Explanation of the first type of the types of shirk, which is shirk in lordship.

The Shaykh : The first type of shirk is shirk in lordship. Few people, and few nations as a whole, even among the disbelievers, fall into it, due to the obviousness of its falsity and misguidance. It is the belief that alongside Allah (Mighty and Majestic) there is a Lord who creates other than Him. This is shirk in lordship. As I told you, few fall into this type. One of the wonders that never ceases to be a wonder is that many Muslims, the specialists, let alone the common people, still believe that the polytheist Arabs to whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent and whom he called to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) were committing shirk in lordship. This is the point of wonder. Many specialists, let alone the common people, still believe that the polytheists of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) were committing the first type, which is shirk in lordship. This is an error; rather, it is ignorance of the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. There are many texts in the Book that explicitly state that the Arabs in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) worshipped Allah, directing their worship, whether it was worship they inherited from their father Ibrahim or whether it was innovation introduced for them by their high priests, toward Allah. They believed that Allah is One in His essence, with no Lord alongside Him who creates like His creation or provides like His provision. There are many verses, and the Sunnah also confirms this Quranic meaning. It was reported in Sahih Muslim that their tawaf, when they circumambulated the House, was one of those acts of worship they inherited from predecessor to successor from their father Ibrahim (peace be upon him), the Prophet of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). They inherited tawaf from him, but they introduced into it many innovations and misguidances. Among these was that when they were circumambulating the Ka'bah, they would say, "Here I am, O Allah, here I am. Here I am, You have no partner except a partner whom You own and whom You control." This is their admission that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has no Lord alongside Him, because at the time they were taking partners and equals for Allah, they believed that these partners and equals were owned by Allah (Mighty and Majestic), just as these polytheists themselves acknowledged their servitude to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Therefore, the first type of shirk that every Muslim must beware of is this shirk, shirk in lordship, which even the worshippers of idols, even the first polytheists, did not fall into. This is because the belief that Allah is One in His essence and unique in His lordship is a matter of fitrah (the innate natural disposition) in which doubt did not creep in except to some people whom Satan misled, such as the Zoroastrians who took two Lords: a Lord who creates good and a Lord who creates evil. As for the Arabs, they did not believe in anything but tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship). Therefore, regarding tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), which the polytheists used to affirm, there is no great danger that the masses of people, let alone the masses of Muslims, will fall into shirk in lordship.