After Allah Most High had referred to the record of earlier generations and instructed that they be consulted regarding this matter, He explained it in the fullest manner in His words: “We never sent any messenger before you without revealing to him, ‘There is no god but Me, so worship Me.’” Thus, the essence and foundation of the message conveyed by every messenger before you, together with the scriptures they brought, was the command to worship Allah alone, without partner; the declaration that He is the true God worthy of worship; and the affirmation that worshipping anything besides Him is false.
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(26–29) “They say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a child.’ Glory be to Him! Rather, they are honored servants. They do not precede Him in speech, and they act only at His command. He knows what lies before them and what lies behind them. They intercede only for those He approves, and they stand in awe of Him. If any of them were to say, ‘I am a god besides Him,’ We would recompense him with Hell. Thus do We recompense the wrongdoers.”
Allah Most High informs us of the foolishness of the polytheists who rejected the Messenger. They claimed—may Allah condemn them—that Allah had taken a child, saying, “The angels are Allah’s daughters.” Exalted is Allah far above what they say. He describes the angels by stating that they(1) are servants who have a Lord and are under His governance. They possess no authority whatsoever. Rather, they are honored in Allah’s sight: Allah has honored them and placed them among the servants graced with His honor and mercy because of the virtues He has specially bestowed upon them, His purification of them from vices, and their utmost reverence toward Him and obedience to His commands.
“They do not precede Him in speech.” That is, they make no pronouncement concerning the governance of the kingdom until Allah has spoken, owing to their perfect reverence and their knowledge of His perfect wisdom and knowledge.
“And they act only at His command.” That is, whatever He commands them to do, they obey, and whatever He directs them to carry out, they perform. They do not disobey Him even for the blink of an eye, nor do they act according to their own desires independently of Allah’s command. Despite this, Allah’s knowledge encompasses them. He knows “what lies before them and what lies behind them”—that is, all their past and future affairs. They cannot escape His knowledge, just as they cannot depart from His command and governance.
One particular aspect of their not preceding Him in speech is that they intercede for no one without His permission and approval. When He permits them and approves of the person for whom they intercede, they intercede for that person. Yet Allah Most High approves only words and deeds that are sincerely devoted to Him and performed in accordance with the Messenger. This verse is among the proofs affirming intercession and showing that the angels intercede.
“And they stand in awe of Him.” That is, they are fearful and apprehensive. They have humbled themselves before His majesty, and their faces have submitted before His might and beauty.
Having clarified—through the qualities He ascribed to them, which necessarily entail this—that they have no right to divinity and deserve no worship whatsoever, He further states that they have no share in divinity, nor can a mere claim give them one. If any of them were to say, “I am a god besides Him”—stated purely as a hypothesis and for argument’s sake—then “We would recompense him with Hell. Thus do We recompense the wrongdoers.” What wrongdoing could be greater than a deficient created being, who depends on Allah in every respect, claiming to share with Allah the exclusive qualities of divinity and lordship?