Tafsir of Al-`Ankabut 29:17

"You only worship idols instead of Allah" is an exposition of the invalidity of their religion and its inherent depravity, following the exposition of its depravity in relation to the true religion. That is: You do not worship besides Him—the Exalted—anything but idols, which in themselves are mere statues crafted for you, possessing no attributes other than that.

"And you fabricate a lie" means: You tell a lie, for you name them gods and claim they are your intercessors before Allah—the Exalted—or because you craft and carve them for the sake of fabrication and falsehood. The lam (in li-l-ifki) is the lam of consequence; otherwise, they did not craft them for the sake of lying. It is also suggested that this is a form of mockery. Some scholars have stated: It is more apparent that "a lie" (ifkan) is the direct object, and what is meant by it is the idols themselves, termed "a lie" as a hyperbole. Or, "the lie" (al-ifk) is in the sense of "the lied-to" (al-ma'fuk), meaning that which has been diverted from what it truly is; it is applied to idols because they are crafted, yet [the people] treat them as creators.

'Ali—may Allah honor his countenance—as well as al-Sulami, 'Awn al-'Uqayli, 'Ubadah, Ibn Abi Layla, and Zayd ibn 'Ali—may Allah be pleased with them—recited [the verb] as takhallaqun (with an open ta, an open kha, and a doubled lam). Ibn Mujahid said: It was narrated from Ibn al-Zubayr, and its root is tatakhallaqun, where one of the ta's was elided. It is from takhallaqa in the sense of "to lie," and the tafa''ul form is for intensive emphasis. Some have claimed it is permissible for it to be taf'ala in the sense of fa'ala. Zayd ibn 'Ali—may Allah be pleased with them—also recited tukhalliqun from khalq with a doubled lam, to denote intensive manufacturing, in the sense of lying and fabrication. Ibn al-Zubayr and Fudayl ibn Zarqan recited afkan with an open alif and a kasrah on the fa', as a verbal noun similar to "a lie" or "a game," or as an adjective similar to "cautious" (hadhir), acting as an adjective for an implied verbal noun—that is, "a creation that is lying" (khalqan afkan).

"Indeed, those you worship besides Allah do not possess any provision for you" is an exposition of the depravity of what they worship, in that it hardly benefits them at all. "Provision" (rizq) may be a verbal noun acting as the direct object of "possess," meaning: They are unable to provide you with any provision. It may also be in the sense of "the provided" (al-marzuq), meaning: They are unable to grant anything of provision. It is also permissible—given its status as a verbal noun—that it is a cognate accusative for "possess" from its meaning, or for an elided verb; the original would be: "They do not possess that they provide you [with] a provision," which you can see [is redundant]. Some leading scholars said: It is indefinite for the sake of disparagement and minimization, serving as a hyperbole in negation; and provision was singled out due to its status regarding the creation.

"So seek provision with Allah" means: Seek all of it. This is based on the [definite] article in "the provision" being for comprehensiveness. Al-Tayyibi said: This is among the instances where the definite noun repeated is not identical to the first. It is also permissible that it is identical to the first, based on the principle that both are comprehensive.

"And worship Him" —the Almighty and Exalted—alone, "and be grateful to Him" for His blessings, using His worship as a means to obtain your needs, tethering them with gratitude to the Almighty for what is already present, and drawing more by it. Thus, the two sentences correspond to the two preceding them. It is also permissible that they correspond to His—the Exalted—saying: "To Him you will be returned." It is as if it were said: Prepare for your meeting with the Almighty through worship and gratitude, for to Him you will be returned. Some investigators permitted that this sentence be an appendix to the preceding sentence narrated from Abraham—upon him be peace—or to its beginning. The meaning is: To Him, the Almighty—and not to anyone else—you will be returned through death and then resurrection, so do what I have commanded you. What is between them is an interpolation to establish the depravity, as you have heard. It was also recited as turja'un (with an open ta) from raja'a (to return).