[27].Surah Al-Naml [The Ants]: Ayat 24

২৪. আমি তাকে ও তার সম্প্রদায়কে দেখলাম তারা আল্লাহর পরিবর্তে সূর্যকে সেজদা করছে। শয়তান তাদের দৃষ্টিতে তাদের কার্যাবলী সুশোভিত করে দিয়েছে। অতঃপর তাদেরকে সৎপথ থেকে নিবৃত্ত করেছে। অতএব তারা সৎপথ পায় না।

Ayat 24. (The Hoopoe said) “I found her and her people worshipping the sun instead of Allah, and Shaitan (Satan) has made their deeds fair-seeming to them, and has barred them from (Allah’s) Way, so they have no guidance”.

Tafseer of Surah Al Naml (The Ants) Ayat 24. The Hoopoe found her and her people worshipping the sun besides Allah: Satan has made their deeds seem pleasing in their eyes, and has kept them away from the Path,- so they receive no guidance. The ancient religions of the people of Saba ' (the Himyar or Sabaeans) consisted in the worship of the heavenly bodies, the sun, the planets, and the stars. Possibly the cult was connected with that of Chaldea , the homeland of Abraham: Yemen had easy access to Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf by way of the sea, as well as with Abyssinia. That accounts for the Christians of Najran and the Jewish dynasty of kings (e.g., Dhu Nuwas, d. 525 A.C.) who persecuted them in the century before Islam-also for the Christian Abyssinian Governor Abrahah and his discomfiture in the year of the Prophet's birth (S. 105), say 570 AC. Jewish-Christian influences were powerful in Arabia in the sixth century of the Christian era. The religion of these Sabaeans (written in Arabic with a Sin) should not be confounded with that of the Sabians (with a Sad).
 

Hazrat Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Messenger of Allah[SAWW](PBUH) said, "Almighty Allah says, `I am the One Who is most free from want of partners. He who does a thing for the sake of someone else beside Me, I discard him and his polytheism”.  [Muslim Book 042, Chapter 06, Hadith # 7114]. 

Lesson : as mentioned above in Surah Al-Naml Ayat 24. “people worshipping the sun instead of Allah, and Shaitan (Satan)” “He who does a thing for the sake of someone else beside Me'' here means to do something virtuous for mere show for worldly benefit, or to gain the reputation of being pious. "I discard him and his polytheism'' means that "I nullify his good deeds and deprive him of the reward.'' In this Hadith any virtue done for the sake of mere show has been likened to Shirk to make its viciousness and harm obvious. However, this is Ash-Shirk Al-Asghar, and those who commit it will not be forbidden access to Jannah. They will, after the punishment in Hell, ultimately enter Jannah. Whereas, those who are guilty of Ash-Shirk Al-Akbar and sheer Shirk will abide in Hell forever.