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Archetypal False Gods, Helping the Poor, Sin and Society

Issue 178 » July 12, 2002 - Jumada Al-Awwal 1, 1423

General

Living the Quran
Translation:

Surah Luqman
Chapter 13: Verse 13

"Verily, Shirk (leads to) the greatest oppression."

Commentary

Shirk - The Root of Human Problems

The Islamic Message suggests that the root of human anxieties and calamities is not nuclear weapons, environmental pollution and destruction, political corruption, oppression, genocide, civil wars, social inequalities, crime, drugs the breakdown of the family and so on. These are all, in actual fact, symptoms and the Quran identifies the root of human miseries to be shirk.

Definition of Shirk

The term refers to assigning or associating the attributes of Godhead to others besides the real God. In other words, shirk denies Allah an Exclusive Soveriegn role in human affairs.

Archetypal False Gods

The Quran points our attention to four major archetypal false gods that appear in human society. These are:

1. Social and Political Elites

This archetypal false god includes evil elite groups who endeavour to dominate people and effectively assume the role of gods. Examples include Nimrod, Pharaoh, corrupt kings, dictators, the ruling class or other forms of corrupt political and social leadership. Secret organisations, political groups and alliances, and business corporations can fall into this archetypal false gods if they have evil designs and are intent upon furthering their power and influence to the detriment of others. [Al-Quran 28:38, 26:29, 33:67]

2. Religious Elites

Corrupt organised religious figures and institutions are included in this second group of archetypal false gods. This archetype can also include those who adopt crooked religious views, or who have invented false beliefs and unnatural practices. [Al-Quran: 9:31]

3. Cultures and Ideologies not Sanctioned by Allah

Blind following of the popular customs, cultures and ideologies that are formed out of human reasoning and which conflict with what Allah has revealed. For example, secular-materialism, extravagant lifestyles, infanticide, nationalism, tribalism, secularism, materialism, capitalism, communism, and blind adherence to the way of forefathers. [Al-Quran 2:170, 42:21]

4. Slavery to the Ego

This fourth archetypal false god implies extreme self-indulgence and slavery to selfish desires, greed, negative emotions, and slavery to one's own opinions. [Al-Quran 25:43]

[compiled from "Building a New Society" by Zahid Parvez,
(Revival Publications, UK), pp. 114-123]

Your Family | Your Community
:: 12 Tips for Teens ::
How to Help the Poor and Needy

continued from issue 177 ...

4. Talk about it in your youth group

What are the first steps in finding solutions to problems? Dua (supplication) then brainstorming and discussion.

At your next youth group meeting, put the difficulties of the poor and needy in your community on the agenda. Simply discuss and brainstorm. You don't have to come up with a plan all at once. But discussing this will start the process and keep it in people's minds.

If you don't have a youth group, get your friends together. Instead of having the usual hang out time one day, substitute this with a formal meeting. Now you have a youth group that can do this exercise.
Sin and Society

Sins are of three kinds:

  1. Those causing injury to others, such as the taking of property and the denial of rights, as well as envy, etc.
  2. Those causing injury to the sinner only, like wine drinking and adultery and fornication, if their harm is limited.
  3. Those combining both form of injury, e.g. where a public official seizes people's money and spends it on fornication or wine drinking. Or where somebody has unlawful sexual relations with another in order to gain promotion over people and do them harm, as sometimes happens with those who fancy women and boys.

[from "Public Duties in Islam", by Shaykh Ibn Taymiya (rahimahullah), p 94]