upon misguidance; and if they disagree about anything, they refer it back to Allah and the Messenger, for none of them is infallible without exception. Every person’s words may be accepted or rejected, save those of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said: “The scholars are the heirs of the prophets. The prophets did not leave behind dinars or dirhams; they bequeathed knowledge, and whoever acquires it has taken a bountiful share.”

But if you affirm intermediaries between Allah and His creation—like the courtiers who stand between a king and his subjects—imagining that they are the ones who convey people’s needs to Allah, and that Allah guides and provides for His servants only through their mediation, so that people petition them and they in turn petition Allah, just as royal courtiers present requests to the monarch because of their closeness to him, and people address those courtiers either out of decorum, avoiding a direct plea to the king, or because seeking from the courtiers seems more advantageous than seeking from the king himself due to their nearness—then whoever upholds such intermediaries is a disbelieving polytheist. He must be called to repent; if he does so, all is well, but if he refuses, he is to be executed. Such individuals liken the Creator to His creatures, setting up equals beside Allah.