Allah tells us in His Message that Shirk is unforgivable.
Since shirk cannot harm Allah or His Majesty, it means that it must be harmful to us humans. There are many forms of shirk but when we Muslims follow our own desires over Allah's guidance, we seem to be commiting a shirk as well. Does that mean we are to suffer forever with no hope of redemption even in the hereafter. If such a rule is applied, then hardly any Muslim would be left untouched as we are weak and we behave in a way that could amount to shirk.
Can we explore this? Why is Shirk considered an unpardonable sin? How does it affect us? What are it's negative implications on us, our personalities, our attitudes and our souls?
Kindly comment.
Thanks in advance.
Mubashir
Salaam Aleikum,
First we must see what the verse says:
ان الله لا يغÙر ان يشرك به ويغÙر ما دون ذلك لمن يشاء ومن يشرك بالله Ùقد ضل ضلالا بعيدا
4:116 Verily Allah la yaghfiru that partners should be ascribed unto Him. wayaghfiru save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah hath wandered far astray.
Page 405-406 under the root Ghafara. Dictionary of the Holy Qur’an by Abdul Mannar Omar, 2006 4th edition.
It says:
“To give protect, to cover over, shield, suppress the defect, set the affairs right. Ghafar al-Mata’a means He put the goods in the bag and covered and protected them. Mighafar is a shield and helmet. Ghafr means covering with that which protects a thing from dirt. Ghafour, name of God: The Protector.â€
See similar conclusions:
Page 15-16, Exposition of the Qur’an, Mafhum Al-Qur’an by G.A. Parwez. 1990.
Page 57-59 Volume 6, Arabic-English Lexicon by Edward William Lane, based on Taj-Ul-Roos, 2003 2nd reprint.
Thus the verse is better translated as:
4:116 Verily Allah does not protect against the consequences of taking up partners (goals) should be ascribed unto Him. And He protects all save that to whom His Will (expressed in the laws of the universe) protects. Whoso ascribes partners unto Allah has wandered far astray.
Thus I understand verse 4:116 not as God will not forgive anything but shirk, but as Allah will not protect you against the harmful consequences of Shirk. Shirk here has multiple meanings. Allah can only protect you if you accept Wahi i.e. the Qur’an, or atleast the universal moral that is found in every person (30:30) and follow the laws of the universe so we can protect ourselves of going against the universal laws.
And the shirk also refers to be other then the attributes of Allah, thus being out of sync with the universal blueprint that govern the universe. As Allah’s attributes each represent one pillar that keep the web of the universe working and sustaining. For example, Allah is Samad, meaning self-sustaining. The universe also has this attribute as it is a self-sustaining universe, and we as a species must also be self-sustaining, every person must be self-sustaining, not dependent on others. If we go out of sync with these attributes, we in a sense create our own attributes, and thus become partner with Allah’s attributes, and being out of sync with the universe is disastrous, and this is why Allah cannot be Ghafour in this case, as Allah cannot cross the limits of our Free Will. We must decide ourselves to be in line with the Tawhid, unity of the universe.
This is why Allah cannot protect us against the consequences of Shirk, as Allah would then take away the free will that is given to us, as free will must also carry full responsibility of every act, as expressed in 21:47 and 99:7-8.
The whole Universe is based on evolution, not the law of the fittest, but the law on what will make your own species develop further (13:17).
A mushrikeen , meaning those that uphold partners next to God, are people that hold their beliefs on traditions more important than to contribute peacefully to mankind as a whole and give a distorted view on reality. They make their forefathers, priests and rulers authorities that run their daily affairs. Their main goal is not global peace and prosperity, but to maintain their tradition, religious goals and personal sustainment. They make their own background and life the main goal of existence. The universal law of evolution judges people on their deeds (11:117), as long as a people contributes to society, their beliefs and traditions are no obstacles, but in the long run, in many cases, these will become obstacles as we have seen throughout history. An example, most Western Christians uphold capitalism as their economic system, a completely man-made economic system, the Gospel does not provide a guide on economics, so they have to turn to other sources. Capitalism in its present form is an unfair system that does not help mankind as it abuses the majority for the good of a minority. As long as they can pursue their religion and self-sustainment, they are not motivated to change anything for the better of the whole of mankind. This also counts for the Muslim world, Hindu's, and so on. This is how their beliefs creates obstacles in the development of mankind as a whole.
As long as mankind, doesn’t matter if the person is Buddhist, Sectarian Muslim (almost all Muslim sects mix the Qur'anic message with man-made sources and thus distort the Qur'anic goals in most cases), Christian, Hindu, Agnostic or Atheist, base their way of life focused on pursuing their own salvation and nourishment, they have become mushrikeen, as most of these beliefs and systems are discriminating to other beliefs or races, limited in its scope and vision and it goals mostly create short term benefits for a specific group, while the rest is left out. Thus they are not beneficial to mankind and its development as no current system provides the answers and solutions to Man’s problems in a way which will provide mankind as a whole. This is why the Qur'an says Shirk is the only thing God cannot give you any protection over, Ghafara (4:116). As accepting authorities next to the Qur'an means you will follow ideas and beliefs which will not make you successful as a species and society, and as we have free will (18:29), we must decide ourselves if we accept God's protection, as we stay in harmony with the universe and have the power and knowledge to sustain our species, which we can attain by following His guidelines in the Qur'an. Thus God cannot protect us against the harmful consequences of Shirk since this falls under our own free will.
Taken from:
http://deenrc.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/quranic-cosmology-a-short-introduction-by-ay-mol-aug2008.pdf