ﲧ ﲨ ﲩ ﲪ ﲫ ﲬ ﲭ ﲮ ﲯ ﲰ ﲱ ﲲ ﲳ ﲴ ﲵ ﲶ ﲷ ﲸ ﲹ ﲺ ﲻ ﲼ ﲽ ﲾ ﲿ
They have taken their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah, and [also] the Messiah, the son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.
Tafsir
Verse range: 9:31
"They have taken their scholars and monks as lords..."
Taking them as lords: This means they obeyed them in commanding acts of disobedience, in declaring lawful what God had forbidden, and in declaring forbidden what God had made lawful, just as lords are obeyed in their commands. Similar to this is the naming of those who follow Satan in his whisperings as his "worshippers." Indeed, they used to worship the Jinn: "O my father, do not worship Satan" (Maryam: 44).
It is narrated from ‘Adi ibn Hatim (may God be pleased with him): "I came to the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) while I had a gold cross around my neck. He said: 'Do they not forbid what God has made lawful, so you forbid it? And do they not make lawful what God has forbidden, so you make it lawful?' I said: 'Yes.' He said: 'That is their worship.'"
It is narrated from Fudayl (may God be pleased with him): "I do not care if I obey a created being in disobedience to the Creator, or if I pray facing other than the Qibla."
As for the Messiah, when they made him the son of God, they qualified him for worship. Do you not see His saying: "Say, 'If the Most Merciful had a son, then I would be the first of the worshippers'" (Az-Zukhruf: 81).
"And they were not commanded except to worship one God" They were commanded to do this by the proofs of reason and the texts in the Gospel, and by the Messiah (peace be upon him): that whoever associates partners with God, God has forbidden Paradise to him.
"Exalted is He" This is to declare Him far above associating partners with Him, and to deem such a thing impossible.
It is also possible that the pronoun in "And they were not commanded" refers to those who were taken as lords. That is: those whom they consider lords were not commanded except to worship God and affirm His oneness. How, then, can it be valid for them to be lords when they themselves are commanded and enslaved just like them?
"They want to extinguish the light of God with their mouths, but God refuses except to perfect His light, although the disbelievers dislike it. It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion, although the polytheists dislike it."
