“So do not invoke another god alongside Allah.” The entire Quran bears witness to this.

The reason His testimony, glorified is He, necessarily entails this is that, when He testifies that “there is no god but Him,” He has informed, clarified, made known, ruled, and decreed that nothing besides Him is a god; that attributing divinity to anything besides Him is the falsest of falsehoods; and that affirming it is the gravest injustice. None but Him therefore deserves worship, just as divinity befits no other. This necessarily entails the command to take Him alone as God and the prohibition against taking another god alongside Him. This is what the person addressed understands from this negation and affirmation. For example, if you see someone seeking a legal opinion, testimony, or medical treatment from someone unqualified, while passing over someone qualified, you say to him: “This person is neither a mufti, nor a witness, nor a physician. So-and-so is the mufti, so-and-so is the witness, and so-and-so is the physician.” In saying this, you are issuing both a command and a prohibition.

Moreover, the verse indicates that He alone deserves worship. When He declares that He alone deserves worship, this declaration includes commanding His servants and obliging them to render what their Lord, Most High, is entitled to receive from them, and affirming that doing so is His exclusive right over them. Thus, when He, glorified is He, testifies that there is no god but Him, His testimony includes the command and obligation to affirm His oneness.

Furthermore, the terms “judgment” and “decree” are used of declarative statements. A declarative statement is called a “proposition” or a “judgment,” and is said to make such-and-such a judgment. He, Most High, says:

37:151–154 “Indeed, it is out of their falsehood that they say, ‘Allah has begotten,’ and they are surely liars. Has He chosen daughters over sons? What is the matter with you? How do you judge?”

This, however, is a judgment that entails no obligation, whereas the judgment and decree that there is no god but Him does entail an obligation. And Allah, glorified is He, knows best.

Section

Concerning His words, Most High, “upholding justice”:

“Equity” means justice. He, glorified is He, has thus testified that He upholds justice in His oneness, and that He is One in His justice. Oneness and justice together encompass all attributes of perfection. For affirming His oneness entails that He alone, glorified is He, possesses the perfection, majesty, glory, and exaltation that are not