Ash-Shura: (13) He has ordained for you...

(He has ordained for you of religion that which He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, and that which We enjoined upon Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.)

This is an intimation that whatever He, the Exalted, has ordained for them issues from perfect knowledge and wisdom, just as the mention of its attribution to those mentioned—peace be upon them—is a reminder that it is an ancient religion upon which the messengers have all agreed. The address is to the Ummah of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him; that is, He has ordained for you of the religion that which He enjoined upon Noah and those who came after him from among the masters of the religious laws and the possessors of determination (ulu al-'azm) among the famous prophets, peace be upon them, and He commanded them with it with an emphatic command.

The specification of those mentioned is due to what has been pointed out regarding their high status and immense fame, and to incline the hearts of the disbelievers toward following, for everyone agrees upon the prophethood of these [specific individuals], with the Jews being associated with Moses, peace be upon him, and the Christians with Jesus, peace be upon him. Otherwise, there is no prophet who was not commanded with what they were commanded with regarding the establishment of the religion of Islam, which is Tawhid (monotheism), and those fundamentals of the religious laws and rulings that do not differ with the variation of nations and the changing of eras—as is indicated by "enjoining" (al-tawsiya), for it expresses the emphasis of the command and the concern for the status of the matter commanded.

What is meant by "that which We have revealed to you, O Prophet," is either what was mentioned at the beginning of this noble Surah and in His saying, “And thus We have revealed to you...” (the verse), or what encompasses both that and other matters that occurred in other contexts, among which is His saying, “Then We revealed to you: 'Follow the creed of Abraham, inclining to truth'” and His saying, the Exalted, “Say, ‘I am only a man like you, to whom it is revealed that your God is One God,’” and other such verses.

The preference for "revelation" (al-wahy) over the earlier and later term "enjoining" (al-tawsiya) is to observe what occurred in the mentioned verses, and because there is, in revelation, an explicit declaration of his messengerhood, peace be upon him, which suppresses the denial of the disbelievers. The shift to "We revealed to you" is for the sake of showing the greatness and revealing the perfect concern for His revelation to him. In this is an indication that his Shariah, peace be upon him, is the Shariah that is given the utmost concern; hence, it is expressed with alladhi (that which), which is the foundation of the relative pronouns. This is the secret behind placing "that which We have revealed to you" before what comes after it, despite the latter having preceded it in time.

The precedence of the enjoinment of Noah, peace be upon him, is for the sake of hastening to state that what is ordained for them is an ancient religion. It has been said that he, peace be upon him, is the first of the messengers. The turning of the address toward him, peace be upon him, by way of talwin (shifting) is for honor and to alert [others] that He, the Exalted, has ordained it for them upon his tongue, peace and blessings be upon him:

(That you establish the religion) meaning the religion of Islam, which is the oneness of Allah, the Exalted, and obedience to Him, belief in His books, His messengers, the Day of Recompense, and all that through which a servant becomes a believer. The intent by "establishing it" is to straighten its pillars, preserve it from deviation, and persevere upon it.

(An) is for the masdar (infinitive), and the discussion has preceded regarding its connection with command and prohibition, or it is the an that is the lightened form of the heavy anna, due to the meaning of "knowledge" present in "ordained" (shara'a). The masdar is either in the accusative case as a substitution for the object of shara'a and what is conjoined to it, or in the nominative as the predicate of an omitted subject, or as a subject whose predicate is omitted. The sentence is an answer to a question arising from the ambiguity of what was ordained, as if it were said: "What is that?" It was said: "It is that you establish the religion." It is also said to be in the genitive case as a substitution for the pronoun in bihi (in it), and it does not necessitate the survival of the relative pronoun without a referent, because the substitute is intended to be discarded in reality.

Yes, the Shaykh al-Islam said: "This is not the case, for along with its overflow into moving outside the scope of revelation to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, it necessitates that the address in the following prohibition regarding division be for the aforementioned prophets, peace be upon them, and directing the prohibition to their nations is a clear overreach (tamahhul), whereas it is clearer that it is directed toward his Ummah, peace and blessings be upon him, and that they are the ones who are divided." He then explained what he considered most plausible, and we shall indicate it, if Allah wills.

It is permitted that it be a substitution for "the religion." It is also permitted that (an) be explanatory (mufassira), for it is preceded by that which contains the meaning of saying without its letters. The address in "establish" and His saying, (and do not be divided therein), according to what more than one of the great scholars have chosen, includes the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, his followers, and the prophets and nations before them. The pronoun in fihi (therein) refers to the religion; that is, do not be divided regarding the religion, which is the aforementioned fundamentals, by some bringing some of it and not others, or bringing some of it while neglecting others. This is the intent of Muqatil; meaning, do not differ therein. This prohibition does not include disagreement in the branches (furu'), for they are not among the fundamentals intended here, and the prophets were not unified upon them, as is indicated by His saying, “For each of you We have made a law and a method.” Some have included some of the branches within the fundamentals of the religion intended here.

Mujahid said: "No prophet was sent except that he was commanded to establish prayer, give zakat, and affirm Allah, the Exalted, and obey Him; that is the establishment of the religion."

Al-Hafiz Abu Bakr ibn al-'Arabi said: "There was no one with Adam, peace be upon him, except his children, and duties were not imposed upon him, nor were prohibitions ordained for him. He was merely alerted to some matters and limited to some necessities of livelihood. The matter continued thus until Noah, peace be upon him, when Allah, the Exalted, sent him with the prohibition of mothers and daughters, and assigned duties upon him, and clarified for him the manners in religions. This continued to be emphasized by the messengers and supported by the prophets, one after another, and one Shariah after another, until He, the Exalted, concluded it with the best of creeds upon the tongue of the most honorable of messengers. Thus, the meaning of the verse is: 'We have ordained for you that which We ordained for the prophets as a single religion in the fundamentals, which are: Tawhid, prayer, zakat, fasting, Hajj, seeking closeness through righteous deeds, truthfulness, fulfilling covenants, discharging trusts, maintaining family ties, and the prohibition of arrogance, adultery, harming animals, engaging in base acts, and what returns as a corruption of honor.' All of this is ordained as a single religion and a unified creed that did not differ upon the tongues of the prophets, even if their numbers differed."

The meaning of (establish the religion and do not be divided therein) is: "Make it established," meaning permanent and continuous, without disagreement therein or turmoil. (End quote).

Perhaps he meant by prayer, zakat, fasting, and Hajj in the absolute sense, not what we know of them, for the five daily prayers, the specific zakat, and the fasting of the month of Ramadan are among the characteristics of this Ummah, according to the correct view. It is apparent that the Hajj to the House was not ordained for the nation of Moses and the nation of Jesus, peace be upon them, nor for most nations before them. Moreover, the verse is Meccan, and the known zakat and the fasting of Ramadan were only ordained in Medina. In summary, there is no doubt regarding the difference of religions in the branches. Yes, it is not far-fetched that they agree in what pertains to noble character and the avoidance of vices.

(Arrogant/Burdenous to the polytheists is that to which you invite them) continuously and renewably: from Tawhid and the rejection of idol worship. The expression feels the intent of this, and it is the foundation of foundations and the greatest of what burdened them, as the verses indicate. Or, [it means] what you invite them to regarding establishing the religion and not being divided therein.

(Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills)—a consolation to him, peace and blessings be upon him, that among them are those who turned away. Yajtabi (chooses) comes from ijtiba, meaning selection. The pronoun in ilayhi (to Him) refers to Allah, the Exalted, as mentioned by Muhyi al-Sunnah and others. Likewise, the pronoun in His saying: (and He guides to Him whosoever turns in repentance).

(Meaning: He selects for Himself, the Exalted, whosoever He wills, a selection, and He, the Exalted, specifies them with a divine effusion from which they attain various types of blessings. And He guides to Himself, the Almighty, through guidance and success, whoever turns to Him, His state be exalted.)

Ijtiba was linked with ila (to) because it contains the meaning of gathering, as understood from the speech of al-Raghib. Some have made it from jibayah, meaning gathering. It is said: "I collected (jababtu) the water in the basin," meaning I gathered it therein.

Some have chosen to make the pronoun in ilayhi in both places refer to "Him" (Allah) for the sake of consistency in the pronouns; meaning: He attracts and gathers to Him whosoever He wills to attract and gather to that which you invite them. Others have chosen to make it refer to the religion, for a conceptual relevance, which is the unification of that which was divided and the gathering upon it. Al-Zamakhshari chose it being from jibayah (gathering) and the pronoun referring to the religion. What Muhyi al-Sunnah and others mentioned—which [the author] says in al-Kashf is more apparent and more filled with benefit—is because: As for the second [referring to Allah], it is to indicate that the people of choosing (ijtiba) are not the people of guidance (ihtida), and both groups are the people of religion and Tawhid who have not been divided therein—and according to the choice [of the author], it is one group. As for the first [referring to Allah], it is because ijtiba (selection) is more commonly used, and because it indicates that the people of religion are the elite of Allah, the Exalted—He chose them for Himself, the Exalted.

As for what al-Zamakhshari favored, his speech is superficial, based on the fact that the discussion is about the lack of division in the religion, so gathering and ending at it was suitable. It is said: "(that which you invite them to)" is in the sense of: that which you invite them to believe in, and what is meant by it is the message; meaning: Your message was burdensome to them, and the fact that We specified you with the message and revelation rather than them was momentous to them. His saying, the Exalted, (Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills), is a rejection of them in the manner of: “Allah knows best where He places His message.” What we have presented is more apparent.