The Shaykh’s explanation of the meaning of his saying (peace be upon him): “Whoever swears by other than Allah has committed shirk (associating partners with Allah),” and his clarification that this falls under the general meaning of His saying: “So do not set up rivals for Allah”

The Shaykh : From this, the secret behind his saying in some narrations becomes apparent: , and what is shirk?! What comes to the mind of many people is that whoever swears by other than Allah has committed shirk. The shirk here is that this person who exalts the thing he swears by, from his heart and with intention, has raised it to the rank of a Lord, and has entered into the general address of the Lord of the Worlds when He said to the polytheists: . Also, many people misunderstand this verse. The intended meaning of the verse is not: that they create with Allah, provide sustenance with Allah, give life with Allah, and cause death with Allah, meaning they associate with Allah in shirk of lordship. This is not the intended meaning. The Arab polytheists to whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) was sent directly did not associate with Allah in the shirk of some Muslims today. We are coming to you, and some of our brothers tell us about a person who is present now, saying: Why do you ask for rain?! The rain is in my hand. If I wish, I can say to the sky, “Rain,” and it will rain! This is shirk in lordship. The first disbelieving polytheists were not like that, because Allah says explicitly in the Noble Qur’an: . There are many verses with this meaning, all of which establish that the Arab polytheists to whom the Messenger was sent directly believed in the oneness of lordship, but they disbelieved in the oneness of worship, or the oneness of divinity. This is also explicit in the Qur’an when the Lord of Mankind says: , they worship them besides Allah. When they are asked: Why do you worship them besides Allah? They say: . They associated in worship, but they did not associate in lordship. So when a Muslim swears by something other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic), either it is a slip of the tongue, which is practical disbelief, and the Muslim must stop doing it, or it is an act where he sanctifies the thing he swears by from the depths of his heart. In that case, he is an apostate, a disbeliever who has apostatized from his religion, and he is a polytheist who has set up a rival for Allah. And this, unfortunately, exists in some Islamic countries, where one person has a right over another, and he swears by Allah regarding this right, but the other denies it and swears by Allah falsely. So when he is called to swear by such-and-such a wali (close friend of Allah) or such-and-such a grave, he refuses and fears this wali more than he fears the Lord of the Worlds. This is undoubtedly a polytheist.