As mentioned earlier, to Allah belongs the "creation" and the "order" and this is at the very heart of the Lordship of Allah Most High. Allah mentioned this, saying:
{Verily your Lord is Allah the One who created the heavens and earth in six days and then He was over the throne. He causes the night to cover the day - it seeks it out perpetually. The sun, the moon and the stars are under the control of His order. Verily, His is the creation and the order. Blessed is Allah, Lord of the worlds.} Al-A'raaf: 54
When Musa was confronted by Pharaoh's questions: "Who is the Lord of you two, O Musa?", he answered with these two attributes of Allah:
{Our Lord is the one who gave all things their creation (or form) and then directed them.} Taha: 50
Just as Ibrahim before him had described his Lord saying:
{The one who created me and He is the one who guides me.} Ash-Shu'araa: 78
And finally, Muhammad (sas) was commanded to exalt his Lord with the same two attributes:
{Exalt the name of your Lord Most High (1) The One who created and formed (2) And the One who apportioned and directed} Al-A'laa: 1-3
THE ORDER OF ALLAH HAS TWO MEANINGS:
First: Allah's Absolute Order in His Creation: This is the order with which Allah controls the affairs of his creation. It is the one referred to in the Qur'an where Allah says to a thing "Be." and it is. There is absolutely nothing which occurs outside of this order of Allah and nothing which can resist it. Allah said about this:
{Our order is nothing more than, whenever We decide something, that We say to it "Be." and it is.} Yasin: 72
{And our Order is nothing but one [instant], like the blink of an eye.} Al-Qamar: 50
Second: Allah's Order to His Creation in the Shari'a: This is the order of Allah which distinguishes the halaal from the haraam and defines the entire system of life which Allah has ordained for the believers. It is obeyed by some of Allah's creation and disobeyed by others. Allah said about this:
{And we made among them imams who guide with Our order as long as they were steadfast and had certain belief in our signs.} As-Sajdah: 24
History has rarely known anyone to question Allah's Oneness and Supremacy in creation and order as pertains to His creation - the first type above. On the other hand, human history is filled with examples of those who rejected the Oneness of Allah with regard to His order in His Shari'a - the second type above - and claimed partnership with Allah in lawmaking. Allah tells us in the Qur'an about the one who said "I will send down something just like what Allah has sent down." And some of the feeble attempts of Musailama Al-Kadhdhaab to "compose" Qur'an of his own have been preserved for our amusement. For example:
Alladheena yalbasoona thiyaabahum bin-nahaari wa yughassiloonahaa bil-lail ulaa'ika hum al-muttahharoon.
"Those who wear their clothes by day and wash them by night, these are those who purify themselves."
Allah also tells us of Pharaoh saying to his people:
{I only show you what I have seen and I only guide you to the path of guidance.} Ghaafir: 29
In our time, we have seen those who look to secularism and taken as their religion the separation of all affairs of law, legislation and the state from matter of "religion". Some of them have even gone so far as to claim that the man-made or democratic laws are superior to the Shari'a of Islam because they are "modern" and "civilized" while the shari'a to them is "backward" and from a "bedouin" time and culture.
The tauhid of Allah in His Lordship is not complete until one makes Allah One and Alone in His creation and in His Order with both of its meanings: His absolute order in his creation (His decree) and His commands to his creation (His shari'a). This requires the acceptance of Allah as the ultimate and final Legislator - the acceptance that there is no halaal except that which Allah has defined as such and no haraam except that which Allah has defined as such. Whoever calls the people (and/or himself) to the following and obedience of another law other than the shari'a is a disbeliever and a mushrik.
The scholars of Usool-ul-Fiqh have all agreed on the axiom that "None has the right to legislate but Allah." Don't be fooled by their discussion of whether the intellect can arrive independently at the ruling in an issue. What they are talking about is the intellect - through training and other knowledge of the shari'a and its sources and ways - DISCOVERING or "uncovering" the eternal ruling of Allah in an issue, NOT legislating independently of Allah Most High. Though there was some disagreement on the details of this discussion, they are all in agreement that the definition of a ruling in the shari'a is:
"A directive from Allah relating to the actions of the responsible beings as a request, a choice or a relational definition."
And, they divided shari'a rulings in to two types:
Rulings of Responsibility: where Allah addresses the responsible beings requesting or leaving choice. It comes in five categories: wajib (obligatory), haraam (forbidden), mustahabb (preferred), makrooh (disliked) and mubaah (neutral).
Relational Rulings: where Allah addresses the responsible beings defining relations in the law such as something being the cause of something else or a condition for it or something which blocks it.
Clearly secularism - which includes the rejection of the primacy of the shari'a as the ultimate source of law and which claims the right to leglislate independently of Allah general legislation which define obligation, prohibition, choice or relational rulings at odds with the order of Allah and His Prophet (sas) - is a rejection of the Lordship and the Deityship of Allah Most High. It is one of the actions of shirk akbar (greater polytheism) without doubt. There can be no distinction between the one who questions Allah's oneness in His creation and the one who questions Allah's oneness in His order. Both are taghoot, mushrik and in a state of rebellion against the worship of Allah Most High.
The "lordship" of the priests and rabbis of the Christians and Jews was of this type: they legislated contrary to Allah's shari'a, making the lawful forbidden and the forbidden lawful. The people followed them in this and it was described as "worship" of them. They never claimed "lordship" with regard to creation or decree, it was only with regard to guidance and the orders of the shari'a.
Adiyy ibn Haatim (a former Christian before his Islam) reports that he heard the Prophet (sas) read: {They took their scholars and monks as lords othher than Allah...} At-tauba: 31 He said to the Prophet (sas): We never used to worship them. The Prophet (sas) said: "Did they not forbid that which Allah allowed and you likewise forbid it and they allowed that which Allah forbade and you likewise allowed it? He said: Yes. The Prophet (sas) said: "That is your worship of them."
The tauhid of Allah in His Lordship is not complete with the mere acceptance of his creation and his decree. Rather, it must also include His oneness in legislating, judgeing and commanding and the acceptance of the guidance and laws brought from Him by Muhammad (sas). Detracting from Allah's oneness in legislation is no different from detracting from His oneness in creation and omnipotence. The One who commanded us to accept His decree and omnipotence in all things is the same one who commanded us to refer and defer to His shari'a in all legal matters. He is the One who said:
{There is no sovereignty except Allah's. He commands you not to worship any but Him.} Yusuf: 40
{Or do they have partners who have legislated for them in the din that for which Allah has given no permission?} Ash-Shooraa: 21