When Swearing by Other Than Allah Is Major Shirk متى يكون الحلف بغير الله شركًا أكبر

[A follow-up to the previous night's answer in "He Has Succeeded, by His Father" and Swearing by Other Than Allah, from the 17th Open Session.]

Questioner: If (audio unclear), I mean, [other than] Allah, mighty and majestic is He, and the one sworn by is among those worshipped besides Allah — is this an indication that it is...

The brother says: if swearing is widespread in a land where they worship other than Allah, and the one sworn by is among those worshipped besides Allah in this land. Then yes, this is an indication that they swear by it out of veneration. But these people — do they worship other than Allah in the first place, or are they monotheists in general? (audio unclear) And he may in the first place be a polytheist through [worship of] the object of worship, so the swearing would be (audio unclear) less than what he [already] does.

But this [answers] the point you raised: if the man is among the monotheists in general but has [the practice of] swearing by other than Allah, then in this case he has committed minor shirk — [unless] an indication shows, as we explained yesterday, that he intends veneration: such that he swears by the emphatic things — when he wants to emphasise a matter he swears by the dead person, and when he wants to make light of a matter he swears by Allah; when he [wants] to swear truthfully he swears by the dead person, and when he wants to swear lying he swears by Allah. This is an indication that this is major shirk, and this is the shirk of veneration — as Ibn [al-Qayyim], may Allah exalted have mercy on him, said in Madarij al-Salikin. He said: (audio unclear) major shirk, and it may be major shirk. He says that swearing by other than [Allah] is minor shirk, and it may be major shirk if it is joined with veneration. Here it is clear, if this indication is found.

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