In the name of Allāh, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. A letter from Shaykh al-Islām Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb in which he answers a question about the meaning of "There is no deity but Allāh." All praise is due to Allāh, and may peace and blessings be upon His Prophet. The Shaykh was asked about the meaning of "There is no deity but Allāh," and he replied: Know, may Allāh have mercy on you, that this statement is the distinguishing factor between disbelief and Islam. It is the word of piety, the firmest handhold, and it is what Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) made a lasting word among his descendants so that they might return [to it]. The intention is not to merely say it with the tongue while being ignorant of its meaning, for the hypocrites say it while they are in the lowest depths of the Fire, despite the fact that they pray and give charity. Rather, the intention is to say it with knowledge of it in the heart, love for it, love for its people, and hatred and enmity towards what contradicts it, as the Prophet (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: "Whoever says 'There is no deity but Allāh' sincerely," and in another narration, "sincerely from his heart," and in another narration, "truthfully from his heart." And in another ḥadīth: "Whoever says 'There is no deity but Allāh' and disbelieves in what is worshiped besides Allāh," and other such ḥadīths indicating the ignorance of most people regarding this testimony. So know that this statement is both negation and affirmation: negation of divinity from anything besides Allāh, the Exalted, from among the creations, even Muḥammad (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) and Jibrāʾīl, let alone others among the saints and the righteous. If you understand that, then contemplate this divinity that Allāh has affirmed for Himself and denied from Muḥammad and Jibrāʾīl and others, that they do not possess even a mustard seed's weight [of divinity]. So know that this divinity is what the common people in our time call the secret and the guardianship, and the deity means the guardian in whom the secret resides, which they call the faqīr and the shaykh, and the common people call him the master and similar titles. This is because they think that Allāh has given certain special creations a status, and He is pleased that a person seeks refuge in them, hopes in them, seeks their help, and makes them intermediaries between him and Allāh. What the polytheists in our time claim is that these intermediaries are what the ancients called (deities), and the intermediary is the deity. So the statement "There is no deity but Allāh" nullifies the intermediaries.