council being higher than the authority of Allah Most
High and of His Messenger (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). That is Shirk.
How then do we explain Banu Israel's acceptance of a modern
secular state in the Holy Land? And how do we explain the acceptance by Muslims
around the world of the modern secular state as a valid substitute for the
Caliphate? Perhaps this is the right moment for us to explain what the
Caliphate was and then compare it with the modern secular state. The ignorance
of the world today is such that even Muslims are unaware of the subject.
