Then he increased their boldness against them by pointing to the weakness of their evidence, as it was created like them, by saying: ﴿They took﴾ meaning: they obligated themselves to turn away from Allah, the All-Powerful over everything, and they took ﴿their scholars﴾ meaning: from the scholars of the Jews, and the scholar in essence is one who is knowledgeable from any group. ﴿And their monks﴾ meaning: from the ascetics of the Christians, and the monk in essence is one in whom fear has settled in his heart, so its effects appear on his face and clothing. Thus, he was specifically known in custom as the scholars of the Christians, the companions of the monasteries. ﴿Lords﴾ meaning: gods, due to their actions that are specific to the Lord, from prohibiting what they prohibited and permitting what they permitted. He indicated the lowliness of their matter by saying: ﴿Besides Allah﴾ meaning: the One who possesses all attributes of majesty. So they relied on them and entrusted their affairs to them, to the extent that they would follow them in what is lawful and unlawful. ﴿And the Messiah﴾ meaning: the blessed one who is worthy of being anointed with the oil of sanctity and to anoint others. ﴿The son of Mary﴾ meaning: they took him as such because they made him a son, thus qualifying him for worship due to being the son of a woman. He is not suitable for divinity in any way due to his sharing with humans in pregnancy, birth, upbringing, eating, drinking, and other conditions of humans that necessitate need, which contradicts divinity. This is alongside his clear declaration to them that he is a servant of Allah and His Messenger. Thus, reason and transmission agreed that he is not a god.

And when he made ugly to them what they chose for themselves, he made it ugly to them due to its contradiction to His command, the Exalted, so he said: ﴿And what﴾ meaning: they did that while they were not ﴿commanded﴾ meaning: by anyone who has authority from the evidence of reason and transmission ﴿except to worship﴾ meaning: to obey in the manner of worship ﴿one God﴾ meaning: who does not accept division in any way, neither in essence nor in resemblance. This is the meaning of His description that ﴿there is no god but He﴾ meaning: it is not appropriate for there to be another god with Him. So when this was established in Allah and His rank was elevated, being far removed from what they associated with Him, He glorified Him by saying: ﴿Glorified is He﴾ meaning: His rank is far removed and elevated ﴿above what they associate﴾ in being worshipped or legislated. Abu Muhammad Ishaq ibn Ibrahim al-Basiti, the judge, mentioned in his tafsir and others from Adi ibn Hatim, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "I came to the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, and I had a gold cross around my neck. He said: 'Cut it off.' So I cut it off. Then I came to him while he was reciting Surah At-Tawbah: ﴿They took their scholars and their monks as lords besides Allah and the Messiah, son of Mary. And they were not commanded except to worship one God; there is no god except Him. Glorified is He above what they associate.﴾ I said: O Messenger! (p-442) We did not worship them! He said: Yes. Were they not permitting for you what Allah had prohibited, and you would find it permissible, and prohibiting for you what Allah had permitted, and you would find it prohibited? I said: Yes. He said: That is their worship.\