13 - Sin of Shirk

• The Sin of Shirk -

  • Shirk is to regard anything as equal to Allah or to worship something other than Allah
  • There is one God (tawhid) and there can be no pictures to represent him
  • Muslims must worship the true God, not an image made by humans
  • The prophets are respected but they are human, not divine
• No Images -

  • Some religions allow pictures of God in human form, but not in Islam
  • Images shoe disrespect towards Allah as he is too great for pictures
  • Sunni Muslims are particularly strong that there can be no pictures in the mosque
  • The only art that can be used is calligraphy or geometric patterns
• Respect the Prophet Muhammad -

  • Muslims will not allow any pictures of the Prophet Muhammad
  • They fear it might lead to worshipping the picture rather than Allah
  • It is highly offensive for pictures of Muhammad to belittle or disrespect him
  • Some extremist Muslims have been offended by cartoons of Muhammad, leading to terrorist violence