…and this saint or that one, and they appeal to the dead for rescue. Such acts of worship are invalid, for they are associating others with Allah, mixing devotion with shirk. Their deeds are therefore null and void until they affirm Allah’s oneness, dedicate all worship to Him alone, and abandon the worship of anyone else. If they do not, they stand on nothing. It must be stressed that Allah is never pleased to have any partner in His worship, whoever that partner might be. He does not approve anyone’s participation—no matter how exalted—so that no one may claim: “I only take the righteous friends of Allah and the pious as intercessors; I am not worshipping idols and statues like the pagans of old—I merely seek their intercession.” We answer: this was precisely the creed of the pagan Arabs, who chose such figures as mediators with Allah because they were virtuous and saintly. Allah does not consent to this in the least. (8) His words “neither an angel brought near nor a messenger sent”: an angel “brought near” refers to the most eminent angels—such as Jibril, the bearers of the Throne and those around it, and all angels close to Allah. Despite their nearness in station and rank, if anyone associates them with Allah in worship, Allah will not accept it; He is not pleased that even a lofty angel or a sent prophet—such as Muhammad—be joined with Him in worship.