Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 60
60 irrespective of the fact whether such being is or is not called a deity. For instance, a belief that a particular person can create living things or can bring the dead to life amounts to Shirk , although the person to whom such attributes are ascribed be a human being. For here, there is a difference only in name, and the essence of Divinity has been ascribed to another. Third, to look upon a being other than God as worthy of worship although that being is not considered a god, nor is believed to share in the attributes of God; as, for instance, parents were worshipped in some tribes in ancient days. Fourth, to regard a human being as infallible. For instance, a belief that a particular saint or holy person is wholly free from the natural weaknesses of man and must therefore, be implicitly obeyed in all matters, however objectionable his orders may be, and practically to prefer his commands to those of God, although as a matter of belief that person is not regarded as God. The Holy Quran indicates these four kinds of Shirk in the following verse: 'O, people of the Book, let us agree in this one matter, which both of us accept, that we worship none but Allah, Who has no partner, and that we associate with Him none in His attributes and that we prefer to Him nobody from among His ser-