Does the saying: "Disbelief that is not disbelief" apply to shirk (associating partners with Allah) as well; so that there is "shirk that is not shirk"; shirk that takes one out of the religion of Islam?

The questioner : The saying: "Disbelief that is not disbelief," does it apply to shirk (associating partners with Allah) as well; that there is the phrase: "shirk that is not shirk"; shirk that takes one out of the religion of Islam, and shirk that does not take one out of the religion of Islam? And when is it creedal shirk? And when is it practical shirk?

The Shaykh : ... The issue is one; whether we say creedal disbelief or intellectual disbelief, or we say creedal shirk or we say practical shirk; it is necessary that the shirk which takes its owner out of the religion be accompanied by the belief in what contradicts the Book and the Sunnah. The examples from the Sunnah which clarify to us such realities and make them clear are many. For example, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) heard 'Umar ibn al-Khattab swearing by his father, he said: . 'Umar said: "So I did not swear by anyone other than Allah, neither intentionally nor inadvertently"; meaning, even in the way of narration, he did not mention that so-and-so said: "By my father," and he did not transmit that. This is from his piety and scrupulousness (may Allah be pleased with him).
The point is: When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) heard 'Umar swearing by his father, he did not declare him a disbeliever, and he did not take him out of his religion. And it must be known that among the implications of taking a Muslim out of his religion is the separation between him and his wife. It is not just a word we say: "By Allah, this is disbelief and he has apostatized from his religion," and everything remains as it is. This has implications, among which is that if he is married, the Shari'ah separates him from his wife until he repents and returns from his shirk and disbelief to correct faith. Likewise, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was delivering a sermon one day, a man stood up to say to him: "What Allah wills and what you will, O Messenger of Allah." He said: . So we find here that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not go beyond severe disapproval of this one who said to him: "What Allah wills and what you will," but he did not establish the implications that would follow if that person had associated partners with Allah in the sense of having apostatized from his religion. Rather, he was content with clarifying to him that this is shirk.
More creative than this, and further from being such shirk of apostasy, is that a man from the Companions saw in a dream as if he was walking in some alleys of Madinah, so he met a man from the Jews. The Muslim said to the Jew: "You are a good people, O Jews, if only you did not associate partners with Allah; for you say: 'Uzair is the son of Allah." The Jew countered him and said to the Muslim: "And you are a good people, O Muslims, if only you did not associate partners with Allah; for you say: What Allah wills and what Muhammad wills." Then he continued in his dream walking until he met a man from the Christians. He said to him: "You are a good people, O Christians, if only you did not associate partners with Allah; for you say: 'Isa is the son of Allah." That Christian said to the Muslim: "And you are a good people, O Muslims, if only you did not associate partners with Allah; for you say: What Allah wills and what Muhammad wills." When morning came, he went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and related the dream to him, and he said: . He said: No. The Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) stood up as an orator among them, then said: . And in a narration of this hadith or the one before it: . The principle is to say: "What Allah alone wills," this is better than shirk. If it is necessary to mention Muhammad, he is mentioned with the letter "thumma" (then); because it indicates the lowest rank. As for the "waw" (and), it indicates shirk. Therefore, the Messenger (peace be upon him) disapproved of that one who addressed him directly with the words: "What Allah wills and what you will," and he also disapproved of what the dream indicated, namely that the Companions sometimes say: "What Allah wills and what Muhammad wills."
The point of citation in this hadith is clearer than the citation with the previous hadith before it; that is, if this saying had been shirk of apostasy, the Messenger (peace be upon him) would not have been silent about it for the width of a hair or for one moment; because, as you all know, Allah did not send the messengers, nor did He send down the books, except to establish tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in place of shirk (associating partners with Allah); so there is absolutely no compromise in that. But this type of shirk, since it was practical shirk and not creedal shirk, Allah did not permit the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to warn them about it except when that dreamer saw his dream and related it to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so He warned them about it.
And the reality is that I want to remind you of something that perhaps most people are heedless of; it must be known that there is no difference in Islam between kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating partners with Allah), contrary to what is common and widespread among the scholars of the Muslims, let alone others; that is: it must be known that every kufr is shirk, and every shirk is kufr; so there is no kufr that is not shirk, as some people imagine. Yes, there is kufr that is not shirk linguistically, but legally, every kufr is shirk. And you will find this explicitly in the conversation which Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) related in the Noble Qur'an between the disbeliever who owned the two gardens and his believing companion. So the conversation that took place between them indicates to you explicitly that whoever denies the resurrection (for example) is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), even though this is not said about him in the custom of the scholars that he is a mushrik; because he believes that the Creator of the universe is One, and perhaps he worships Him... One, but he denies the resurrection. So if we imagine a person who believes in all aspects of faith, but he denied something of Islam; the known custom is that by his denial it is kufr. This is kufr without doubt, but he also associated partners with Allah. The secret in this, or before that, perhaps we should remind you of the verses mentioned in the surah mentioned; where Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: . This, in the prevailing custom, is shirk or kufr? Say; is this in the prevailing custom shirk or kufr?

The questioner : Disbelief.

The Shaykh: Kufr; why? Because he denied the resurrection and the rising and the Day of Judgment, .
Meaning: I do not associate with my Lord anyone as you associated; where is the shirk? I will explain it to you. Then we continue with the verses: . So this man who denied the resurrection and the Day of Judgment admitted himself that he associated with his Lord, and his believing companion testified to that. But he said: "My Lord is Allah, and I do not associate with my Lord anyone as you did yesterday." Where is the shirk in the case? The shirk lies in the fact that everyone who denies what came in the Shari'ah has taken his mind as his god, and he judges by it in everything he affirms or denies. So from here comes the shirk for everyone who disbelieves. Therefore, the previous question remains, even if we answered it in accordance with the prevailing custom; the question remains formal and superficial; meaning, is there also in shirk creedal shirk and practical shirk? This is a formal question; because there is no difference in the Shari'ah between shirk and kufr, so every mushrik is a kafir, and every kafir is a mushrik. But it is necessary to distinguish between what has settled in the heart of its owner, so he is an apostate from his religion, and the rulings of apostasy apply to him, and what has settled in his heart is faith, but he mixes this faith with some matters, so he disobeys Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
And were it not for this distinction, no Muslim would be safe from disbelief if disbelief were a single, undifferentiated category. Why? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; that is, it is in the nature of man that he sins. If he has sinned and thereby committed disbelief, the situation is problematic. And if someone comes forward with a distinction, any distinction he brings is rejected. If he says, “We declare disbelief upon whoever the term ‘disbeliever’ is applied to,” I do not think he can maintain that consistently. This is one of many examples. Fighting a Muslim is disbelief. One does not say, “The Muslims unanimously agreed, following the opinion of Ibn ‘Abbas, which he held alone and then retracted, that the believer who kills is a disbeliever with no repentance for him.” Rather, the Muslims are in agreement that the ruling for the killer is left to Allah; if He wills, He will punish him, and if He wills, He will forgive him. This is also explicit in the Noble Qur’an in the well-known verse: .
Look now at how the texts of the Shari’ah interact once they are understood correctly. ; if we distinguish between disbelief and shirk, there is today in Europe a religion they call “natural religion.” That is, these people do not believe in the Books or the Messengers, but their studies and research have led them to believe that this universe has one Creator with no partner. However, they do not believe in everything that came in our Shari’ah specifically. Does Allah forgive these people? If the verse is interpreted as: , it is possible that Allah forgives such people because they are not mushrikin (associating partners with Allah), since they believe in Allah as One with no partner. I actually saw one of the great Egyptian scholars cite this verse as evidence that it is permissible that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) does not punish these disbelievers who believed in the existence of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), because they are not mushrikin! This came about due to the distinction between shirk and disbelief. But if we understand that shirk is disbelief, and that disbelief is shirk, then the verse becomes clear in its indication that whoever disbelieves—we do not now use the word “shirk”—whoever disbelieves in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in any type of creedal disbelief, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) does not forgive it. ; that is, whatever is less than that major disbelief after which there is no other disbelief, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) forgives it.