The Oneness of Allah’s Lordship is the belief in heart that Allah alone performs divine acts. These include creation, provision, control, showing mercy, ruling, giving shape to creation, gifting and depriving, bringing benefits and causing harm, resurrection, destruction, sovereignty, predestination, and many other actions that no one else is capable of but Allah.

The Arabic word “rububiyyah” is derived from the verb “rabba”, which means “to educate.” Another of its derivatives is the noun “rabb”, which stands for “lord”, “sovereign”. Lordship is an attribute of Allah, the Sublime, the Almighty. In view of this, the word “rububiyyah” is formed from the noun “rabb”, which in the Arabic language has a variety of meanings, including “a sovereign”, “a lord everyone obeys to”, “a reformer who improves the state of things.”

Anyone who possesses intellect, who reflects on the parts of the world and the sky, on the Earth, which is established in the universe, on the stars, the planets, the sun and the moon, on the mountains, the trees, the seas and the rivers on the face of the earth, on the night and the day that shroud them, on the absolute and all-embracing order which has been established in the world and which all existence is subject to, will surely understand that the universe has an Almighty and All-Powerful Maker Who created it and is ruling it. And the more profoundly a man of sense thinks about all these deeds, the more occupied his mind is with these amazing creations, the clearer he understands that all this was created for the truth and with the truth, and that the universe presents scrolls with a collection of signs, and books which provide arguments and testimonies confirming the truth of everything that Almighty Allah stated about Himself and justifying His Oneness.

We don’t know of any cases of denial of this kind of monotheism on part of representatives of other religious communities; neither do we know of any declarations stating that the world was originated by two creators who were similar to each other in their attributes and capable of performing the same actions, since it is impossible by definition; and we will be returning to this point later on.

In a similar way, there is no assertion that any person has stated that someone has taken part in the process of creating the world alongside Allah, or that there is another one who possesses the same attributes as Allah. The essence of polytheists’ declarations reflects their confidence that any of Allah’s associates, be it an angel, a prophet, a planet or any idol, is subject to Allah. One of the hadiths recorded in “Sahih Muslim” on the authority of Ibn Abbas, Allah be pleased with him, reports that when pronouncing the words of Talbiyah, the idolaters from among the Arabs used to say: “Here I am in Your presence. You have no partner except the partner who is Your own. You are his owner as well as owner of what he owns.” As for Allah’s Messenger, he began uttering the words that evidenced pure monotheism,
“Here I am at Your service, O Allah, here I am. Here I am at Your service, You have no partner, here I am. Yours alone is all praise and all bounty, and Yours alone is the sovereignty. You have no partner.”

Almighty Allah told us that idolaters from among the Arabs, whom Allah’s Messenger had been sent to, generally acknowledged Allah as the One Creator, which is mentioned in many of Qur’an’s ayahs. Thus, for example, Allah the Almighty said, “And if you ask them, ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ they will certainly say, ‘Allah.’ Say, ‘All the praises and thanks be to Allah.’ But most of them do not know.” Surah “Luqmān”, ayah 25.

Almighty Allah also said, “And if you were to ask them, ‘Who has created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon?’ they will surely reply, ‘Allah.’ How then are they deviating?” Surah “Al-‘Ankabūt”, ayah 61.

Almighty Allah also said, “And if you were to ask them, ‘Who sends down water from the sky, and gives life therewith to the earth after its death?’ they will surely reply, ‘Allah.’ Say, ‘All the praises and thanks be to Allah!’ Nay, most of them have no sense.” Surah “Al-‘Ankabūt”, ayah 63.

Almighty Allah also said, “Say, ‘Who provides for you from the sky and the earth? Or who owns hearing and sight? And who brings out the living from the dead and brings out the dead from the living? And who disposes the affairs?’ They will say, ‘Allah.’ ” Surah “Yūnus”, ayah 31.

Almighty Allah also said, “Say, ‘Whose is the earth and whosoever is therein? If you know!’ They will say, ‘It is Allah’s!’ Say, ‘Will you not then remember?’ Say, ‘Who is the Lord of the seven heavens, and the Lord of the Great Throne?’ They will say, ‘Allah.’ Say, ‘Will you not then fear Allah?’ Say, ‘In Whose Hand is the sovereignty of everything? And He protects, while against Whom there is no protector, if you know?’ They will say, ‘All that belongs to Allah.’ Say, ‘How then are you deceived and turn away from the truth?’ ” Surah “Al-Mu’minūn”, ayahs 84-89.

Yet some people think that certain things were not created by Allah. Thus, for instance, dualists from among fire-worshippers believe that darkness was not created by Allah, the Qadariyahs think that Allah is not the creator of animal deeds, and some polytheists from among the Arabs and other nations believed that their deities brought them benefits or caused them damage on their own, and not by Allah’s will.

Given the existence of polytheism of this kind, its inconsistency was revealed in the Qur’an. Almighty Allah said, “No son did Allah beget, nor is there any other god along with Him. If there had been many gods, then each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would have tried to overcome others.” Surah “Al-Mu’minūn”, ayah 91.

The words of the Almighty in this case are nothing more than an example of a speculative argument, the essence of which lies in denying the possibility of coexistence of two creators, and a clear explanation of the fact that the True God must necessarily be the Creator capable of taking actions and holding great power. And even if there was another god existing along with Allah that would possess the same powers, then he would be the ruler of a single creation and would also be distinguished by the capacity of taking action and by the strength. However, shared ownership would not do for the other god, so he would try to subdue his partner and assume exclusive control over everything, and if he could, he would do it, otherwise he would separate himself carrying away his own creation.

Accordingly, provided that there were two creators, one of the following two consequences would be inevitable:
• each god would carry away his own creation;
• or one of the gods would rise above the other one.

However, all that we are witnessing is contrary to the very idea of the possibility of coexistence of various creators, as orderliness and harmonious relationship between all the components of the creation — the sky and the earth, what is above and what is below — suggest that the whole world is controlled by One God Alone, the Sublime, the Almighty.