The Meaning of La ilaha illa Allah
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Question:
Your Eminence, the father, he says: What is your opinion of the one who is asked about the meaning of La ilaha illa Allah and says its meaning is that Allah is the Creator and the Manager, but does not say that its meaning is that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah?
Answer:
This is what the polytheists used to say before. They said, "Allah is the Creator, the Manager, the Giver of Life, the Giver of Death, the Provider." This is what the polytheists said, and it did not bring them into Islam.
What brings one into Islam is worship: that one does not worship except Allah and that one abandons shirk (associating partners with Allah). This is what brings one into Islam, and it is the meaning of La ilaha illa Allah. La ilaha illa Allah means there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. It does not say "there is no Lord"; it says "there is no deity." The deity is the one who is worshipped, and uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) is worship. It does not say "there is no Lord except Allah," because this is a known fact: that there is no Lord except Allah.
But uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) is what is intended. It is for this that Allah sent the messengers.[An-Nahl 16:36]. The focus is on uluhiyyah (oneness of worship), while rububiyyah (oneness of lordship) is known to all people by the fitrah (innate natural disposition) upon which Allah created people. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Your Eminence, the father, he says: What is your opinion of the one who is asked about the meaning of La ilaha illa Allah and says its meaning is that Allah is the Creator and the Manager, but does not say that its meaning is that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah?
Answer:
This is what the polytheists used to say before. They said, "Allah is the Creator, the Manager, the Giver of Life, the Giver of Death, the Provider." This is what the polytheists said, and it did not bring them into Islam.
What brings one into Islam is worship: that one does not worship except Allah and that one abandons shirk (associating partners with Allah). This is what brings one into Islam, and it is the meaning of La ilaha illa Allah. La ilaha illa Allah means there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah. It does not say "there is no Lord"; it says "there is no deity." The deity is the one who is worshipped, and uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) is worship. It does not say "there is no Lord except Allah," because this is a known fact: that there is no Lord except Allah.
But uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) is what is intended. It is for this that Allah sent the messengers.
And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], "Worship Allah and avoid Taghut."
وَلَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِي كُلِّ أُمَّةٍ رَّسُولًا أَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ وَاجْتَنِبُوا الطَّاغُوتَThe presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-016-الإيمان حقيقته أركانه شعبه ثمراته|صالح الفوزان|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:03:49)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.