And when he was ﷺ steadfast upon one God, who was not worshipped besides Him, and he did not turn to anything else even for a moment, and he had negated from himself with these two previous statements at the beginning of the surah that he would worship their falsehood either in the present or in the future, and that he would be His servant before that. It was possible that someone might think that the negation concerning them was only for the worship of their deity in the present. He also negated that in the future, as a sign of prophethood, along with the confirmation of what the previous statement indicated, following the ways of the Arabs in affirmation, cutting off their hopes from him in the most complete and strongest manner, because it is in a way they cannot achieve, due to what every statement with affirmation indicates of a new and important benefit. So he said: 'And you are not worshippers' meaning what kind of worship is there for you that is considered valid either in the present or in the future.

And when it was not known among them before the prophethood that he worshipped Allah, glorified and exalted is He, he expressed it in a way that they could not deny, which is the present tense that appears to refer to the present or the future, intended to include the past as Abu Hayyan and others mentioned in Surah Al-Hajj regarding 'Indeed, those who disbelieve and hinder from the path of Allah' [Al-Hajj: 25], that the present tense is used to mean merely the occurrence of the action without regard to a specific time. So he said: 'I do not worship' meaning you have found from me worship of Him, and it is characterized by it now, in the past, and in the future, in a manner that is considered valid.