Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah have mercy on him—also said:

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Allah relates that our imam Abraham, His intimate friend, said to the unjust idolaters who disputed with him:

“How should I fear what you associate with Him, while you do not fear associating with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority to you? Which of the two parties has more right to security, if you know?”

“Those who believe and do not taint their faith with wrongdoing—it is they who will have security, and they are rightly guided.”

The authentic hadith collection relates, on the authority of ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mas‘ūd, that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—explained that “wrongdoing” here means associating partners with Allah. He said: “Have you not heard the words of the righteous servant: ‘Indeed, associating partners with Allah is a tremendous wrong’?”

Abraham thus rejected the notion that we should fear any of the created beings, above or below, whom they associate with Allah, while they themselves have no fear of associating with Allah a partner for whom He has sent down no authority. He made clear that those who do not associate partners with Allah are the ones who are secure and rightly guided.

This is a magnificent verse that benefits the believer devoted to Allah alone in various circumstances. Associating partners with Allah within this community can be more imperceptible than the creeping of ants, quite apart from its blatant forms. It includes associating partners in worship and devotion, in obedience and submission, and in belief and acceptance.

Thus, extremists among the Christians and the Rāfidah (rejectionists), along with misguided Sufis, fuqarā’ (ascetic devotees), and common people, associate partners with Allah: sometimes by invoking someone other than Allah, sometimes by offering that other being some form of worship, and sometimes by doing both. Whoever associates partners in this way also associates partners in obedience.