And when the beginning of the surah criticized them and expressed astonishment at their claim that Allah has a child from the angels, He threatened them by saying, "Their testimony will be recorded and they will be questioned" [Az-Zukhruf: 19]. He mentioned their similarity in their saying, "If the Most Merciful had willed, we would not have worshipped them" [Az-Zukhruf: 20], and their ignorance in it by saying, "They have no knowledge of that" [Az-Zukhruf: 20]. He denied that they have any auditory evidence for that by saying, denying and reproaching, "Or have We given them a Book?" [Az-Zukhruf: 21]. He passed through the refutation of their matter in that and other things by what some of it supports the other, leading to the complete denial of auditory evidence through the confused statement of Him, the Most High, "And ask those We sent before you of Our messengers" [Az-Zukhruf: 45]. He organized with it what His Messenger brought to the people of the Book that confirms what our Book brought of monotheism and what He threatened them with of turning away from it until He informed that it is the truth that has no removal of any part of it. His messengers, glorified is He, record all their deeds from their testimony regarding the angels and others. He reiterated the words in refuting their doubt that their worship of them, if it were prohibited, would not have been willed by the One who has universal mercy, because His universal mercy prevents, according to their claim, the will of what is prohibited. He said after denying His words, "And ask those We sent before you of Our messengers" [Az-Zukhruf: 45], that they have no auditory evidence regarding any of His messengers upon whom be blessings and peace: "Say, if the Most Merciful has a child" as you claimed, and the intended meaning is the kind regarding their claim about the angels and others. The reading of Hamzah and Al-Kisai is with a dammah followed by a sukoon, indicating that it is a plural form intended for multitude. And when the meaning is: So I have not worshipped that child nor do I worship him, and if the Most Merciful had willed, I would not have left his worship. But He willed my abandonment of it and willed your action towards it. So one of them is certainly a will for falsehood, otherwise the opposites would gather in that something could be true and false at the same time from one aspect, which is a self-evident impossibility. Thus, your doubt has been invalidated by a decisive evidence - this was the original, but He turned away from it to what conveys its meaning and adds that he worships Allah sincerely and does not worship others. That is, nothing deserves the name of worship except what is done sincerely for Him. So He said: "So I" meaning in rank, "am the first of the worshippers" of the Most Merciful, the worship that is worship and nothing else deserves to be called worship except the sincere one. That is, I do not worship others, neither a child nor anything else, and the Most Merciful did not will for me to worship the child. Or the meaning could be: I am the first of the worshippers of the Most Merciful in a way of sincerity, I have not associated anything with Him at any time of what you have called a child or partner or anything else. And if He had willed, I would have worshipped Him in a way of sincerity, and there is no doubt among you and among others that whoever is sincere to someone is more deserving than others of mercy. So if sincerity were prohibited for Him, He would have willed for me, and if the worship of others were prohibited, He would have willed it for me. And if He had a child, He would have willed for me his worship. For His universal mercy for all His creation because they are His creation and His particularity for me because I am His servant sincerely for Him prevents, according to your claim, from making me miserable while I am sincere to Him. Thus, your doubt has been invalidated by something similar to it, rather stronger than it. And this is something that is connected to something that is more deserving of its opposite. And from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, that "An" is negating with the meaning: it is not appropriate, meaning He does not have a child. For I am the first to worship Him in rank, and I do not know of Him a child. And if He had a child, I would have known him and worshipped him as a means of drawing closer to Him by the worship of His child.