and He, exalted is He, also says: “When Allah alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with aversion; but when those other than Him are mentioned, they rejoice.” [Q 39: 45] Likewise, the Most High says: “They were such that, whenever it was said to them, ‘Lā ilāha illā Allah,’ they grew arrogant and would say, ‘Shall we really abandon our gods for a mad poet?’” [Q 37: 35-36].

They have no wish for tawḥīd al-ulūhiyyah; rather, they want the gods to remain many, each person worshipping whatever he desires.

This must be clearly understood: every deviant sect, ancient or modern, concentrates on tawḥīd al-rubūbiyyah. The moment someone, in their view, acknowledges that Allah is the Creator and Provider, they pronounce him a Muslim and set this down in their creeds. Indeed, all the creeds produced by the speculative theologians go no further than affirming tawḥīd al-rubūbiyyah and adducing proofs for it.

Yet this is not enough; tawḥīd al-ulūhiyyah is indispensable. Allah the Exalted says: “We certainly sent to every nation a messenger, (saying), ‘Worship Allah and shun ṭāghūt.’” [Q 16: 36]—they ordered people to worship Allah alone, which is tawḥīd al-ulūhiyyah. He also says: “We did not send any messenger before you without revealing to him, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship but Me, so worship Me.’” [Q 21: 25] and: “Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him.” [Q 4: 36].

Every verse commands and calls to tawḥīd al-ulūhiyyah. All the messengers summoned their peoples to it, ordered them to uphold it, and forbade them from shirk. That is the required, ultimate purpose of tawḥīd. As for tawḥīd al-asmāʾ—