Most Muslims today do not grasp the meaning of lā ilāha illā Allāh properly:

As for the great majority of Muslims who pronounce the testimony that “lā ilāha illā Allāh,” they do not understand its import well; indeed, many of them may understand it in a way that completely turns its meaning upside-down. By way of illustration: one of them (1) even wrote a treatise on the meaning of “lā ilāha illā Allāh,” explaining it as, “There is no Lord except Allah!!”

Yet this very interpretation is the one to which the idolaters themselves adhered—and it availed them nothing. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “If you were to ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they would surely answer, ‘Allah.’” (Qur’an 31:25)

The polytheists believed that the universe has a single Creator with no partner, but they still set up equals and associates with Allah in their worship. They acknowledged that the Lord is one, while maintaining that the objects of worship are many. For this reason Allah repudiated that belief—calling it worship of others besides Him—when He said: “Those who take allies besides Him say, ‘We worship them only so that they may bring us nearer to Allah.’” (Qur’an 39:3)