Statement: “If not for him, I would not have worked in this place,” and how to correct it
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A person facilitated my appointment to a job, so I said, “The credit goes to so-and-so; if not for him, I would not have worked in this place.” Is this shirk (associating partners with Allah) and a mistake on my part? And how do I correct this statement after I have said it?
The Shaykh:
Yes, this is a mistake on your part. You attributed your obtaining the job to so-and-so. It was obligatory for you to say, “This was by the grace of Allah, then by the grace of so-and-so.” There are people who come and say, “By the grace of so-and-so’s effort and mediation,” but you must not limit it to that; rather, you attribute the credit to Allah first. So you say, “I obtained the job by the grace of Allah, then by the effort, seeking, and intercession of the young man, and so on.” Yes.
The questioner:
We say, Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
If something of this error has come from you, seek Allah’s forgiveness and do not return to something like this. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A person facilitated my appointment to a job, so I said, “The credit goes to so-and-so; if not for him, I would not have worked in this place.” Is this shirk (associating partners with Allah) and a mistake on my part? And how do I correct this statement after I have said it?
The Shaykh:
Yes, this is a mistake on your part. You attributed your obtaining the job to so-and-so. It was obligatory for you to say, “This was by the grace of Allah, then by the grace of so-and-so.” There are people who come and say, “By the grace of so-and-so’s effort and mediation,” but you must not limit it to that; rather, you attribute the credit to Allah first. So you say, “I obtained the job by the grace of Allah, then by the effort, seeking, and intercession of the young man, and so on.” Yes.
The questioner:
We say, Honorable Shaykh.
The Shaykh:
If something of this error has come from you, seek Allah’s forgiveness and do not return to something like this. Yes.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب قول الله - تعالى - : { يَعْرِفُونَ نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ ثُمَّ يُنْكِرُونَهَا وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ } — islamhouse.com (50:11)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.