Do Shias Worship Ali and the Imams

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Question:

Do Shia Muslims worship Ali and their Imams, making it shirk? - A critique of Shia practices of revering Ali and Imams, including use of shrines and relics, and whether this constitutes shirk. :::

Answer:

On the authority of `Adi Ibn Hatim (ra), it is reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah saws reciting this Qur’anic verse:

” They have taken their rabbis and their monks as lords beside Allah and [they take as a lord] Al-Maseeh, `Eesaa, the son of Maryam, yet they were not commanded but to worship One God: None has the right to be worshipped but He - Praise and Glory to Him: [Far is He] from having the partners they associate [withHim]” (Qur’an 9:31)

“…and I said to him : “We don’t worship them.” He said: “Do they not forbid what Allah has permitted and do you not then forbid it (to yourselves), and do they not make permissible for you what Allah has forbidden, and do you not then make it permissible (to yourselves)?” I replied: “Certainly!” He said: “That is worshipping them.” (Narrated by At-Tirmizi, who graded it as Hasan)

`Adi Ibn Hatim informs us in this Hadith, that when he heard the Prophet saws reciting Allah’s Words:

” They have taken their rabbis and their monks as lords beside Allah. And [they take as their lord] Al-Maseeh, `Eesaa, the son of Maryam” (Qur’an 9:31)

He contradicted the Prophet saws, saying that they do not worship them; for to his mind, what was meant by worship was bowing, prostration, supplication, sacrifice etc. But the Prophet saws informed him that their obedience to the rabbbis and monks in forbidding the permissible and permitting the forbidden was a form of worship, because they have thus made their rabbis and monks partners to Allah in obedience and in ordaining the Law.

So even following anyone blindly be it imams scholars and other religious leaders is associating partners to Allah ie shirk. Now if some one worships anything other than Allah swt then it is major shirk which can take one out of the fold of Islam.