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Is it permissible for a Muslim to call himself "Lord of anything," such as "Lord of Islam," intending "Master of Islam," and can this be substantiated by the Hadiths of "King of Kings"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

In the Arabic language, the word "Rabb" (رب) means owner and master, and it is permissible to apply it to Allah and to others. An example of its application to Allah is the Almighty's saying: (All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds). An example of its application to others is the Almighty's saying: (Mention me in the presence of your Rabb [master]), meaning your master, and the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) saying about a lost camel: (Leave it until its Rabb [owner] finds it), meaning its owner. When the word "Rabb" is used for a human, it must be attributed to something the human owns, such as "Rabb al-Usrah" (head of the household) or "Rabb al-Mal" (owner of wealth). However, "Rabb al-Islam" (Lord of Islam) cannot be used to describe a human; rather, it is an attribute solely for Allah the Almighty, for He is the initiator and owner of the call to Islam, as in the supplication of the Adhan: (O Allah, Lord of this perfect call).

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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