Which is a greater sin: Atheism or polytheism?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Atheism, in modern terminology, means denying the Creator altogether, denying that He exists and not acknowledging Him, may He be glorified and exalted. The universe and everything in it, according to their claims, came about purely by chance. This is a strange view which is contrary to sound human nature, reason and logic, and is contrary to simple logic and indisputable facts.
As for shirk (polytheism or associating others with Allah), it implies belief in Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, and affirmation of Him, but it also includes belief in a partner to Allah in His creation, who creates or grants provision or brings benefit or wards off harm. This is shirk al-ruboobiyyah (ascribing partners to Allah in His Lordship). Or it means belief in a partner to whom some kind of worship is devoted as an act of love and veneration, as it is devoted to that person or thing as it should to devoted to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted. This is shirk al-‘ibaadah (associating others with Allah in worship). By studying these two deviations, we may see that each of them involves sin and evil which tells us that they are bad and we see how Allah described them as being like dumb animals.
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Have you (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) seen him who has taken as his ilaah (god) his own vain desire? Would you then be a Wakeel (a disposer of his affairs or a watcher) over him?
44. Or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are only like cattle nay, they are even farther astray from the Path (i.e. even worse than cattle)”
[al-Furqaan 25:43-44]
“And surely, We have created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not, and they have eyes wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not (the truth). They are like cattle, nay even more astray; those! They are the heedless ones”
[al-A’raaf 7:179].
Nevertheless, the atheist who denies the existence of Allah and rejects His Messengers and disbelieves in the Last Day, is in a greater state of kufr and his beliefs are more reprehensible than the one who believes in Allah and the Hereafter, but he associates something of His creation with Him. The former is stubborn and arrogant to an extent that can not be imagined or accepted by sound human nature. Such a person would transgress every sacred limit and fall into every sin; his worldview would be distorted to an inconceivable level. Yet many scholars who discussed the issue of atheism doubted that this has deep roots in the hearts of the atheists, and they affirmed that the atheist is only professing atheism outwardly; deep down he believes in one God.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said a great deal which indicates that this group of atheists who deny and reject the existence of God are in a worse state of kufr than the mushrikeen who associate partners with Him. We will quote a little of what we have come across:
He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Kufr (disbelief) means not believing in Allah and His Messengers, whether it involves rejecting or it consists of doubt and uncertainty about the issue or ignoring the issue altogether, out of envy or arrogance or following whims and desires that divert a person from following the Message. However, the kaafir who rejects and disbelieves is in a state of greater kufr, although the one who rejects and denies out of envy, even though he believes that the Messengers brought the message of truth, is also in a state of kufr. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 17/291
He also said:
The one who denies the Hereafter but believes that this universe is created is described by Allah as a kaafir. The one who denies it and says that this universe existed from eternity is a worse kaafir in the sight of Allah, may He be exalted. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 17/291
He said (may Allah have mercy on him) refuting those who deny the Divine attributes:
(Denying the Divine attributes) implies complete denial which reaches the point that says: There is nothing that must exist and cannot have not existed. If he believes that and says: I do not affirm either existence or non-existence, then the answer to that is: Suppose you state that verbally and in your heart you do not believe either of the two; rather you turn away from knowing Allah and worshipping and remembering Him, so you never remember Him, worship Him, call upon Him, put your hope in Him or fear Him; (in that case) your denial of Him is worse than that of Iblees who (at least) acknowledged Him. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 5/356.
And he (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The arrogant one is the one who does not acknowledge Allah outwardly, like Pharaoh. He is in a worse state of kufr than them (meaning the mushrik Arabs). Iblees, who enjoins all of that and loves it and is too arrogant to worship his Lord and obey him, is in a worse state of kufr than them (the mushrikeen), even though he was aware of the existence and might of Allah, just as Pharaoh was also aware of the existence of Allah. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 7/633
He also said:
The view of the philosophers -- those who say that the universe is eternal and that it is dependent on that which inevitably must exist -- came from the minds and hearts of those who worshipped heavenly bodies and made images of them on Earth, such as Aristotle and his followers. This view is worse kufr and is more misguided than that of the Arab mushrikeen who believed that Allah created the heavens and the earth and everything between them in six days by His will and power, but they attribute falsely without knowledge sons and daughters to Him (cf. al-An’am 6:100) and joined others in worship with Allaah, for which He had sent no authority (cf. Aal ‘Imraan 3:151). Similarly, the permissive people, who do not believe in any command or prohibition at all and refer to the Divine will and decree as an excuse for their evil deeds, are worse off than the Jews, Christians and Arab mushrikeen, because even though the latter are kaafirs, they still believe in some kind of command and prohibition, and the promise and warning (i.e., the Hereafter), but they had partners with Allaah (false gods) who instituted for them a religion which Allaah had not ordained (cf. al-Shoora 42:21), unlike the permissive people who ignore all laws altogether. They are only pleased with whatever suits their whims and desires, and they get angry on the basis of their whims and desires; they do not get pleased for the sake of Allah, or angry for the sake of Allah, or love for the sake of Allah, or hate for the sake of Allah; they do not enjoin that which Allah has enjoined and they do not forbid that which Allah has forbidden, unless that suits their whims and desires, in which case they do it for that purpose and not as an act of obedience to their Lord. Hence they do not denounce what takes place of kufr, evil doing and sin unless it goes against their whims and desires, in which case they will denounce it, prompted by their devilish nature and not prompted by sharee’ah and love of Allah. Hence the devils plunge them deeper into error, and they never stop short (cf. al-A’raaf 7:202), and the devils may show themselves to them and address them and help them with some of their whims and desires, as the devils used to do with the mushrikeen who worshipped idols. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 8/457-458.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah be pleased with him) said: It is shirk to worship something other than Allah completely; that may be called shirk or kufr. Whoever turns away from Allah altogether and directs his worship to something other than Allah, such as trees, rocks, idols, the jinn or some of the dead, those whom they call awliya’ (“saints”), worshipping them or praying to them or fasting for them, and forgetting Allah altogether -- and this is the worst kind of kufr and shirk. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound.
The same applies to denying the existence of Allah and saying that there is no God and life is material, like the Communists and atheists who deny the existence of Allah. These are the worst disbelievers among mankind, the most astray, the most involved in shirk and the most misguided. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound. End quote.
Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 4/32-33
He also said (may Allah have mercy on him):
Meat slaughtered by Communists is haraam and is like the meat of the Magians and idol worshippers; in fact their meat is even more haraam, because their degree of kufr is greater due to their atheism and denial of the Creator (may He be glorified and exalted) and His Messenger, and other kinds of kufr. End quote.
Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 23/30
And Allah knows best.
Islam Q&A
Praise be to Allaah.
Atheism, in modern terminology, means denying the Creator altogether, denying that He exists and not acknowledging Him, may He be glorified and exalted. The universe and everything in it, according to their claims, came about purely by chance. This is a strange view which is contrary to sound human nature, reason and logic, and is contrary to simple logic and indisputable facts.
As for shirk (polytheism or associating others with Allah), it implies belief in Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, and affirmation of Him, but it also includes belief in a partner to Allah in His creation, who creates or grants provision or brings benefit or wards off harm. This is shirk al-ruboobiyyah (ascribing partners to Allah in His Lordship). Or it means belief in a partner to whom some kind of worship is devoted as an act of love and veneration, as it is devoted to that person or thing as it should to devoted to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted. This is shirk al-‘ibaadah (associating others with Allah in worship). By studying these two deviations, we may see that each of them involves sin and evil which tells us that they are bad and we see how Allah described them as being like dumb animals.
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Have you (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) seen him who has taken as his ilaah (god) his own vain desire? Would you then be a Wakeel (a disposer of his affairs or a watcher) over him?
44. Or do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are only like cattle nay, they are even farther astray from the Path (i.e. even worse than cattle)”
[al-Furqaan 25:43-44]
“And surely, We have created many of the jinn and mankind for Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not, and they have eyes wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not (the truth). They are like cattle, nay even more astray; those! They are the heedless ones”
[al-A’raaf 7:179].
Nevertheless, the atheist who denies the existence of Allah and rejects His Messengers and disbelieves in the Last Day, is in a greater state of kufr and his beliefs are more reprehensible than the one who believes in Allah and the Hereafter, but he associates something of His creation with Him. The former is stubborn and arrogant to an extent that can not be imagined or accepted by sound human nature. Such a person would transgress every sacred limit and fall into every sin; his worldview would be distorted to an inconceivable level. Yet many scholars who discussed the issue of atheism doubted that this has deep roots in the hearts of the atheists, and they affirmed that the atheist is only professing atheism outwardly; deep down he believes in one God.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said a great deal which indicates that this group of atheists who deny and reject the existence of God are in a worse state of kufr than the mushrikeen who associate partners with Him. We will quote a little of what we have come across:
He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Kufr (disbelief) means not believing in Allah and His Messengers, whether it involves rejecting or it consists of doubt and uncertainty about the issue or ignoring the issue altogether, out of envy or arrogance or following whims and desires that divert a person from following the Message. However, the kaafir who rejects and disbelieves is in a state of greater kufr, although the one who rejects and denies out of envy, even though he believes that the Messengers brought the message of truth, is also in a state of kufr. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 17/291
He also said:
The one who denies the Hereafter but believes that this universe is created is described by Allah as a kaafir. The one who denies it and says that this universe existed from eternity is a worse kaafir in the sight of Allah, may He be exalted. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 17/291
He said (may Allah have mercy on him) refuting those who deny the Divine attributes:
(Denying the Divine attributes) implies complete denial which reaches the point that says: There is nothing that must exist and cannot have not existed. If he believes that and says: I do not affirm either existence or non-existence, then the answer to that is: Suppose you state that verbally and in your heart you do not believe either of the two; rather you turn away from knowing Allah and worshipping and remembering Him, so you never remember Him, worship Him, call upon Him, put your hope in Him or fear Him; (in that case) your denial of Him is worse than that of Iblees who (at least) acknowledged Him. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 5/356.
And he (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The arrogant one is the one who does not acknowledge Allah outwardly, like Pharaoh. He is in a worse state of kufr than them (meaning the mushrik Arabs). Iblees, who enjoins all of that and loves it and is too arrogant to worship his Lord and obey him, is in a worse state of kufr than them (the mushrikeen), even though he was aware of the existence and might of Allah, just as Pharaoh was also aware of the existence of Allah. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 7/633
He also said:
The view of the philosophers -- those who say that the universe is eternal and that it is dependent on that which inevitably must exist -- came from the minds and hearts of those who worshipped heavenly bodies and made images of them on Earth, such as Aristotle and his followers. This view is worse kufr and is more misguided than that of the Arab mushrikeen who believed that Allah created the heavens and the earth and everything between them in six days by His will and power, but they attribute falsely without knowledge sons and daughters to Him (cf. al-An’am 6:100) and joined others in worship with Allaah, for which He had sent no authority (cf. Aal ‘Imraan 3:151). Similarly, the permissive people, who do not believe in any command or prohibition at all and refer to the Divine will and decree as an excuse for their evil deeds, are worse off than the Jews, Christians and Arab mushrikeen, because even though the latter are kaafirs, they still believe in some kind of command and prohibition, and the promise and warning (i.e., the Hereafter), but they had partners with Allaah (false gods) who instituted for them a religion which Allaah had not ordained (cf. al-Shoora 42:21), unlike the permissive people who ignore all laws altogether. They are only pleased with whatever suits their whims and desires, and they get angry on the basis of their whims and desires; they do not get pleased for the sake of Allah, or angry for the sake of Allah, or love for the sake of Allah, or hate for the sake of Allah; they do not enjoin that which Allah has enjoined and they do not forbid that which Allah has forbidden, unless that suits their whims and desires, in which case they do it for that purpose and not as an act of obedience to their Lord. Hence they do not denounce what takes place of kufr, evil doing and sin unless it goes against their whims and desires, in which case they will denounce it, prompted by their devilish nature and not prompted by sharee’ah and love of Allah. Hence the devils plunge them deeper into error, and they never stop short (cf. al-A’raaf 7:202), and the devils may show themselves to them and address them and help them with some of their whims and desires, as the devils used to do with the mushrikeen who worshipped idols. End quote.
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 8/457-458.
Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah be pleased with him) said: It is shirk to worship something other than Allah completely; that may be called shirk or kufr. Whoever turns away from Allah altogether and directs his worship to something other than Allah, such as trees, rocks, idols, the jinn or some of the dead, those whom they call awliya’ (“saints”), worshipping them or praying to them or fasting for them, and forgetting Allah altogether -- and this is the worst kind of kufr and shirk. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound.
The same applies to denying the existence of Allah and saying that there is no God and life is material, like the Communists and atheists who deny the existence of Allah. These are the worst disbelievers among mankind, the most astray, the most involved in shirk and the most misguided. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound. End quote.
Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 4/32-33
He also said (may Allah have mercy on him):
Meat slaughtered by Communists is haraam and is like the meat of the Magians and idol worshippers; in fact their meat is even more haraam, because their degree of kufr is greater due to their atheism and denial of the Creator (may He be glorified and exalted) and His Messenger, and other kinds of kufr. End quote.
Majmoo’ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 23/30
And Allah knows best.
Islam Q&A
Yeah, when you think about it creationism does make sense. It goes something like this.
ReplyDeleteCREATIONISM
The belief that a Wizard appeared out of nothing and was bored from doing nothing and then magically made everthing including matter, existence and time out of nothing for the purpose of self glory, abuse of power and mental experiments by buyring Dinoosaur fossils.
Makes perfect sense.
you go girl!
ReplyDeletealso, the wizard was always, and will always be. and he's infallible, but has emotions just like humans, and kills entire nations just coz he's angry
The atheists are sometimes outrageous of what they believe and they are brain washed by the bunch of Darwin folks. The only reaction people get from them is that things are created from junkyard without any physical involvement...may be the blowing wind, the boiling sun, the snow, water and materials come together and chat each other about the creativity and create something out of NOTHINGNESS!
ReplyDeleteTo disapprove them you have to ask one question. Who created the vast universe, galaxies, and all beautiful creatures? If they say evolve? How it evolved? The answer would be time and the time demands the creation out of nothing? I have a bar of gold and it’s from my forefathers...but still the gold bar is with me...nothing happened...even a milligram of its physical appearance doesn’t change? What about the chimps and monkeys? Still they are within us and didn’t evolve and we don’t see any sign of development from the remaining monkeys and chimps? I feel sorry for the rest of the chimps/monkeys’ population...poor bastards!
Hussain
The CHIMP YAMEEN;
ReplyDeleteWhy don’t you give that backup from your books...the question is who created the first living life. Don’t tell us a protein molecule fly through the space and formed a life enabling to live, breath, eat, and dies!
“It's an hugely improbable occurrence indeed. But in an impossibly vast universe, improbable becomes highly probable.”
Oh yes! Because of the vast space everything becomes highly probable? Then, why not the existence of God becomes probable in your equation if the space that you have defined is so probable?
What evidence you have? Some sort fossils? Is there any scientific work that mapped the evolution process from one species into the other without missing a single LINK? Just finding few species within dinosaurs species or other organic materials is NOT SUFFICIENT to prove your points and put all your hope into such incomplete theory (assumption)!
“We know we exist because we can see ourselves. But atheists prefer not to delude themselves that they are the center of all creation, and that the universe revolves around them.”
Even animals know they exist because they can see? Not sufficient to prove your points. Allah doesn’t tell us we are the centre of the creation and we are part of creation and we know the universe is not around us and it has got its own natural law to orbit. We know there are other creations before us and still they live in somewhere (space) and the true account is there in the Holly Quran!
“Atheists believe they are just another species that will eventually die out, just like the 99% of species that ever lived on earth.”
We know that every living creature will have its fixed term and no need to give us lecture on that?
“Because our forefathers lived in this world. Evidently, if they had lived on Mars, then we'd have likely been on Mars too.”
This is not sufficient enough to rebut the existence of God and a definite space is not important (in your case Mars) when it comes to living creatures.
“However, in a broader perspective, we are NOT here as some kind of divine experiment on morality. In fact, atheists understand that we're just a stage in evolution, not even the final product.”
‘Stage in evolution’ where is the concrete proof or again from just some fossils? Not enough to convince the human mind! By the way could you please tell us the ‘final product’! hummm alien? They are currently alive in the outer space according to some theorist!
“Why do mosquitoes exist? Why do blob fish exist? Why do those microbes that live in inhospitable sulphur pools exist? Why do wild bananas exist?”
This is irrefutable argument mosquitoes are part of the ‘food chain’ and they provide food for other insects that don’t bother humans. Also, many species of mosquitoes help pollinate flowers. So, we can see where you come from? You see only mosquitoes that bite you and therefore, you think it’s useless. However, for the creation it’s important since its part of creation. Remember! Nothing is neglected and has some purpose and reason of their existence and this varies from one species to other. As per your theory, we are here because we are part of the process to produce advanced lives.
“These are all valid questions. But if a wild, inedible banana can exist, live, reproduce and multiply without facing moral and ethical tests, atheists see no reason why humans should not.”
The difference between wild banana and human is not a strong argument to defend your thought. I am sure one day the science world will have a remedy to your wild banana story!
“Atheists would say this is a rather silly question.
Where was the earth before it was created? Where was the Sun before it was formed?”
I can see that you are so silly to ask that question asking where about the earth and sun? We know that earth is part of the creation and were created in some point...it weren’t hiding!?
“Nowhere. Your body decomposes and disintegrates through biological action into minerals, mixing with the soil. These nutrients can be used to grow beautiful flowers and trees.”
ReplyDeleteI guess this part of the question you are talking about your physical body and we Muslim never care about the physical existence and we are more interested in spiritual life. Everyone knows the biological process of living things therefore, no need to explain the things from your third grade book.
“Atheists believe death is the death of vital tissue. Caused by lack of blood supply to the heart muscles, for instance. Or cancers. Or a weak immune system”
Everything you explained is in your physical seeing ability and you didn’t tell us anything NEW and you have given a lecture on the physical world.
“Thus, when science comes up with new vital drugs, it's not a change of God's plan.. but human controlled factors that decide human lives and longevity.”
You are telling us durability of a life but we know that the life will END at some point; therefore the questions are remains unrequited with rational view.
-Hussain-