Tafsir of Az-Zumar 39:11

{Say, "Indeed, I have been commanded"} to make the religion sincere [for Him alone].

{And I have been commanded} to do so for the purpose {that I be the first of the Muslims}—meaning the foremost and the predecessor among them in this world and the Hereafter. The implication is that sincerity holds the precedence in religion; whoever is sincere is a predecessor.

If you ask: How can "I have been commanded" be conjoined to "I have been commanded" when they are one and the same? I say: They are not the same, for their aspects differ. Being commanded to practice sincerity and being tasked with it is one thing; being commanded to do so in order to secure the lead in religion is another. When the aspects and attributes of a thing differ, it is treated as two distinct things.

You may also consider the lam (in li-an akuna) to be an augmentative particle, similar to its usage in "I intended li-an (that I) do." It is only added with an (that), not with a noun, as if it were added as a substitute for abandoning the original form for something that takes its place—much like the sin in istaṭāʿa (to be able) is a substitute for abandoning the original form, which is aṭwaʿa. The evidence for this view is that it appears without the lam in other verses: {And I have been commanded to be of the Muslims} (Yunus: 72), {And I have been commanded to be of the believers} (Yunus: 104), and {And I have been commanded to be the first of those who submit} (Al-An'am: 14).

The meaning of "first" has several facets:

1. To be the first to submit in my time and among my people, as I was the first to oppose the religion of my forefathers, to cast off idols, and to shatter them.
2. To be the first among those I invited to Islam to actually submit.
3. To be the first to call myself to what I called others, so that I may be an example followed in both my speech and my actions, unlike the kings who command what they do not do.
4. To perform the deeds of the predecessors that merit this "firstness," indicating the cause through the effect.

It means: God commanded me to purify the religion for Him from polytheism, hypocrisy, and every impurity, based on the evidence of reason and revelation. If I were to disobey my Lord by violating these two proofs, I would deserve His punishment; therefore, I will not disobey Him nor follow your command—this was said when they invited him to the religion of his forefathers.

If you ask: What is the meaning of the repetition in His saying, {Say, "Indeed, I have been commanded to worship Allah, [being] sincere to Him in religion"} and His saying, {Say, "It is Allah I worship, [being] sincere to Him my religion"}? I say: It is not a repetition. The first is an announcement that he is commanded by God to initiate worship and sincerity. The second is an announcement that he singles out God alone—to the exclusion of others—for his worship, while being sincere in his religion. To indicate this, the object of worship (Allah) was placed before the act of worship in the second instance, whereas it was placed after in the first. Thus, the first statement concerns the act itself and its establishment, while the second concerns the One for whom the act is performed.

Consequently, He followed it with: {So worship what you will besides Him.} The intent behind this command, which comes in the form of an option, is to express the utmost abandonment and forsaking, as I have explained twice before.

{Say, "Indeed, the losers are the ones who will lose themselves"}—those who are complete in their loss, having gathered all its facets and causes—because they have fallen into a destruction after which there is no other.

{And their families}—because if they are among the people of the Fire, they have lost them just as they lost themselves. And if they are among the people of Paradise, they have departed from them in a way that they can never return to them. It is also said: They lost them because they did not enter the place of the believers who have families in Paradise; meaning, they lost the families they would have had if they had believed.

He described their loss with the utmost horror in His saying: {Unquestionably, that is the manifest loss.} He initiated the sentence with the particle of alerting (ala), placed the subject between the predicate and the noun, and defined the loss while describing it as "manifest."

{They will have, from above them, canopies of fire and from below them, canopies. That is by which Allah threatens His servants. O My servants, then fear Me.}