Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:161

(Say: Indeed, my Lord has guided me): This is a command to him, peace and blessings be upon him, to clarify that which he follows of the true religion, which those who have divided [the religion] claim to follow, while having completely abandoned it. The sentence is initiated with the particle of verification (inna) to manifest the complete importance of its content. Referring to the title of Lordship, while attributing it to his pronoun—peace and blessings be upon him—is for what has been discussed more than once. That is: Say, O Muhammad, to these who have divided, or to all people: My Lord has directed me, through revelation and through the signs manifested in the horizons and within themselves, (to a straight path): one that leads to the truth.

His statement, the Exalted: (A religion) is an appositive (badal) to the place of "to a straight path," for the meaning is: "He has guided me [to] a path," analogous to His, the Exalted’s saying: "...and guide you to a straight path." Or, it is the object of an implied verb indicated by the one mentioned; that is: "He has guided me to, or bestowed upon me, or taught me a religion." It is also permitted that it be a second object for the verb mentioned.

His statement, the Exalted: (Correct [qiyaman]) is an infinitive (masdar), like al-sighar (smallness) and al-kibar (greatness), used here as an adjective by way of hyperbole. It is permitted that the estimate be "possessor of correctness (dha qiyam)." The morphological derivation would be qawman, like ‘iwwadh and hawl, in the form of the active participle (fa‘il) following the modification of its verb—meaning qama (to stand), as in al-qiyam. Many have recited it as qayyman, which is a fay‘il pattern from qama, just as sayyid (master) is from sada (to rule). It is said to be more hyperbolic than al-mustaqim (the straight) in regard to form, while al-mustaqim is more hyperbolic in regard to the combination of root and form. It has been said that mustaqim is more hyperbolic because the sin (in istaqama) denotes seeking, thus implying the seeking of uprightness and the demand for it. There is no difference between al-qayyim and al-mustaqim in the original meaning according to many; they interpret al-qayyim as "the firm, which maintains the affairs of livelihood and the afterlife," and they interpret mustaqim as "an affair that has been made firm," for otherwise, what was mentioned would not hold. It is said: Mustaqim is the opposite of crooked, and qayyim is the firm [path] which is not abrogated.

(The creed of Abraham): This is in the accusative case, estimated as "I mean [the creed of]," or as an explanatory appositive (‘atf bayan) to "religion," based on the permissibility of an explanatory appositive differing from the explained noun in definiteness and indefiniteness.

(Inclining towards truth [hanifan]): That is, turning away from false religions, or sincere to Allah, the Exalted, in worship. It is a circumstantial qualifier (hal) from "Abraham." They have agreed upon the permissibility of a circumstantial qualifier coming from the possessor (mudaf ilayhi) if the possessor (mudaf) is a part of it, or in the place of a part, such that it could stand in its stead, and the operative agent for this hal is the operative agent for the mudaf. It is said: The meaning of the genitive construction is because of what it contains of the meaning of a verb, which is indicated by the preposition. This meaning is strengthened here by the part-to-whole relationship, or its likeness, between the two components of the genitive construction. It is also permitted that it be an object for an implied verb; that is: "I mean [one who is] hanifan."

(And he was not of the polytheists): This is an interpolation establishing his innocence—peace and blessings be upon him—from that which the invalidators are upon. It is also said: It is a conjunction to what preceded, containing a refutation of those who claim to be upon his creed—peace and blessings be upon him—from among the people of Mecca, who say: "The angels are the daughters of Allah," the Jews who say: "Ezra is the son of Allah," and the Christians who say: "Christ is the son of Allah."