Shirk in Islam is a sin meaning ‘association [with Allah]’ or ‘making a partner [of someone]’.
It means making someone a partner (or rival) to Allah. In other words, it means making someone as powerful as or having the same qualities or names as Allah.
The Qur’an teaches that Allah does not share powers with anyone. No one has the same status as Allah.
In early Islam, shirk referred to worshipping idols. Today there are many different grades of shirk. These are divided into major and minor shirk.
Some minor shirk include believing in omens, believing in the power of man-made things, or believing that anyone, like astrologers, knows the future. The fourth surah of the Qur’an (pictured) states that Allah will not forgive shirk if one dies without repenting of it.
Text adapted from English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
Page from An-Nisa, the fourth Surah of the Qur'an. 12th century. Library of Congress, Public Domain.
