The love which is Shirk


Question:

Does the love a man have for his wife fall under the statement of Allah, the Most High:

(وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَندَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ ٱللَّهِ)

“And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allah as rivals (to Allah). They love them as they love Allah.”
[Al-Baqarah:165]

Answer:

The love intended here: is the love which is Shirk.

Which is loving something in and on itself, this is from the particularities of Uluwhiyyah (singling Allah out alone in actions of worship), loving something or someone (other than Allah) in and on itself until the point it brings about seeking nearness to it, this is what is the love which is Shirk.

And it is: loving something in and on itself.

The one who is loved in and on Himself, for who He is, is Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, He is the one who is worshiped through loving Him purely for who He is, this is only for Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.

This (type of love) is from the particularities of deification, whoever loved a person in and on themselves, and worshiped him, and sought nearness to him by loving him, this would make them a mushrik of the major type of Shirk.

As for loving a person until the point it causes them to be disobedient to Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, or makes them leave obligatory acts, not due to seeking nearness to them by way of loving them, nor due to loving them purely for who they are, but because of fear of losing them and the likes of this, then what’s correct in this is that it’s minor Shirk.

Answered by:
Shaykh Abu Hatim Yusuf Al-‘Inaabi Al-Jazaa’iree – may Allah preserve him.

Source:
http://t.me/youssefalgazairi/645

Translated by:
Abu ‘Abdirrahman ‘Abdullaah bin Ahmed Ash-Shingaani