Imaam al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said,
‘Negating shirk upon Allaah is not complete unless 3 types of shirk are negated:
The first: Shirk in lordship [ar-roobubiyyah] – which is to believe there is a creator alongside Allaah, as the Magians believe, that evil has a creator that is not Allaah. And this form of shirk is scarcely found in this ummah, and all praise is to Allaah, even if the Mu’tazilah’s belief that evil is the creation of the individual comes close to it. And his saying, sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, gives an indication of this: “The Qadariyyah are the Magians of this nation…” the hadeeth, which is sourced in a number of my reference works, as I noted in Saheeh al-Jaami’ as-Sagheer wa Ziyaada’ no. 4442.
The second: Shirk in worship, which is to worship something else alongside Allaah, such as the prophets or righteous by seeking their aid and calling upon them when affictions befall and other than this. And with sorrow, this is plentiful in this ummah. And the greatest sin of it falls upon those masha’ikh who support this kind of shirk by calling it tawassul – labelling it by other than its true name!
[1]
The third: Shirk in [Allaah’s] attributes, which is to describe some of His creation with the attributes that are specifically His, like knowing the unseen, for example. And this is widespread among many of the Soofiyyah and those influenced by them, like those who say in praising the prophet sall Allaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam
Indeed from your quality is the dunya and its adornment
And your knowledge is knowledge of the preserved tablet and the pen
And from here the misguidance of some of the dajjals comes – those who claim that they have seen the messenger sall Allaahu ‘alahi wa sallam during the day awake
[2] and ask him that which is hidden from them, from the inner workings of those around them, seeking to take control of some of their affairs. However, the messenger of Allaah sall Allaahu ‘alahi wa sallam did not know such things during his life, { If I had the knowledge of the Ghaib (unseen), I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth, and no evil should have touched me} [al-A’raaf: 188] so how would he know that after his passing and going to ar-rafeeq al-a’la?
Whosoever negates these 3 kinds of shirk from Allaah in his tawheed of Him has actually made tawheed of Him in His Self, worship and attributes and is the monotheist that achieves the virtues that is specific to the monotheists.
And whosoever breaches anything from these [categories of shirk] is someone to whom the likes of the following ayah should be read, { If you join others in worship with Allah, (then) surely (all) your deeds will be in vain, and you will certainly be among the losers} [az-Zumar: 65].
So memorise this, as it is the most important thing in aqeedah
[3] – there is no question [as to why] the author began with it. And whosoever would like details, they should refer to the explanation of this book
[4] and the books of the Shuyookh of Islaam like Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al_qayyim, Ibn Abdil Wahhaab and other than them from those who walked in their footsteps and traversed their path. {Our Lord! Forgive us and our brethren who have preceded us in Faith} [al-Hashr: 10].
[1] This wording here is taken from an authentic prophetic hadeeth reported by Ahmad (4/237); an-Nasaa'ee (8/112) and at-Tayaalisee (596) on the authority of a man fom the companions of the prophet sall Allaahu ‘alahi wa sallam that the messenger of Allaah sall Allaahu ‘alahi wa sallam said, “Indeed, people from my nation will drink alcohol, labelling it by other than its name.” [Shaykh Ali Hassan al-Halabi]
[2] And how much sorrow we have that some of the people of knowledge fell into this, like al-Haafith as-Suyootee, may Allaah forgive him, who has a dedicated treatise supporting this view. And there is no power or might except with Allaah…[Shaykh Ali Hassan al-Halabi]
[3] And some of the common people still accuse our Shaykh, may Allaah have mercy upon him, of irjaa’ – may Allaah guide them to the truth. [Shaykh Ali Hassan al-Halabi]
[4] It is the explanation of the Imaam Ibn Abil-‘Izz al-Hanafee, is the greatest explanation of this book and the most beneficial. And I have, by the success of Allaah, knowledge-grounded footnotes on it that I have named ‘An-Nukat as-Salafiyyah...’, as I have previously said. [Shaykh Ali Hassan al-Halabi]