⦗59⦘ “Say: All praise belongs to Allah, and peace be upon His servants whom He has chosen. Is Allah better, or what they associate with Him?”

That is: Say, “All praise belongs to Allah,” who deserves perfect praise, commendation, and extolment because of the perfection of His attributes, His gracious beneficence and gifts, and His justice and wisdom in punishing the deniers and chastising the wrongdoers. Also invoke peace upon His servants whom He selected and chose above all others—the prophets and messengers, Allah’s elect among all creation. This serves to exalt their renown, proclaim their lofty standing, affirm their freedom from evil and defilement, and affirm that what they said concerning their Lord was free of deficiencies and defects.

“Is Allah better, or what they associate with Him?” This is a rhetorical question whose answer is settled and well known. That is: Is Allah—the magnificent Lord, perfect in His attributes and immense in His kindness—better, or the idols and graven images they worshipped alongside Him? Those idols are deficient in every respect: they can neither benefit nor harm, and they possess not so much as an atom’s weight of good for themselves or for their worshippers. Allah is therefore better than what they associate with Him.