They do not respond to him until the Day of Resurrection, and they are heedless of their supplication. And when mankind is gathered, they will be enemies to them, and they will deny their worship. And Allah the Almighty says: "And those you call upon besides Allah do not possess even the peel of a date seed. If you call them, they do not hear your supplication, and if they heard, they would not respond to you. And on the Day of Resurrection, they will deny your associating them [with Allah]. And no one can inform you like One who is All-Aware." So, Allah, blessed and exalted, informed that calling upon other than Allah is polytheism. So, whoever says, "O Messenger of Allah," or "O Ibn Abbas," or "O Abdul Qadir," claiming that he is the gatekeeper of his needs to Allah, his intercessor with Him, and his means to Him, then he is the polytheist whose blood and wealth are permissible, unless he repents from that. Likewise, those who swear by other than Allah, or he who trusts in other than Allah, or hopes in other than Allah, or fears the occurrence of evil from other than Allah, or seeks refuge in other than Allah, then he is also a polytheist. And the types of polytheism we have mentioned are what Allah said about: "Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that to whom He wills." And it is for this that the Messenger of Allah fought the polytheists and ordered them to dedicate all worship to Allah the Almighty. And this is confirmed by mentioning four principles that Allah the Almighty mentioned in His Book. The first is that you know that the disbelievers whom the Messenger of Allah fought acknowledge that Allah is the Creator, the Provider, the Giver of life, the Giver of death, the Disposer of all affairs. The evidence for this is His saying: "Say, 'Who provides for you from the heavens and the earth?' Or who controls [your] hearing and sight and who brings out the living from the dead and brings out the dead from the living and who disposes [every] matter?' They will say, 'Allah.' So say, 'Then will you not fear Him?'" And His saying: "Say, 'To whom belongs the earth and whatever is on it, if you know?' They will say, 'To Allah.' Say, 'Then will you not remember?'" "Say, 'Who is the Lord of the seven heavens and the Lord of the Great Throne?' They will say, 'To Allah.' Say, 'Then will you not fear Him?'" "Say, 'In whose hand is the dominion of all things, and He protects while none can protect against Him, if you know?' They will say, 'To Allah.' Say, 'Then how are you deluded?'" If you know this principle and the matter becomes unclear to you, then know that they acknowledged this, and then they turned to others besides Allah, calling upon them besides Allah, and thus associated them [with Allah]. *The Second Principle* is that they say, "We do not hope in them except to seek intercession with Allah. We want from Allah, not from them, but through their intercession." And this is polytheism. The evidence for this is Allah's saying: "And they worship besides Allah that which neither harms them nor benefits them and say, 'These are our intercessors with Allah.' Say, 'Do you inform Allah of that which He knows not in the heavens or on the earth?' Exalted is He above what they associate with Him." And Allah says: "And those who take protectors besides Him [say], 'We only worship them so they may bring us closer to Allah.' Indeed, Allah will judge between them concerning that over which they differ. Indeed, Allah does not guide he who is a liar and a disbeliever." And if you know this principle, then know the third principle, which is that some of them sought intercession from idols, and some of them disassociated themselves from idols and clung to the righteous, such as Jesus and his mother, and the angels. The evidence for this is His saying: "Those whom they invoke seek means of access to their Lord, [seeking] who among them would be closest [to Him] and they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord was ever to be feared." And the Messenger of Allah did not differentiate between those who worshipped idols and those who worshipped the righteous; rather, he declared all of them disbelievers and fought them until the religion was entirely for Allah. And if you know this principle, then know the fourth principle, which is that they turn to Allah sincerely in times of hardship and forget what they associate [with Him]. The evidence for this is His saying: "And when they board a ship, they invoke Allah, sincere to Him in religion. But when He delivers them to the land, at once they associate others with Him." And the people of our time sincerely call upon others besides Allah in times of hardship, and when.