Tafsir of Ad-Dhariyat 51:51

Surah Adh-Dhariyat (51): And do not set up...

Then the Almighty said: {And do not set up with Allah another god} (51:51).

This completes the affirmation of Monotheism (Tawhid). This is because Tawhid stands between two extremes: Negation (Ta'til) and Polytheism (Tashrik). The path of Tawhid is the correct path.

• The Negator (Mu'attil) says: "There is no god at all."
• The Polytheist (Mushrik) says: "There are gods in existence."
• The Monotheist (Muwahhid) says that the claims of both are false: the claim of "no god" is false, and the claim of "many gods" is false.

Therefore, His saying: {So flee to Allah} (51:50) established the existence of Allah. When He then said: {And do not set up with Allah another god}, He negated the existence of more than One. Thus, Tawhid is established by these two verses.

For this reason, He repeated twice: {Indeed, I am to you from Him a clear warner}—meaning in both contexts and positions.

We have previously mentioned many times that if the Negator claims that nothing is necessary (Wajib), then he implies that everything existing is contingent (Mumkin). Since everything that exists is contingent, and Allah, in reality, is the Necessary Existent (Wajib al-Wujud), by placing Allah among the contingent things, he has committed Shirk (associating others with Allah) by equating Allah with others.

Conversely, when the Polytheist claims that something other than Allah is a god, his statement necessarily implies the negation of Allah being the true God, based on the argument of mutual prevention (Tamanu') that we established earlier. If there were two gods, each would be incapable (Ajjiz), meaning neither could exist as a true God. Thus, there would be no god in existence at all, leading to the negation of divinity (Ilaahiyyah), which means he becomes a Negator (Mu'attil).

Therefore, the Negator is a Polytheist, and the Polytheist is a Negator. Each of these two groups admits that the name/title they use for their opponent is void, yet they themselves adhere to the doctrine of their opponent, believing it to be true, while they are unaware of this contradiction. Praise be to Allah who guided us.

His saying {And do not set up} contains a subtle point: it indicates that these other "gods" are established/made (Maj'ulah), not inherently existing.

One might ask: Does this contradict the verse where Allah is described as "taking" (Ittikhadh), such as in {And rely upon Him, the Ever-Living} (Al-Muzzammil: 9)? We reply: The apparent meaning is clear, and this has already been addressed in His saying: {And they have taken besides Allah other gods} (Maryam: 81).