It has, moreover, become clear that no one in the world really contests the root of this kind of polytheism. At most, it is said that some people assign the creation of certain beings to someone other than Allah—such as the Qadariyyah and the like—yet these same people concede that Allah created His servants and their very power, even while claiming that the servants themselves create their own actions.

The same applies to the philosophers, naturalists, and astrologers who credit some created entities with bringing about particular effects. Though they acknowledge the Maker, they still regard those secondary agents as themselves produced and created; they do not maintain that such agents are independent of the Creator or that they share with Him in the act of creation.

Anyone who outright denies the existence of the Maker is a blatant rejecter, a negator of the Creator—like the position Pharaoh openly proclaimed. Our discussion, however, concerns those who worship others alongside Allah while acknowledging His existence. Thus, the monotheism they articulate is not something these idolaters dispute; rather, they themselves affirm it even while remaining idolaters, as the Qur’an and the Sunnah clearly establish.