The true meaning of worship is to think of a creature as a...

The true meaning of worship is to think of a creature as a god and worship it/him, or to regard a phenomenon as one of God’s creatures and assume that it has been commissioned to perform divine actions, such as governing the world and forgiving sins.

But when showing humility to someone and we do not regard that one as a god and we do not think that he or she has been commissioned to perform divine actions, such humility will mean nothing but an expression of respect to that one as in the case of the angels’ reverence to Adam ( ‘a ) or the honor paid by the sons of Ya‘qub to Yusuf ( ‘a ).

Regarding this question, it must also be stated that to assume that the right of intercession has been granted to the rightful intercessors and that they can unconditionally intercede for people or forgive their sins will entail polytheism { shirk }, for this means seeking what is with God from other than Him.

But when we think that a group of pure servants of God are authorized within a certain context to intercede on behalf of the sinners without assuming that they possess the station of shafa‘ah and we think that the most important requisite is God’s permission and good pleasure, it is clear that resorting to a righteous servant (of God) for intercession does not mean recognizing him as a god nor does it mean that the responsibility of the divine affairs has been entrusted to him; rather, it means asking someone who is worthy of it.

In the lifetime of the Prophet (S) sinners would come to him and ask him for forgiveness (of the sins) and he would not accuse them of polytheism. In the Sunan of Ibn Majah, the Prophet (S) is reported to have said: "أتدرون ما خيّرني ربي الليلة؟ قلنا: الله ورسوله أعلم.

قال: فإنه خيّرني بين أن يدخل نصف امتي والجنة وبين الشفاعة فاخترت الشفاعة قلنا يا رسول الله أدعُ الله أن يجعلنا من أهلها قال هى لكل مسلم." Do you know what God has granted me this night?” We said: “God and His Prophet know better.” He added: “He has granted me the favor of choosing one of two things: the first is that half of my ummah shall enter paradise and the second is the authority to intercede. So I chose the second.” We said: “O Messenger of Allah!