worshippers of what I worship. Nor am I a worshipper of what you worship, nor are you worshippers of what I worship.﴾ These clauses are each stated twice. ﴿I do not worship what you worship﴾ means: I do not worship those whom you worship—namely, the idols. ﴿Nor are you worshippers of what I worship﴾—namely, Allah. Here, “what” in His words ﴿what I worship﴾ carries the sense of “whom,” because when a relative pronoun refers to Allah, the form “whom” is used. ﴿I do not worship what you worship, nor are you worshippers of what I worship﴾ means: I do not worship your idols, and you do not worship Allah.
﴿Nor am I a worshipper of what you worship, nor are you worshippers of what I worship.﴾ Someone might suppose that this repetition is intended for emphasis, but that is not so, because the grammatical forms differ. ﴿I do not worship what you worship﴾ contains a verb, whereas “worshipper” and “worshippers” in ﴿Nor am I a worshipper of what you worship﴾ are nouns. For a repetition to serve as emphasis, the second sentence must correspond to the first. The view that it was repeated for emphasis is therefore weak. Why, then, is it repeated?
Some scholars said: ﴿I do not worship what you worship﴾ means at present, whereas ﴿Nor am I a worshipper of what you worship﴾ refers to the future. Thus, ﴿I do not worship what you worship﴾ means in the present, while ﴿Nor am I a worshipper of what you worship﴾ means in the future. This is because the imperfect verb denotes the present, whereas the active participle denotes the future. This is demonstrated by its governing an object, since an active participle governs an object only when it refers to the future. ﴿I do not worship what you worship﴾ means now, and ﴿nor are you worshippers of what I worship﴾ means now. ﴿Nor am I a worshipper of what you worship﴾ means in the future, and ﴿nor are you worshippers of what I worship﴾ means in the future.
An objection, however, has been raised against this view: How could He say, ﴿nor are you worshippers of what I worship﴾ when they might come to believe and worship Allah? This therefore lends the view a degree of weakness.
They replied that His words ﴿nor are you worshippers of what I worship﴾ address those polytheists whom Allah Most High knew would never believe. Accordingly, the address is not