affirming His oneness in worship entails affirming His oneness in lordship, but not the reverse, for Allah Most High says: ‘If you ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say, “Allah.”’ 1 He—glorified and exalted be He—also says, reporting their words: ‘We worship them only so that they may bring us nearer to Allah.’ 2 Indeed, most of the Quran’s surahs and verses encompass both types of tawhīd. In fact, the Quran, from beginning to end, explains them and establishes their truth.

For the Quran either tells us about Allah, His names, attributes, and actions—this is tawhīd concerning knowledge and revealed information—or calls people to worship Him alone, without partners, and to renounce whatever is worshipped besides Him—this is tawhīd concerning intention and devotion. Or it gives commands and prohibitions and enjoins obedience to Him; these are the duties entailed by tawhīd and the means of perfecting it. Or it tells of His honoring those who affirm His oneness, what He has done for them in this world, and the honors He will bestow upon them in the Hereafter; this is the reward for affirming His oneness. Or it tells of those who associate partners with Allah, the exemplary punishment He inflicted upon them in this world, and the torment, chains, and shackles that will befall them in the Hereafter; this is the recompense of those who depart from the bounds of tawhīd.

Thus, the entire Quran concerns tawhīd, the rights of those who uphold it and praise of them, as well as the condemnation of associating partners with Allah, the disobedience of those who do so, and their recompense. ‘All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds’ expresses tawhīd; ‘The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful’ expresses tawhīd; ‘Sovereign of the Day of Recompense’ expresses tawhīd; ‘It is You we worship and You we ask for help’ expresses tawhīd; ‘Guide us to the straight path’ expresses tawhīd and includes a plea for guidance to the path of those who affirm Allah’s oneness; ‘The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have incurred Your anger, nor of those who are astray’—those who have departed from tawhīd through defiance, ignorance, and corruption.

Likewise, the Sunnah explains and confirms what the Quran teaches. Our Lord—glorified and exalted be He—has therefore not made us dependent, in the foundations of our religion, on this person’s opinion, that person’s spiritual taste, or another’s inner experience. Thus we find those who depart from the Book and the Sunnah