Examples of shirk in worship: swearing by other than Allah.

The Shaykh : From this, as you know, came many hadiths in which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade the Muslim from swearing by other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic). He made this explicit in a large portion of them, saying: ; that is, this is a type of shirk. ; that is, this is a type of shirk. One who does not know these details we are in the process of explaining does not know the true meaning of this hadith and its like: ; that is, he associated [others] in the worship of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is because swearing, in its essence, is a form of exalting the thing by which one swears. This is a custom prevalent among all of humanity; every nation has its own object of swearing, and that object is held in high esteem by them. For the Muslim, the most exalted one by whom to swear is Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , . Why? Because swearing by Allah is an act of worship, for you mention your Lord on the occasion of speech, and your intention is to affirm that speech, so you swear by your Lord whom you worship and no one else. Therefore, we find that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), who was the first person to realize the meaning of servitude in its most complete forms on earth, would swear by Allah in the midst of his speech, without being made to swear and without being compelled to swear by Allah (Mighty and Majestic). He would say: in many hadiths, beginning them with such phrases as to the end of the hadith. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) would swear by Allah because this swearing is part of exalting Allah (Mighty and Majestic). If the one who swears turns away from swearing by Allah to swearing by other than Him, that means he has exalted the thing by which he swears other than Allah, just as he exalts Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) when he swears by Him. It is as if he worshipped, or rather, exalted other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic) when he swore by this other thing. For this reason, the other hadith came: ; that is, he associated this object of swearing with Allah in exalting it. This is something that a Muslim should not fall into; this is a type of shirk that is related to shirk in servitude. So you, O Muslim, must worship Allah by swearing by Him sincerely. Do not think, as the common people think, that swearing by Allah sincerely is not permissible. Some may even assume that this is the meaning of the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): No, this is not the meaning of the verse. The meaning of the verse is fully explained by [the command] to be righteous and just. Do not make Allah a barrier for your oaths [to prevent you] from being righteous and just. That is, let no one of you... Yes.
The student : Excuse me.

The Shaykh : How ? Good, you have done well. This verse means: do not make your swearing by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) a barrier, that is, an obstacle and a preventer, for you from being righteous, from doing the deeds of righteousness and good, and from fearing Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His obedience as He has commanded you. This verse has an occasion of revelation that confirms this meaning. Swearing by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sincerely is an act of worship, but you must swear while exalting Him (Blessed and Exalted is He). If you turn away from this swearing to swearing by other than Allah, you have fallen into the prohibited thing from which the Messenger explicitly warned you in his saying: .