and this is like their belief in jibt and tāghūt; for tāghūt is a transgressing entity, whereas jibt pertains to deeds and words. As ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb said, “Jibt is sorcery, and tāghūt is Satan.” Hence the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Divination through birds, belief in evil omens, and divination through pebbles or lines drawn on the ground are forms of jibt.”

Reported by Abū Dāwūd.

Likewise, Allah says concerning the People of the Book:

“Say, ‘Shall I inform you of those whose recompense with Allah is worse than that? They are those whom Allah has cursed and with whom He is angry, some of whom He turned into apes and pigs, and who worshipped tāghūt.’”

That is, those who worshipped tāghūt, for among the People of the Book were those who associated partners with Allah and worshipped false gods. Here He mentions their worship of tāghūt; in al-Baqara, He mentions their following sorcery; and in al-Nisā’, He mentions their belief in both jibt and tāghūt.

As for seeking judgment from anything other than the Book of Allah, He says:

“Have you not seen those who claim to believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you? They wish to seek judgment from tāghūt, although they were commanded to reject it. And Satan wishes to lead them far astray.”

“And when they are told, ‘Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger,’ you see the hypocrites turning resolutely away from you.”

The word tāghūt follows the morphological pattern fa‘alūt, from tughyān (transgression), just as malakūt (dominion) follows the fa‘alūt pattern, from mulk (sovereignty). Likewise, rahamūt, rahabūt, and raghabūt follow the fa‘alūt pattern, derived from rahma (mercy)