What is the difference between saying: "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah" and: "There is no true deity except Allah"?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The student: "There is no deity worthy of worship" and "There is no true deity."
The Shaykh : What is the difference if we say "There is no deity worthy of worship"? The report (khabar) does not come, and "worthy of worship" becomes attached to "deity," meaning that no one worships worthily except Allah. According to this report, it is Allah. This is problematic according to the rules of grammar, because the negating "la" (la nafiyat al-jins) does not operate except on indefinite nouns. If we say "There is no true deity," then "true" becomes the report (khabar) for it, not attached to "deity." For this reason, some of them said that its implied meaning is "There is no existing deity except Allah." This is not correct. Why? Because there are existing things worshipped other than Allah. But the correct thing is to say "There is no true deity," just as if you said "No one is standing except Zayd," where "standing" is the report (khabar). "There is no true deity except Allah." Do you understand?
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Allah the Exalted said: This is the beginning of the lesson and the discussion.
The student: The benefits.
The Shaykh : We took the benefits.
The Shaykh : What is the difference if we say "There is no deity worthy of worship"? The report (khabar) does not come, and "worthy of worship" becomes attached to "deity," meaning that no one worships worthily except Allah. According to this report, it is Allah. This is problematic according to the rules of grammar, because the negating "la" (la nafiyat al-jins) does not operate except on indefinite nouns. If we say "There is no true deity," then "true" becomes the report (khabar) for it, not attached to "deity." For this reason, some of them said that its implied meaning is "There is no existing deity except Allah." This is not correct. Why? Because there are existing things worshipped other than Allah. But the correct thing is to say "There is no true deity," just as if you said "No one is standing except Zayd," where "standing" is the report (khabar). "There is no true deity except Allah." Do you understand?
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Allah the Exalted said:
Indeed, you will taste the painful punishment, and you will not be recompensed except for what you used to do.
إنكم لذائقو العذاب الأليم ولا تجزون إلا ما كنتم تعلمونThe student: The benefits.
The Shaykh : We took the benefits.