I used to explain that this was their doctrine and that it was the true substance of Pharaoh’s doctrine, until a trustworthy man reported to me that one of their leaders in falsehood had said, “We follow Pharaoh’s doctrine.” Hence the immense veneration they show Pharaoh in their books.

They do not acknowledge a Maker who created the world, nor do they affirm a Lord who governs created beings. Rather, they make nature itself the Maker. Thus they permit the worship of anything, saying that whoever worships it has worshipped Allah. In their view, worshipping anything other than Allah is inconceivable: whatever is worshipped is Allah. These existing things, they believe, are His parts or attributes, like a human being’s parts or attributes. When these people worship existing things, therefore, they do not worship them to bring them nearer to Allah, but because, in their view, they are Allah, a locus of His manifestation, one of His parts, one of His attributes, or one of His particular determinations.

These people worship what Pharaoh and other polytheists worship. But Pharaoh does not say, “They are Allah,” nor, “They bring us nearer to Allah.” The polytheists say, “They are our intercessors and bring us nearer to Allah,” whereas these people say, “They are Allah,” as explained above. Those others are greater in unbelief insofar as they acknowledged that they worshipped something other than Allah or denied Him. These people, however, are more far-reaching in their error insofar as they permit the worship of anything, claiming that it is Allah and that the worshipper is the one worshipped—even if they intended only to worship Allah.

Given that those others were polytheists, as they have been described, whereas the Pharaoh of Moses’s time was the one who denied the Maker and worshipped other deities, without Allah describing him as a polytheist, it is clear that polytheists may love their deities as they love Allah, or may love them more than they love Allah. Hence they revile Allah when their deities are reviled, as the Most High says:

“Do not insult