Explanation of the author's statement: Ibn 'Abbas said regarding the verse: "Al-Andad is shirk (associating partners with Allah), more hidden than the crawling of ants on a black rock in the darkness of the night."
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The Shaykh :"Ibn 'Abbas said regarding the verse", meaning in its interpretation, "Al-Andad is shirk". This is an interpretation by the intended meaning, not by the literal meaning, because interpretation is of two types: interpretation by the intended meaning, and interpretation by the meaning of the words, which is called interpreting the words. "Al-Andad is shirk." Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) knows that al-Andad is the plural of Nadd, and that Nadd in the language means the like or the equal. But he interpreted it by the intended meaning. So now we have two aspects of interpretation: one is the literal interpretation, which is the interpretation of the words, and for this one says "the meaning is such and such." The second is interpretation by the intended meaning, and for this one says "the intended meaning of such and such is such and such." The latter is what is intended...
He said (may Allah be pleased with him): "It is shirk". These are the al-Andad. So the Nadd is the partner who shares with Allah the Exalted in what is specific to Him and in what is due to Him.
"More hidden than the crawling of ants on a black rock in the darkness of the night". More hidden than the crawling. The intended meaning of "crawling" here is not the action of the ants, but the trace of the ants, the trace of their crawling. Because if we want to use "crawling" to describe something hidden, we do not find it... The crawling of ants on... is more apparent than their crawling on soil.
The student: Except
The Shaykh : Except, if we want "crawling" to mean the sound of their feet striking, then what is the intended meaning?
The student: The trace.
The Shaykh : The trace. The trace. More hidden than the crawling of ants means, for example, now you see... you say this is the crawling of ants, meaning the trace of its crawling on the black rock. Who sees it?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : In the darkness of the night. For this reason, they ask: what is more hidden than this? First: the crawling of ants, is it the trace of the small ones or the large ones? The hoof print of a camel? Or nothing? Second: on a rock, not on soil, so it is more hidden. Third: the rock is black. If it were on a white one, the whiteness might be stained by the frequency of its passage. Fourth: in the darkness of the night. This is the most eloquent description of hiddenness. If shirk in the hearts of the children of Adam is more hidden than this, we ask Allah to help us to rid ourselves of it. For this reason, some of the Salaf said: "I have not treated my soul with the treatment required for sincerity". It is narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that when he said something like this, they said: O Messenger of Allah, how do we rid ourselves of it? He said: Say. Because in reality, this matter of shirk is hidden, very, very hidden to the extreme. And we always ask Allah to rectify our hearts and your hearts. We always say that a person must take care to rectify his heart. Perhaps there is in it a trace of shirk, like the shirk of the polytheists, a trace of the Jews in envy, a trace of the hypocrites in malice and hatred, and so on. So he must purify his heart. He should always be like the owner of a tree who always has a sickle in his hand, cutting off these bad branches, so that his heart remains pure. And Allah is the One to be asked for help.
So notice this description from Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father). You will find that it is what? The most hidden thing, nothing is more hidden than it. He says: "And it is when you say: 'By Allah and by your life, O so-and-so, and by my life'". "By Allah and by your life, O so-and-so." This combines two types of shirk. The first: swearing by other than Allah, "by your life." The second: associating with Allah by saying "by Allah and by your life," making the oath by the life of the one addressed like the oath by Allah, like saying: "What Allah willed and what you willed." So in it are two types of shirk. What are they? Swearing by other than Allah, and this alone is shirk. If he said "by your life," it is shirk. The second: adding it to Allah with what? With the conjunction "wa" (and) which implies equality. So in this phrase are two types of shirk. Like saying: "Fear Allah and by your life, O so-and-so, and by your life, O my master, I did not do such and such." This is shirk. Is it major or minor? It depends on what is in the heart of the one swearing...
For this reason, the question arises: Is it permissible for this man to swear by the wali (close friend of Allah) whom he reveres? Because if I make him swear and I am demanding he swear by Allah, he will swear... He has a million riyals and he concealed them and denied them. I have no witnesses, or I have a document and it was lost. We appeared before the judge, and the judge said to the plaintiff: Do you have evidence? He said: I have no evidence. What applies? The oath is on the defendant. He said to him: Do you swear by Allah that you have nothing for him? He said: Yes. How much do you want of an oath? I swear by Allah and I will give you. By Allah, the Most High, the Magnificent... The One, the Subduer, I have nothing for him. He said to him: Do you swear by the wali so-and-so whom you revere? He said: No. If it becomes in my stomach, he says no. Do we make him swear here to extract the truth from him, or do we not make him swear? Because if we made him swear, we would be affirming shirk?
The student: We do not make him swear.
The Shaykh : Yes, we do not make him swear. Because if we made him swear by other than Allah, we would be affirming shirk and reaching something permissible by a forbidden means. So we make him swear by Allah. And if he swears by Allah falsely, he will find his punishment.
The student: ... He swears by the wali, and if we see he returns to the oath, we know he is the doer. And if he comes to swear, do we not let him swear?
The Shaykh : No, we do not say this. Because if we say "swear so that we may test him," and if he hesitates to swear, we judge against him, it means we directed at him a request for shirk. So the origin of this request is forbidden. Or yes, someone might say: we direct the oath at him and see. If he wants to swear, we know he is truthful and we say: "All right, swear by Allah." And if he is at a loss, we know he is lying and we judge against him. But it appears that it is not permissible even in this case, because merely directing the oath by other than Allah or requesting the oath by other than Allah for this person is an affirmation of shirk. And if your right is lost, you will receive it on the Day of Resurrection.
The student: If it becomes clear after he said to him "swear by other than Allah"... he said "swearing by other than Allah is such and such"?
The Shaykh : No, no, absolutely not. Merely affirming it is not permissible.
All right. "And by my life." "And by my life," what... meaning, now you say "by my life." What is the ruling on swearing by other than Allah? If he believes that the one sworn by is in the position of Allah in greatness... otherwise it is minor shirk.
He said (may Allah be pleased with him): "It is shirk". These are the al-Andad. So the Nadd is the partner who shares with Allah the Exalted in what is specific to Him and in what is due to Him.
"More hidden than the crawling of ants on a black rock in the darkness of the night". More hidden than the crawling. The intended meaning of "crawling" here is not the action of the ants, but the trace of the ants, the trace of their crawling. Because if we want to use "crawling" to describe something hidden, we do not find it... The crawling of ants on... is more apparent than their crawling on soil.
The student: Except
The Shaykh : Except, if we want "crawling" to mean the sound of their feet striking, then what is the intended meaning?
The student: The trace.
The Shaykh : The trace. The trace. More hidden than the crawling of ants means, for example, now you see... you say this is the crawling of ants, meaning the trace of its crawling on the black rock. Who sees it?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : In the darkness of the night. For this reason, they ask: what is more hidden than this? First: the crawling of ants, is it the trace of the small ones or the large ones? The hoof print of a camel? Or nothing? Second: on a rock, not on soil, so it is more hidden. Third: the rock is black. If it were on a white one, the whiteness might be stained by the frequency of its passage. Fourth: in the darkness of the night. This is the most eloquent description of hiddenness. If shirk in the hearts of the children of Adam is more hidden than this, we ask Allah to help us to rid ourselves of it. For this reason, some of the Salaf said: "I have not treated my soul with the treatment required for sincerity". It is narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that when he said something like this, they said: O Messenger of Allah, how do we rid ourselves of it? He said: Say
O Allah, we seek refuge in You that we associate partners with You while we know, and we seek Your forgiveness for what we do not know.
اللهم إنا نعوذ بك أن نشرك بك ونحن نعلم ونستغفرك لما لا نعلمSo notice this description from Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father). You will find that it is what? The most hidden thing, nothing is more hidden than it. He says: "And it is when you say: 'By Allah and by your life, O so-and-so, and by my life'". "By Allah and by your life, O so-and-so." This combines two types of shirk. The first: swearing by other than Allah, "by your life." The second: associating with Allah by saying "by Allah and by your life," making the oath by the life of the one addressed like the oath by Allah, like saying: "What Allah willed and what you willed." So in it are two types of shirk. What are they? Swearing by other than Allah, and this alone is shirk. If he said "by your life," it is shirk. The second: adding it to Allah with what? With the conjunction "wa" (and) which implies equality. So in this phrase are two types of shirk. Like saying: "Fear Allah and by your life, O so-and-so, and by your life, O my master, I did not do such and such." This is shirk. Is it major or minor? It depends on what is in the heart of the one swearing...
For this reason, the question arises: Is it permissible for this man to swear by the wali (close friend of Allah) whom he reveres? Because if I make him swear and I am demanding he swear by Allah, he will swear... He has a million riyals and he concealed them and denied them. I have no witnesses, or I have a document and it was lost. We appeared before the judge, and the judge said to the plaintiff: Do you have evidence? He said: I have no evidence. What applies? The oath is on the defendant. He said to him: Do you swear by Allah that you have nothing for him? He said: Yes. How much do you want of an oath? I swear by Allah and I will give you. By Allah, the Most High, the Magnificent... The One, the Subduer, I have nothing for him. He said to him: Do you swear by the wali so-and-so whom you revere? He said: No. If it becomes in my stomach, he says no. Do we make him swear here to extract the truth from him, or do we not make him swear? Because if we made him swear, we would be affirming shirk?
The student: We do not make him swear.
The Shaykh : Yes, we do not make him swear. Because if we made him swear by other than Allah, we would be affirming shirk and reaching something permissible by a forbidden means. So we make him swear by Allah. And if he swears by Allah falsely, he will find his punishment.
The student: ... He swears by the wali, and if we see he returns to the oath, we know he is the doer. And if he comes to swear, do we not let him swear?
The Shaykh : No, we do not say this. Because if we say "swear so that we may test him," and if he hesitates to swear, we judge against him, it means we directed at him a request for shirk. So the origin of this request is forbidden. Or yes, someone might say: we direct the oath at him and see. If he wants to swear, we know he is truthful and we say: "All right, swear by Allah." And if he is at a loss, we know he is lying and we judge against him. But it appears that it is not permissible even in this case, because merely directing the oath by other than Allah or requesting the oath by other than Allah for this person is an affirmation of shirk. And if your right is lost, you will receive it on the Day of Resurrection.
The student: If it becomes clear after he said to him "swear by other than Allah"... he said "swearing by other than Allah is such and such"?
The Shaykh : No, no, absolutely not. Merely affirming it is not permissible.
All right. "And by my life." "And by my life," what... meaning, now you say "by my life." What is the ruling on swearing by other than Allah? If he believes that the one sworn by is in the position of Allah in greatness... otherwise it is minor shirk.