ants.” Ibn ‘Abbās and his companions said:

“There is lesser disbelief, lesser wrongdoing, and lesser transgression.”

The same was stated by scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others, as we shall mention, if Allah wills.

Allah Most High says:

“They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah, and the Messiah, son of Mary, though they were commanded only to worship one God. There is no deity worthy of worship except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.”

In the report of ‘Adī ibn Hātim—a lengthy hadith graded good, narrated by Ahmad, al-Tirmidhī and others—he had come to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while still a Christian and heard him reciting this verse. He said:

“I said to him, ‘We do not worship them.’

“He said, ‘Do they not forbid what Allah has made lawful, so you regard it as forbidden, and permit what Allah has forbidden, so you regard it as lawful?’

“I said, ‘Yes.’

“He said, ‘That is how you worship them.’”

Abū al-Bakhtarī likewise said:

“They did not pray to them. Had they commanded them to worship them besides Allah, they would not have obeyed them. Rather, they commanded them, making what Allah had permitted forbidden and what He had forbidden permissible; and they obeyed them. That was how they took them as lords.”

Al-Rabī‘ ibn Anas said:

“I asked Abū al-‘Āliyah, ‘How did the Children of Israel take them as lords?’

“He replied, ‘They found in the Book of Allah what they were commanded to do and what they were forbidden to do, but said: “We will not act ahead of our rabbis in anything. Whatever they command us to do, we will do, and whatever they forbid us to do, we will refrain from, following their word.” Thus they sought counsel from men and cast the Book of Allah behind their backs.’”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, thus explained that their worship of them consisted in permitting what was forbidden and forbidding what was lawful—not in praying to them, fasting for them or supplicating to them besides Allah. This is worship of men, whereas the former is worship of wealth. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained it, and Allah described it as shirk in His words:

“There is no deity worthy of worship except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.”

This is therefore a form of wrongdoing that