The Difference Between Shirk in Worship and Shirk in Belief

Question:
The questioner, our sister from the Arab Republic of Egypt, included a question on creed among her questions. She mentions the Shaykh’s eminence and asks: Is there a difference between shirk in belief and shirk in worship, and what is shirk and what are its types?

Answer:
Shirk in belief is shirk in worship, but belief may be in the heart, and shirk in worship may be by introducing a religious innovation, meaning: a form of worship by which one worships other than Allah. So belief, for example, is believing in the people of the graves, or in the prophets, or in others, that they control the universe, and that they know the unseen. This is an innovation in belief, and this is major shirk, major disbelief. One may also do what is major disbelief, but not of this same type; rather, he calls upon the dead, seeks aid from them, prostrates to them, or slaughters for them. This is also major disbelief and major shirk; we ask Allah for safety.
Likewise, believing that the dead person knows the unseen, or that he cures illness even if he is not called upon. If one believes that so-and-so knows the unseen, whether alive or dead, or that the prophets know the unseen, or that so-and-so knows the unseen, or so-and-so, or that he cures the sick, or the like of that, this is major disbelief; we ask Allah for safety.

The presenter: May Allah reward you, O Shaykh.