is the gravest?’ He replied, ‘To set up a rival to Allah when it is He who created you.’ As for His saying, ‘But those who believe are stronger in their love for Allah’: because of their love for Allah, their complete knowledge of Him, their reverence for Him, and their affirmation of His oneness, they associate nothing with Him. Rather, they worship Him alone, put their trust in Him, and turn to Him in all their affairs.”1.

Worship in all its forms is Allah’s exclusive right and may not be directed to anyone else, whether or not the worshipper believes the object of his worship to be a lord. This is a matter known by necessity to be part of the religion.

Shaykh al-Islām said: “Muslims agree, on the basis of what they necessarily know of the religion of Islam, that a person may worship, call upon, seek deliverance from, or place his trust in none but Allah. Anyone who worships an angel brought near to Allah or a prophet sent by Him, or calls upon him or seeks deliverance from him, is a polytheist. No Muslim considers it permissible for a person to call out, ‘O Gabriel’—or ‘O Michael,’ ‘O Abraham,’ ‘O Moses,’ or ‘O Messenger of Allah’—and ask, ‘Forgive me, have mercy on me, provide for me, grant me victory, rescue me, or protect me from my enemy,’ or the like. Rather, all these are exclusive prerogatives of divinity. This is a weighty and well-known matter which the scholars have explained …”2.

As for the qualification introduced by the writer, it has no basis or foundation. The polytheists in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not believe that their deities created, provided sustenance, gave life, caused death, or governed affairs. Rather, they believed these to be Allah’s exclusive prerogatives, as the texts cited earlier show. Their polytheism consisted instead in calling upon and worshipping those deities besides Allah, on the grounds that they would bring them nearer to Allah.

Shaykh al-Islām said: “They [that is, the polytheists] acknowledged that their deities did not