What is the difference between shirk (associating partners with Allah) and kufr (disbelief), and is every kufr shirk?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the difference between shirk (associating partners with Allah) and kufr (disbelief)? And is every kufr considered shirk?
Answer:
Kufr is broader. One may be a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), or one may be a kafir (disbeliever) who denies the Creator, an atheist who does not acknowledge the Creator. As for the mushrik, he acknowledges the Creator and affirms tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), but he commits shirk in tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship). As for the kafir, he does not affirm this or that. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, what is the difference between shirk (associating partners with Allah) and kufr (disbelief)? And is every kufr considered shirk?
Answer:
Kufr is broader. One may be a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), or one may be a kafir (disbeliever) who denies the Creator, an atheist who does not acknowledge the Creator. As for the mushrik, he acknowledges the Creator and affirms tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), but he commits shirk in tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship). As for the kafir, he does not affirm this or that. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [678 -939] ما الفرق بين الشرك والكفر، وهل كل كفر شرك؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.