"He Has Succeeded, by His Father" and Swearing by Other Than Allah«أفلح وأبيه» والحلف بغير الله

Questioner: (audio unclear) al-Bukhari (audio unclear) "He has succeeded, by his father" (audio unclear) the tashahhud ten times after the salam of the prayer — the tashahhud ten times.

[The question also asked about saying the tashahhud ten times after the prayer; the Shaykh's answer to that part is in The Authentic Forms of the Remembrance After the Prayer.]

First, the wording "He has succeeded, by his father, if he is truthful" (aflaha wa abihi in sadaqa) has been declared defective by more than one of the hadith masters (huffaz); it is the anomalous (shadhdh) [wording], not preserved. But its anomaly does not mean it is anomalous in all the hadiths. Rather, Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, may Allah have mercy on him, (audio unclear) in al-Tamhid that it is anomalous. And some of them said it is a scribal corruption (musahhafah), because the early ones did not use dots: if you wrote "wallahi" [by Allah] without dots, it resembles "wa abihi" [by his father]. Some of them said: "He has succeeded, by Allah, if he is truthful," and more than one of the scholars stated this with certainty. In any case, in most of the hadiths it is not present, and this is what led al-Bukhari to leave it out; more than one of the hadith masters declared it defective.

In any case, even if it were authentic, there is no indication in it that swearing by other than Allah is permissible, because the evidences of prohibition are decisive and clear. In the two Sahihs, the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever says, 'By al-Lat and al-'Uzza,' let him say: there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah." This is evidence that swearing by other than Allah is a grave sin. And some of the scholars took from this hadith that it is shirk; had it not been shirk, the Prophet would not have said, "let him say: there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah." The proof is that at the end [of the same hadith]: "Whoever says to his companion, 'Come, [let me gamble with you],' let him give charity." So the Prophet ﷺ distinguished between [that] sin and swearing by other than Allah; he distinguished between swearing by other than Allah and gambling. For gambling he said, "let him give charity" — though there is also disagreement over the authenticity of [this] addition, since some declared it defective as anomalous too. As for the one who says, "By al-Lat and al-'Uzza," or swears by the false deities (tawaghit), the Prophet commanded him to say: there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.

Among those who said it is shirk, some said it is also major shirk, and some said it is minor shirk. The correct view is to make a distinction: swearing by other than Allah may be major shirk, and it may be minor shirk. Whoever intends veneration by his oath — as is found among some of the polytheists: you say to him, "Swear by Allah," and he swears by Allah lying and does not care; and when you say — when he is ordered to swear by al-Badawi — he does not swear by al-Badawi lying, nor does he swear falsely by those he venerates. So this al-Badawi is greater in his breast than Allah: he does not care about swearing by Allah lying, but he cannot bring himself to swear by al-Badawi lying. This kind is major shirk, and this is the shirk of veneration.

But if it is a word running on the tongue, this is counted as minor shirk. And this is the default: the default in [swearing by] other than Allah is that it is minor shirk. We treat matters according to their defaults until an indication comes that the intended [meaning] is major shirk.

Likewise, many hadiths have come with this meaning. In Abu Dawud: "Whoever swears by trustworthiness (al-amanah) is not of us." Some people swear by their father and mother; others swear by trustworthiness; others swear by the Prophet; others swear by 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani; others swear by Zaynab; others swear by Fatimah. All of this is a kind of the kinds of shirk.

Among the evidences for this as well, it came in [the narration of] Imam Ahmad — though there is criticism in the chains — and in al-Nasa'i too, that Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas swore by al-Lat and al-'Uzza. Some of the Companions said to him, "You have disbelieved." He said, "I have not disbelieved, and I will go to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ." When he came to him, he said: "Say: there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah." He commanded him to say it three times, commanded him to spit lightly to his left three times, to seek refuge with Allah three times, and not to return to this. Imam Ahmad related this, and [al-Nasa'i]. This is evidence that this is a grave sin.

As for what came in His statement, majestic and exalted is He, "By the Mount," "By time," and the like: Allah, majestic and exalted is He, swears by whatever He wills of His creation. As for the created being, he does not swear except by Allah, majestic and exalted is He. Usually a created being does not swear by a created being except out of veneration for that created being — otherwise why would he swear by it? Had it not had dignity and greatness in his heart, he would not have sworn by it. The oath is only for Allah; the oath is not binding except by Allah, and the oath (yamin) is not binding except by Allah. So whoever swears by other than Allah, his oath is not binding at all.

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