Examples of corrupt beliefs prevalent among Muslims that indicate the importance of calling to the correct creed and prioritizing it over political work

The Shaykh : And in the like of what is famous today, the disagreement is firmly established. Our Lord says in more than one verse in the Qur'an: What is the opinion of the great scholars, or the great committees of scholars in many countries famous for seeking and teaching knowledge? They say: No, our Lord did not rise above [the Throne], like that. Why? Because they deny the attributes of the verse and interpret it other than its true interpretation. The Messenger of Allah spoke the truth; the hadith is mass-transmitted. They say: No, our Lord does not descend, does not come, does not move, and does nothing. They wanted to purify Allah from the attributes of the distinguished created beings, meaning the angels and humans. Our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, honored them, as He said regarding humans: They wanted to purify Allah so as not to liken Him to the children of Adam, because the children of Adam descend, ascend, come, stand, and so on. So they fell into what is worse than what they fled from. They fled from likening the Creator to the created, and this is true. May Allah protect any Muslim from likening Allah to any of His creation. But they fell into what is worse than what they fled from. So they likened Him not to those whom Allah honored, namely the children of Adam, as you heard, but rather to stone and ice that does not come and does not move. So Glorified is Allah! The proverb that says: "He was under the rain, then he ended up under the gutter" is true of them. He fled from the drops of rain, and there he stands under the gutter that collects the rain and pours it on him. So they are worse; they live in creed far from the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous Salaf. And yet, they want to engage the Ummah in politics.
We believe that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) first began by calling people to worship Allah, Mighty and Majestic, alone, that they should worship Allah and avoid the taghut. That is the call of all the prophets and messengers.
Glorified is Allah! When we read the story of Noah (peace be upon him), and I say Noah, because he is a standard example in the length of his life and his patience with his people in his calling of them, what was he calling them to? Nothing but the worship of Allah alone, with no partner, for a thousand years except fifty years. Our Muslims in the end times say: Until when are you occupying the Muslims with the call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah)? They say this and do not think that Noah (peace be upon him) remained with his people for a thousand years except fifty years. There is no legislation like the legislation that came with Islam, and there is no expansion in behavior, morals, and acts of worship, but rather: "Worship Allah and avoid the taghut." And yet, they consider it excessive that we remind them of such a reminder, because it is obligatory upon all Muslims; this is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) upon every Muslim.
Knowledge is of two types: an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) and a collective obligation (fard kifayah). It is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) upon every Muslim to know Allah as Allah has described Himself, and His Prophet also described Him in his Sunnah, as we mentioned. They do not pay any attention to this at all. In fact, one of their callers told me more than twenty years ago that this is not the time for researching details and disputed issues. We said: Do you mean even in tawhid (the oneness of Allah)? He said: Yes, even in tawhid. I said: Even in understanding "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no deity but Allah), and you know that some of them wrote a treatise interpreting "La ilaha illa Allah" to mean "There is no worshipped entity but Allah." That is: they interpreted the phrase of tawhid, the good word, with the belief that is the most misguided belief on the face of the earth, which is the unity of existence. Because—pay attention to the difference—the correct meaning of the good word is "There is no worshipped entity with truth in existence but Allah." This means that there are many worshipped entities, but they are all false except the true worshipped entity, which is Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. So if this interpretation is not coupled with the word "with truth," tawhid turns into major shirk (associating partners with Allah) and the greatest misguidance, which is the claim of the unity of existence.
A treatise was written among us in Damascus and in Pakistan or India by some of the groups famous today, interpreting "La ilaha illa Allah" to mean: "There is no worshipped entity but Allah." And these other worshipped entities that were worshipped and are still worshipped besides Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He? The answer is in the books of the Sufis: "When the Majus worshipped the fire, they did not worship except the One, the Subduer". This is the ta'wil (figurative interpretation) of the incorrect interpretation of the good word, "La ilaha illa Allah," meaning: "There is no worshipped entity but Allah." So "Everything you see with your eye is Allah". This is another saying of Ibn Arabi, who is known to us in the Levant: "Everything you see with your eye is Allah". The fire that the Majus worshipped in ancient times, and perhaps recently, does not go beyond being the deity. The Buddhists who worship cows do not worship other than Allah, because this... he says in his book which he named other than his name, which is: *The Perfect Man*, and it is the imperfect man in the book *The Perfect Man*, he says that phrase: "When the Majus worshipped the people, they did not worship except the One, the Subduer". This is an allusion to the phrase of tawhid of what? The unity of existence. Meaning, there are not two things, there is no Creator and created. They even explicitly state that this is shirk (associating partners with Allah); you are mushriks (those who associate partners with Allah) when you say: there are two existences, an eternal existence which is Allah, and a created existence which is the creation of Allah. This is shirk, but we, the monotheists, say in our dhikr (remembrance of Allah): "It is He, and it is He".
The Muslim world is living in great misguidance, and some people who are ignorant of these bitter truths want to occupy people with politics. And I give you a close example that indicates the ignorance of people, not the common people, but the elite people. And not the elite people who do not care about Muslims and Islam, but those who cheer on various occasions for establishing the Islamic state, and our Qur'an and our constitution, and the like!
When Khomeini rose up.