Allah blessed me with the opportunity to listen to Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, who specializes in Aqeeda, speak about shirk. Here’s what he said.
Question: What happens if you’re Muslim and you’ve committed shirk?
Answerer: Shaykh Yasir Qadhi
In the Qur’an, in many places, Allah says shirk is unforgivable.
Translation: Surely Allah does not forgive that anything should be associated with Him, and forgives what is besides that to whomsoever He pleases; and whoever associates anything with Allah, he devises indeed a great sin. (Surah Nisaa, verse 48)1, 2
Notice Allah says he “forgives what is besides that”–that means any sin is potentially forgivable. Subhanallah.
So what happens if you’re Muslim, and you commit an act of shirk? Does it destroy all your good deeds? Are you doomed to enter Jahannam, may Allah protect us all from that?
“Allah does not forgive [shirk]” means Allah will not forgive the person if he doesn’t repent. Repentance wipes out every sin, without exception. Many sahaba (may Allah be pleased with all of them) were mushrikoon when they accepted Islam.
The point is, if you commit shirk and die without repenting, Allah will not forgive you. If you fornicate, drink alcohol, consume interest, steal, and you repent afterward, Allah will forgive you inshaAllah. If you don’t repent from those sins and you die, Allah may forgive you. With shirk, if you die with it unrepented, Allah will not forgive you.
The Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) saught refuge from shirk and taught us a wonderful du’a to protect ourselves:
Allaahumma innee ‘aoothu bika an ushrika bika shaiann wa anaa a’lamu, wa astaghfiruka limaa laa a’lamu.
Translation: O Allah, I seek refuge in You lest I associate anything with You knowingly, and I seek Your forgiveness for what I know not.
Source: The collection of Ahmad. You can find the du’a in Fortress of a Muslim. You can find more details more in the comments inshaAllah.
May Allah protect us all from the evil of shirk, and allow us to live and die as true Muslims.
(1) Shakir, trans. “An-Nisaa (Women).” USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts. USC-MSA. 16 Mar. 2006 <http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/004.qmt.html>.
(2) Pickthall, Muhammad M., trans. Al-Qur’an Al-Kareem: Parallel Arabic text with English Translation. One Ummah Network. 28 Dec. 2005 <http://www.oneummah.net/quran/quran.html>.
(3) Yasir Qadhi. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Light of Guidance. University of Toronto, Toronto. March 2006.
The dua against Shirk/ Riyaa is in Fortress of the Muslim p. 152.
The transliteration they have (and it makes a small difference) is as follows:
Allaahumma “innee “a’oothu bika “an “ushrika bika wa “anaa “a’lamu, wa “astaghfiruka limaa laa “a’lamu
” = Hamza/ Alif sound
‘ = 3ayn sound
Translation
O Allah, I seek refuge in You lest I associate anything with You knowingly, and I seek Your forgiveness for what I know not.
Reported in Ahmad, 4/403. See also Al-Albani, Sahihul-Jami’ As-Saghir 3/233 and Sahihut-Targhib wat-Tarhib 1/19
“With shirk, if you die with it unrepented, Allah will not forgive you.”
I would add a condition to this -
“If you die knowingly committing shirk and unrepented, Allah will not forgive you” – http://63.175.194.25/index.php?QR=1244&dgn=3&ln=eng (What is the ruling of those who did not hear about Islam)
Allahu Alem
I love the way you have described the Shirk and forgiveness argument. Many people including myself used to believe shirk was unforgivebale. I think people understand it to be that even after repentence its not forgivable. But ofcourse that is onyl if you die on shirl without repenting. May Allah save us from such major sins and make us good muslims and sucessful in this life and the hereafter. Ameen
may allah help us to follow the right path.shirk is unforgivable.it should be.otherwise allah wouldnt have created jahannam.In jahannam there will be 7 layers.the deepest layer pharaoh and the hypocrites.2nd layer deepest layer those who commit shirk.lowest layer the muslim sinners.
@ruksar, that is not correct. Shirk IS forgivable. Although Allah says that he does not forgive shirk, this means shirk that a person dies on without repenting. If you repent, Allah will forgive ANY sin, even shirk. Among the proofs are:
1) The hadith of the Prophet (S) that “Didn’t you know Islam wipes out [the sins] what came before it?” when a sahabi said he would only accept Islam if Allah forgave his sins.
2) That the sahaba, radiallahu ‘anhum ajma’een, entered Paradise. They were mushrikeen in the days of old. How would they entire Paradise after 10, 20, 40, 60 years of shirk if Allah didn’t forgive shirk?
3) There are companions who only took shadah and died, and entered Paradise; how, if shirk is unforgivable?
I suggest you study this topic more deeply; you can check islam-QA, or take Light of Guidance by AlMaghrib, or listen to Kitab At-Tawheed on AudioIslam.com.
Regarding Jahannam, the bottom-most layer is for the munafiqeen, the layer above that is for the mushrikeen, and above that, Allah knows best. This is proven in the Qur’an and authentic sunnah and the proofs are many.
Also, it’s authentically proven that even Muslims who sin (which include commiting shirk, provided they are actually still Muslims) will eventually be removed from Hellfire.
Wallahu ‘alam.
May AllAH SWT Bless and guide us all.Ameeeen.
Jazakallah. The above article has really helped me alot :D.
Esselamu alaykumu,
Thank you very much for this information brother/sister.
If you die in a state of Shirk, there is no forgiveness.
If you unknowingly have committed Shirk, then seek refuge from Allaah and correct yourself.
Remember, Khanaas (Shayataan’s whispers) which make you think you are committing Shirk when in fact you are not. This is to trick you into thinking there is no forgiveness and live your life in disobedience to Allaah.
Allaah (SWT) knows best. May He protect us all from His Wrath with His Mercy and Forgiveness.
so it means if you commited shirk and then repented before you die Allah will forgive you and Allah knows best. Thankyou very much for whoever but this up may Allah bless you.
@rimshah that’s correct. The same applies for any sin that you commit and repent for before you die.
May Allah protect us from Jahannam.
what happens a muslim knowingly commit shirk and ask for repentence ?
@khalid as the prophet (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, any Muslim who repents and prays two rakaahs will be forgiven. Even without the two rakahs, sincere repentence wipes out sins — even shirk.
I would recommend also following the general advice he gave (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) for other sins, such as doing going deeds (which blot out sins).
thankyou .at @ Ilmseeker.this is a wonderful website.
assalamu alaikuumm may the allmighty Allah (s.w.a) forgive us all…tnx ma muslim brothers nd sisters cuz i thought “shirk” is not forgavable before.
assalamu alaikuumm brothers and sisters of islam, its been one years since i’ve been a muslim and lately i’ve been far astray, but the past couple of days i’ve been doing alot better, but i have got a question that ponders my head…..soo my grampa died not to long ago and he was a buddhist and my whole family were buddist or christians and im the only muslim im 19 i committed shirk at my grandpas funeral after ive been given clear signs and right now i feel like the biggest hypocrite and the loser in the whole world, i teared up as i was repenting my two rakkahs and i still feel unworthy can you guys give me advice because there was a verse in the Quaran where allah said even after they worshipped the calfs he still forgave them, i mean it puts a little hope in me. this is the biggest sin i committed and next time ill be more aware, i know that there is no god but allah and that mohammed is his last and final messanger i beleive in his angels his books and the last day. I just need help what can i dooooo to never do it again and so i have another chance or is my sin unforgivable, allah knows best. please help
Salaam
I have been reading the comments and i am shocked to see what people have been putting. While i commend you for putting your opinions i have to say this seems like a joke of some sort.
Coming from a muslim who suffers from Khanas, I am glad i have seen the truth and have overcome shaytaan to worship Allah swt more. Surely, Allah is most Forgiving and Merciful but look at the scriptures. Look at the most authentic scripture the Holy Quran. Allah swt specifically states He forgives everything BUT shirk. This is in the Quran, how dare we debate or question its meaning?
If shirk was forgivable Allah swt would have specified in the Quran! But no! Allah swt specifically says shirk leads to eternal hell. Are we seriously questioning the meaning of this? The meaning of the Holy Quran? Knowingly or unknowingly, shirk is unforgivable. If it is committed there is NOTHING you can do to save yourself from the punishment you will face. And if anyone replies to me otherwise, then basically they are saying the surrah that narrates this line about shirk is invalid and is not accurate, ASTAGFIRULLAH.
@Hassam wa’alikum as-salaam, shirk is only unforgiven if you die without repenting. Allah forgave all the sahaba (virtually all of which committed shirk). Look at the example of Umar ibn Al-Khattab, radiallahu ‘anhu, who himself narrates a story about when he ate his date “god” when he got hungry and was travelling in the desert. He is one of the ten promised paradise in his lifetime.
This is a topic deserving of study, and the essence is captured here: Allah does not forgive unrepented shirk.
Wallahu a’lam.
Salaam (again)
It is narrated in the Holy Quran:
“He forgiveth whom He pleaseth other sins than this: one who joins other gods with God, Hath strayed far, far away (from the right).”
I may be wrong, but why would the Quran narrate this passage and state that one has strayed far, far away (note the repetition of ‘far’). Does this not indicate that a person who commits shirk has lost all hope of forgiveness and indeed has appostasized oneself?
Wa’alikum as-salaam,
@Hassam the translation you picked is not very accurate. A more accurate translation (perhaps the best we can get in English) is Saheeh International, which was included in the post itself. You cannot pick words out of the translation (which may not be even in the Arabic) and assume the ayaat mean that.
The meaning you have stated is incorrect. The true meaning of this ayah is described in this post, as was understood by the scholars of Islam: whoever commits shirk and dies, Allah will not forgive him his sins of shirk. The ayah mentions “ithman atheemah,” great (big) sin.
The actual question of what acts of shirk make one a mushrik is beyond the scope of this blog. If you’re interested, study aqeedah from scholars or students of knowledge whom have taqwa and are trustworthy.
Again, virtually all of the sahaba were mushrikeen before Islam, and they were forgiven. Even shirk is forgivable. This ayah serves to illustrate the greatness of shirk as the WORST of sins.
Wallahu a’lam.
hhh
@IIL seeker…can i get your email Addy? i wanna know more. u seem very educated.