Definition: Shirk Akbar & Asghar

[Shehzad Sattar]

Definition: Shirk Akbar & Asghar - Shaykh al Uthaymeen
Al Qawlul Mufeed of Shaykh al Uthaymeen vol1, page 206

Translator Nasser ibn Najam – words in brackets and footnotes are translator’s – checked by Dawood Burbank

Meaning:
Greater shirk is that which takes a person out of the religion.

Lesser shirk is what is less than that.


Explanation:
So shirk akbar (greater shirk) is: that which takes a person out of the religion.

And shirk asghar (the lesser shirk) is: what is less than that.

However the statement “what is less than that” is not a clear and unambiguous scale (to
weigh up an action when deciding whether it is greater shirk or lesser shirk). For this reason
the scholars have differed with regards to the guiding principle underpinning lesser shirk
upon two (different) sayings:

- The first saying: is that lesser shirk is everything which the Legislator has designated to be shirk and which the texts indicate is not from greater shirk.

For example: Whoever swears by other than Allaah then he has committed shirk. So the shirk here is lesser because the texts prove that the mere act of swearing by other than Allaah does not take [a person] out of the religion.

- The second saying: is that lesser shirk is whatever is a means leading to greater [shirk], even if the Legislation does not apply the title “shirk” to it.

For example, that a person depends upon something just like his depending upon Allaah, however he does not take (that thing) as an object of worship. So this is lesser shirk because this depending, which is like his depending upon Allaah, will cause him to be led ultimately to greater shirk.

And this (second) definition is more encompassing than the first because the first prevents you from designating something to be shirk unless you have a proof; and the second makes everything which is a means leading to shirk (to be) an act of shirk.