(5) “The First Principle”: Understand that the unbelievers whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ fought already acknowledged tawhid al-rububiyya (the oneness of divine lordship); yet that acknowledgement neither brought them into Islam nor protected their blood and property. This shows that tawhid is not limited to affirming lordship, and that shirk (idolatry) is not confined to denying lordship. In fact, apart from a few rare individuals, no one has ever associated partners with Allah in His lordship: every nation admits that Allah alone creates, provides, gives life and death, and governs. Put briefly, tawhid al-rububiyya means affirming that all such acts belong solely to Allah. No creature has claimed that anyone creates, provides, revives or causes death alongside Allah. Even the idolaters conceded that Allah is the sole creator, provider, giver of life and death, and disposer of affairs, as He says: “If you ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will surely say, ‘Allah’” (Luqman 31:25); and: “Say, ‘Who is the Lord of the seven heavens and Lord of the Mighty Throne?’ They will say, ‘It belongs to Allah’” (al-Muminun 23:86). Read the closing verses of surat al-Muminun and you will see that the polytheists affirmed tawhid al-rububiyya. The same appears in surat Yunus: “Say, ‘Who provides for you from the heaven and the earth, who owns hearing and sight, who brings forth the living from the dead and brings forth the dead…