idolaters, as has already been explained. Rather, the true deity is the One who alone deserves to be worshipped; ilāh means the object of worship (maʾlūh), not a mere acting agent (āliḥ). Monotheism (tawḥīd) is to worship Allah alone with no partner, whereas polytheism is to set up another god beside Him.

[The Sufis’ notion of tawḥīd]

Once it is clear that the most these speculative theologians—those who affirm divine decree and claim adherence to the sunnah—affirm is the oneness of lordship (tawḥīd al-rubūbiyyah), namely that Allah is the Lord of all things, and that the idolaters conceded this while still being idolaters, then it likewise becomes evident that certain groups of Sufis, who lay claim to gnosis, realization, and monotheism, go no further in their tawḥīd than the mere witnessing of this