To call upon other than Allah for a need, such as rain, etc, while believing that only Allah will answer the call is Shirk, by agreement. For example: O Prophet! Send us rain!

Firstly, The Prophet – SallAllahu ‘alaihi wa-sallam – made takfeer of the pagans for merely calling upon other than Allah, even though they explicitly declared that Allah is the only Lord, the Creator, the Provider.

This is reflected in the following verse:

‘Say: Who provides for you from the heavens and the earth? Or who controls hearing and sight and who brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living and who arranges [every] matter? They will say: Allah. So say: Then will you not fear Him?’

 As it is clear that although the pagans believed that Allah is the only provider, they still called upon their idols, claiming that they are merely their intercessors.

Similarly, Allah said of the pagans: ‘Most of them do not believe in Allah, except that they associate partners unto Him’

al-Tabari says in his tafseer: Their belief in Allah is their saying: Allah is our Creator, our Provider, who gives us death and gives us life; while their Shirk is to attribute partners unto Allah in His worship and invocation.

Secondly, when the Hanbali scholars and others explicitly stated the apostasy of the one who calls upon other than Allah, they do not differentiate between one who does so believing the response would come from Allah, and one who does so believing the response would come from the creation.

To differentiate between the two only first appeared after the Da’wah of Sheikh Miuhammd b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab. The advocates of this idea were simply seeking justification for one to call upon others besides Allah. Hence, they argued that when one says: ‘O Sidi ‘Abd al-Qadir, help me!’ He is in reality addressing Allah, while mentioning ‘Abd al-Qadir only allegorically, because he believes in his heart that the response will only come from Allah.

In response, we say that the statement: ‘O so-and-so, help me!’ is Sarih al-Kufr – an explicit statement of Kufr, which does not accommodate Majaz. Just like the word Talaq, is an explicit statement of divorce, and if one says it to his wife even in jest, his wife is divorced. He cannot claim: I only intended it allegorically, whereas my intention was not to divorce her. Similarly, when one makes a statement of clear-cut apostasy, such as: O Sidi fulan, help me! He becomes an apostate, and his claim that he intended something else would be of no use to him.

 Q&A

“What about the cry of the lady “waa Mutassamah waa Mutassamah” was that kufr?“

Phrases such as wa mu’tasimah! wa muhammadah! Were never understood in the Arabic language as call for help. This call simply indicates one’s sorrow.

Hence, when the woman cried out wa mu’tasimah! She was declaring her sorrow over herself during al-Mu’tasim’s reign.

When the companions cried out wa muhammadah! They were declaring their sorrow over the Prophet in their fight against Musaylima, and it was also their battle cry.

Similarly, when al-Mudhaffar Qutuz fought the Tatar at ‘Ayn Jalut, the battle cry was wa Islamah! They were declaring their sorrow over Islam and not calling upon Islam for help.

The Arabs, similarly often utter wa huznah! wa asafah! Meaning: O my grief! O my sorrow!

“The example of Talaq brother is that not too specific as talaq its such a serious thing that it should never be used in jest anyway soon it would be easy to say“

It isn’t about Talaq being a serious issue. The issue here is of certain shara’i terminologies such as Talaq, waqf, etc. In Shari’ah words/phrases are divided into two main categories:

1) Sareeh (explicit)
2) Kinaya (implicit)

If a person uses a term which is sareeh, such as Talaq, the subsequent ruling of that term is instintly enforced, even if the person claims: Well, I intended something different. For a man to say to his wife: You are Taliq (divorced) is considered Sareeh, and hence, even if he claims his intention was something else, his word is not accepted.

If a person, however, uses a term which is a kinaya (implicit), then the subsequent ruling is not enforced until he clarifies his intention in explicit terms. For a man to say to his wife: ‘Pack your bags and go home!’, is a Kinaya for divorce, where a the divorce is not enforced until the man admits: I meant by that Talaq.

Similarly, in the chapter of riddah (apostasy) we have words that are sareeh, and others that are not.

If a person says: I am a Kafir in Allah, this is Sareeh (explicit) apostasy, whereby he is declared an apostate without asking what he exactly meant. The same is applied to the one who curses Allah and His Messenger, or calls upon other than Allah.

Remember, the pagans explicitly admitted that they believe Allah to be the only Lord and Sustainer, yet they still called upon others besides Him.

This is no different to the one who says: ‘O ‘Abd al-Qadir! Send us rain! Fulfil my need!’, while believing that Allah is the only sustainer.

“what about the person who is not married or even a woman if they said the word divorce what would that mean ?“

Then divorce is not applicable to them, because it is only applicable to those who are married.

The words of Kufr are applicable to all, men and women, single and married.