He said, ‘My covenant does not extend to the wrongdoers.’” Thus, His covenant concerning leadership does not extend to a wrongdoer. A wrongdoer must neither be followed in his wrongdoing nor be inclined toward, as Allah Most High said:

“Do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you.”

Whoever follows someone unfit for leadership has wronged himself. What, then, of someone who sets up another god alongside Allah and worships one unworthy of worship? Allah Most High says:

“He does not forgive associating partners with Him, but He forgives anything less than that for whomever He wills.”

A group of speculative theologians erred by supposing that “ilāh” (god) had an active meaning. They understood divinity as power and lordship: the god is the one who has power and is the lord. They described His servants as ma’lūh, just as they are subject to His lordship.

Those who profess the oneness of existence disagree over various matters. Their leading authority, however, Ibn ‘Arabī, says:

“Entities are fixed in nonexistence, and the existence of the Real emanated upon them.”

For this reason, he said:

“Thus, through our being ma’lūh, we made Him a god.”

He therefore claimed that created beings made the Lord their god by being ma’lūh. By ma’lūh, he means those subject to lordship; their being ma’lūh rests on their entities being fixed in nonexistence. Their discourse contains countless statements of this kind that detract from divine lordship. Exalted is Allah, far above what the wrongdoers say.

The “correct understanding” is that Allah is the Creator of everything, and what is nonexistent is not a thing in external reality. Yet Allah knows what will be before it comes into being, writes it down, and may mention it