Polytheism

شرک

Polytheism (Shirk): To associate anything other than Allah Most High with any of His exclusive attributes — this is shirk. What are the exclusive attributes of Allah Most High? The necessary existence (wujūb al-wujūd), being self-existent (qā'im bil-dhāt), granting existence to all (wujūb al-wujūd) — meaning that to attribute to any creature the perfection that belongs only to the Divine Essence is shirk.

All other relative things (things of the world of metaphorical being) are metaphorical on the other side — the nisbat majāzī (metaphorical attribution) is everywhere. One should always keep in mind the direction of the true Real Being — nisbat majāz does not require shirk. The direction of creatures, whether living or dead, is the khayāl (thought) that it is the truth — that direction without this khayāl is fine because shirk is the nisbat (direction) toward a creature without any underlying reality. The people of gnosis are always in a desirable state — because they always look toward the direction of the gnosis of Being and keep the truth firmly in mind — and thus the nisbat to a creature is not shirk, but it is necessarily a khayāl, and the people of gnosis see creatures as majāzī (metaphorical), and the true Being (wujūd) is the Real Being.

In any case, shirk is always 'desirable' in the sense that it is pity-worthy. The people of gnosis — because they always truly keep the gnosis of Being and the truth firmly in mind — for them the nisbat to a creature without keeping its reality in mind does not become shirk. And the second-level people who look toward the gnosis of the creature but also believe that it is an absolute creature from the other side — this is majāzī. Always looking in the direction of things is a way of avoiding shirk — and that gnosis itself becomes the way out of shirk.

يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَىٰ كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ أَلَّا نَعْبُدَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَلَا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئًا

"O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you — that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him." (Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, 3:64)

This is why monotheists (muwahhidīn) cannot distinguish between worship and veneration — final-level worship is for the unique Being (wujūd), and worshipfulness (ma'boodiyat) is infinitely needed from Him — who says 'do not venerate your parents and father'? The king is the one who says 'lower your wing to them in humility.'

وَاخْفِضْ لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ الذُّلِّ مِنَ الرَّحْمَةِ

"And lower to them the wing of humility out of mercy." (Sūrat al-Isrāʾ, 17:24)