Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
Directing worship to anyone other than Allah is shirk. It is not a condition for this shirk to occur that the worshiper believes that the one worshiped besides Allah independently creates, provides sustenance, or governs the universe, because worship is an exclusive right of Allah Almighty.
Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah means singling out Allah Almighty alone for worship. Allah says:
“So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous deeds and associate no one in the worship of his Lord.”
[Al-Kahf 18:110]
And He says:
“Say: Indeed, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. He has no partner.”
[Al-An‘am 6:162–163]
These texts prohibit directing worship to anyone other than Allah without making it a condition that the object of worship must be believed to share with Allah in creation or provision.
The Qur’an shows that many of the polytheists acknowledged that Allah was the Creator, Owner, and Controller of all affairs. Nevertheless, they were judged to be polytheists because they directed worship to others besides Him and took intermediaries and intercessors.
Allah says:
“They worship besides Allah things that can neither harm nor benefit them, and they say, ‘These are our intercessors with Allah.’”
[Yunus 10:18]
And He says concerning them:
“We worship them only so that they may bring us nearer to Allah.”
[Az-Zumar 39:3]
They did not necessarily regard those whom they worshiped as creators or governors of the universe. Rather, they worshiped them so that they would bring them closer to Allah and intercede for them before Him. Yet Allah still called them polytheists.
The Qur’an also tells us about the people of Ibrahim, peace be upon him. When he asked them:
“Do they hear you when you call upon them? Or do they benefit you or harm you?”
They did not affirm such powers for their idols. Instead, they said:
“Rather, we found our forefathers doing the same.”
[Ash-Shu‘ara 26:72–74]
Nevertheless, their worship of the idols was shirk.
No. The relationship between Tawhid al-Rububiyyah and Tawhid al-Uluhiyyah does not mean that a person can only become a polytheist in worship if he first believes that the object of worship creates, provides sustenance, or controls the universe.
Rather, whoever knows that Allah alone is the Creator and Provider must also worship Him alone.
For this reason, the polytheists’ acknowledgment that Allah was the Creator was not sufficient to make them people of Tawhid while they continued to direct some acts of worship to others besides Him.
It is not a condition for shirk in worship to occur that a person attributes any of the characteristics of Lordship, such as creation, provision, or governance, to the object of worship.
Whoever directs an act of worship to someone other than Allah falls into shirk in worship according to the reality of that act, even if he believes that Allah alone is the Creator, Owner, and Controller. This is why the Qur’an judged those who worshiped idols and took them as intercessors and intermediaries to be polytheists, despite the fact that many of them acknowledged Allah’s Lordship.
And Allah knows best.