Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:136

(And they assigned), meaning the Arab polytheists. (To Allah from what He has created). Al-Raghib said: Dhar’ (creation/origination) is the manifestation by Allah the Exalted of what He brought into existence. It is said, "Allah the Exalted dhara’a the creation," meaning He brought their beings into existence. Al-Tabarsi said: Al-Dhar’ is creation in the sense of invention, and its root is appearance; from this comes milh dharani (white salt), due to the appearance of its whiteness.

(Min) is connected to ja’alu (assigned), and ma (what) is a relative pronoun, with the clause dhara’a being its conjunctive, and the pronoun referring back is omitted. His saying, the Almighty, (of crops and livestock) is connected to dhara’a. Abu al-Baqa’ permitted that mimma (from what) be connected to an implied state (hal) from His saying, (a portion), or that (min al-harth) also be a state (hal) from ma or from the omitted pronoun. (Nasiban) (a portion), by every estimation, is the object of ja’ala, which is a verb taking one object. It is also permitted that it takes two objects: the first being (mimma dhara’a), on the basis that min is partitive, and the second being (nasiban). It is also said that the matter is the reverse.

This has been objected to on the grounds that it does not support the coherence of the meaning. Regardless, this is the beginning of condemning their heinous conditions by narrating their disgraceful statements and actions. Ibn Abi Hatim narrated via the route of al-'Awfi from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) regarding this verse: "When they would cultivate a field or have fruit, they would set aside a portion for Allah the Exalted and a portion for the idol. If anything of the crops, fruit, or anything from the portion of the idols fell, they would preserve and count it; if anything designated for the Almighty fell, they would return it to what they had assigned to the idol. If the water they had designated for the idol flowed ahead and watered something of what they had designated for Allah the Exalted, they would assign it to the idol. And if anything from the crops or fruit they had designated for Allah the Exalted fell and watered what they had named for the idol, they would leave it for the idol."

They used to prohibit from their livestock the Bahirah, the Sa'ibah, the Wasilah, and the Hami, assigning them to the idols while claiming they were prohibiting them for Allah the Almighty. It is also narrated that they would designate a portion of crops and livestock for Allah the Exalted and spend it on guests and the needy, and some of it on their deities, spending from it on their caretakers and sacrificing before them. If they saw what they had designated for Allah the Exalted flourishing, growing, and increasing in its own right, they would return and assign it to their deities; and if what they designated for their deities flourished, they would leave it, excusing themselves by saying that Allah the Exalted is self-sufficient. This is nothing but a result of their extreme ignorance, for they associated the Creator—the Omnipotent—with an inanimate object that is capable of nothing, and then they preferred the latter over Him, the Almighty, by assigning the flourishing portion to it. Al-Zajjaj and others preferred this narration.

The original structure of the noble discourse is: "And they assigned to Allah... and to their partners," but the mention of the partners was omitted because, as it is said, the matter was already established among them. Its implication is indicated by stating it explicitly in His saying: (So they said, "This is for Allah," by their claim, "and this is for our partners"), meaning the idols. They called them "partners" because they assigned them a portion of their wealth, so they are their partners in it. It is also possible that the attribution is based on the slightest association, as they claimed they were partners to Allah the Exalted. Al-Kisa'i, Yahya ibn Wathab, and al-A'mash read (bi-zu'mihim) with a damma on the za', which is a dialect for it; the kasra also occurs, so it is a triliteral [word with three vowel possibilities], like al-wudd. Its meaning has already passed.

The first [occurrence of "by their claim"] was restricted to alert one that, in reality, this is not an assigning to Allah the Almighty that entails any reward, unlike voluntary acts by which the Countenance of Allah the Exalted is sought. It is said [it was added] to indicate that this is something they invented, and Allah the Exalted did not command them to do it. This has been refuted by the fact that this is derived from the very act of "assigning," which is why the second [mention] was not restricted.

It is permitted that this serves as a preamble for what follows, meaning that their statement, "This is for Allah," is merely a claim on their part; they do not acknowledge its consequence, which is His exclusivity to it alone. Thus, His saying, the Almighty: (But that which was for their partners, it does not reach Allah, while that which was for Allah, it reaches their partners), is an explanation and detail of it. That is: what they designated for their partners is not spent on the avenues upon which they spend what they designated for Allah the Exalted; and what they designated for Allah the Exalted is spent on the avenues upon which they spend what they designated for their deities. (Evil is that which they judge), in what they have done by preferring a created being, incapable of anything, over a Creator who is capable of everything, and by their acting upon what was not legislated for them.

(Sa'a) (Evil is) operates in the manner of bi'sa (vile is). Ma (that which), whether it is a relative pronoun or a descriptive one, is the subject, and the specific object of condemnation is omitted—meaning, this judgment of theirs. It is also said that sa'a here is not the one operating like bi'sa, so it does not require an object of condemnation, but only a subject, for the subject of the one operating like bi'sa must be definite with the al- or in an idafa (construct state) according to the most famous view. Some of the investigators have chosen this.