Continuation. Explanation of the author's statement: From 'Ubadah ibn al-Samit (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (

The Shaykh : And Allah the Exalted said: Yes, how do we say "There is no deity but Allah"? We say that this worship of other than Allah, this worship of other than Allah without right, is not valid to be called worship, because what is negated by the Shari'ah is negated in reality, meaning it must be negated in occurrence. So here, this worship is false worship, and falsehood has no standing. Yes. So it is false. Yes. And this is the reconciliation between His saying here and the saying of Quraysh and His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: Here He made them names without meanings. Why? Because they are false by the Shari'ah, so they are merely the name of gods. In reality, they do not deserve to be called gods. They do not benefit, they do not harm, they do not create, they do not provide sustenance, they do not give life, and they do not cause death. So they are not deserving to be gods. And by this, we also know that the saying of the messengers to their peoples: The polytheists worship idols and say, "You have no god other than Him," meaning, which real god deserves to be worshipped? This is what the Muslims are upon. This is what the Muslims are upon, and this is what the messengers brought. As for the one who says "god" in the sense of gods and makes the meaning of "god" the one capable of creation, as many of the theologians say, they say tawhid (the oneness of Allah) is that you make Allah one and say He is one in His essence with no partner, one in His actions with no associate, and one in His attributes with no likeness. This is tawhid in their view. They do not say "one in His worship, none is worshipped but Him." They do not say this. In reality, for them, "god" means the one capable of creation. They... this one says "There is no god but Allah," meaning there is no one capable of creation but Allah. Yes. Now, is this the reality of tawhid? Is this the meaning of "There is no deity but Allah"?
The student: No.

The Shaykh : If this were the meaning of "There is no deity but Allah," then when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Quraysh and said "There is no deity but Allah," they would have said, "At your service, welcome." We say with you on the minbars? No, not on the minbars, but on the highest mountain, "There is no deity but Allah," or not? Do they not say this? They say, "There is no one capable of creation but Allah." Quraysh says, "There is no one capable of creation but Allah," or rather, "There is no Creator but Allah." Yes. And the phrase "There is no Creator but Allah" is more eloquent than "capable of creation," because the one capable may or may not do it, but the Creator has done it, and His power has been realized. So the tawhid of the polytheists is better than the tawhid of these theologians who claim to belong to Islam and say that this is the religion of Islam, that the meaning of "There is no deity but Allah" is "There is no one capable of creation but Allah." Glory be to Allah! If this were the meaning of tawhid, would Quraysh have opposed the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? No, absolutely not. They would have welcomed him and supported him, and they would not have fought the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him). But it is unfortunate that there are many theologians now, or writers now who write in these topics, and when they speak about tawhid, they do not establish more than tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship). And this is truly a mistake. This is a great deficiency. And it is unfortunate that in some of our schools, tawhid, as far as I have been told—I have not read the book—mostly establishes tawhid al-rububiyyah, which the polytheists did not deny. And this is incorrect. It means we must instill in the hearts of Muslims tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) more than tawhid al-rububiyyah, because tawhid al-rububiyyah is truly a matter that no one has denied in a real sense. Even the Zoroastrians who believe in darkness and light see that darkness creates and light creates, but they see light as better because light creates good and darkness creates evil, so it is better in their view. Even with those who say in the creators, we do not establish anything but this innate matter known by reason, and we are silent about the matter in which desire truly prevails: worshipping other than Allah. It is this that controls this person over himself until it diverts him from worshipping Allah. He worships awliya (close friends of Allah), he worships his desire. Yes. Even the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made the one whose concern is the dirham and the dinar a worshipper. And Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said: For this reason, some of the Salaf (the earliest generations) said a correct statement supported by evidence: every sin is a type of shirk (associating partners with Allah). Every sin is a type of shirk. Why? Because what drives one to this sin is desire. And Allah the Exalted has made following desire a type of shirk. Yes. And although we divide by type, not by the broader genus, we say shirk is one thing and sin is another. So zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), for example, is not shirk. Zina is a sin. All sins, in the general sense or the general genus, can truly be considered a type of shirk. Yes. But in the specific sense, it is divided into types: minor shirk and major shirk, and a small sin and a large sin. Yes. And a sin that concerns the right of Allah, a sin that concerns the right of a person, and a sin that concerns the right of creation. So the result is that "There is no deity but Allah"—I say that it is obligatory for us to realize it, because it is the goal of tawhid. And this is one of the most difficult things for a person. Do not think it is easy. We, praise be to Allah, testify that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. But this matter is difficult. Some of the Salaf said, "I have not struggled my soul for anything as much as I have struggled it for ikhlas (sincerity of intention)." And it is true, it is true. This is difficult. Difficult. And Allah, no one knows it, and no one knows that it is difficult except the true believer, because the non-believer does not care. For this reason, when it was said to Ibn 'Abbas or Ibn Mas'ud: "The Jews say, 'We do not have doubts in prayer'", meaning that the Jew bows for prayer, or is his heart present? It does not go right or left, even though they are known for worldly life and love of the world. He said, "It is true, you Muslims, your hearts are unified, but their hearts are ruined. What does Satan do with a ruined heart? He comes to ruin the already ruined. But he wants to ruin the inhabited one... he comes to demolish it." For this reason, when it was complained to the Prophet (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him) that a man finds in himself what Muslims consider great, he said, "Have you found that?" They said, "Yes." And what did he say? This means that is the clear sign that your faith is sincere, because he denied it, he shunned it, and this occurrence came upon him. This occurrence does not come upon a sincere heart. If the heart is numb... it is not clean. And Allah knows best.
And the noble effects that follow from it. In the chapter before, tawhid was mentioned, meaning its obligation, and the discussion preceded on His saying, the Exalted: And the meaning of His saying "they did not mix" is "they did not mix."
Then he said: "And from 'Ubadah ibn al-Samit, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

If anyone testifies that None has the right to be worshipped but Allah Alone Who has no partners, and that Muhammad is His Slave and His Apostle

من شهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك وأن محمدا عبده ورسوله

Sahih al-Bukhari 3435

" Who and what is its grammar?
The student: It is conditional.

The Shaykh : No.
The student: It is conditional.

The Shaykh : It is a conditional noun, and its answer is "Allah will admit him to Paradise" regardless of his actions. And his saying "whoever testifies"—the testimony is the confession with the tongue and the belief in the heart. Yes, and the confirmation with the limbs. Otherwise, the testimony is not complete. It is necessary to have belief in the heart, confession with the tongue, and confirmation with the limbs. Otherwise, the testimony is a lie. Settle down, you people. The hypocrites came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, "We testify that you are the Messenger of Allah. We testify that you are the Messenger of Allah." This is a confirmed sentence with three elements: testimony, "in," and the lam. Is this confession with the tongue or not?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : But it is devoid of belief in the heart and devoid of confirmation through action. Did it benefit, or did it not benefit? It did not benefit. So, you testify that there is no god but Allah with your heart and you believe, yes. You testify that there is no god but Allah with your tongue and you believe in your heart that there is no god but Allah, but you do not act. Does it benefit or not? Good. Where is the worship? Because "no god" means "no one worthy of worship." How can you not worship? How can you not worship when you testify that there is no one worthy of worship but Allah, and you are the first one who did not worship Him? Where is the testimony? So, the testimony is not realized except by belief in the heart, secondly, acknowledgment by the tongue, and thirdly, confirmation by the pillars, confirmation by action. Confirmation by action. And he testifies that so-and-so said, "I testify that so-and-so is a heretic and an atheist." Yes. But if you investigate his heart, he loves him with great love. Yes. And if you investigate his action, he does not ally with him, nor draw near to him, nor take his words, nor consider them. What is the status of the testimony? Is it true or false? False. How can you call him a heretic and an atheist and then go love him and testify for him? Where is the testimony? So, this is necessary. Good. The testimony that there is no god but Allah: we testify that there is no god but Allah. What does "there is no god but Allah" mean? This phrase has great importance. What does "there is no god but Allah" mean?
If you say "there is no one worthy of worship but Allah," we say reality contradicts you, because there exist those who are worshipped other than Allah, or not?
The student: Yes, that is right.

The Shaykh : But we say there is no one worthy of worship in a way that deserves to be worshipped except Allah, except Allah. And these idols that are worshipped besides Allah and called gods are merely names, otherwise they do not deserve to be gods, because they possess none of the attributes of divinity, nothing of the characteristics that necessitate being worshipped. Ibrahim said to his father: If you speak, it does not hear you; if adversity strikes you, it does not see you; if you ask it and call for its aid, it does not benefit you in any way. With what intellect do you worship one in this state? Yes, good.
So, the saying of the messengers, peace and blessings be upon them, to their peoples: Merely a naming, otherwise in reality it does not deserve to be a god. Even if they deify them, worship them, love them, and honor them, they are not gods, they are not worthy of worship. Clear? So, "there is no god but Allah": we must know its true meaning, namely that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah. As for one who worships one who is not worthy, and that is everyone worshipped other than Allah, he is not a god, and calling him a god is merely a naming. And Yusuf said: Just names you and your fathers have named; they are not gods. And so. As for one who says that "god" means "gods" (plural) and then interprets it as the one capable of creation or invention, this is false. This interpretation is false. What invalidates it? Because the polytheists believe in Allah with this belief, or not? And they are polytheists. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, fought them because they did not say "there is no god but Allah." So, the one who interprets "there is no god but Allah" with this interpretation is considered in agreement with the polytheists in their understanding. In fact, they are more understanding than him. They are more understanding than him, because he believes that there is no one but Allah, and they believe that there is a Creator, that there is no Creator other than Allah, but out of humility and worship... and drawing near, the polytheists see that there is something other than Allah.