Tafsir of Al-`Ankabut 29:25

"And Abraham (peace be upon him) said, addressing them after Allah, the Exalted, had saved him from the fire: 'You have only taken idols instead of Allah out of affection between you in the worldly life.' That is, so that you may have mutual affection and connection among yourselves, due to your gathering upon their worship, your agreement upon them, and your bonding, just as people agree upon a doctrine, which becomes a cause for their love and friendship. Thus, the maf'ul lahu (reason for the action) is a consequence resulting from the action and an effect of it in the external reality. Or, the meaning is: the affection of some of you for others is what invited you to take them, for you saw some whom you love take them, so you took them in imitation of them due to your love for them. This is like a person who sees one he loves doing something, so he does it out of love for him; in this case, the maf'ul lahu is an inciting cause for the action and not an effect of it in the external reality. The intent is to negate that there is any benefit or harm in them, and that the motive for taking them was the hope of benefit or the fear of harm. It is as if he did not consider what they made a cause for taking them to be a real cause—which is what they pointed to in their words: 'We do not worship them except that they may bring us closer to Allah in position'—by referring to other people. It is said: Idols were first taken because of affection; for there were righteous people who died, and the people of their time grieved for them, so they fashioned statues in their likeness out of love for them. They would venerate them in a general sense, and this veneration continued to increase generation after generation until they were worshipped. The verse points to this, and the meaning is: your ancestors only took idols instead of Allah, etc. There is much like this in the Holy Quran. The second object of 'took' (ittakhadhtum) is omitted; its estimation is 'gods'."

"Makki said: It is permissible for 'took' (ittakhadha) to be transitive to one object, as in His saying, the Exalted: 'Those who took the calf will surely be reached by wrath.' This was countered by the fact that its second object is also omitted. It is permissible for 'affection' (mawaddah) to be the second object, with the estimation of a genitive, meaning 'possessors of affection.' Its being a possessor of affection is in consideration of it being the cause of affection. The apparent meaning of al-Kashshaf is that the omitted genitive is the word 'cause' (sabab). Sometimes one can dispense with the estimation by interpreting 'affection' as 'beloved' (mawduwah), or by making it the affection itself by way of hyperbole. The making of 'affection' the second object was objected to on the grounds that it is definite due to the genitive construction (idafa) to the pronoun-linked term, while the first object is indefinite; this is not permissible because they are originally a subject and predicate. It was answered that it does not follow from the lack of permissibility in their origin that it is not permissible in them here. Even if the necessity is conceded, it is not conceded that the second object here is definite by the genitive, as it is used by way of expansion (ittisa'), belonging to the category of idafa lafziyya (verbal genitive), which does not confer definiteness but only lightness in pronunciation. So it is said, and it is as you see."

"Nafi', Ibn 'Amir, and Abu Bakr read 'affection' (mawaddatan) with the accusative and tanwin, and 'between you' (baynakum) with the accusative. The orientation is that 'affection' is accusative based on one of the aforementioned aspects, and 'between you' is accusative via it or via an omitted word functioning as an adjective for it. Ibn Kathir, Abu 'Amr, al-Kisa'i, and Ruways read 'affection between you' (mawaddatu baynikum) with the nominative for 'affection' as a genitive to 'between' (bayn), and the genitive for 'between' as a genitive construction. The nominative is explained by 'affection' being the predicate of an omitted subject, i.e., 'it is affection,' according to one of the known interpretations, and the sentence is an adjective for 'idols.' It is also permissible for it to be the second object, or for it to be the predicate of 'innama,' assuming 'ma' is the masdariyya (making it an infinitive), meaning 'your taking,' or that it is the relative pronoun (ma) whose referent is omitted, or that it is the first object, i.e., 'that which you took as idols instead of Allah is affection between you.' The interpretations we have pointed to apply to it."

"Al-Hasan, Abu Haywa, Ibn Abi 'Abla, and Abu 'Amr—in a narration from al-Asma'i and al-A'sha from Abu Bakr—read 'affection' (mawaddatun) with the nominative and tanwin, and 'between you' (baynakum) with the accusative. The orientation for each is known from what has passed. It is narrated from 'Asim: 'affection' (mawaddatu) with the nominative without tanwin, and 'between you' (baynakum) with the 'nun' marked with a fatha; he made it indeclinable due to its addition to a word that is necessarily indeclinable. Its place is the genitive by the addition of 'affection' to it, which is why the tanwin was dropped from it."

"Regarding His saying, the Exalted, 'in the worldly life,' according to these readings and aspects, there are several syntactic possibilities mentioned by Abu al-Baqa':

1. It attaches to 'took' (ittakhadhtum), assuming 'ma' is a restrictor and 'affection' is accusative, not assuming it is a relative pronoun or a masdariyya, and elevating 'affection' so as not to lead to separating the relative pronoun and what is in the position of the conjunction (the relative clause) with the predicate.
2. It attaches to 'affection' itself if 'between' is not made an adjective for it, based on the principle that the verbal noun (masdar), if described, does not function as a verb at all. Ibn 'Atiyya permitted this attachment even if 'between' is made an adjective, because the adverb is more expansive than anything else; thus, the verbal noun's operation upon it is permissible after being described.
3. It attaches to 'between you' itself, because its meaning is your gathering or your connection.
4. It is made a state (hal) from 'between you' because of its definiteness by addition. Abu Hayyan critiqued these two aspects after citing them from Abu al-Baqa' as we mentioned, stating they are two syntactical analyses that are not conceivable.
5. It is made a second adjective for 'affection' when it is given tanwin and 'between you' is made an adjective for it. Makki and Abu Hayyan also permitted this.
6. It attaches to 'affection' and 'between you' is also made an adverb attaching to it, and 'affection' operates on two adverbs because they differ.
7. It is made a state from the pronoun in 'between you' if it is made an adjective for 'affection,' and the agent is the adverb, because the agent of the possessor of the state is the agent of the state. It is not permissible for 'affection' to be the agent because of that. Makki said: Because you have described it, and the agent of the verbal noun is connected to it, so you have separated the relative clause from the relative pronoun with the adjective."

"It is narrated from Ibn Mas'ud that he read: 'You have only taken idols instead of Allah; your affection is only in the worldly life,' with the addition of 'only' (innama) after 'idols' and the nominative 'affection' (mawaddatu) without tanwin and the genitive 'between' (bayni) by addition. This is explained by 'affection' being the subject and 'in the worldly life' its predicate. The meaning is: your mutual affection upon them, or your affection for them, is taking place in the worldly life."

" 'Then on the Day of Resurrection, the situation changes, as 'some of you will disbelieve in others'—they are the worshippers—'and curse one another.' That is, each party of you and the idols will curse the other—when Allah, the Exalted, makes them speak. This involves the dominance of address and the pronoun of rational beings. It is permissible that the address is to the worshippers alone, and the meaning of 'some of them disbelieving in others' is mutual denial, i.e., then on the Day of Resurrection, mutual denial and cursing will appear between you, O worshippers of idols."

" 'And your refuge is the Fire,' i.e., it is your dwelling to which you will return and from which you will never leave. 'And you will have no helpers' who can rescue you from it, as my Lord rescued me from the fire into which you cast me. The plural 'helpers' is used because it occurs in response to the plural (referring to the idols), i.e., none of you has any helper at all."