Slaughtering for other than Allaah

Allaah the Exalted said:

“Say: Verily my prayer, my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. He has no partner. And of this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims.” [Quran, 6:162,163]

Allaah the Exalted also said:

“Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice (to Him only)”. [Quran, 108:2]

Muslim reports that Ali bin Abi Talib (May Allaah be pleased with him) said:

“Allaah’s Messenger (May the peace and blessing of Allaah be upon him) informed me about four Judgments (of Allaah):
(1) Allaah’s curse is upon the one who slaughters (devoting his sacrifice) to anything other than Allaah;
(2) Allaah’s curse is upon the one who curses his own parents;
(3) Allaah’s curse is upon the one who shelters an heretic (who has brought a Bid’ah in religion);
(4) Allaah’s curse is upon the one who alters the landmarks (who changes boundary lines).”  [Muslim]

Ahmad reports that Tariq bin Shihab narrated that Allaah’s Messenger (May the peace and blessing of Allaah be upon him) said:

“A man entered Paradise because of a fly, and a man entered Hell-fire because of a fly.” They (the Companions) asked, “How was that possible O Messenger of Allaah?” He said, “Two men passed by the people who had an idol by which they would not allow anyone to pass without making sacrifice to it. They ordered one man to make a sacrifice. He said, ‘I have nothing to present as an offering.’ The people told him, ‘Sacrifice something, even if it be a fly.’ So he presented a fly (to their idol). They opened the way for him, and thus he entered the Hell-fire. They said to the other man, ‘Sacrifice something.’ He said, ‘I will never sacrifice anything to any other than Allaah, Most Majestic and Glorious.’ So they struck his throat and killed him; and he, therefore, entered Paradise.” [Ahmad]

Important Points

1. Explanation of the verse: “Verily my prayer, my sacrifice…” (6:162)
2. Explanation of the verse: “Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice to Him only.” (108:2)
3. The beginning of the principle of cursing from those who sacrifice to other than Allaah.
4. Curse is upon those who curse their parents (by cursing other parents and, in turn, the latter curses his parents).
5. Cursed is the person who shelters the heretic (Muhdith) in religion that is, he innovates something that is necessarily only Allaah’s right to do and he seeks shelter with someone who assists him in it.
6. Curse upon him who unjustly alters the landmark, i.e. the boundaries that differentiate one person’s land from his neighbour’s, and changes those borders to encroach upon that land or obstruct it.
7. The difference between a specific curse and a curse upon the disobedients and rebels in general.
8. The tremendous story of the fly.
9. The person who presented a fly to the idol went to Hell though not intending to do such an act (beforehand). Indeed, he did it to save himself from the threat of idolaters.
10. Knowing the extent of how hated Shirk is to the hearts of the believers seeing how the man was patient in facing execution and he did not give in to their demand in spite of the fact that they only demanded an external act from him.
11. The man who went to Hell-fire was a Muslim. If he would have been a disbeliever (Kafir), the Prophet (May the peace and blessing of Allaah be upon him) a would not have said: “He went to Hell merely for a fly.”
12. This is a confirmation of the Hadith “Paradise is closer to you than the laces of your shoes and the Hell-fire is likewise”.
13. The action of the heart is aimed, even among the idol worshippers.

Source: An Explanation of Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab’s Kitab At-Tawhid, The Book of Monotheism. Chapter No: 10, (Page: 86-87). By ‘Allamah ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sa’di