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Fatwa CenterCorrect and incorrect seeking of relief
Question
Is it Shirk (polytheism) that someone weeps and says "O Mother!"?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
Istighaathah, or seeking help, is one's request for help when he faces distress. It is not Shirk when a person seeks relief from humans in matters that they are able to accomplish. In this case, it is an exchange of help between each other that a Muslim should pursue when he is afflicted with an ordeal or fears anything in his life, and it is in this context that a child seeks relief from his mother.
However, seeking relief from the creation in matters in which they have no control or power is Shirk that renders a person outside the fold of Islam. This is because seeking relief in this sense is a form of supplication, and supplication is an act of worship that must not be dedicated to anyone but Allaah The Almighty. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And do not invoke besides Allaah that which neither benefits you nor harms you, for if you did, then indeed you would be of the wrongdoers. And if Allaah should touch you with adversity, there is no remover of it except Him; and if He intends for you good, then there is no repeller of His bounty. He causes it to reach whom He wills of His servants. And He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.} [Quran 10:106-107]
Allaah Knows best.
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