Ramaḍān Reminders 2017: The Four Principles on Shirk (Principles 3–4) – Ustādh Rayaan Barker

Ramaḍān Reminders 1438H: nightly reminders after Tarāwīḥ, by Ustādh Rayaan Barker (hafidhahullāh)

• The polytheists in the time of the Prophet ﷺ differed in what they worshipped, whether stones, trees, angels, the Prophets, the righteous, the sun or the moon, and he fought them all (Shaykh Ṣāliḥ al-Fawzān, hafidhahullāh) • Those who worship others besides Allāh can never agree on what to worship: the claim that "what we do is different" is refuted, since they also worshipped ʿĪsā and the righteous in the graves • The fourth principle: the shirk of the polytheists of our time is worse than the shirk of the earlier polytheists • In hardship they used to call upon Allāh alone, while those who commit shirk today call upon the deceased in times of both ease and difficulty • False excuses such as "we only call upon the righteous" and "we have good intentions" are no proof, for the earlier polytheists did the same or less • Believing that Allāh is the only Creator is not enough: worship must be dedicated to Him alone • The intellect is a tool for understanding the Qurʾān and the Sunnah, not a source of ʿaqīdah, and it must not be exalted above them

Recorded at Masjid al-Furqān, Stoke-on-Trent