Page 38 - The Worst Slander: Idolatry

36 THE WORST SLANDER: IDOLATRY

According to the Qur'an, a deity is an entity that pos-
sesses the titles and attributes that Allah has revealed about
Himself. The only true deity, therefore, is Allah. No other
member of Creation has His titles, and to claim otherwise
means taking entities other than Allah as one's deity or
ascribing equals to Allah.
A fine distinction needs to be drawn here. For example,
one of Allah's titles, al-Ghani (the Wealthy), can also refer to
one's material situation. What leads to idolatry, however, is
imagining that this wealth was acquired through personal
effort. If this were the case, the fact that all wealth actually
belongs to Allah would be forgotten. For whatever reason,
Allah willed to give that person all that he or she owns,
thereby manifesting this particular title al-Ghani. However,
many people often forget or ignore the fact that Allah can
remove whatever He wills from whoever He wills in a single
moment. The failure to consider anyone apart from Allah as
poor and helpless renders people unable to understand that
He can manifest Himself by whatever titles and in whatever
people He wills. As a result, one may think that the individ-
ual concerned is the true owner of such possessions as
wealth, riches, property, and titles. But since such things
were bestowed by Allah, instead of being acquired by indi-
vidual effort, this misunderstanding may cause people to
forget Allah and ascribe a false divine title to another human
being (Surely Allah is beyond that). If they do this, they are
guilty of idolatry.
The correct thing to do is to realize that Allah is the sole
Possessor and Lord of all riches and wealth, regardless of