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Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Rahim In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful وَمَا يُؤْمِنُ أَكْثَرُهُم بِاللَّهِ إِلَّا وَهُم مُّشْرِكُونَ And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others (with Him). Holy Quran. 12:106 One of the main purposes of the Holy Month of Ramadan, and especially the later part of Ramadan, which includes the three Laylat Al Qadrs (Nights of Power) is to purge our hearts and our souls of Shirk. Shirk are those things which we worship besides Allah(s.w.a) and those things which we believe have power that is independent of Allah(s.w.a). In the ancient times, people used to make statues of wood and stone and worship these and ascribe power to these and this is what is commonly known as Shirk or Polytheism. Many people, and even many muslims believe that the verses in the Quran that talk of the mushrikeen (or polytheists) only refer to certain very specific groups, such as the inhabitants of Mecca before the rise of Islam, or some of the modern groups in places such as India or parts of Africa who make figures out of wood or stone and worship them. In fact, as the above verse says, most people (unfortunately this also includes most muslims) 'do not worship Allah(s.w.a) without ascribing partners to Him'. In other words, the verse above is saying that most people worship Allah(s.w.a), i.e. they do not deny the existence of Allah(s.w.a) and they do not deny that Allah(s.w.a) is the source of Creation, or that He(s.w.a) is All Powerful, Mericiful, Just, etc. This includes most people, including most non muslims, because all religions have a concept of Allah(s.w.a), i.e. 'The God' in English, The Father in Christianity, Brahma in Hinduism. But at the same time, these same people ascribe power, glory, and they worship (meaning they follow these things wholly with their time and attention and obey them always) things besides Allah(s.w.a). From a religious perspective, the main difference between Islam and other religions, is that other religions include Shirk in the theology of the religion itself, for example the idea of Trinity in Christianity, or the idea of Krishna and Shiva in Hinduism (i.e. entities which are powerful in themselves and act independently of each other and which people worship) whereas in Islam, there is not concept of Shirk withing the theology of the religion. At the same time, it does not mean that there are not muslims, i.e. people who follow the religion of Islam, who do not include Shirk in their life vis a via concepts and practices which are outside of the religion. In this breif article, I would like to identify three classes or groups of Shirk in the modern world. There is actually more than three, including idols made of stone and wood which people still worship, but as these are not very common nowdays compared to the other three, I don't see the need to spend time on them and there is no controversy, at least amoung muslims, that these are obviously Shirk. The three classes or group are 1) The Taghut(no Good word to word English Translation) 2) The Asnab (Idols, false Objects of Worship) 3) Hawa (vain Desires) 1. The Taghut لاَ إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ الرُّشْدُ مِنَ الْغَيِّ فَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِالطَّاغُوتِ وَيُؤْمِن بِاللّهِ فَقَدِ اسْتَمْسَكَ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقَىَ لاَ انفِصَامَ لَهَا وَاللّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ Holy Quran 2:256 THERE SHALL BE no coercion in matters of faith. Distinct has now become the right way from [the way of] error: hence, he who rejects the taghut and believes in God has indeed taken hold of a support most unfailing, which shall never give way: for God is all-hearing, all-knowing. اللّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّوُرِ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ أَوْلِيَآؤُهُمُ الطَّاغُوتُ يُخْرِجُونَهُم مِّنَ النُّورِ إِلَى الظُّلُمَاتِ أُوْلَـئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ Holy Quran 2:257 God is the wali of those who have faith, taking them out of deep darkness into the light - whereas the wali of those who reject truth are the taghut, they take them out of the light into darkness : it is they who are destined for the fire, therein to abide. The Taghut are sentient beings, i.e they are being who are alive with free will, such as jinn or human beings. These beings call people to worship them, i.e. to obey and follow them besides Allah(s.w.a). They call people to do things which are against the religion of Islam and against Haqq (justice and right actions). When the people follow them and act against the religion and Haqq as a result of following these people, they commit Shirk, though they may repent afterward and may be considered muslim for purposes of fiqh, but while they are obeying the taghut when they ask them to act in opposition to the commands of Allah(s.w.a), they are in fact mushrik at that point. There are basically two main group of Taghut in modern times. First, secular leaders which don't even pretend to call people to worship God. Second, religious leaders who may call people to worship God when it is in their interest to do so, but also call people to act outside of the religion at times when it will benefit them (these leaders) personally or their group, party, or family to the detriment of others. As for the secular leaders, these probably obvious to most people and there are many of them. A few are Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton ,Teresa May, Angela Merkel, etc, etc. These are non muslims and they don't even pretend to follow the Haqq of Allah(s.w.a). The other group is more tricky and controversial amoung the muslims and I am not going to mention names here, but if you follow an alim or a religious leader, and this leader calls you to do something that is obviously not part of the religion or against the teaching of Imams of Ahl Al Bayt(a.s), then this leader is in fact, Taghut. You need to acknowledge that and stop following this leader, otherwise you will be counted not amoung the followers of Muhammad and Ahl Muhammad(a.s), but you will be counted amoung the followers of Taghut on the Day of Judgement. Allah(s.w.a) judges you by your actions and what is in your heart, rathers than by your ethnic background, family name, what kind of food you eat and where you were born. 2) The Asnab (Idols) The Asnab, as opposed to the Taghut, are things which are not alive and are false, but people ascribe things to them, such as life, power, etc. The Holy Quran describes the idols as such وَالَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ لاَ يَخْلُقُونَ شَيْئًا وَهُمْ يُخْلَقُونَ أَمْواتٌ غَيْرُ أَحْيَاء وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ أَيَّانَ يُبْعَثُونَ Holy Quran 16:20-21 Now those things that some people invoke beside God cannot create anything, since they themselves are but created. They are dead, not living, and they do not [even] know when they will be raised from the dead! These are things which people ascribe life, consciousness, value, power, etc to but in fact they do not have any of these things. In the old days, people used to make statues out of wood and stone and bow before them. This form of idol worship has fallen out of fashion but there are still many things which people ascribe these things to. Here are a few Money Money is only paper and ink or bits and bytes stored in a computer. These things have no life, consciousness, power, etc, but people ascribe these to them. Most people in the world today would violate any and all parts of their religion if the amount of wealth they would get in return is a sufficient amount for them (i.e. people today are mostly bought and sold for money). The main goal in most peoples life is to gather as much money as possible and they will do anything to get it. This is worship, the textbook definition, when you are constantly thinking about something and will follow it in any direction. When it goes one way, you go that way, when it changes directions, you change directions with it. When it calls you, you always respond. This is a place in the heart that is only for Allah(s.w.a) but unfortunately most people fill this space with other things. Money is the modern form of Laat and Uzza', i.e. the most popular form of idol worship. That is not to say that there is no value in gaining money and in fact it is essential for survival. But it is only valuable in that it allows you to continue living and sustain yourself and your family so that you can worship and obey Allah(s.w.a). It is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. Beyond a means of survival, it has no value. The rest of the value of that people ascribe to it is making it into an Asnab(Idol). Position Most people spend their life seeking a degree, a title, a position of leadership within an organization, etc. They exert great effort, step on the necks of people, lie, backbite, defame innocent people, basically do everything under the sun to climb over people in a never ending quest to grab a spot or a place that they feel will give them a sense of honor and respect, then at the end of the day, they call themselves followers of the religion of Islam. This is something that, unfortunately, is extremely common in our communities. Because these people have a certain last name or come from a certain lineage, they are excused and glorified, and many people follow them. The act of seeking this position by acting contrary to the clear ordinances of Islam is the act of making this position into an Asnab. Although this position in itself has not life(it is amwat, as the Quran says), it is ascribed value by false thinking and Shirk. That is not to say that everyone who seeks a degree or position of leadership is doing Shirk, but when you put yourself in a position where you are constantly disobeying Allah(s.w.a) and going against the clear ordinances of Islam in order to attain that degree or that position, then you have made that position into an Asnab Hawa (vain desires) أَفَرَأَيْتَ مَنِ اتَّخَذَ إِلَهَهُ هَوَاهُ وَأَضَلَّهُ اللَّهُ عَلَى عِلْمٍ وَخَتَمَ عَلَى سَمْعِهِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَجَعَلَ عَلَى بَصَرِهِ غِشَاوَةً فَمَن يَهْدِيهِ مِن بَعْدِ اللَّهِ أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ 45:23 HAST THOU ever considered [the kind of man] who makes his own desires his deity, and whom God has [thereupon] let go astray, knowing [that his mind is closed to all guidance], [24] and whose hearing and heart He has sealed, and upon whose sight He has placed a veil? Who, then, could guide him after God [has abandoned him]? Will you not, then, be reminded ? This verse describes those people who insist on following an idea and sometimes attributing it to Islam, even after clear arguments have come to them from Quran and Hadith that their idea is false, yet they continue to follow it. So the idea itself is false, it has not life, it is amwat, as Quran states, yet because of their vain desires they attribute truth and life to it. There are so many example of this on ShiaChat, of people who present a wrong idea, it is thoroughly and totally debunked based on clear evidence from Quran and Hadith, yet they continue to follow it and accept it. These people have made this idea into an Asnab, and they are worshiping it besides Allah(s.w.a). It sometimes gets to a point where they leave the religion of Islam officially as a result of following this idea. May Allah(s.w.a) protect all of us during this Holy Month of Ramadan from succumbing to this fate, and may He(s.w.a) give us the Baseerat(far sightedness) and Hikmat(wisdom) to be able to avoid all the levels and forms of Shirk and attain an elevated status and place us in the company of Muhammad wa Ahl Muhammad(a.s)

Wahhabis sentence that getting bless from the grave is polytheism and innovation!!! However, Imam Ahmad Al_hanbal is questioned by the guy in which someone touches prophet's pulpit and gets blessing from the pulpit and kisses it and does the same on prophet's grave and his intention is just becoming close to God. Would it be wrong? He answered, no problem at all. Al_Alal wa Ma'arafat Al_Rijal, Imam Ahmad Al_hanbal, v 2, p 429.

Salams to all, Great excerpt from David Bentley Hart's book, "The Experience of God."

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم Assalam o Alaikum, Wa Rehmatullah, Wa Barakatuhu. Many Muslims incorrectly assume that idol worship is restricted to worshipping statues or simply attributing other Gods with the Lord Almighty. Although statue worship and attributing other forms of deities with God is no doubt a form of idolatry, limiting it to this understanding is untenable from the Quran's perspective. Idol worship from the Quran's perspective can take many forms. Here are some examples: (1) ONE'S OWN EGO AND DESIRE AS AN IDOL 025.043 "Have you seen him who takes his desires (passion, impulse, lust) for his God? Will you then be a protector over him?" (2) INTERCESSORS AS IDOLS 010:018 “They serve, besides God, things that hurt them not nor profit them, and they say: "These are our intercessors with God." Say: "Do ye indeed inform God of something He knows not, in the heavens or on earth? Glory to Him! and far is He above the partners they ascribe (to Him)!"” (3) WORSHIP OF DEAD SAINTS AND PROPHETS AS IDOLATRY 016.020-21 “Those whom they invoke besides God create nothing and are themselves created. (They are things) dead, lifeless: nor do they know when they will be raised up” 018:102 “Do the Unbelievers think that they can take My servants as protectors besides Me? Verily We have prepared Hell for the Unbelievers for (their) entertainment” 017.056-57 “Say: "Call on those - besides Him - whom you fancy: they have neither the power to remove your troubles from you nor to change them." Those whom they call upon do desire (for themselves) means of access to their Lord which of those who are nearest and they hope for His Mercy and fear His Wrath: for the Wrath of thy Lord is something to take heed of” Prophets would never have allowed any form of idolatry and would have asked their followers to study the scripture instead. 003.079 “ It is not (possible) for any human that God should give him the Book and the wisdom and prophethood, then he should say to men: Be my servants rather than God's; but rather (he would say): Be worshippers of the Lord by virtue of your teaching the Book and your reading (it yourselves)” 003.080 “Nor would he instruct you to take angels and prophets for Lords and patrons. What! would he bid you to unbelief after ye have bowed your will (To God in Islam)?” But people claim they are doing nothing wrong: 039:003 “ Is it not to God that sincere devotion is due? But those who take for protectors other than God (say): "We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to God." Truly God will judge between them in that wherein they differ. But God guides not such as are false and ungrateful” Even though whom they seek help from are only servants and created beings like them: 007.194 “Indeed! those on whom you call beside God are slaves like you. Call on them now, and let them answer you, if ye are truthful!” (4) TAKING JINNS AS IDOLS 006.100 “Yet they make the Jinns equals with God, though God did create the Jinns; and they falsely, having no knowledge, attribute to Him sons and daughters. Praise and glory be to Him! (for He is) above what they attribute to Him!” (5) PROPERTY, GOODS AND ASSETS AS IDOLS 018:034 “And he had fruit. And he said to his comrade, when he spoke with him: I am more than you in wealth, and stronger in respect of men” 018:042 So his fruits (and enjoyment) were encompassed (with ruin), and he remained twisting and turning his hands over what he had spent on his property, which had (now) tumbled to pieces to its very foundations, and he could only say, "Woe is me! Would I had never ascribed partners to my Lord and Cherisher!" 018:043-44 "Nor had he numbers to help him against God, nor was he able to deliver himself. There, the (only) protection comes from God, the True One. He is the Best to reward, and the Best to give success" (6) HOLDING OTHER SOURCES OTHER THAN WHAT IS REVEALED AS IDOLS 006:019 Say: "What thing is most weighty in evidence?" Say: "God is witness between me and you; This Quran has been revealed to me by inspiration, that I may warn you and all whom it reaches. Can you possibly bear witness that besides God there is another God?" Say: "Nay! I cannot bear witness!" Say: "But in truth He is the one God, and I truly am innocent of (your blasphemy of) joining others with Him” 068.036 “What is the matter with you? How judge ye?” 068.037 “Or have ye a book through which ye learn” 068.038 “That ye shall have, through it whatever ye choose?” (7) RELIGIOUS LEADERS, SCHOLARS AND REVERED PERSONALITIES AS IDOLS 009:031 “They have taken as lords beside God their Rabbis and their Monks and the Messiah son of Mary, when they were bidden to worship only One God. There is no God save Him. Be He Glorified from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him)!” Final Words: [04:48] Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin. [04:116] Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly gone far astray. W.salam Jazak Allah Khairan.

The worship of alive people is not polytheism, but dead people!!! One of the strange Fatwas of Wahhabis is that requesting the need from dead body or unseen person or disable person is polytheism. However, such request from alive person who is able to fulfill the need is not polytheism. This criteria is one of Whhabis innovation that neither has been in Quran nor traditions. According to the wisdom, if requesting something considers as worship and polytheism, such requesting must be considered as worship of both dead and alive body; otherwise, it must not be polytheism, like prostrating that is Haraam to do it for both dead and alive body. What is your opinion, and I am wondering if there is some evidences from Quran in order that getting request from dead body is polytheism.

(bismillah) (salam) I am aware that it is a general belief that Hindus are kafir. But are they? Because in their religion there is also a concept of monotheism. they(a larger part of them) believe that there is only one creator of the world ishwara/brahma/vishnu/parmeshwara but sometimes god manifests himself in physical forms on earth and they are called avatars or bhagwans .This is shirk, but does shirk makes someone kafir? if yes then since Christians believe in trinity , are they kafir too? what actually makes someone kafir? what is the defination of kafir? Thanks in advance for those who are willing to help.

If a married woman has relations with her husband's best friend, she makes arguments that it is OK we are JUST friends, I did not make him my husband. He fulfills my needs whenever I ask him, he takes care of me. And yes, he's very close to my husband, my husband can't refuse his request. The same thing mostly people do with Allah. They say it's OK to supplicate to others, prostrate, making Niyaz/ nazar etc as far as we did not call them God. While Allah clearly says, Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 186 ٢-١٨٦ ‌وَ‌إِ‌ذَ‌ا‌ سَأَلَكَ عِبَا‌دِي عَ‍‍نّ‍‍ِ‍ي فَإِنّ‍‍ِ‍ي قَ‍‍ر‍ِ‍ي‍‍بٌ ‌أُج‍‍ِ‍ي‍‍بُ ‌دَعْوَةَ ‌ال‍‍دّ‍َ‌اعِ ‌إِ‌ذَ‌ا‌ ‌دَع‍‍َ‍انِ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُو‌ا‌ لِي ‌وَلْيُؤْمِنُو‌ا‌ بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُد‍ُ‌ونَ “And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided.” Surat Ghāfir (The Forgiver) - سورة غافرAnd your Lord says, "Call upon Me; I will respond to you." Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell [rendered] contemptible. Prophets (as) supplicated to Allah, other people too, mentioned in Quran. For Allah, fornicator and polytheist are on same level. Surah Noor, verse 3 The fornicator does not marry except a [female] fornicator or polytheist, and none marries her except a fornicator or a polytheist, and that has been made unlawful to the believers.

This is an amazing book. I HIGHLY suggest everyone to read it and those who tries to use quranic verses to relate Shias with shirk to read this specifically. What ever argument you have, regarding any verse that you think is against tawassul for example, see how the author refutes your claim. You must read the whole book to get a clear picture of how polytheism and idolatry is portrayed. Taking one verse out of context wont work. We must understand the history of the meccans and idolatry as well. None the less, it is a really good read overall. http://www.al-islam.org/study-polytheism-and-idolatry-quran-abbas-sayyid-karimi (wasalam)

Some so-called Muslims accuse Shias of ‘worshipping’ shrines. They take visitation of shrines of holy personalities (a.s.) – Ziyarat as a sign of polytheism and are quick to level allegations of polytheism and disbelief against the Shias. Reply The charge of these so-called Muslims is similar to the claims of the polytheists who accuse Muslims of idolatry for visiting the Holy Kaaba and perform its circumambulation (tawaaf). Such accusations are baseless and only go on to show that these Muslims have no understanding of true monotheism and polytheism. They issue edicts of disbelief based on their narrow and inaccurate interpretation of Islam. Had they been present in the time of Prophet Adam (a.s.) and Prophet Yaqoob (a.s.) they would have condemned both the divine Prophets (a.s.) for prostrating to other than Allah! SERATONLINE.COM There is an interesting anecdote between the Saudi king and a Shia scholar on the subject. Sayyid Sharaf al-Deen, a famous Shia scholar and author of such books as ‘Al-Muraajeaat’ and ‘Al Nass wa al-Ijtehaad’, went on pilgrimage to the Holy Kaaba during the time of King Abdul Aziz b. Saud. He was among the scholars invited to the King’s palace to celebrate Eid al-Azha in accordance with the customs there. When his turn came to shake the King’s s hand, Sayyid Sharaf al-Deen presented him with a leather-bound Holy Quran. The King took the Book of Allah, placed it on his forehead and kissed it in reverence. Sayyid Sharaf al-Deen asked, “O King! Why do you kiss and revere the cover which is only made out of goat’s skin?” The King answered, “I meant to revere the Holy Quran, not the goat’s skin.” Sayyid Sharaf al-Deen replied, “You are right, O King! We do the same when we kiss the window or the door of the Holy Prophet’s (s.a.w.a.) chamber. We know it is made of iron and cannot harm or render a benefit but our reverence is directed behind the iron and wood. We intend to glorify the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) in the same way as you meant with the Holy Quran when you kissed the goat’s skin cover.” Impressed by the Sayyid’s argument, the audience exclaimed, “You are right!” The King was forced to allow the pilgrims to ask for blessings from the Holy Prophet’s (s.a.w.a.) relics, until the order was reversed by the successor of that king.

Tauheed and Capital Introduction Human beings are born with some distinctive traits which are absent in all other species. These distinctive traits not only form the basis of many philosophical debates, but are also of significance in this discussion. Our subject regards the topic of Tauheed (or, literally, the oneness of God). Then, practical relations of the concept of Tauheed to the notion of ‘capital’ are drawn. The concept of capital starts with a humanly trait of gaining more. Very broadly and crudely speaking, this quest for more may be present in the form of a human’s worldly or spiritual gains. In contemporary social terms, this trait of human can be defined as the practical demonstration in the form of the ‘free market economy’. In this economy, the rule of the thumb is to maximise own profits through the procedure of buying least expensively and selling most expensively possible. It forms the basis of the rationale of value and prestige to common man i.e. a man in this world is appreciated a great deal by his fellows as long as he can follow this pattern successfully. The logic present in the current world is the maximization of profits without a set limit for any end. In Marx’s terms, “capital does not abide a limit” (Marx, 1973) Alongside this limitless quest of human to reach the infinity of most profitable outcomes while using everything around him including his own self as a ‘tool’ to attain that objective prevails in the current age, Muslims are seen to recite in every prayer that God is ‘one’. The aim of this paper is to draw a theory that with the desires of attaining a limitless capital, a Muslim’s self-declared concept of Tauheed is challenged. We try to cover a debate of many pages in only a few words; it is inevitable that many concepts might remain ill-explained and incomprehensive conclusions may be drawn by this process of shortening, but we will try our best to capture some realities of the life here. There is no god but Allah Amongst the most commonly quoted words for any Muslim are the words of the Kalma. The literal translation of that oft-quoted phrase is ‘There is no god but Allah’ (Kalma Taiyyaba) One of the most common Surah’s of the Quran, arguably the second most common, opens up as follows: “Say, "He is Allah , [who is] One,”” (Quran Surah Ikhlas, 112:1) Another Surah not as commonly recited opens up as, “Craving for excess diverted you” (Quran Surah Takathur, 102:1) We start off by putting to question the literal meaning of the Kalma Tayyiba itself. When we say there is no god except Allah, is it merely numerical oneness meant by Tauheed? We wish to not debate on the topic that whether even numerical oneness is applicable to Allah or not. Not to mention that when we consider He is the creator of time, space, numbers and even infinity, there is none of these notions that can ‘limit’ Him. But what we want to bring to light is the notion that when we deny all other gods what is it that we really mean. Is it necessary for us to deny all other gods in order to accept Allah to be the ‘One’ and ‘Only’ praiseworthy Entity? Which perspective on this very Kalma is important to us. To use it as what it can be, i.e. the biggest weapon against so many ills including capitalism? Or just to repeat the word merely as a tongue exercise. Verily God is, as the Surah Ikhlas proceeds, indifferent (not indifferent in the sense that he does not care about us, but that he does not need our prayers for any benefit to Him). So all the implications of the concept of Tauheed must have a direct effect on primarily our betterment. It might be assumed at this point that the concept of Tauheed must be something of prime advantage to ourselves, individually and collectively, instead of God. While the positive effects of belief in Oneness of God are promised in Islam, practically speaking, we can be observed not to actively take as much advantages from it. On an average level, all of our lives revolve around the capital. When a child is born in any average Muslim family, his educational needs are met by his parents. The parents feel successful if their children go to schools, universities and colleges that are best known for generating the most capital. One of the most significant determinants of any marriage is the possession of or the ability to attain the most capital by the to-be spouse (commonly the male half). The mental and physical effort that one puts in attainment of his perceived ‘success’ in the form of this holy capital makes a person spend his entire life struggling, obsessing over, and achieving this capital. But it might make him regret in his deathbed that ‘I wish I hadn’t worked so hard’ (Steiner, 2012). This process of starting schooling as soon as the ability allows, completing the educational career without any thoughtful breathers in the middle, being on the quest for the most paying jobs or making the best out of his present business, develops a person’s character in a way that his focus lies in approaching the one and only reality of his life: the capital. It is then sensed, that the capital is in fact the most significant variable that shapes our lives. While describing ‘Capital’, Ali Shariati very aptly calls it ‘the great idol of our age’ (Shar'iati, 1979). The above mentioned idol, however, is only one of the four idols around us. What was mentioned above is only the economic capital. According to Bourdieu (1994), there are three other kinds of capitals that humans engage in accumulating. Second to the economic form of capital, which Bourdieu brings to light, is the ‘social capital’. Human beings become worried about not having enough of social relations. This ends up in us spending most of our time looking for perfect social relations which may or may not be important to our character building. Thirdly, human beings strive to accumulate ‘cultural capital’, to blend into the highest forms of culture. This might include communicating in English to emphasize familiarity with the highest form of global culture (it being the internationally recognized language). Lastly, ‘symbolic capital’ is our way of attaining prestige and honor from the society around us. It essentially means that we want to acquire We struggle to gain as much of capital in the form of respect and glory as we possibly can so much so that we lose touch of our actual worth. All of these mentioned capitals divert a man from his main objective in life. They are powerful enough to prevent deep thinking from occurring. So with the presence of such powerful forces that drives almost everything in our lives, it might be argued that when we actually give up all other deities other than Allah, why the capital attains such a centrality in our lives? Could elevating the level of capital to such a primacy in our practical lives arguably be the modern form of ‘shirk’? Should capital be our main prayer when we are praying to ‘God’ while better life after death a secondary one? Whether it is material or Islam that we let occupy the central position in our lives explains a great deal about whether it is Allah that we are taking as our sole Diety or are we mixing our concept of Tauheed with the capital? All of this confusion is caused very fundamentally by the presence of the concept of ‘duality’ in our lives. Tauheed, as analyzed by Ali Shariati, is a concept which explains that everything moves in a ‘single direction’ and what does not move in that direction by its nature does not exist (Shar'ati, 1979). However the notion of duality is caused by looking at the world with two different views simultaneously. One is earthly while the other heavenly, one is applicable and the other is personal, one relates to action the other only relations to mere beliefs which occupy a lesser part of the practical life. What would exemplify this argument would be a Muslim teenager who spends his time in college and when he is asked what does he ‘believe in’ in terms of his god, he might succeed in saying Allah. But when asked about his main objective in life, he might change his tone to a completely earthly objective. What we see is that although practically his aims and objectives and ‘beliefs’ are different and do not center around the notion of God, his religious belief is God. This presence of duality can also be perfectly exemplified in the case of a non-practicing Christian celebrating Christmas superficially, as merely a cultural occasion that involves no practicality in his real life. This duality paves ways a great deal for manipulators to corrupt, impure and desensitize the strongest powers that any Muslim possesses, those of Tauheed. This process is done by the most used and tested method of all time: inject materialism into a religion and there shall be no ‘religious religion’. The only way to rid this duality is to bridge the gap between the ‘beliefs’ and ‘practicality’ and see it as one. This fundamentally means the internalization of beliefs so much so that they are noticeable in our externality. Conclusion So my argument is that the concept of Tauheed does not merely entail the belief in presence of Allah, the Almighty. It also entails the process of defying any other god that we might hold central to our beings. If by god we mean the entity which is most prior to us, occupies most of our time in practical as well as mental lives and matters the most to us and we place it as our first and foremost obligation while we are existing for an evidently ephemeral time on this earth, then there is no doubt capital has attained a much more elevated position than it deserves. Is saying there is no god but God only applicable if we think of the gods which were worshipped wrongly instead of Allah in the time when Quran was revealed? Consequently for a religion that thrives on its universality in terms of space and time, would the most fundamental concept be limited by time in the sense that only a renouncement of those certain gods would satiate the purpose behind worshipping Allah alone? What we experience in fact, is that this Kalma has lost its power in the contemporary Muslim community, although it is supposed to be perfectly universal. We have taken it for granted that to believe in God’s numerical oneness and not taking any other deities (only those which were present in other religions) instead of Him satiate the necessity of this Kalma to be a Muslim. There are no more idols made of sand or clay to challenge our belief in Allah anymore. It is not the worshipping of those physical idols which were present in the time before Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) initiated the revolution in Arab that are applicable to the challenges faced by Muslims of today. The contemporary idol is the capital, which shapes our behavior, is ‘made’ to exert so much power on us by the portrayal of images on media which depict a practically unattainable status of beauty, power and wealth, prestige and relations which keeps us busy in our entire lives striving to attain those statuses. It is this capital that needs to be removed from its central position given by us, the believers of the One and Only God. It needs to be removed from its primacy of being at a level which ‘diverts us’ (Quran 102:1) from our main purpose of existence. Bibliography George Ritzer, J. S. (2009). Sociological Theory. McGraw Education. Marx, C. (1973). Grundrisse (English Translation). Shar'ati, A. (1979). On the Sociology of Islam. USA: Mizan Press. Shar'iati, A. (1979). Marxism and Other Western Fallacies. Islamic Foundation Press. Steiner, S. (2012). Top five regrets of dying. www.guardian.com. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying