Reminding of the importance of calling to the oneness of worship and warning against shirk (associating partners with Allah)

The Shaykh : We remind you—and the reminder benefits the believers—that when the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: , he called people to worship Allah alone, having no partner, and he focused on this issue in his calling and explanation, saying: . Ibn Mas'ud narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . Ibn Mas'ud said, "And I said from my own opinion: whoever dies while associating anything with Allah will enter the Fire." Therefore, the most important thing that a Muslim caller to Allah should do in this time is to call Muslims to tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and to explain what contradicts this tawhid, namely the acts of shirk and idolatry. This is because a tawhid mixed with much shirk and idolatry is of no benefit. When shirk enters tawhid, it destroys and corrupts it, just as vinegar, if it overtakes honey, destroys its sweetness. So the caller must focus on this point above all else: calling Muslims to understand the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no god but Allah) in terms of affirmation and negation. "La ilaha" (No god), "illa Allah" (but Allah). This affirmation necessitates knowing tawhid in its three types: tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship), and tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes). Whoever believes in tawhid while leaving out one of these types, his tawhid is of no benefit to him. And when he understands these three types of tawhid, it is obligatory for him to also understand what contradicts this tawhid, namely the acts of shirk and idolatry.
And we know, with regret, that these Muslims, who number approximately eight hundred million, fit the description of the Lord of the Worlds: , . The majority of this huge number of Muslims are in this state; they believe in one aspect and associate partners with Allah in another. This was the state of those who associated partners before them: . This is belief, but when we turn to the completion of this tawhid, which is worshipping Allah alone, they disbelieved in this worship and said: , meaning: Did this Prophet who calls people to tawhid make the object of worship a single one?! While they worship other gods alongside Allah! So they said: . Therefore, Allah the Exalted said: . What are they arrogant about? About the statement that the Creator of the universe is Allah? No, they used to believe in that: . But they were... regarding the restriction of worship to this Allah who created the heavens and the earth. So they worshipped al-Lat, al-'Uzza, and Manat, the third, the other.
Among the ignorance of Muslims today is that they do not know what worship is. They imagine that worshipping other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is only to pray to them, bow to them, and prostrate to them. They think that whoever prays to other than Allah in this way alone has worshipped other than Allah. But if he calls upon other than Allah in times of hardship, if he slaughters for other than Allah in times of ease, if he makes vows for other than Allah in times of ease, they do not consider this worship of other than Allah, even though it is the very essence of worship. This is what the masses of Muslims today have fallen into: they slaughter for the awliya (close friends of Allah) and the righteous, they make vows for them, and they perform pilgrimage to their graves just as the believer performs pilgrimage to the House of Allah the Sacred. All of this is shirk (associating partners with Allah) with Allah (Mighty and Majestic); that is, shirk in His worship, in His uluhiyyah (oneness of worship), even though they believe in the existence of Allah. This belief was held by the polytheists, and they did not leave it out in any way. They were arrogant to believe that "La ilaha illa Allah" (There is no god but Allah), because they knew that the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah" is that there is no object of worship with truth in existence except Allah, and they worship other gods alongside Allah. Therefore, they were arrogant to say: "La ilaha illa Allah." Muslims today are not arrogant; they say: "La ilaha illa Allah," but they do not know the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah." So they say with their tongues what is not in their hearts, out of ignorance of their religion.
This clarifies for us the importance of calling to the tawhid of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) and His worship. Whoever believes that Allah is One in His essence, and believes that Allah is One in His worship, and that it is not permissible to worship anyone alongside Him, and adds to this the third and final tawhid, which is tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes); then this is the one who believes in "La ilaha illa Allah" in understanding and conviction.
Tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes) is the belief that Allah (Mighty and Majestic), just as He is One in His essence with no equal, and just as He is One in His worship with no partner worshipped alongside Him, so Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is One in His attributes. No one resembles Him in any of His attributes, let alone all of them. Whoever unites Allah in His attributes as well, his tawhid is complete. He is the one whom Allah has forbidden the Fire forever, that he will not remain in it forever. He is the one about whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . This is the grain of mustard seed of faith, after which there is no other grain. Whoever does not have this grain is among those who will remain in the Fire forever. But whoever has this grain is the one who will come out of the Fire, no matter how many his sins and evil deeds are.