…is already implanted in the natural disposition (fitrah) and acknowledged by every sound intellect. No rational person on earth believes that anyone other than Allah created the heavens and the earth; nowhere in the world—even among disbelievers and atheists—will you find someone who claims that a human being created mankind. Allah says: “If you ask them, ‘Who created them?’ they will surely answer, ‘Allah’” (Q. al-Zukhruf 43:87). No sane person imagines that a human could bring into existence another human—someone who walks the earth, speaks, eats and drinks. Is there any rational individual who would maintain such a view? Allah challenges them: “Were they created out of nothing? Or are they themselves the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Rather, they are uncertain” (Q. al-Tur 52:35-36). Thus, the tawhid of Lordship (tawhid al-rububiyyah)—acknowledging that Allah alone creates, provides, gives life and causes death—is innate and self-evident. Yet it is not sufficient without the tawhid of worship (tawhid al-uluhiyyah), which is to devote all acts of worship exclusively to Allah. For this reason the Shaykh states that tawhid is to single out Allah in worship, not merely in creation, provision, granting life and causing death; the latter is already widely admitted and, by itself, does not fulfil the definition of tawhid. (18) His statement, “and the gravest thing Allah has forbidden is shirk,” is a crucial insight, for some people imagine that other matters are…