Tafsir of Yusuf 12:40

"You do not worship besides Him" (meaning: besides Allah the Exalted, any thing) "except names" (meaning: empty words to which nothing corresponds in reality, for that which has no reality to which the term may be applied has no existence at all; thus, their worship was directed only toward those words) "you have named" (meaning: you have assigned as names) "you and your forefathers" (out of sheer ignorance and misguidance) "Allah has not sent down for them" (i.e., for those designations that entail worship) "any authority" (meaning: any proof indicating their validity).

It is also said: They used to apply the name "gods" to their false objects of worship and claim there was proof for it, so they were refuted by the fact that you have assigned a name to that for which neither reason nor revelation indicates any entitlement to that name; then you proceeded to worship it based on the name you applied to it. The reason the "named objects" (the idols themselves) were not mentioned is to train the hearer in what the context requires—namely, stripping them of the rank of existence—and to signal that their act of naming them is as void as the names themselves, since they were names without a named entity, just as their worship was worship without an object of worship.

Included among these are those who claim they worship Allah the Exalted while imagining Him, Glorified be He, as a great body sitting upon the Throne or the like—things which the intellect deems Him transcendent above, and which are far removed from Him. Exalted and high is Allah above what the wrongdoers say, for that which the Majestic Name is objectively applied to is not what they have imagined; rather, it is something beyond that, and He is the One entitled to worship. What they have assigned (the name to) is not a god in reality, nor is it entitled to worship; and it is that which they worshipped. Thus, in reality, they worshipped nothing but a name to which nothing in reality corresponds, because what exists in reality is one thing, and that to which they assigned the name is another.

"The command" (i.e., the judgment regarding the matter of worship derived from that naming, and regarding its validity) "is for none but Allah" (He has commanded that you worship none but Him) because He is the One entitled to it by His essence, as He is the Necessary Being, the Creator of all, and the Owner of its affairs. "He has commanded that you worship none but Him" (meaning: that you worship no one except Him) according to what the requirements of reason also dictate. The sentence is an initiation based on a question arising from the previous sentence, as if it were said: "What then is Allah's judgment in this matter?" It was answered: "He has commanded," etc. It is also in the position of providing a rationale for an omitted premise, as if it were said: "Since the judgment in the matter of worship belongs to none but Him, then worship should not be for anyone but Him, the Exalted, or for one whom He commands to be worshipped—and He does not command that, nor does He assign it to anyone besides Himself." "He has commanded that you worship none but Him" is the contrary of the apparent meaning.

It is permissible that this stringing together of these sentences in this manner is to close off all avenues against them in justifying the validity of idol worship in the most absolute way. For if they were to say: "Allah has indeed sent down proof for that," they are refuted by His saying: "Allah has not sent down for them any authority." If they were to say: "Our elders have decreed this for us," they are refuted by His saying: "The command is for none but Allah." And if they were to say: "Since no proof for it was sent down, and there was no judgment from anyone else, the matter remains suspended, for the lack of a revealed proof indicating validity does not necessitate the existence of a revealed proof indicating invalidity," they are refuted by His saying: "He has commanded that you worship none but Him."

"That" (i.e., singling Him out, the Exalted, for worship) "is the correct religion" (the firm one, which rational and transmitted proofs have indicated) "but most people do not know"—that this is the correct religion, due to their ignorance of those proofs, or they do not know anything at all. Therefore, they worship names they have invented from themselves, turning away from what the intellect requires and what the yearning of revelation leads to. The origin of this turning away is remaining fixated upon the familiar and being restricted to sensory objects, which is embedded in most temperaments. From this stems anthropomorphism (tashbih), corporealism (tajsim), and attributing cosmic events to the sun, the moon, and all other celestial bodies and the like.