Many of those who claim to be scholars and callers to the religion define "La ilaha illa Allah" as: there is no benefactor but Allah, no harm-doer but Allah, no giver of life but Allah, and no giver of death but Allah.

The questioner : Many of those who claim to be scholars and callers to the religion define "La ilaha illa Allah" as: there is no benefactor but Allah, no harm-doer but Allah, no giver of life but Allah, and no giver of death but Allah. Is this definition of benefit to them?

The Shaykh : No, it is not of benefit to them, because this belief is not sufficient. The disbelievers who opposed the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), fought him, and forced him to leave his country and migrate to Madinah held this belief. Many verses in the Noble Qur'an clarify that the polytheists first believed in the existence of Allah, and second, they did not assign a partner to Allah in His essence. They did not believe that there was a creator with Him, a benefactor with Him, or a harm-doer with Him. Rather, they believed that the entire matter is in His hand (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is from one aspect. From another aspect, when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent the messengers and sent down the books, He did not do so to call people to believe in the existence of Allah, that He is the harm-doer and the benefactor, and that He has no partner in any of that. He did not send them or send down the books for that purpose, because this is an innate disposition in people, even among the polytheists. Therefore, the Noble Verse explicitly states that when the polytheists are asked, they distinguish between the deity (ilah) and the Lord (Rabb). They associate partners with Allah in worship (uluhiyyah) but do not associate partners with Him in lordship (rububiyyah). They believe that Allah is the Lord of all worlds alone, with no partner. And when they fall into calamity or affliction, they supplicate to Allah and seek refuge in Him, due to what is settled in their hearts that Allah is the harm-doer and the benefactor. So they believed in what scholars call the oneness of lordship (tawhid al-rububiyyah). But Allah sent the messengers and sent down the books to call all these people to worship Him alone, with no partner. This was not to make them believe that He is one in His essence and that there is no creator with Him. Note the belief: they believed in this, as is explicit in the Noble Qur'an. Rather, what they disbelieved in was that there are created persons who deserve to be worshipped alongside Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is explicit in the Qur'an, where He (Mighty and Majestic) said: "Those whom you call in your distress are they slaves like you?" Because they believed that they were slaves. Therefore, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said in another verse: "These polytheists who took allies other than Allah, when they are asked, 'Why do you worship them other than Allah?' they say: " So they believe that the true object of worship is one, with no partner in worship. But due to their misguidance, they took some of the righteous as allies (awliya) to whom they direct their worship, supplication, seeking aid, bowing, and prostration. Why? They answered with their own mouths: So the polytheists in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not differ with the Messenger regarding the Creator being one, the Provider being one, the Giver of Life being one, and the Giver of Death being one. They believed in this. But the difference was that they worshipped other than Allah, submitted to other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and associated partners with Allah in worship, not in lordship. Therefore, the misguidance of these polytheists reached the point that when they circumambulated the House—and this circumambulation they inherited from their father Ibrahim (peace be upon him)—then polytheism entered them, and one of them would say: "Here I am, O Allah, here I am. Here I am, You have no partner, except a partner that You own, and You do not own a partner for Him. But this partner is owned by You, and what is with him is also owned by You." So the polytheists disbelieved in the oneness of worship (tawhid al-uluhiyyah), not in the oneness of lordship. For this reason, in the Noble Qur'an: As for the previous verse, it pertains to lordship. They said: The point is that the first verse is explicit that the polytheists believe in the lordship of Allah alone, with no partner. The second verse is explicit that they deny that the deity is one. What is the meaning of "deity" (ilah)? The deity is the one who is worshipped. So when the Messenger called them to worship Allah alone, with no partner, they denied that and said: The other verse: How do they become arrogant, while in another verse Allah informs about them: This means that lordship is one thing and deity is another. The Lord is one, by the agreement of all people, even the polytheists who fought the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and opposed him, as we mentioned. But as for the deity, it is multiple in their view. Therefore, they objected to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) when he called them to worship Allah alone, with no partner. Worship has types and categories, and the greatest worship in which the need of man and his servitude to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) are manifested is supplication. Therefore, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: Then he recited the saying of Allah the Exalted:
So, the polytheists—this is a point, unfortunately, that many of the special Muslims today have not realized—which is the distinction between lordship and deity. The polytheists believed in the oneness of Allah in lordship, but they disbelieved in the oneness of Allah in worship and deity. Therefore, they said that Allah has a partner, but this partner is owned by Allah and what He owns. So, the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah" is not permissible to interpret as "there is no Lord but Allah." This is the belief of the polytheists. Rather, "La ilaha illa Allah" means this word that came in the Qur'an, which he (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Ummah were commanded to say: It is not "there is no Lord but Allah." The polytheists believe in this, meaning the Creator, the Provider, the Giver of Life, and the Giver of Death. The polytheists believe that He is one, with no partner, but they assign Him a partner in worship. From here, it is not permissible for a Muslim, first, to understand this noble word "La ilaha illa Allah" as meaning "there is no Lord but Allah," because this negates the meaning of deity and worship of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) alone. Second, if a Muslim understands this noble word to mean that "La ilaha illa Allah" means there is no true object of worship in existence but Allah, it is not permissible for him to contradict this belief—the belief in the oneness of Allah in worshiping Him alone, with no partner—in practice. Many Muslims today supplicate to other than Allah in times of distress, as the polytheists used to do. This one calls out to al-Badawi, this one calls out to 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, this one calls out to al-Shadhili, and so on. All these people are worshipped today by many Muslims because of their understanding of the meaning of this word "La ilaha illa Allah," which is that there is no true object of worship in existence but Allah. For this reason, the first thing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) called to was this noble word, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: It does not mean that there is no Lord, but it means that there is no true object of worship but Allah. So whoever believes that there is no true object of worship but Allah believes that the Lord is one, with no partner. But whoever believes that the Lord is one, with no partner in His essence, may disbelieve in servitude, in the worship of Allah alone, with no partner. Because supplication is part of the worship of Allah. So if he supplicates to other than Allah, he has taken him as a deity other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).