Question: As for the questioner’s statement: “Those people said, ‘We do not worship them except to bring us closer to Allah,’ so they admitted to worship, but these later people do not say that they worship them; rather, they say that they seek blessings through them?”
Answer: The answer is that what matters are the realities and meanings, not the differences in words. If they say, “We do not worship them, but we seek blessings through them,” it does not benefit them as long as they do what the polytheists before them did. Even if they do not call it worship, but call it intercession or seeking blessings, attaching oneself to other than Allah, calling upon the dead, prophets, and righteous people, sacrificing for them, prostrating to them, or seeking help from them—all of this is worship, even if they call it service or something else, because what matters are the realities, not the names, as previously mentioned.
An example of this is the group who went out with the Prophet May God bless him and grant him peace to Hunayn. When they saw the polytheists hanging their weapons on a tree, they said, “O Messenger of Allah, make for us a Dhat Anwat (a tree for hanging weapons) as they have a Dhat Anwat.” The Prophet May God bless him and grant him peace said, "Allahu Akbar! You have said, by the One in Whose hand is my soul, just as the Children of Israel said to Moses, ‘Make for us a god just as they have gods.’” He made their statement the same, even though they said, “Make for us a Dhat Anwat,” because what matters are the meanings and realities, not the words.
