Idolatry on the other hand is the enslavement, entrapment and imprisonment of our soul to this temporary and transient world which suffocates and asphyxiates our immortal human soul.
Author: Dr. Najmuddin Hasan
Idolatry extends beyond the worship of statues or rulers; it encompasses the adoration of wealth, status, and popularity. In the second part of this series, we explore additional manifestations of contemporary forms of idolatry, exposing the fallacy inherent in modern man’s assertion of ‘freedom’, revealing the subtle manifestations of idolatry in his life, often unbeknownst to him.
Deification of Human Construct and Notions
The assignment of inherent authority to oneself, one’s family, one’s kin, one’s group, one’s tribe, one’s nation, or one’s race are all forms of idolatry. No one can evade death, and all will turn away from the one who worshipped them on the Day of Judgment. Allah says:
“But no! When the soul reaches the collar bone (as it leaves), and it will be said, ‘Is there any healer (who can save this life)?’ And the dying person realizes it is (their) time to depart…”[1]
And:
“On that Day every person will flee from their own siblings, and (even) their mother and father, and (even) their spouse and children. For then everyone will have enough concern of their own.”[2]
The truth is that any temporary ability or possession you are given, including your inherently weak and flawed body, is a loan to man from God. To attribute power and success to ourselves is a false lie. To believe in the power of one’s will or ego is the most pathetic delusion, which too is a form of idolatry. To attribute unlimitedness to such human constructs as ‘nation’ or ‘company’ is likewise idolatry.
Deification of the ‘God’ of our Imagination
Perhaps, the most hidden, deceptive and insidious forms of idolatry, is the imaginary ‘god’ of the ego who is subordinate to the person’s ego. Though the person will describe their imagined ‘god’ as unlimited, its purpose is just to serve their ego. This person will talk of god being on their side, instead of saying that they are on God’s side. This person will assure himself and others that Paradise is already their abode, and his enemies are in Hellfire, instead of being fearful of God’s Wrath (hellfire) and in desperate need of God’s Mercy.
Deification of Concepts – Ideologies (False Religions)
Man’s foolishness and arrogance in attributing independence and self-subsistence of a concept distinct from the one God is idolatry. To give an unlimited status to any concept is idolatry as unlimitedness (Infinity) only belongs to God. When concepts such as Freedom, Social Responsibility and Equality are subordinate to God, existing within the limitation God prescribed to them, they are noble and virtuous, as self-sufficient realities they lead to chaos and destruction.
| Concept | Ideology | Result of severance from God and pseudo self-subsistence, i.e. attributing unlimitedness to concept or ideology |
| Free Market | Capitalism | Greed and human hierarchy based upon wealth alone, rendering human beings to nuts and bolts in a manufacturing machine. |
| Social Responsibility | Socialism | Loss of individual freedom, abdication of personal responsibility and totalitarian state control |
| Liberty and Freedom | Libertarianism (Anarchy) | The delusional removal of all limitation, and usurpation of the Laws of society, nature and God. |
| Freedom of Speech | Freedom of Speech | The ability to slander, fabricate and lie. The ability to promote falsehood and delusion. |
| Equality | Democracy | The equating of virtue with sin, wisdom with foolishness, humility with arrogance and the saint with the devil. |
Ideals and Ideologies
Amongst the names (attributes) of God is الْبَدِيعُ (al-Badi) which means the Original or Incomparable Originator. This means there is no concept or ideal that is independent of God. In fact, all these ideals are but partial refractions of God’s Archetypal Attributes which themselves are partial refractions of the Unique and Perfect God alone. He is the Total, the Absolute Reality and all else reverberates from Him alone. Hence to attribute autonomy to any ideal as a self-sufficient reality is idolatry.
Scientism
The observation, recording, and deduction of physical phenomena, what we call Science, has a rich history within the Muslim world. It was always understood that physical phenomena remotely echo the signs of God, as the circumambulation of the planets around the Sun, or the electrons around a nucleus reflected the Tawaf (circumambulation) of the Muslim around the Kaaba, which itself reflected the circumambulation of the Angels around the Throne of God. The physical world distantly reflects and subsists upon the reality of the metaphysical Eternal Abode.
Modern science operates within the paradigm that views the physical world as the ultimate independent and autonomous reality, attributing the status of an absolute entity to the atom. Furthermore, it posits that anything transcending the physical realm is either illusory, a product of the mind, or simply the result of arbitrary chemical processes in the brain. Such a perspective is also idolatrous.
Scientism totalises the ability of science to fully elucidate all aspects of reality and knowledge, as well as the notion that it is the sole valid approach to gaining understanding about the nature of existence. Consequently, Scientism is a false ideology or ‘religion’ founded on the idolatry of science.
False Religions
Religion serves as a divine vehicle for humanity’s salvation, offering a pathway to connect with God. True religion is characterised by the presence of a sacred scripture and a messenger who embodies its teachings. Examples include the Bhagavad Gita and Krishna, the Dhammapada and Buddha, if indeed they were messengers, the Torah and Moses, the Psalms and David, the New Testament and Jesus, and the Qur’ān and Muhammad (peace be upon them all).
As well as providing purpose and meaning, the scriptures and messengers also provide moral guidance and ethics understood as culture. In an age which tries to deny its Creator (God), the religion paradigm has been hijacked and twisted by false ideology and idols.
| Perceived Truths | False Ideologies and their Perverted Parody | ||||
| Communism | Capitalism | Nationalism | Fascism | Company | |
| ‘Prophets’ | Karl Marx, Lenin | Adam Smith | Nationalist founders | Hitler and Mussolini | CEO and Directors |
| ‘Holy Scriptures’ | Das Kapital | The Wealth of Nations | Constitution | Mein Kampf | Business Procedures |
| Culture (Moral and Ethical Values) | Political Party Manifesto | Free Market Competition | Patriotism | Might is Right, Survival of the Fittest | Company Culture |
Submission to the Absolute God
Man was designed to serve as the representative of God in this world. Through submission to the one true and Infinite God, the Merciful, he becomes a devoted servant liberated from the constraints of finite and limited creations. Idolatry on the other hand is the enslavement, entrapment and imprisonment of our soul to this temporary and transient world which suffocates and asphyxiates our immortal human soul.
Though modern man looks at history and his ancestors with derision and contempt at their supposed stupidity, the reality is that we are more submerged in idolatry than ever before. Secularism is effectively a modern rendition of polytheism, as it gives each entity its own autonomy.
“Most certainly, one exceeds all bounds. once they think they are self-sufficient.”[3]
Idolatry is the act of attributing autonomy, self-sufficiency, or unlimitedness to anything other than God. Submission to God serves to liberate and free the immortal soul from attachment to the transient and limited.
References:
[1] Al-Qur’an 75:26-28
[2] Al-Qur’an 80:34-37
[3] Al-Qur’an 96-6-7
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