the thieves would have descended upon us.’ And when a person says to his companion, ‘Whatever Allah and you will,’ or says, ‘Had it not been for Allah and for So-and-so…’—do not place So-and-so in it! All of this contains shirk.” Reported by Ibn Abī Ḥātim.

Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) thus made it clear that these expressions are a form of shirk—specifically, minor shirk. The verse itself is general, covering both major and minor shirk. By drawing attention to these lesser phrases, Ibn ʿAbbās intended to warn all the more forcefully against the greater form of shirk, especially because such wording so easily slips from people’s tongues, whether out of ignorance or mere carelessness.

Among the manifestations of this are:

1 – Swearing by other than Allah

This too is shirk. The Commander of the Believers, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him), narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Whoever swears by anything other than Allah has committed disbelief or shirk.” Al-Tirmidhī recorded it, graded it good, and al-Ḥākim declared it authentic.

His words, “has committed disbelief or shirk,” may indicate a doubt on the part of the narrator; alternatively, the conjunction “or” could have the meaning of “and,” in which case the person is both a disbeliever and a polytheist—yet this is disbelief short of outright major disbelief, just as it is minor shirk.

Today many people do swear by other than Allah: some swear “by the trust,” or swear by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), or say, “By my life and yours, O So-and-so,” and similar phrases. We have already heard the prophetic warnings against swearing by anything besides Allah and its classification as disbelief or shirk, because an oath magnifies the object sworn by, and only Allah deserves to be magnified in that way. Swearing by anything else is shirk and a grave offense.

Ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “For me to swear by Allah while lying is dearer to me than to…"