Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:117

"And whoever invokes"—that is, worships—"alongside Allah"—that is, while acknowledging His Exalted existence and the fact that He, glory be to Him, is a deity—"another deity"—whether by isolating it for worship, associating it with Him, or someone who worships another deity alongside the worship of Allah the Exalted, in the same manner. This is realized in the disbeliever when he sometimes singles out his false object of worship for devotion, and at other times associates it with Allah the Exalted. It is also possible that he limits himself to the intention of polytheism in both aspects. Consequently, the state of one who worships other than Allah, the Glorified, exclusively, is understood a fortiori.

The mention of "another" is said to be for the explicit declaration of His Divinity—Exalted is He—and to point toward the existence of a partner in it, which is the intended meaning. Thus, its mention is not merely a confirmation of what the accompaniment (ma‘iyyah) implies, although that is permissible—so reflect upon this.

Indeed, His saying, "for which he has no proof," is a necessary attribute of "a deity," not a restrictive one; it was brought for emphasis. The ruling derived from the consequence of the conditional clause—the threat of punishment according to what he deserves—is built upon this to alert that practicing a religion based on what has no evidence is forbidden, let alone that which is proven to be false by evidence. It is also possible that it is a parenthetical clause between the conditional and the consequence, brought for emphasis, as in your saying: "Whoever does good to Zayd—and no one is more deserving of kindness than him—then Allah the Exalted shall reward him."

Some have claimed that it is the answer to the conditional clause, rather than His saying "his account is only with his Lord," making it a derivation from the sentence. This is not correct, because it would necessitate the omission of the fa (the connecting particle) in the conditional answer, which is not permitted—as Abu Hayyan stated—except in poetry.

"His account" is a metonymy for recompense. It is as if it were said: "Whoever worships another deity alongside Allah—glory be to Him—he shall be recompensed according to what he deserves."

"Indeed, the disbelievers will not succeed"—meaning, the matter is such that they shall not succeed. Al-Hasan and Qatadah read annahu (with a fatha on the alif) as an explanation of the cause, or by treating the result of the structure as the predicate of "his account"—that is, "his account is non-success." According to al-Khafaji, this is of the category of: "Their greeting among them was a painful blow." Through this, and given the lack of need for estimating implied words, this reading is preferred over the previous one, as the two readings coincide in the resultant meaning. The first (reading) is preferred because the correspondence is more complete, and the original phrasing is based on informing: "His account with his Lord is that he shall not succeed." The term "the disbelievers" was placed in the stead of the pronoun because "whoever invokes" carries the meaning of the plural, just as "his account is that he shall not succeed" carries the meaning of "their account is that they shall not succeed."

Al-Hasan read yaflahu with a fatha on the ya and the lam. How subtle it is to open this Surah with the estimation of the success of the believers, and to introduce the lack of success of the disbelievers in its conclusion! The consolation afforded to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, by these sentences is not hidden.