What is the difference between shirk (associating partners with Allah), bid'ah (religious innovation), and ghuluw (exaggeration) in religion?

Question:
One of the brothers asks: What is the difference between shirk (associating partners with Allah), bid'ah (religious innovations), and ghuluw (exaggeration) in religion?

Answer:
Shirk (associating partners with Allah), bid'ah (religious innovations), and ghuluw (exaggeration) in religion. Shirk is also a bid'ah (religious innovation). The polytheists invented it, thinking it was a means of nearness. The polytheists of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance and the polytheists of today consider it obedience. They consider it a bid'ah (religious innovation) through which they draw near to Allah, seeking from it what benefits them, while it actually harms them. It is the greatest of sins; shirk (associating partners with Allah) is the greatest of sins. It is calling upon other than Allah, seeking aid from the dead, or from trees and stones, or from stars. They call upon them, seek aid from them, seek help from them, ask them for healing, the return of the lost, and victory over enemies. Whether it is a dead person, a tree, a stone, an idol, a star, the sun, the moon, or something else, this is shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah the Exalted. So the one who calls upon Allah, He said, "Do not associate partners with Me," and we ask Allah for safety. Even if he thinks it is a means of nearness, even if he thinks it is religion, and that it benefits him with Allah, he is ignorant. The first polytheists thought it was a means of nearness. They drew near to Allah the Glorious and Exalted, saying, "We do not worship them except to bring us closer to Allah in nearness." So they thought that the greatest of sins was a means of nearness to Allah the Exalted, due to their understanding. And bid'ah (religious innovations) are the establishment of acts of worship that Allah has not legislated. These are bid'ah (religious innovations): inventing verbal, practical, or creedal acts of worship, thinking they are a means of nearness, when they are not part of the religion. These are bid'ah (religious innovations). People invent things in words, deeds, or beliefs, considering them obedience, thinking they are obedience or worship, when they are neither obedience nor worship, but rather what is wrong. For example, building over graves, making mosques over them. Some people consider this a grave of obedience, building a structure with no grave in it, and no grave in its hand, and in Zaynab, between the mats, and the like. This is a bid'ah (religious innovation) that is what is wrong, and one of the causes of shirk (associating partners with Allah). Likewise, building domes over graves and plastering them; all of this is among the bid'ah (religious innovations). Likewise, celebrating the Maghrib prayer, considering it a means of nearness, when it is among the bid'ah (religious innovations) that lead to shirk (associating partners with Allah), and to ghuluw (exaggeration), and to many things that are wrong. And ghuluw (exaggeration) means adding to the religion. This is ghuluw (exaggeration), meaning that adding to the obedience of Allah is called ghuluw (exaggeration). So for example, the one who adds to the wudu' (ablution) what is sufficient for him, such that he must use a sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) in the wudu' (ablution), pouring a lot of water, washing each part of his body five or six times, or more than that, and his legs. This is ghuluw (exaggeration) in the religion. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Beware of ghuluw (exaggeration) in the religion, for only those who exaggerated in the religion were destroyed." And he said, "The exaggerators are destroyed, the exaggerators are destroyed, the exaggerators are destroyed." And he said, "Do not praise me as the Christians praised their Messiah. I am only a servant of Allah." This is a saying of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, narrated by al-Bukhari. So praise is injustice in speech. And if it is said about him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he knows the unseen, or that he is called upon other than Allah, this is ghuluw (exaggeration). This is praise, and it is not permissible. Or if it is said about him (peace and blessings be upon him) that he is not a human, that he is another species other than humans, not from the children of Adam, this is a lie. And the insistence on this is false ghuluw (exaggeration). Allah named him (peace and blessings be upon him) a human. He said, "The Messenger is all of them from humans, all of them from the children of Adam." Likewise, adding to the prayers, such as adding to the prayers. For example, he says, "A fifth or sixth prayer is not enough for me, I need a sixth prayer that is obligatory." People may say to him, "This is misguidance, ghuluw (exaggeration) in the religion." We ask Allah for safety. Or he adds to the adhan (the call to prayer), or to the iqamah (the second call, immediately before prayer), or he says, "Two prostrations are not enough for me. When I bow, I do three prostrations, three prostrations, two prostrations." Likewise, he prays three prostrations in it, or a rak'ah (a unit of prayer) in the air. This is what the one who thinks is adding to what Allah has legislated in the religion. Likewise, he says, "Ramadan is not enough. It must be until another month. He calls people to fast another month. Ramadan is not enough. He must fast with it Rajab, or Rabi', or Safar, or the like." All of this is what the one who thinks is adding to the religion. Yes.