stand in canonical Islamic revelation absolutely
deny both divine plurality and femininity as well
as any powers of intercession outside Allah’s will.
The mushrik (one who associates) in broader
polemic understanding acts as if there were divine
beings other than God and may be viewed as a
polytheist as well as an idolater, even though he
is a Muslim. The accusation of “associationism”
applied to Muslims views with suspicion objects
of popular devotion, especially the veneration of
saints and other supermundane beings, as poten-
tial rivals for the sole worship the Muslim owes
to God. Later and modern Islamic interpreta-
tion view the two contexts of shirk—polytheist-
idolater and popular intercessionist—as virtually
synonymous. Such popular devotion, however,
became a large part of the belief and practice
of the ordinary person as opposed to the theo-
retical rigor and almost ascetic purity of practice
espoused by Muslim jurists and theologians. The
devotions of the vast majority of Muslims from
the lifetime of mUhammad down to modern times
have included ritual propitiation of a wide array of
spiritual beings (such as astral spirits and angels,
believed in medieval Islam to inhabit planetary
bodies; the Jinn; and the invocation, direction, and
exorcism of spirits of the dead, whether familial or
spirits of local saints and holy persons), manipu-
lation of elemental and divinely created powers
of natural objects (planets and stars, lightning,
rain, wind, fire, the ocean, as well as sacred trees,
springs, and stones), ritual use of objects or
images of sacred power (the verbal and material
use of sacred texts in quranic calligraphy and
recitation), or even people and institutions treated
as objects of sacred power and recourse (prophets
and saints as in Muhammad and his family, the
Shii imams, Sufi saints, great teachers and healers,
and religious institutions such as famous mosqUes
and madrasas [legal colleges], which were at the
same time burial sites of local saints used as foci
of ziyara (pilgrimage, intercessory prayer, divina-
tory and healing rituals). In modern times, belief
in and practice of such popular devotions have
significantly declined, especially in highly urban-
ized and educated milieus. However, the underly-
ing belief in God’s presence in the world and in
his material instrumentality through nature and
revelation is still a core of the Islamic worldview.
Examples of popular devotion and intercessory
aid can still be found in living contexts in many
Muslim countries, whether modern jurists con-
tinue to think it “idolatrous” or not.
See also angel; arabian religions, pre-islamic;
aUthority; bidaa; hindUism and islam; interces-
sion; saint; theology.
Kathleen M. O’ConnorFurther reading: Gerald R. Hawting, The Idea of Idola-
try and the Emergence of Islam: From Polemic to His-
tory (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999);
Hisham ibn al-Kalbi, The Book of Idols: Being a Transla-
tion from the Arabic of the Kitab al-asnam. Translated
by Nabih A. Faris (1952. Reprint, Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1972); Elizabeth Sirriyeh,
“Modern Muslim Interpretations of shirk.” Religion 20
(1990): 139–159; Muhammad I. H. Surty, The Quranic
Concept of al-shirk (Polytheism) (London: Ta Ha Pub-
lishers, 1982); Alford T. Welch, “Allah and Other
Supernatural Beings: The Emergence of the Quranic
Doctrine of tawhid.” Journal of the American Academy
of Religion, Thematic Issue: Studies in Quran and Tafsir
47, no. 4 (1979): 733–753.Idris Islamic prophet, usually identified with the
biblical Enoch
Idris is an unusual prophet briefly mentioned
twice in the qUran (Q 19:56–57; 21:85–86),
where he is described as trustworthy and patient.
The Quran adds that God had “raised him up to
a high place” (Q 19:57), a statement that most
Muslim commentators believe meant that God let
him enter paradise without first dying. This made
him a unique human being. Even his name is an
unusual one; it probably originated as a term in
ancient Hebrew for “interpreter” (doresh) of theK 344 Idris