and His judgment. All created things fall within this; nothing is excluded.

He, exalted is He, has said:

“Did I not enjoin upon you, O children of Adam, not to worship Satan—for he is a clear enemy to you—and to worship Me?”

And so the verse continues.

And His words:

“Worship Allah and associate nothing with Him.”

“And those who shun the worship of false gods and turn to Allah.”

“And those who take protectors besides Him say, ‘We worship them only that they may bring us nearer to Allah.’”

And He said:

“They worship besides Allah what neither harms nor benefits them.”

Such passages are numerous in the Quran. By worshipping Allah, He means only the worship commanded by the messengers: worshipping Him alone, without any partner. The polytheists do not worship Allah; rather, they worship Satan and whatever they invoke besides Allah. Whether they worship angels, prophets and righteous people, or fashioned statues and idols, these polytheists have worshipped something other than Allah Most High, just as Allah has stated.

How, then, can it be said that all human beings and jinn have worshipped Allah merely because Allah’s decree takes effect upon them? There is a clear distinction between their worshipping Him willingly and by choice, devoting their religion sincerely to Him and obeying His Messenger, and His subjecting them to servitude and carrying out His will concerning them, while their worship of others—Satan and idols—is itself among the things decreed.

This resembles the statement of one of the later figures: “I disbelieve in a Lord who is disobeyed.” He thus treats everything that happens as obedience, just as these people treated it as worship of Allah Most High because they are subject to His will. One of their shaykhs used to say of Iblīs: “If he disobeyed the command, he nevertheless obeyed the will.” But these people are antinomians who set aside the divine command.