Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:165

(And of the people are those who take other than Allah as equals). This is an explanation of the state of the polytheists following the proofs that demonstrate the Oneness of Allah—Exalted is He. The prepositional phrase "other than Allah" is a circumstantial qualifier pertaining to the pronoun in "take." Al-Andad (the equals) refers to counterparts, and the intended meaning here is idols, as is common in the Quran and narrated from Qatadah, Mujahid, and most exegetes. It has been said: it refers to the leaders among men whom they obey with the obedience due to lords. This is narrated from al-Suddi and attributed to al-Sadiq, may Allah be pleased with him. It is also said: the intended meaning is more general than both, encompassing everything that preoccupies one from Allah, the Exalted.

The meaning is: (And of the people are those who take)—transgressing against the One God whose glorious affairs have been mentioned—equals (to Him). Thus, they do not restrict obedience to Him, the Glorified; rather, they associate others with Him in this. The preference for the Glorious Name [Allah] is to designate Him, the Exalted, by His Essence after having designated Him by His attributes.

(They love them as the love of Allah). This is either an inaugural sentence, an adjective for "the equals," or an adjective for "those" (if you consider the relative pronoun "those" as an indefinite noun qualified by a sentence), intended to explain the motive for this taking.

Al-hubb (love) is the inclination of the heart, derived from al-habb (the seed), which is the core and the innermost part of the heart. It was then derived into al-hubb because it affects the core of the heart and settles within it. The love of the servants for Allah, the Exalted, according to the majority of theologians, is a type of volition—whether we say it is the very inclination following the belief of benefit, as is the view of the Mu'tazila, or a deciding quality distinct from it, as is the doctrine of the People of Sunnah. Therefore, it only attaches to permissible things, and it is impossible for it to attach to His Essence, the Exalted. Thus, the servant’s love for Him, the Glorified, is the desire to obey Him and attain His pleasure. This is based on the limitation of the inherently sought-after object to pleasure and the removal of pain. Those who possess gnosis of Allah, the Exalted, have said: Perfection is also loved for its own sake. Thus, the servant loves Allah, the Exalted, for His own sake, because He is the Absolute Perfect One whose perfection no other perfection approaches. As for the love of His service and His reward, that is a lower station. The love of Allah, the Exalted, for His servants is an attribute of His—Glory be to Him—that cannot be conditioned, and the wings of thought cannot hover around its sanctuary. It has been said: [His love] is the volition to honor them, employ them in obedience, and protect them from disobedience.

The intended meaning of "love" here is glorification and obedience. That is, they equate Allah, the Exalted, with the equals they have taken; they glorify them and obey them just as they glorify Allah and incline toward His obedience. The objective plural pronoun [in "love them"] refers to the "equals." If the leaders are intended, this is clear. Otherwise, expressing them with the pronoun for rational beings is due to that false claim that they are equals to Allah, the Exalted. The verbal noun [in "as the love of Allah"] is attributed to the agent, and its actor is their pronoun, based on the context of what preceded: that the polytheists acknowledge Him, the Exalted, and resort to Him in times of hardship: (And when they board the ships, they call upon Allah, sincere to Him in religion).

It has been said—which is the evident disagreement with what the context of "they love them" being an explanation for the motive of taking requires—that it is a verbal noun attributed to the object, and the mention of who loves [the objects of love] is omitted because it is not confusing. The meaning is to liken the "loved-ness" (belovedness) of the equals from the perspective of the polytheists to the "loved-ness" of Allah from the perspective of the believers. This does not contradict the saying of the Exalted, (But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah), because the comparison is only between the two "loved-nesses." This merely requires that the "loved-ness" of the idols be similar to His "loved-ness," with a distinction between the two loves based on the firmness of one over the other. For the intent behind the strength of the believers' love is its strength in its place—i.e., its firmness within them and its persistence under any circumstance—not like the polytheists' love for their deities, where they deviate from them toward Allah in times of hardship and disavow them when witnessing terrors. They worship the idol for a time, then reject it for another, and perhaps they eat it, as it is told that the tribe of Bahilah had idols made of Hais (a mixture of dates, ghee, and curd), and when they were struck by famine, they became hungry and ate them. May Allah favor their father, for no polytheist ever benefited from his gods as these people did, for they tasted the sweetness of disbelief! The intent of "strength of love" is not its intensity or power in itself—lest it be countered that we see disbelievers performing arduous acts of obedience that most believers do not perform, so how can it be said that their [polytheists'] love is stronger? From this, the aspect of choosing "stronger in love" (ashaddu hubban) over "more beloved" (ahabbu) becomes apparent, for the intent is not an increase in the essence of the action, but rather firmness and stability, which is the anchor of the matter. For this reason, it was revealed: (So remain on a right course as you have been commanded), and the most beloved of deeds to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, were those that were most consistent. The Scholar [al-Raghib] said: He avoided "more beloved" (ahabbu) in favor of "stronger in love" (ashaddu hubban) because "more beloved" is commonly used for the beloved, so He avoided it to prevent confusion. It is also said: "more beloved" (ahabbu) is more than "love" (hubb), so if the superlative form (af'al) were derived from it, it would be wrongly assumed to be from the augmented [root].

(And if those who do wrong could see), that is, if they knew—these who do wrong by the aforementioned taking [of equals]. The explicit noun is used in place of the pronoun to indicate that this taking is a grave injustice and that the attribute of the takers is a known and famous matter, expressed by absolute injustice. The relative pronoun and its clause serve to signal the cause of their seeing the torment, which is understood from His saying: (When they see the torment), i.e., they witness the torment prepared for them and behold it on the Day of Resurrection. The future tense is used after "if" (law) and "when" (idha)—which are specific to the past—to denote the certainty of its occurrence; it becomes past in interpretation and future in realization. Thus, both aspects are observed.

(That all power belongs to Allah) serves as the substitute for the two objects of "sees." The response to "if" (law) is omitted to signal that it exceeds the capacity of explanation; that is, they would have fallen into such grief and regret that it is almost indescribable. It is said that it [the clause] is linked to the response, and both objects are omitted, with the estimation: "And if those who do wrong could see their equals not benefiting them, they would have known (that all power belongs to Allah)..." that no one else brings benefit or harm. Ibn Amir, Nafi', and Ya'qub read tara (you [O Prophet] see), so the address is to him, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, or to anyone suitable for address. In this case, the response would be: "You would have seen a matter of horror and atrocity that cannot be described." Ibn Amir reads idha yurawna (when they are shown/see) in the passive voice, and Ya'qub reads inna (that) with a kasra, as well as (and that Allah is severe in punishment) as an inauguration or implying a verb [of saying]—that is, saying this. The benefit of this sentence is the exaggeration in terrifying the event and making the matter hideous, for the exclusivity of "power" to Him, the Exalted, does not necessitate the severity of "punishment," as it is possible for Him to leave it out in pardon despite having the power to inflict it.