He spoke about the difference between the mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) and the kafir (disbeliever).

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The questioner : Is it permissible that not every one of the People of the Book is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah)?

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : Is it permissible that not every one of the People of the Book is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah)?

The Shaykh : It is permissible, but according to the correct Islamic terminology, everyone who disbelieves in Allah is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). Do not forget this; it is a lecture we have delivered perhaps more than once. Do you remember this? Every kafir (disbeliever) is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), even if he is not a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) linguistically. Abu Abdullah, is this statement clear to you?
The questioner: If Allah wills.

The Shaykh : Did you hear the word in this?
Abu Abdullah: No, I did not hear it.

The Shaykh : If it is not clear to you, meaning it is just floating around, that means the issue requires research. Now, you know that there is the school of the naturalists who believe that this Creator of this universe has a Creator. Necessity led them to believe that this universe has a Creator. If a Muslim, without going far with examples, testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and prays and fasts, if Allah wills, but he says, "I did not like this verse," this is kufr (disbelief). Is there any doubt?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : Yes, but he associated partners with Allah; you have no news of that. That it is kufr (disbelief) is beyond doubt, but that he associated partners with Allah requires clarification and explanation. Linguistically, shirk (associating partners with Allah) is more specific than kufr (disbelief), so every mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) is a kafir (disbeliever), but not every kafir (disbeliever) is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). The one who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that none deserves worship except Him is a monotheist and not a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah), and he believes in everything that came from Allah, but he says, "I did not like such-and-such a verse," or "I did not like the Prophetic hadith." Linguistically, this is kufr (disbelief), but he did not associate partners with Allah. However, legally (shar'ah), he has also associated partners with Allah. What is the reason?

Have you seen the one who took his desire as his god?

أفرأيت من اتخذ إلهه هواه

Here, there is shirk (associating partners with Allah) because he made his desire his god. He says, "There is no god but Allah," but in reality, he made a god alongside Allah. It is not necessary that the god he follows be Pharaoh, or al-Lat, or al-Manat, or so on. It is sufficient that his god is his desire. From here, the Shar'ah makes every one who disbelieves a disbeliever, not a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah). And here is the explicit text in the Noble Qur'an: the story of the believer and the atheist who denied the resurrection and the Hereafter in Surat al-Kahf.

⁽³²⁾ And present to them an example of two men: We granted to one of them two gardens of grapevines, and We bordered them with palm trees and placed between them [fields of] crops. ⁽³³⁾ Each of the two gardens produced its fruit and did not fall short thereof in anything. And We caused to gush forth within them a river. ⁽³⁴⁾ And he had fruit, so he said to his companion while he was conversing with him, "I am greater than you in wealth and mightier in [numbers of] men." ⁽³⁵⁾ And he entered his garden while he was unjust to himself. He said, "I do not think that this will perish - ever.

و اضرب لهم مثلا رجلين جعلنا لأحدهما جنتين من أعناب و حففناهما بنخل و جعلنا بينهما زرعا كلتا الجنتين آتت أكلها و لم تظلم منه شيئا و فجرنا خلالهما نهرا وكان له ثمر فقال لصاحبه و هو يحاوره أنا أكثر منك مالا و أعزّ نفرا و دخل جنته و هو ظالم لنفسه قال ما أظن أن تبيد هذه أبدا

[Al-Kahf 18:32-35]

Did he disbelieve or not? He disbelieved. But notice now that our Lord will judge him as having associated partners with Allah. He said:

He said, "I do not think that this will perish - ever. ⁽³⁶⁾ And I do not think the Hour will occur. And even if I should be brought back to my Lord, I will surely find better than this as a return." ⁽³⁷⁾ His companion said to him while he was conversing with him, "Have you disbelieved in He who created you from dust and then from a sperm-drop and then proportioned you [as] a man? ⁽³⁸⁾ But as for me, He is Allah, my Lord, and I do not associate with my Lord anyone.

ما أظن أن تبيد هذه أبدا و ما أظن الساعة قائمة و لئن رددت إلى ربّي لأجدنّ خيرا منها منقلبا قال له صاحبه و هو يحاوره أكفرت بالذي خلقك من تراب ثم من نطفة ثم سواك رجلا لكن هو الله ربي و لا أشرك بربي أحدا

[Al-Kahf 18:35-38]

Why is he saying, "And I did not associate with my Lord anyone"? Because he considered him a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) when he said:

I do not think that this will perish - ever. ⁽³⁶⁾ And I do not think the Hour will occur.

ما أظن أن تبيد هذه أبدا و ما أظن الساعة قائمة

[Al-Kahf 18:35-36]

What did he say?

and I do not associate with my Lord anyone.

ولا أشرك بربي أحدا

[Al-Kahf 18:38]

⁽³⁹⁾ And why did you, when you entered your garden, not say, 'What Allah willed [has occurred]; there is no power except in Allah '? Although you see me less than you in wealth and children, ⁽⁴⁰⁾ It may be that my Lord will give me [something] better than your garden and will send upon it a calamity from the sky, and it will become a smooth, dusty ground, ⁽⁴¹⁾ Or its water will become sunken [into the earth], so you would never be able to seek it." ⁽⁴²⁾ And his fruits were encompassed [by ruin], so he began to turn his hands

و لولا إذ دخلت جنتك قلت ما شاء الله لا قوة إلا بالله إن ترن أنا أقل منك مالا و ولدا فعسى ربي أن يؤتيني خيرا من جنتك و يرسل عليها حسبانا من السماء فتصبح صعيدا زلقا أو يصبح ماؤها غورا فلن تستطيع له طلبا وأحيط بثمره فأصبح يقلّب كفّيه

[Al-Kahf 18:39-42]

Regretting

over what he had spent on it, while it had collapsed upon its trellises, and said, "Oh, I wish I had not associated with my Lord anyone."

على ما أنفق فيها و هي خاوية على عروشها و يقول يا ليتني لم أشرك بربي أحدا

[Al-Kahf 18:42]

So what was his shirk (associating partners with Allah)? His doubt regarding the resurrection and the Hereafter. So the Shar'ah, and I presented the reasoning earlier, considers every kufr (disbelief) to be shirk (associating partners with Allah). Thus, the People of the Book are mushrikin (those who associate partners with Allah), even if there are monotheists who believe that 'Isa (Jesus) is not the son of Allah; he is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) because he did not believe in Allah and His Messenger. Is that clear, I think?

The questioner : ... because he is a kafir (disbeliever).

The Shaykh : That is it. So every kafir (disbeliever) is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah).

Source www.al-albany.com

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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