Review and Critique of Shah Walioallah Dehavi’s Viewpoint on the Issue of Polytheism

Being influenced by Ibn Teymieh’s opinions, Dehlavi presented a definition of polytheism and according to that definition started to fight against the so called manifestations of polytheism in his contemporary Islamic society. In his idea Polytheism is classified into polytheism in worshiping, asking for help, and calling out for assistance, vow and oath. By comparing the deeds of the unbelievers in the time of the Prophet Mohammad to those of the Muslims of his time in his works, he tried to specify actions such as visitation of the tombs, getting ready for travelling to holy places, uttering the names of the servants of Allah rather than His Name, supplication, imploring for assistance, vow and oath as manifestations of polytheism. Therefore, he warned the Muslims not to do any of these polytheistic deeds. In this present writing, the opinions and thoughts of this scholar of Tradition regarding polytheism and its different types are reviewed and criticized.