And when he arose from the proofs, what remained with him for the one with insight was without doubt. The state of affairs necessitated that he call out in denial against them for turning away from Him and neglecting His door. So Allah, the Most High, made that evident in the form of a command to him, blessings and peace be upon him, to deny himself, so that it would be more persuasive for them and kinder to them. And what had preceded was an indication of the utmost opposition, warning of the evil consequence of dissent. It was as if they said: Is there any way to agree? It was said: No, except by taking Me as a guardian. And that, by my life, is your happiness in both abodes. And by your desire to take Me as partners, this will never be. This is the meaning of His saying, the Most High: "Say," meaning: declaring to them the denial of inclining towards their partners in any way.

And when the denial was directed towards the fact that another is taken, not towards taking the guardian, (p-35) he said: "Is there a god other than Allah?" meaning: the One who has no equal in greatness. "Should I take" [meaning] I burden myself contrary to what the innate nature and pure intellect devoid of whims call for, as you have done? And I take "a guardian" meaning: I worship Him because He is responsible for all my affairs. Then he described Him with what affirms His guardianship and diverts from the guardianship of others, saying: "Creator of the heavens and the earth," meaning: their Creator from the beginning without any prior example. "And He" meaning: while Allah "provides" meaning: sustains every living being other than Him.

And when the negation is that He, glorified and exalted is He, is not a being that is acted upon by food, not that it is from a specific source of food, His saying is built for the acted upon: "And he is not fed" meaning: no one can reach him in any way to feed him. The meaning is that the benefits are from Him, and it is not permissible for Him to be benefited from. Therefore, it is rationally impossible to take another as an ally; for another is in need of Him in His essence and in all of His attributes, and He, glorified is He, is self-sufficient absolutely. This is a reference to His saying, the Most High: "The Messiah, son of Mary, is but a messenger. Messengers have passed on before him, and his mother was a truthful woman. They both used to eat food" [Al-Ma'idah: 75]. And it is an allusion to everything that is worshiped besides Allah, especially the idols, for they used to offer food to them, which would be eaten by animals and birds. It is known that they do not feed nor are they fed. Al-Darimi narrated in the beginning of his Musnad with a good chain from Al-Amash from Mujahid who said: "My master told me that his people sent with him a cup containing butter and milk to their idols. He said: 'I was prevented from eating the butter out of fear of them.' Then a dog came and ate the butter and drank the milk, then urinated on the idol." His master was a partner of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, before Islam. There is a difference of opinion about him; it is said that he is Qays ibn Al-Sa'ib ibn Uwaymir ibn A'id ibn Imran ibn Makhzum, and it is said that his relative is Al-Sa'ib ibn Abi Al-Sa'ib, Sayfi ibn A'id ibn Abdullah ibn Umar ibn Makhzum. It is also said that his son is Abdullah ibn Al-Sa'ib - and Allah knows best. And he narrated from Abu Raja' - he is Al-Uttaridi and he is a transitional figure - who said: "We were in the days of ignorance, if we found a beautiful stone, we would worship it. And if we did not find a stone, we would gather a mound of sand, then we would bring the pure she-camel and we would pour milk on the mound until we would quench it, then we would worship that mound as long as we remained in that place." And in it is also an indication that just as He created you all from clay with your differences in measures, colors, and morals, and He is self-sufficient from you, so He created the foods with their different shapes, tastes, benefits, and colors from clay, and made them beneficial for you while He is self-sufficient from them. And this will be explicitly stated in His saying: "And He is the One who sends down from the sky water, and We bring forth thereby the vegetation of all things" [Al-An'am: 99], which is comprehensive in its context: "So eat from what the name of Allah has been mentioned upon" [Al-An'am: 118]. And in the entire verse is a reference to His saying at the beginning of the surah: "Then those who disbelieved in their Lord will be judged" [Al-An'am: 1] and His saying in the one before it: "And if they had believed in Allah and the Prophet and what was revealed to him, they would not have taken them as allies" [Al-Ma'idah: 81]. In its like, there is the taking of disbelievers as allies besides their Creator - glorified and exalted is He. This is if there had not been a command from the Creator, for sound reasoning would have sufficed in avoiding it, just as I used to before the Prophethood not to pay attention to your idols nor to consider anything of your monuments as worship. So how could I, when I have been commanded to do so! And this is the meaning of "Say, 'Indeed, I have been commanded'" meaning: from the One who has the command, and there is no command except for Him, and He is the One who has been established that He has everything, and He is Allah alone. "To be" meaning: with my heart and my form. "The first to submit" in rank absolutely, and in time concerning the nation.

And when the matter of Islam was a prohibition against polytheism, it did not suffice with that. Rather, it explicitly stated both the command and the prohibition from this Generous Lord, whose benevolence and generosity call for allegiance to Him, and whose complete dominion and might forbid any enmity from Him. In His saying, in a manner of emphasis: 'And do not be among the polytheists,' meaning: in any way whatsoever at any time, at all, 'of the polytheists,' meaning: in their count by following them in any of their aims. This emphasis is to cut off their hopes from him, blessings and peace be upon him, in their request for him to expel some of his followers so that they may ally with him. And similar to that is what they hoped for in approaching him through it, making it known that doing anything of what they want is a validation of the association with them and being in their count. (Whoever resembles a people is one of them.)