Associating partners with God is idolatry and the only unpardonable sin.

Chapter 4, verse 48
God does not forgive idolatry, but He forgives lesser offenses for whomever He wills. Anyone who sets up idols beside God has forged a horrendous offense.

In a monotheist religion, the worship of anything alongside God is forbidden. Human beings have a tendency to idolise or value something more than God. Putting God first should be a priority of every human being, for without God nothing is possible. We may feel we are able to do anything we like here on Earth, but that is not true. The biggest idol of mankind is the ego.

Chapter 25, verses 43
Have you seen the one whose god is his own ego? Will you be his advocate?

Chapter 45, verse 23
Have you noted the one whose god is his ego? Consequently, God sends him astray, despite his knowledge, seals his hearing and his mind and places a veil over his eyes. Who then can guide him after such a decision by God? Would you not take heed?

Chapter 47, verse 16
Some of them listen to you, and then as soon as they leave they ask those who were enlightened, “What did he just say?” God thus seals their hearts and consequently they follow only their opinions.

The dictionary’s definition of the word idolatry is the religious worship of idols, the reverence or devotion to something other than God. Idols can take the form of anything, another human being, a statue, money, power, the devil, nature and even your own ego.

In chapter 21 of the Quran, God tells us how Abraham found his father and his people worshipping statues. When he asked them why they were doing so they told him they had found their parents worshipping them. Abraham broke all of their statues into pieces except for a big one which he left. When the people asked Abraham if he had destroyed their idols he told them, “It is that big one who did it. Go ask them if they can speak.” They were taken aback and told themselves that they were indeed transgressors but soon resorted back to their idol worshipping practises.

Idolatry has been mankind’s biggest downfall. Satan misleads many humans and encourages them to worship useless things that cannot help them. It has been his greatest invention to lead humans away from devotion to God alone.

Your death bed is not the place to denounce your idols because by then it is too late. Inanimate objects or living or dead human beings cannot help you in this life or in the next. Only God can save your soul and only God can forgive you for the sins you commit.

Idolatry is the only unforgivable sin if you maintain it until death. If you give up idolatry and do not return to it, God forgives the sin if it is His will, but if you continue idolatry until you die, it is a sin that God will not forgive.