[meaning: al-Ashʿarī] and his followers—they have not known the reality of the Monotheism (Tawhid) with which God sent His Messenger. For the polytheists of the Arabs used to acknowledge that God alone is the Creator of everything, yet despite this, they were polytheists... For this reason, among the followers of these people are those who prostrate to the sun, the moon, and the stars, supplicating to them just as they supplicate to God Almighty, fasting for them, offering sacrifices to them, and drawing near to them, and then saying: 'This is not polytheism; rather, polytheism is only if I believe that they are the ones managing my affairs. But if I make them a cause and an intermediary, I am not a polytheist.'

It is necessarily known from the religion of Islam that this is polytheism. This and its like are part of the Monotheism (Tawhid) with which God sent His messengers, yet they do not include it in the designation of Monotheism (Tawhid) they coined, while they included in it the negation of His attributes." End quote.

Sheikh Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, may Allah have mercy on him, said, as found in al-Durar al-Saniyya (1/112), while speaking about the meaning of 'the worshipped' according to the Ashʿarite scholastic theologians:

"The scholastic theologians are among those who claim Islam, but God led them astray from knowing the Deity. It is mentioned from al-Ashʿarī and those who followed him that He is the Capable, and that divinity is capability.

So if we acknowledge that, it is the meaning of His statement: (There is no deity but God). Then Satan overcame them, so they supposed that Monotheism (Tawhid) cannot be achieved except by negating the attributes, so they negated them, and they called anyone who affirmed them an 'anthropomorphist' (mujassim)!!

The people of the Sunna refuted them with many evidences, among them: that Monotheism (Tawhid) is not complete except by affirming the attributes; and that the meaning of the Deity is the worshipped one. So if He, Transcendent is He, is uniquely singled out with this from all creations, and this is a correct description by which the one describing Him does not lie, then this indicates the attributes. It indicates immense knowledge and immense capability, and these two attributes are the root of all attributes, as the Exalted said: {It is God who has created seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them. The command descends among them so you may know that God is over all things competent and that God has encompassed all things in knowledge} [al-Ṭalāq: 12].

So if God has condemned the worship of one who possesses neither benefit nor harm for his worshippers, it is known that this necessitates knowledge of the needs of the worshippers, both speaking and beastly; and it necessitates the capability to fulfill