The
difference between a mushrik and a kaafir
source:
silsilat ul-hudā wa nnūr ~ the series of guidance and light
~ tape no. 727
Question #7: “Is every mushrik (one who associates partners
with Allāh) a kāfir (disbeliever), but not every kāfir is a
mushrik? Or are they the same?”
Shaykh al-Albāni answers:
“This is the established understanding in people’s minds,
except few of them. I will explain that with an example: a
man bears witness that none has the right to be worshiped
but Allāh and that Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is the
Messenger of Allāh, and he prays, fasts and so on, but he
rejects an āyah from the Qur’ān. This (man) has disbelieved
or not disbelieved? He has disbelieved. Has he associated
partners with Allāh? That which is correct is that he has
associated partners with Allāh. Every kāfir is a mushrik and
every mushrik is a kāfir; there is absolutely no difference
between the two words…
Whoever disbelieves has associated partners with Allāh, and
whoever associates partners with Allāh has disbelieved;
there is no confusion about that. The evidence for this is
if we remember the conversation of the believer and the
disbeliever in Sūrat ul-Kahf: {And put forward to them the
example of two men: unto one of them We had given two
gardens of grapes, and We had surrounded both with
date-palms; and had put between them green crops (cultivated
fields) / Each of those two gardens brought forth its
produce, and failed not in the least therein, and We caused
a river to gush forth in the midst of them / And he had
property (or fruit) and he said to his companion, in the
course of mutual talk: ‘I am more than you in wealth and
stronger in respect of men’}[1] – pay attention now – {And
he went into his garden while in a state (of pride and
disbelief) unjust to himself. He said: ‘I think not that
this will ever perish / And I think not the Hour will ever
come-}.[2] According to your wrong understanding, this (man)
has disbelieved but not associated partners with Allāh and
he (only) denied the Resurrection. He (then) said: {-and if
indeed I am brought back to my Lord, (on the Day of
Resurrection), I surely shall find better than this when I
return to Him’ / His companion said to him during the talk
with him:-}[3] {-‘If you see me less than you in wealth, and
children, / It may be that my Lord will give me something
better than your garden, and will send on it Husbān
(torment, bolt) from the sky, then it will be a barren
slippery earth / Or the water thereof (of the gardens)
becomes deep-sunken (underground) so that you will never be
able to seek it’ / So his fruits were encircled (with ruin).
And he remained clapping his hands (with sorrow) over what
he had spent upon it, while it was all destroyed on its
trellises, and he could only say: ‘Would that I had ascribed
no partners to my Lord!’}[4]
Therefore, when he denied the Resurrection, he associated
partners with Allāh. So whoever disbelieves in something
that has come in the Book (Qur’ān) or the Sunnah, then he is
(also) a mushrik during his state of disbelief; this is with
respect to the Qur’ānic text. So what is the intellectual
reason (for this)? The answer is that (Allāh), the Most
High, said: {Have you seen him who takes his own lust (vain
desires) as his ilāh (god)?} Therefore, whoever disbelieves
with any type of disbelief is (also) a mushrik, because he
himself made his logic to be a partner with His Lord, the
Blessed and Most High. Thus, do not differentiate between
kufr (disbelief) and shirk (associating partners with Allāh)...
Likewise, another hadīth (mentions): 'Whoever swears by
other than Allāh has disbelieved’ and ‘whoever swears by
other than Allāh has associated partners with Allāh.’[5] He
has committed kufr, he has committed shirk. He has committed
shirk, he has committed kufr. There is no difference between
the two words with regard to terminology in the Islamic
legislation. With regard to linguistic terminology, there is
a difference no doubt, but the Islamic legislation opens our
insight, thinking and understanding. Why is everyone who
disbelieves in Allāh, the Might and Majestic, with any type
of disbelief (also) a mushrik? Because he has made his logic
to be a partner with His Lord, the Mighty and Majestic.”
~ asaheeha translations ~
[1] Sūrat ul-Kahf, 18:32-34
[2] Sūrat ul-Kahf, 18:35-36
[3] Sūrat ul-Kahf, 18:36-37
[4] Sūrat ul-Kahf, 18:39-42
[5] Sahīh at-Tirmithī #1535
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