Islam
Main articles: Shirk (Islam) and Taghut See also: Aniconism in Islam and Blasphemy and IslamIn Islam, širk (Arabic: شرك) is the sin of idolatry or polytheism. It refers to the deification of anyone or anything other than the singular God. Shirk is also associating partners with him, giving his characteristics to others beside him, or not believing in his characteristics.
Within Islam, širk is an unforgivable crime; God may forgive any sin except for committing širk. It is the vice that is opposed to the virtue of tawhid, literally "declaring one", often translated into the English term monotheism.
As in the other Abrahamic religions, in practice the term has been greatly extended and may be used very widely within Islam to describe behaviour that is deprecated, including the use of images in a way that is seen as un-Islamic, but does not literally constitute worship.
The word šhirk comes from the Arabic root Š-R-K (ش ر ك), with the general meaning of "to share". In the context of the Qur'an, the particular sense of "sharing as an equal partner" is usually understood, so that polytheism is "attributing a partner to Allah". In the Qur'an, širk and the related word (plural Stem IV active participle) mušrikūn (مشركون) "those who commit shirk and plot against Islam" often clearly refers to the enemies of Islam (as in verse 9.1–15) but sometimes it also refers to erring Muslims.
Read more about this topic: Idolatry
Famous quotes containing the word islam:
“The exact objectives of Islam Inc. are obscure. Needless to say everyone involved has a different angle, and they all intend to cross each other up somewhere along the line.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
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—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)