Tafsir of Az-Zumar 39:65

"And it has been revealed to you..."

Readings: It is read as la-yuḥbaṭanna ʿamaluka (your work shall surely be nullified) and wa-li-yuḥbaṭanna (and it shall be nullified) in the passive voice. It is also read as wa-la-nuḥbiṭanna (and We shall surely nullify) with the nūn and the yāʾ, meaning: "Allah shall nullify it," or "the polytheism shall nullify it."

Question: The recipients of the revelation are a group, so why does it say "If you associate [others with Allah]" (laʾin ashrakta) in the singular?

Response: The meaning is: "It has been revealed to you: 'If you associate [others with Allah], your work shall surely be nullified,' and to those before you, the like of it." Or, it was revealed to you and to each one of them: "If you associate [others with Allah]," just as you would say, "He clothed us in a garment," meaning: each one of us.

Question: What is the difference between the two lāms?

Response: The first is the lām that introduces a suppressed oath (muwaṭṭiʾah), and the second is the lām of the response. This response serves as the response for both the oath and the conditional clause.

Question: How is this statement valid, given that Allah knows His messengers do not commit polytheism and their works are not nullified?

Response: It is by way of hypothesis. It is valid to hypothesize impossibilities for certain purposes, so how much more so for that which is not impossible? Do you not see His saying: "And had your Lord willed, those on earth would have believed, all of them entirely" (Yūnus: 99)? He means by way of compulsion, yet that will not happen due to the absence of the motive for it and the presence of what prevents it.

Question: What is the meaning of His saying: "And you shall surely be among the losers"?

Response: It is possible it means: "You shall be among the losers due to the nullification of your work." It is also possible it means: "You shall be, in the Hereafter, among the group of losers who lost their own souls if you were to die in a state of apostasy." It is also permissible that the wrath of Allah upon the Messenger would be more severe, such that He would not grant him respite after apostasy. Do you not see His saying: "Then We would have made you taste double [the punishment in] life and double [the punishment in] death" (al-Isrāʾ: 75)?

"Rather, worship [only] Allah" This is a rebuttal to what they commanded him regarding the veneration of some of their gods. It is as if He said: "Do not worship what they have commanded you to worship; rather, if you are rational, worship Allah." The condition is omitted, and the fronting of the object serves as a substitute for it.

"And be among the grateful" For what He has bestowed upon you by making you the master of the children of Adam. Al-Farrāʾ permitted its accusative case (naṣb) via an implied verb, making it a coordinate to it, with the estimation: "Rather, worship Allah; so worship [Him]."

"And they have not appraised Allah with true appraisal, while the earth entirely will be His grip on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens will be folded in His right hand. Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him."