Alhuda Bolton

Sound Creed #27: Minor Shirk

—

by

alhudabolton
in , , ,

Read by our brother Abu Muadh Taqweem

Summary

  • What is minor shirk?
  • Common phrases said today which fall into minor shirk e.g. “was it not for Allah and such and such”, or “If Allah wills and you will” , how can one avoid this?
  • Free will, what is our methodology regarding the Decree of Allah
  • Swearing by other than Allah

What is Minor shirk?

  • It causes deficiency within one’s tawheed (monotheism)
  • It can lead onto major shirk
  • It is concealed and subtle, compared to a black ant, crawling on a black rock, in the darkness of the night #

What sort of statements are examples of minor shirk?

  • For instance, if a person says “I swear by by Allah and by your life”
  • Or if a person says “was it not for the [guard] dog then robbers would have come in”
  • Or saying “Whatever Allah wills and what you will”
  • Or saying “was it not for Allah and such and such”
  • Why are these statements examples of minor shirk?
  • Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), said these types of statements are from [minor] shairk
  • These phrases are said by many people, without thinking about their grave reality

What are the different forms of minor shirk?

  • #1. Taking an oath by other than Allah, the Mighty and Majestic:
    • Hadith of the Caliph Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him)
    • These days some Muslims take an oath by the The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ)!
    • Others swear by the lives of themselves, their parents, their children or forefathers
    • Why does this fall into minor shirk?
    • Profound statement of Abdullah Ibn Mas’oud (may Allah be pleased with him), what did he say about taking an oath by other than Allah? Why did he say this?
    • What did the Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) say about this?
    • If someone takes an oath by Allah, how should we respond
  • #2. Certain statements or words (maybe said unintentionally) which indicate shirk:
    • For example saying “Whatever Allah wills and you will”
      • Hadith of Qutailah (may Allah be pleased with him) [reported by Imam Ahmed]
      • Hadith of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) [reported by An-Nasai]
    • Similar statement saying “was it not for Allah and you” or saying “No one can help me except Allah and you”
    • You can avoid this by saying “whatever Allah wills, THEN what you will after that”, this avoids using the word “and” which makes the two mentioned equal, whereas the word “then” does not do this but instead indicates an order. 
    • We do have a will, however the will of the servant can only come after the will of Allah. 
    • We do not fall into the error of the misguided groups (e.g. the Jabariyya and the Qadariyya) with regards to our free will. What was the mistake these deviated sects made? How are they refuted?

Q&A:

  • What if someone swears by the Qur’an? For example in court holding the Mus-haf? What if someone swears by the mus-haf?
  • If someone says “I ransom my mother” etc, is this an example of an oath by other than Allah?
  • What if you were in court and had to swear by the Qur’an?
  • What if someone says “Allah swears by things such as time, the forenoon, the sun and the moon etc therefore we can do it”?
  • What about people who casually swear by Allah?
  • What about people who ask you to take an oath all the time?
  • What about making an oath in divorce e.g. “if such and such happens then I’m divorced”?

Next week: No lesson at Alhuda, we encourage everyone to attend the CARDIFF CONFERENCE

Comments

Leave a Reply