Combining the Belief of the Polytheists in the Benefit and Intercession of Their Objects of Worship
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, he says: In a previous lesson, you mentioned that the polytheists believe that their objects of worship benefit them and harm them, but the verses indicate that they believe they bring them closer to Allah and that they intercede for them, as Allah the Exalted said about them:[Yunus 10:18] and He said: [Az-Zumar 39:3] So what is the way to reconcile these two?
The Shaykh:
They say that they benefit them through intercession, or rather, they benefit them by bringing them closer to Allah. And they harm them in such a way that if they do not invoke them and they do not look favorably upon them, they will kill their child or afflict them with illness. Or they stand up against those other than them. The idols and the guests—they believe in them. If they did not believe in them, they would not worship them.
The questioner:
If one believes that they benefit and harm by their own essence, that would be shirk (associating partners with Allah) in lordship.
The Shaykh:
It is shirk in any case: shirk in worship, which includes supplication and calling for aid, and shirk in lordship if one believes that they have the power to act.
The presenter:
Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, he says: In a previous lesson, you mentioned that the polytheists believe that their objects of worship benefit them and harm them, but the verses indicate that they believe they bring them closer to Allah and that they intercede for them, as Allah the Exalted said about them:
These are our intercessors with Allah
هَٰؤُلَاءِ شُفَعَاؤُنَا عِندَ اللَّهِAnd those who take protectors besides Him [say], "We only worship them that they may bring us nearer to Allah in position."
وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّهِ زُلْفَىٰThe Shaykh:
They say that they benefit them through intercession, or rather, they benefit them by bringing them closer to Allah. And they harm them in such a way that if they do not invoke them and they do not look favorably upon them, they will kill their child or afflict them with illness. Or they stand up against those other than them. The idols and the guests—they believe in them. If they did not believe in them, they would not worship them.
The questioner:
If one believes that they benefit and harm by their own essence, that would be shirk (associating partners with Allah) in lordship.
The Shaykh:
It is shirk in any case: shirk in worship, which includes supplication and calling for aid, and shirk in lordship if one believes that they have the power to act.
The presenter:
Yes.
Source
شرح الكافية الشافية في الانتصار للفرقة الناجية [ القصيدة النونية ] [ صالح الفوزان ]، فصل : في بيان الاستغناء بالوحي المنزل من السماء عن تقليد الرجال والآراء — islamhouse.com (1:04:38)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.