A word on a form of shirk, which is swearing by other than Allah, such as swearing by the Prophet or by one's fathers.

The Shaykh : Do you not hear many people swearing by their fathers, swearing by their honor, swearing by their masters? All of this is shirk, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say: Where are the Muslims? Where are the monotheists? The Muslims today, in their religion, are most like the Jews and the Christians, whose religion was altered for them, and whose religion became the opposite of the truth of the religion they were upon before. Likewise, many Muslims—and I say many, not all Muslims—because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) preferred this religion over all previous religions by preserving its fundamentals from the Book and from the authentic Sunnah, and conveying them to us through the people of knowledge of hadith and fiqh, who transmitted to us the correct concepts, generation after generation, so that we were saved from going astray as the Jews and Christians went astray. But many Islamic sects, Islamic schools of thought, and individual Muslims have been afflicted with what afflicted the Jews, despite the great difference: in Islam, swearing by other than Allah is forbidden, yet we swear by other than Allah today, especially in Egypt, and in Egypt they swear by their honor, in Palestine, and among some of the inhabitants of Palestine and others, for the land is now inhabited. So they mean, like their tasbih, "by my honor, by my honor," and none of them feels that he is associating partners with Allah, and he does not know. There is no blame in a person being ignorant, because no one is born learned, but the whole blame is in being misguided while ignorant. So this is 'Umar ibn al-Khattab.

The questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh :- And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings - So this is 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), as in Sahih al-Bukhari, where the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) heard him one day swearing by his father, so he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, and this is of their purity and their turning back to their Lord, as Allah the Exalted said in the Noble Qur'an: 'Umar said, after hearing the prohibition of the Messenger from swearing by fathers, "So, by Allah, I did not swear after that by other than Allah, whether mentioning or what?"

The questioner : Or quoting.

The Shaykh : Or quoting. I did not swear after that by other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic), whether mentioning or quoting... mentioning and intending to swear by other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic)... or quoting, meaning transmitting from other than myself, even though the scholars say: "The one who transmits disbelief is not a disbeliever". Nevertheless, 'Umar said, "After I heard the Messenger prohibiting swearing by fathers, I did not swear, neither intending nor quoting." And today, if you prohibit the one who swears by other than Allah, the Shaykh, let alone others, he will say to you, "My brother... and his intention is good." Look at 'Umar and look at these people. 'Umar says, "After I heard the Messenger prohibiting it, no oath by other than Allah came out of my mouth, even if quoting from other than myself." Always, when we see people mentioning real disbelief, such as slaughtering at the place of sacrifice, or verbal disbelief, such as swearing by other than Allah, you find someone defending them by saying their intention is good. What is this good intention if the act is disbelief itself, when it was committed by the polytheists before us? In summary, tawhid (the oneness of Allah) does not benefit its owner unless he understands these three realities: that he makes Allah one in His essence, that he makes Him one in His worship, and that he makes Him one in His attributes. This tawhid is the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no deity but Allah). So whoever neglects one of these three types has not understood "La ilaha illa Allah" and has not believed in "La ilaha illa Allah," and he is among those who will remain in the Fire in the Hereafter. So whoever wishes to be successful, let him make Allah one in tawhid according to what came in the Book and the Sunnah, and he should know what contradicts tawhid from the shirks and idolatries. Today, the preacher stands and says, "By Allah and by the homeland," "By Allah and by the people." Does any of the attendees feel that this preacher has associated partners with Allah? No one, why? Because we have distanced ourselves from knowing our Islam, and when we know it, it becomes a mere matter of knowledge and awareness. And when faith enters their hearts, and to this extent is sufficient for the answer to that question, which took the number three in order, and we have here a fourth question, which we mentioned to you earlier, which is the difference between bid'ah (religious innovation) and sunnah (recommended practice), and the difference between them.

The questioner : To complete the benefit, meaning, if you spoke about the tawhid of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in following?

The Shaykh : Okay, let us vary it a bit, meaning... an hour, we dispel a bit of the boredom of some people. Is there anyone with a question about the previous topic?

The questioner : My Shaykh.

The Shaykh : I say, does anyone have a question about the previous topic?