Murder, rape, child molesting, ritual killing, armed robbery and genocide! These are some of the appalling crimes that occur in our world today. Many would think that these are the worst possible offences that anyone could commit, Yet, there is one special crime which outweighs all of these crimes ...put together: This is the crime of shirk, Some people may question this notion, But, when viewed in a proper context, the fact that there is no crime worse than shirk, will become evident to every sincere person. There. is no doubt that the above crime are indeed terrible, but their comparison with shirk: shows that they do ,not hold as much significance, First, when a man murders, rapes or steals, the grave injustice that is done is directed primarily at other' humans. But when a man commits shirk, the injustice is directed towards the Creator of the heavens and the earth; Allah. Second, murder can occur for all sorts of reasons but one reason that the murderer can never give, is that he murdered the victim because he was someone who provided him with food.. shelter, clothing and all the other. things which keep humans aloft in this life, But when a person commits shirk, they attempt to, willingly or unwillingly, direct an injustice towards the One who has provided them with all these necessary things - and often a whole lot more! This is the ultimate form of ingratitude which humans display, and will eventually cause many people eternal pain. This crime is indeed severe but 'what exactly is shirk?' THE GREATEST INJUSTICE Shirk is to designate an associate/partner (shareek) with A1lah, in His Lordship (Ruboobiyyah), or His Divinity (Uloohiyyah). -In most cases, the association (ishraak) is in the divinity, by calling upon someone along with Allaah, or designating for other than Allah something from the various types of worship such as: sacrifice, taking oaths, and fear, and hope, and love. Imaam Ibnul-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (d.751 H) - rahimahullaah - said: "Allah informs us that the purpose of creation is to know Him and to worship Him alone, without associates so that the people could become trustworthy (qist), and that is the justice ('adl) by which the heavens and the earth are established, as He says: "We have already sent our messengers with clear evidences and sent down with them the Book and the balance that the people may maintain their affairs in justice." ( Q57[Hadeed]:25) And from the greatest fairness is tawheed, and it is the epitome of justice while Shirk, is injustice, as Allah' says: "Verily shirk, is a great injustice." (Q31 [Luqmaan]: 13) There is nothing that is a greater denial than shirk, so it is the greatest of major sins, And Allah has prohibited Paradise upon everyone who commits Shirk, and.He has made his blood 'and wealth permissible for the people of tawheed, since they abandon 'His 'uboodiyyah (worship), Allah has refused to accept any actions from the mushrik (one who commits Shirk), nor isthere any intercession for him, neither is his final supplication answered, nor is it accepted due to his hope, Shirk is the greatest sin by which Allah is disobeyed, and its danger is severe, and could be more hidden than the crawling of an ant, So there are many reasons for us to study such a topic: Firstly, the Muslim must seek to, know the evil so as to be warned from it and to stay far from-it, because if he does not know it, he might fall into it unknowingly. This is proven in the statement of Hudhayfah (RA): "The people used to ask the Messenger of AIlaah (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) about the good and used to ask the Messenger of AIIaah about the evil out of fear that i might fall into it" (Bukhari) Further, the Messenger (sal/al/aahu 'a/ayhi wa sal/am), who did not speak from his own desires', informed that Shirk shall be found in this ummah!, From his statement is this: "The Hour will not be established until tribes from my ummah: attach themselves to the polytheists. and until, tribes nom my ummah worship idols," (Bukhari) . Indeed what the Messenger of Allah (sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) spoke about has become so very true as we see in this age of ours the deviation of some of the Muslims from their true Religion, and their following the idol worshippers both apparently or inconspicuously. So due to these reasons and others, we must have knowledge of Shirk, and clarify its danger.