Correct and Incorrect Meanings of “Laa ilaaha illAllaah”– Shaykh al-Fawzan | Dawud Burbank [Audio|En]

Aqeedah Tahaawiyyah : Point # 5: 

   ولا إله غيره‏.

[5]  And none besides Him (Allaah) has the right to be worshipped.

–

 The Explanation:

This is Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah (Tawheed of Worship).  The phrase ‘Laa ilaaha’ means: none has the right to be worshipped in truth besides Him.[1]

As for if you were to say (that it means), “nothing is worshipped except Him (Allaah)” or “there is nothing worshipped other than Him (Allaah);” then this is baatil (false and futile) because there are many things which are worshipped beside Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic.  So if you say, “there is nothing worshipped besides Allaah” then you have made every object which is worshipped to be Allaah.  And this is the position of the people of wahdatul-wujood (وحدة الوجود – unity of existence: the people who say that Creator and the creation are one and the same thing).  So the person who says this, if he actually believes that then he is from the people of wahdatul-wujood (unity of existence).  As for if he doesn’t actually believe that, but he only says it, blindly following other people, or he just heard it from someone, then this is an error and it must be corrected.  And some people say this as an opening supplication in the prayer; so one of them says, “Nothing is worshipped besides You,” whereas the reality is that Allaah is truly and rightfully worshipped, whereas everything as beside Him is worshipped falsely and without right.  He, the Most High said,

That is because Allaah – He is the One Who is worshipped in Truth and whatever they call upon besides Him, is baatil (false and futile).  And Allaah, He is the Most High, the Most Great.
(Sooratul-Hajj (22), aayah 62)

Footnotes:

[1] لَا مَعْبُودَ بـِحَقٍّ غَيْرُه

Posted with kind permission from Dawud Burbank rahimahullaah

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