A Liberatory Re-reading of Shirk as Ontological Violence

By V.A. Mohamad Ashrof, New Age Islam 30 August 2025 In Islamic theology, shirk (associating partners with God) is considered the ultimate spiritual transgression. Traditional interpretations have often confined its meaning to ritual polytheism or literal idol worship. This paper offers a progressive and liberatory hermeneutic, arguing that the concept of shirk must be expanded to encompass acts of profound ontological violence. It posits that the heinous crimes of murdering an innocent, rape, paedophilia, and genocide are not merely grave sins but are, in their very essence, functional manifestations of shirk. These acts constitute a violent usurpation of divine prerogatives over life, dignity, and existence, effectively deifying the perpetrator's will, desire, or ideology. By analysing the Quranic principles of divine sovereignty (Rububiyyah), human dignity (Karamah), and the nature of tyranny (Taghut), this paper demonstrates that such transgressions represent a fundamental rebellion against the divine order. This re-reading transforms the concept of shirk from a marker of theological othering into a powerful ethical framework for confronting injustice and affirming a humanistic vision of social and spiritual liberation rooted in the principle of God's absolute Oneness (Tawhid). From Ritual Transgression to Ethical Rebellion The Quran’s central and most urgent call is to Tawhid, the unwavering affirmation of the Oneness of God. Its conceptual antithesis, shirk, is consequently presented as the greatest injustice (Ẓulm ‘Aẓim) (Quran 31:13) and the one sin God will not forgive if a person dies unrepentant (Quran 4:48). Historically, the discourse surrounding shirk has been dominated by its most visible forms: the veneration of carved idols, the worship of astronomical bodies, or adherence to a polytheistic creed. While these acts are undeniably forms of major shirk, a hermeneutic confined to such literalism fails to harness the concept’s profound ethical power and its relevance to the modern world’s most pressing moral crises. This paper seeks to move beyond a purely ritualistic definition of shirk to unearth its deeper ontological meaning. It argues that shirk is fundamentally an act of ontological rebellion—the ascription of a uniquely divine attribute or authority to any entity other than God. This entity can be a political ideology, a racial dogma, a system of economic exploitation, or, most insidiously, the tyrannical human ego (Nafs). In this liberatory framework, the most egregious crimes against humanity—the murder of an innocent person, the sexual violation of a human being, and the systematic extermination of a people—are re-contextualized. They are not simply violations on a graded list of prohibitions; they are potent, practical, and violent enactments of shirk. The perpetrator of such crimes, through their actions, functionally claims a partnership in divinity. They enthrone their own will as a rival sovereign, exercising a power over life, death, and dignity that belongs exclusively to the Divine. This is not merely breaking a rule; it is a direct challenge to the authority of the Ruler. This paper will argue that a progressive and humanistic reading of the Quran reveals that the ultimate test of faith is not just the correctness of one’s creed, but the submission of one’s actions to the principles of justice and compassion that flow from Tawhid. To see murder, rape, and genocide as shirk is to understand them not just as crimes against humanity, but as acts of cosmic rebellion against the very source of humanity’s sacredness. It is to transform the concept of shirk from a theological weapon into a shield for the vulnerable and a call for profound social and spiritual justice. Redefining Shirk: The Idolatry of Sovereignty and Self The foundation of a liberatory understanding of shirk lies in a deeper appreciation of its opposite, Tawhid. Islamic theology traditionally delineates Tawhid into three domains: The Oneness of God’s Lordship and Sovereignty (Tawhid al-Rububiyyah), the Oneness of His right to be worshipped (Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah), and the Oneness of His unique names and attributes (Tawhid al-Asma’ wa al-Ṣifat). A violation in any of these domains constitutes shirk. The pre-Islamic Arabs, as the Quran itself attests, largely accepted God’s Rububiyyah—they acknowledged a supreme Creator-God. The scholar Toshihiko Izutsu notes that their shirk was primarily in the domain of Uluhiyyah, where they directed worship to lesser deities as intercessors, believing this would bring them “nearer to Allah” (Izutsu, p.115). The Quranic revolution was to insist that if God’s Lordship is absolute, then worship must be equally absolute and exclusive. A progressive hermeneutic, however, must recognize that the Quran itself pushes the definition of shirk far beyond the worship of stone idols. It identifies subtler, yet more pervasive, forms of idolatry. The Quran critiques those who follow leaders who legislate in defiance of divine law, stating: “They have taken their scholars and their monks as lords besides God” (Quran 9:31). This verse is crucial, as it expands the concept of a "lord" (Rabb) from a deity in a temple to any human authority that demands an ultimate obedience which rightly belongs to God. Even more profoundly, the Quran identifies the human ego and its untamed desires as a potential idol. In a verse of stunning psychological insight, it asks: “Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire (Hawa)?” (Quran 45:23). Here, the object of worship is not an external statue but an internal force. The "god" is the unbridled will, the narcissistic impulse, the lust for power or pleasure that becomes the ultimate arbiter of one’s actions. This is the bedrock of our argument: when this internal idol of the self is unleashed in the world through acts of supreme violence, the perpetrator is committing the most tangible and horrific form of shirk. The modern scholar Sayyid Qutb’s concept of Hakimiyyah (sovereignty) provides a powerful, if controversial, tool for this analysis. Qutb argued that any system that claims the right to ultimate legislation for human life is setting itself up as a rival to God, a Taghut (a tyrannical idol) (Qutb, p.32). While often interpreted through a narrow political lens, the liberatory potential of this idea is immense. It is a radical theological critique of all forms of absolutism. This paper extends this critique from the political to the personal. The ultimate tyranny is not only a state that claims divinity, but the individual who, in a moment of violence, acts as a god over another human being. The murderer, the rapist, and the genocidaire are the ultimate practitioners of a self-proclaimed Hakimiyyah, a sovereignty of the ego that directly challenges the sovereignty of God. Their action is their declaration of partnership with the Divine, a shirk performed not with words, but with blood and terror. The Usurpation of the Sacred: Crimes as Ontological Violence To understand these crimes as shirk requires recognizing them as invasions of sacred domains exclusively governed by God. These are not merely moral transgressions but acts of ontological usurpation, where a human being violently seizes a divine prerogative. The Quran establishes God as the sole Giver of Life (Al-Muhyi) and Taker of Life (Al-Mumit). Life is not a biological accident but a sacred trust (Amanah), a breath of the divine spirit (Quran 15:29). Its sanctity is therefore absolute. The Quran’s declaration that “whoever kills a soul… it is as if he had slain mankind entirely” (Quran 5:32) is a profound statement about the nature of this transgression. From a liberatory and humanistic perspective, this verse means that in killing one person, the murderer has assaulted the very principle of divinely-granted life that undergirds all of humanity. They have shown a contempt for the sanctity of life that, in principle, makes every human being vulnerable. In the act of unlawful killing, the murderer functionally claims the divine attribute of Al-Mumit. They are not just breaking God’s law; they are playing God. Their will—fuelled by anger, hatred, or greed—is elevated to a position of ultimate authority, with the power to revoke a life that God Himself willed to exist. This is a direct contestation of divine sovereignty (Rububiyyah). The perpetrator’s judgment, “this person must die,” becomes a rival decree to God’s will, “this person shall live.” This act of supreme arrogance (Kibr) mirrors the primal rebellion of Iblis, who declared, “I am better than him” (Quran 7:12). The murderer’s action is a silent, violent echo of this cry: “My will is more important than their life.” This is the deification of the self, a practical and bloody form of shirk. Rape and Paedophilia: The Idolatry of Desire and the Desecration of Dignity Perhaps no act illustrates the concept of interpersonal Taghut more horrifically than sexual violence. The Quran bestows upon every human being an inherent and divinely-given honour, or Karamah (Quran 17:70). This Karamah is the theological foundation for human dignity, encompassing the sanctity of one’s body, will, and autonomy. Rape is the ultimate annihilation of this God-given honour. In this act, the perpetrator establishes a terrifying microcosm of idolatry: they become the Rab (lord, master) and they violently force the victim into a state of total subjugation, treating them as an object, a slave (‘abd) to their deified desire. This is the most violent manifestation of taking one’s desire as a god (Quran 45:23). The perpetrator’s lust becomes the ruling law, demanding and enforcing total submission through terror. The victim, who is meant to be a servant of God alone, is forced into a temporary, horrific servitude to the idol of the perpetrator’s ego. This is shirk in its most intimate and brutal form. As feminist Islamic scholar Amina Wadud argues, a Quranic ethic is predicated on the mutual respect and moral agency of all individuals. Rape is a theological crime because it “denies the human agency of another being, which is a direct violation of God’s intention for that being” (Wadud, Qur'an and Woman, 81). By denying the victim’s God-given agency and dignity, the perpetrator claims a right of ownership and dominion over another soul, a right that belongs only to God. Paedophilia deepens this ontological violence to a satanic degree. It targets the very innocence and vulnerability that God commands humanity to protect (e.g., Quran 93:9). It is an act of war against the divine attribute of Mercy (Rahmah). The abuser acts as a predatory anti-god, replacing divine guardianship with a self-serving, destructive dominion. They do not merely harm a child; they desecrate a symbol of divine trust and mock the cosmic order. This is not just a crime; it is an inversion of sacred reality, the worship of a depraved and tyrannical self, which is the functional definition of shirk. Genocide: The Apotheosis of Collective Idolatry Genocide is shirk writ large—the ultimate expression of collective self-deification. God declares in the Quran that He created humanity’s diversity as a divine sign (ayah) and a means for mutual recognition and enrichment: “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another” (Quran 49:13). This verse is a cornerstone of a humanistic and ecumenical Islamic worldview. Diversity is not an accident to be tolerated, but a gift to be celebrated, a reflection of the infinite creativity of Al-Muṣawwir (The Fashioner). Genocide is a declaration of war against this divine will. It is a human attempt to "un-create" what God has created. The ideology that drives genocide—be it racial supremacy, virulent nationalism, or religious fanaticism—becomes the group’s Ilah (god). This false god demands total loyalty, redefines morality, and sanctions the erasure of the "other." The perpetrators collectively usurp God's role as the arbiter of existence for entire peoples. They are functionally saying to God: “Your creation of this group was a mistake. We will correct it.” The Quran provides the ultimate archetype for this horror in the figure of Pharaoh (Fir‘awn). His genocidal policy of slaughtering the Israelite male infants (Quran 28:4) was explicitly linked to his ultimate theological claim of shirk: he proclaimed to his people, “I am your Lord, the Most High” (Ana Rabbukum Al-A‘Lá) (Quran 79:24). This is the Quran’s clearest connection between the act of genocide and a claim to divinity. Genocide is the state policy of a collective that has deified itself, placing its own tribal identity on a throne that belongs only to God. This is collective shirk on a monstrous scale, the most arrogant and comprehensive challenge to the Lordship of all worlds. The Social and Political Fallout of Shirk: Towards a Theology of Liberation Framing these crimes as shirk is not a mere theological exercise; it has profound implications for a theology of liberation. It demonstrates that shirk is the root of all forms of oppression (Zulm) and corruption (Fasad). Resisting injustice, therefore, becomes a spiritual imperative, an act of affirming Tawhid. When a state or a ruler demands absolute obedience and claims the ultimate authority to define right and wrong, they are committing political shirk. Such a regime becomes a Taghut. As scholar Khaled Abou El-Fadl powerfully argues, the core of Islamic political ethics is the subversion of all human claims to absolute power, which is a form of idolatry (El-Fadl, p.278). A commitment to Tawhid is therefore a commitment to resisting political tyranny in all its forms. Similarly, economic systems that deify wealth and promote exploitation are a form of economic shirk. When the pursuit of capital becomes life’s ultimate purpose, wealth becomes a god. Practices like usury (Riba), hoarding, and the exploitation of the poor are condemned so fiercely in the Quran precisely because they represent a system where a human construct (money) is given a creative, self-generating power that mimics God’s role as the sole Provider (Ar-Razzaq). A commitment to Tawhid necessitates a struggle for economic justice, for a system where resources serve humanity rather than a humanity that serves resources. On a social level, shirk manifests as the idolatry of the group identity—the poison of ‘Aṣabiyyah (tribalism, nationalism, racism). When loyalty to one’s tribe or nation is placed above the divine command for universal justice, the tribe has become an idol. This form of shirk shatters the Quranic vision of a common humanity united under God (Quran 49:13) and replaces it with a world of competing, hostile tribal gods. A true commitment to Tawhid requires a radical rejection of these chauvinistic idols and an embrace of a common human brotherhood. To stand for justice, “even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives” (Quran 4:135), is a profound act of rejecting social shirk. In this light, Tawhid is not a passive creed but an active, liberatory project. It is a constant struggle against the Taghut in all its manifestations: the tyranny of the state, the exploitation of the market, the chauvinism of the tribe, and the violence of the individual ego. To fight for the oppressed, to defend the vulnerable, and to uphold justice is to engage in the highest form of worship: the practical affirmation of the Oneness of a just and compassionate God. A Humanistic Imperative for a Just World To re-read murder, rape, paedophilia, and genocide as profound manifestations of shirk is to reclaim the concept from the annals of abstract theology and place it at the heart of a living, liberatory ethics. This hermeneutical move insists that faith is judged not by the piety of one’s rituals alone, but by the justice of one’s actions. When an act so fundamentally contradicts the principle of Tawhid by usurping a divine right, it becomes a form of practical apostasy, a declaration of rebellion against the cosmic order. This understanding is profoundly humanistic. It grounds the inalienable rights and dignity of every human being in a divine source, making their violation not just an offense against a person, but an offense against God Himself. It provides a theological basis for the absolute sanctity of life, bodily autonomy, and the value of cultural diversity. It transforms the fight for human rights from a secular endeavour into a spiritual struggle. Furthermore, this framework is deeply liberatory. It identifies the root of all oppression—political, economic, social, and interpersonal—in the spiritual disease of shirk, the deification of the self and its constructs. It provides a powerful vocabulary for critiquing and resisting all forms of tyranny. The ultimate practice of Tawhid is not found in quiet contemplation alone, but in the active, courageous, and compassionate defence of those who suffer from the violence of others’ idolatry. The struggle to build a just, equitable, and peaceful world is, in its essence, the struggle to live out the deepest meaning of La Ilaha Illa Allah—there is no god, no ultimate authority, no object of worship, and no source of absolute power, but the One, Merciful, and Just God. Bibliography El-Fadl, Khaled Abou. Reasoning with God: Reclaiming Shari'ah in the Modern Age. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Izutsu, Toshihiko. God and Man in the Koran: Semantics of the Koranic Weltanschauung. Tokyo: Keio University, 1964. Qutb, Sayyid. Milestones. Chicago: Kazi Publications, 2007. The Qur’an. Translated by M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. ----- V.A. Mohamad Ashrof is an independent Indian scholar specializing in Islamic humanism. With a deep commitment to advancing Quranic hermeneutics that prioritize human well-being, peace, and progress, his work aims to foster a just society, encourage critical thinking, and promote inclusive discourse and peaceful coexistence. He is dedicated to creating pathways for meaningful social change and intellectual growth through his scholarship. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/debating-islam/liberatory-shirk-ontological-violence/d/136650 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism