All praise is to Allah the Lord of the worlds, and may the benediction and peace of Allah be on the master of the messengers. And the outcome is for the pious and there's no aggression but for the transgressors.
To proceed:
Allah the Exalted has created people and He hasn't left them without guidance. However, He has created them to worship Him and to make him one in divinity. Allah the Exalted said:

" I haven't created the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me". (51: 56)
And He glory be to Him sent the messengers to remind people of this truth and to call upon them to this creed. Allah glory be to Him said:


" And We did send to every nation a messenger preaching: Worship Allah and shun the taghoot (whatever is worshipped instead or to the exclusion of Allah" (16:36)

So worship is the right of Allah the Exalted that every slave should perform and should not be devoted to other than Him. The prophet (may Allah' peace and blessings be upon him) said to Mouadh (may Allah be pleased with him):" So Allah's right on His slaves to worship Him and never set up associates with him and the slaves' right towards Allah is to do not punish anyone who does not ascribe partners with Him" (Agreed upon).
The Reality of Worship and the Reality of Polytheism

And worship is everything that Allah loves and tolerates among the sayings and the deeds being manifest or hidden deeds. From the manifest deeds the prayer, the obligatory charity (Zakkah), the invocation, the sacrifice, the vows and the circumambulation. And from the hidden deeds (the deeds of heart): love, sincerity, glorification, fear, hope and trust.
And monotheism is that the slave should be sincere in his worship to Allah the Exalted and never set up associates with Him in His Lordship (His names, attributes and His deeds), nor in His Divinity (worship). Polytheism is the opposite of monotheism, and it is the devotion of any form of worship to other than Allah the Exalted, or to set up rivals to Allah in His name, His attributes and His deeds.

The Danger of Polytheism

1- Polytheism is a great transgression:

Whoever devotes any form of worship to other than Allah the Exalted, surely he has acted wrongly and made the greatest sin. Allah the Exalted said:

"
"And when Luqmaan said to his son, as he enlightened him, "O my son, do not set up any idols beside Allah; verily polytheism is a great injustice." (31:13)
And on the authority of Ibn Mass'oud said:" I asked the prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him): Which is the greatest sin for Allah? He said:" to set up a rival to Allah and He is the One who has created you". (Agreed upon)

2- Allah the Exalted never forgives polytheism:


"Verily Allah does not forgive (the sin of) setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives whom He pleases sins other than that. And whoever sets up partners with Him then he has made great sin". (4:48)
Except who repents and died on monotheism.

3-Polytheism makes the good deeds in vain:
Allah the Exalted said:


"And it was inspired to you and to those before you that if you ascribe partners (in worship to Allah), then surely (all) your deeds will be in vain and you will certainly be among the losers". (39:65)
And this means that whoever dies on polytheism, surely no prayer, or charity, or pilgrimage, or struggling in the cause of Allah will be of benefit to him.

4- Polytheism makes the entering of paradise forbidden and necessitates the everlasting abode in the hell-fire:

And it makes the intercession ,which can only be made for the one who died on monotheism far from any kind of polytheism, forbidden. Allah said:


ٍ"Verily whosoever sets up partners in worship with Allah, then Allah has forbidden Paradise to him, and the Fire will be his abode. And for the wrongdoers (polytheists) there are no helpers". (5:72)


The Aspects of polytheism in Lordship

1- Polytheism in disposing the affairs of the heavens and the earth:

And it is to believe that some creatures (like the saints and the angels) participate along with Allah the Exalted in managing the universe and in disposing the affairs of the heavens and the earth. And Allah the Exalted said:

" Allah has never begotten a son. Nor was there ever any other deity beside Him. Otherwise, each deity would have declared independence with his creations, and they would have competed with each other for dominance. Allah be glorified; far above their claims." (23:91)
And He said:
"If there were in them (the heavens and the earth) other deities beside Allah, there would have been chaos. Glory be to Allah; the Lord of the throne. He is high above their claims." (21:22)

2- Polytheism in the unseen knowledge:

The eminence scholar Ibn Badis may Allah have mercy on him said in his book entitled "Al'akaid (71)": "And from making Allah One in His lordship, the believe that the slave is unable to know the unseen which is what is hidden from the senses." And based on this, whoever pretends that some people know the unseen he has ascribed partners. Allah the Exalted said:


"Say: none in the heavens and the earth knows the unseen except Allah and they do not even perceive how or when they will be resurrected." (27:65)
And the prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said:" Whoever goes to a diviner or a soothsayer and believes his words, has disbelieved in that which was revealed to Muhammad (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him)" (narrated by Abu Dawood and be authenticated by Al Albani.

3-Polytheism in legislating the lawful and the unlawful:

And from the aspects of polytheism, believing that some people can make things lawful and unlawful, and legislate from themselves following their minds and traditions. The Exalted said:


"Have they associate gods who have instituted for them a religion which Allah has not approve?" (42:21)
Ibn Badis said in his book entitled Al'Akaid:" And from stating that Allah is alone without partners is to state that He is the only one who legislates, so there's no legislator or anyone who can make things lawful and unlawful apart from Him according to His saying:


"Absolutely, He controls all creation and all the affairs." (7:54)

"You shall not utter lies with your own tongues stating: "This is lawful, and this is unlawful," to fabricate lies and attribute them to Allah. Surely, those who fabricate lies and attribute them to Allah will never succeed" (16:116)



4- Believing the benefit and the harm in other than Allah:

And from this, is to believe that some creatures among the jinn and mankind possess the benefit and the harm over the slaves, apart from Allah the Exalted. And also the ones who believe the benefit and the harm in objects such as stones, trees (oak), the sign of the hand…etc. Allah the Exalted said:

"قُلْ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ مَا لاَ يَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرّاً وَلاَ نَفْعاً وَاللّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ"

"Say, "Would you worship beside Allah powerless idols who can neither harm you, nor benefit you? Allah is the Hearer, the Omniscient." (5:76)
5- Relating the bad deeds to Allah the Exalted:

Such as the ones who relate transgression to Allah the Exalted, disabling Him from wisdom and mercy. And from this, some people claim on Allah' predestination saying:" O Lord why?", and their saying:" Verily Allah gives meat to those who hasn't got teeth", and "The poor is crying while Allah is getting him poorer than he is" and the like of the disbelieving words that are not legal to be said about our Lord the Merciful, the Just, the Wise who says:

"This is the consequence of your own works." And that Allah is never unjust towards the people" (3:182)
And He says:


1- Appealing for succour and asking help to other than Allah:

Appealing for succour to other then Allah the Exalted, asking for remedy, or sustenance, or children is a major polytheism. Allah the Exalted said:



And the appealing for succour is a kind of supplication, and the prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Supplication is the worship" narrated by (ahl assounan).
The scholar Al Mili said in the leaflet of polytheism (192) about supplicating other than Allah the following:" It is a plain polytheism and a mean disbelieve, and so we can say about asking help, and Allah the Exalted said:


And the messenger (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "If you ever ask, ask Allah and if you need help seek Allah's help" narrated by Attermidhi and authenticated it.

2- Appealing for refuge:

Appealing for refuge means to take refuge, to take shelter and to seek protection or remedy. And this is the right of Allah the Exalted that no human can afford. Allah the Exalted says:

"When the devil whispers to you any whisper, seek refuge in Allah; Surely He is the Hearer, the Omniscient." (7:200)

And He glory be to Him says:

"And Human beings used to seek refuge with jinn beings, but they only afflicted them with a lot of adversity"(72:6)
And from the aspects of the polytheistic appealing for refuge: hanging the amulets of talismans, and reciting understandable spelling. And those are the recitations over patients (roka) that the prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) meant in his saying:" Verily the recitations over the patient (roka), the amulets, and the tiwala are polytheism" (narrated by Abu Dawood and authenticated by Al Albani, (and tiwala is the sorcery of love and union). And from its aspects the saying of some: "O my master x I am under your protection", and if the jinn is mentioned they'll say: "We are surrenders and bound".

3-Sacrificing to other than Allah:

And from the aspects of polytheism sacrificing to other than Allah glory be to Him in terms of fear and hope, such as sacrificing to the jinn, the saints, the dead and the livings. The Exalted said:

And the prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Allah has cursed anyone who sacrifices to objects besides Allah" (narrated by Muslim). And among the sacrifices to objects besides Allah, the meat of the zarda(a meeting of people at a tomb of a saint to slaughter and sacrifice for the saints and the scholars)^. The scholar Ahmed Hammani said about the ruling of the zarda:" Then, verily the food and meat offered in the zarda is not legally lawful to be eaten because it is from what the qur'an shows its unlawfulness, so verily Allah glory be to Him the Exalted says:


Therefore the meat given in the zarda is from the fourth part (of the verse), which means from that on which has been invoked the name of other than Allah, that means it is sacrificed to other than Allah but to the scholars".

4- Vowing to other than Allah:

Vowing is from worship, and it is to oblige oneself to do something to get nearer Allah that it is not necessary or to do something which is permitted. And the believer do this for the sake of Allah the Exalted in a way of fear, desire, love and to get nearer. And this is not permitted to anyone other than Allah the Exalted. Allah the Exalted said:


"Any charity you give, or a charitable pledge you fulfill, Allah is fully aware thereof. As for the transgressors, they will have no helpers". (2:270)
And from this (aspect of polytheism), the one who says if I get recovered I'll visit my master x and if I succeed I'll slaughter (sacrifice) to him and so on, then verily he has fallen in a major polytheism. Ibn Taymiya said (123/ 33) :"It is like prostrating to other than Allah". And he is not permitted to perform (these vows). And it is proven that a man had vowed to slaughter camels in a place called Bawana, so the prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Were there any worshipped idols among the idols existed at the ignorance period? They said: No. He said: Were there any feasts from their feasts? They said: No. So he (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: Perform your vow." (Narrated by Abu Dawood and authenticated by Al Albani.

5- Sorcery and annochra (the untying of sorcery by sorcery):

And from the aspects of polytheism in worship the plain sorcery. Allah the Exalted said through Harout and Marout:


ْ"We are only for trial; so do not disbelieve" (2:102)
So the mere learning of sorcery is considered as a disbelieve in Allah the Exalted. And annochra is from sorcery that means to untie the sorcery by sorcery, and the prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was asked about it so he said:" It is from the Satan's deed" (narrated by Abou Dawood and authenticated by Al Albani. That's because the reality of the sorcery is the worship of the jinn and the worship of the stars apart from Allah the Exalted through supplicating them, and submitting and humbling before them.

6- Prostrating to other than Allah:

And from the plain aspect of polytheism in worship prostrating to the tombs, stones, the sun, the moon and the slaves in a way of glorification, humble, submission and love for them. Allah the Exalted said:


"And among His miracles the night and the day and the sun and the moon; do not prostrate to the sun nor to the moon but prostrate to Allah who has created them if (really) you are worshipping Him"(41:37)

7- Circumambulating around the graves and the tombs:

And among the aspects of polytheism, circumambulating around the graves, the tombs, the trees and the stones to get nearer to them seeking their benefits and fearing their harms. Verily there's no circumambulation except to Allah the Exalted at His holy house. Allah the Exalted said:

"Then let them complete their obligations, and fulfill their vows, and circumambulate the ancient house (alka'eba)". (22:29)

Excusing for the Cause of Ignorance
And from what we should point out to in this occasion is that it is not every one who falls in polytheism is considered as a polytheist getting out of the circle of Islam. But whoever performs polytheism after accumulating the necessarily knowledge and clarification, is the one who is considered as a polytheist the disbeliever the living forever in the Hell-fire. However, before the teaching and the proving with arguments, he is excused for the cause of ignorance if Allah the Exalted wills, according to His saying:


"And we were not to punish until we send a messenger"
And to His saying:
"Messengers to deliver good news, as well as warnings. So that people will have no excuse when they face Allah, after all these messengers have come to them. Allah is the Almighty, the Most Wise". (4:165)
So our duty is to hurry in giving advice and save the unaware the followers of the quacks and the mercenary charlatans, and our final words are the praise is to Allah the Lord of the worlds.

Shirk actually more dangerous than anything


tkank you