Al-Albānī on the Shirk of Certain Expressions

From Ḥudhaifah ibn al-Yamān, may Allāh be pleased with him, who said:

The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:  “Do not say, ‘Whatever Allāh wills and so-and-so wills’; rather say, ‘Whatever Allāh wills, and then so-and-so wills.’”

Ṣaḥīḥ (Silsilah al-Aḥādīth al-Ṣaḥīḥah, Ḥadīth 137)

I say: And in [this ḥadīth and others] is that a man’s saying to someone else, “Whatever Allāh wills and you,” is considered shirk in Islāmic law—and it is from the shirk that occurs in certain expressions—because it gives the suggestion that the will of the slave is at the same level as the will of the Lord and Master, Glorified is He above all deficiencies and Most High.

 And the cause of that is putting the two wills together. And the like of that is the saying of some of the general people and those resembling them from among those who claim to have knowledge: “I have no one other than Allāh and you,” and “I’ve put my trust in Allāh and you”; and similar to that is the saying of some lecturers: “In the name of Allāh and the country,” or “In the name of Allāh and the people” and the like of that from the expressions of shirk that are obligatory upon everyone to stop saying and repent from by way of having appropriate manners with Allāh, so Great is He and Most High.

And most certainly many of the general people have become oblivious of this noble conduct, and not a few of the prominent ones among them who justify or permit the articulation of the likes of these utterances of shirk, like their calling upon other than Allāh during times of adversity, appealing to those who have died from among the righteous for help, swearing by them instead of Allāh, and swearing by them to testify about Allāh.

So when a scholar of the Book and the Sunnah expresses disapproval of that to them, indeed, instead of becoming a help in criticizing all that is detested in Islām, they return with criticisms against [the scholar].

And they say: “Indeed, the intentions of those who call upon other than Allāh are good, and truly deeds are according to the intentions behind them as has come in the [well-known] ḥadīth.”

So they are ignorant, or put on a pretense of ignorance—seeking to please the general people—that a good intention, even if it were to be found with the aforementioned types of people, does not turn an evil action into a righteous one; and that the meaning of the aforementioned ḥadīth is that righteous actions are counted in accordance with sincere intentions, not that actions opposing Islāmic law are transformed into righteous, permissible actions due to their being accompanied by righteous intentions: that is something that no one says other than one who is ignorant or biased.

Do you not see that were a man to pray in front of a grave, that it would be something detested as an action due to its conflicting the ḥadīths and sayings of companions that have come prohibiting one’s facing a grave during prayer? So does anyone possessing intelligence say, “Indeed, the one who goes back to facing graves after having learned about its prohibition in Islāmic law—his intention is good, and his action is legitimate”? Certainly, absolutely not!

So that is how the ones who seek help from other than Allāh the Most High in dire circumstances are; and they forget Him, the Most High, at the time that they are most in need of His help and support. It cannot be comprehended that their intentions are good, let alone that their actions are righteous—while they persist upon this type of detestable action with knowledge of its impermissibility.