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When crying, is uttering "O my mother" considered shirk (associating partners with God)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Istighatha (seeking aid) is to seek help during hardship. Seeking aid from a creature concerning what they are capable of is not shirk (polytheism); rather, it falls under the category of cooperation. However, seeking aid from a creature concerning what they do not possess and are not capable of is shirk that expels one from the fold of Islam, because istighatha is a form of supplication (du'a), and supplication is an act of worship that must not be directed to other than Allah, as He the Almighty said: "And do not invoke besides Allah that which neither benefits you nor harms you; for if you did, then you would then be among the wrongdoers. And if Allah should touch you with adversity, there is no remover of it except Him; and if He intends for you good, 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."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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