Doing an Action Not Knowing whether or Not It Is Shirk
Fatwa No: 446542

Question

If one is unsure if something is shirk meaning it could be or not be shirk. But one says to himself if this was proven to be shirk he would abandon it and so continues to do the action which he has not received an answer for. Is this intention in itself shirk because it has not been proven if the specific action is known to be shirk.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

A Muslim must ask about the ruling on what he wants to do, and it is not permissible for him to take the initiative to do something before making sure that it is permissible.

If it is forbidden, he must avoid it, whether or not it is polytheism. If he insists on doing it even though he knows that it is forbidden, then he is sinful.

The person does not become a disbeliever by merely doing an action unless this very action is disbelief.

You should avoid whispers and strive to repel them and ignore them as being carried away with them leads to a great evil.

For more benefit on whispers, please refer to Fataawa 374308 and 356689.

Allah Knows best.

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