“They will have no helpers”—none who will aid them when the sentence of punishment falls due against them and all their connections and means of deliverance are severed.

⦗641⦘

(30–32) “So set your face toward the religion, inclining exclusively to the truth—the natural disposition of Allah upon which He created mankind. There is no altering Allah’s creation. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know. * Turn to Him in repentance, fear Him, establish prayer, and do not be among the polytheists—* those who divided their religion and became sects, each faction rejoicing in what it possesses.”

Allah Most High commands that devotion be made sincerely for Him in every circumstance and that His religion be upheld. He therefore said, “So set your face,” meaning: set it firmly and direct it toward the religion, which comprises Islam, faith, and excellence. This is done by directing your heart, intention, and body toward (1) upholding the outward ordinances of religion, such as prayer, zakat, fasting, pilgrimage, and the like; its inward ordinances, such as love, fear, hope, and turning to Allah; and observing both the outward and inward ordinances with excellence by worshipping Allah through them as though you see Him, for although you do not see Him, He sees you.

Allah specifically mentioned setting one’s face because the face turns in accordance with the heart’s turning, and bodily striving follows from both. He therefore said, “inclining exclusively to the truth,” meaning: turning toward Allah in all of this and away from everything besides Him.

This command We have given you is “the natural disposition of Allah upon which He created mankind.” He placed within their minds an awareness of its goodness and of the ugliness of everything contrary to it. Allah has placed in the hearts of all people an inclination toward every outward and inward ordinance of the Sacred Law. He placed within their hearts a love of the truth and a preference for it. This is the reality of the natural disposition.

Anyone who departs from this original disposition does so because an external influence has befallen and corrupted it, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Every child is born upon the natural disposition, but his parents then make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian.”

“There is no altering Allah’s creation.” That is, no one can alter Allah’s creation and make a created being other than as Allah fashioned it. “That” which We have commanded “is the upright religion,” meaning the straight path leading to Allah and His honor. Whoever sets his face toward the religion, inclining exclusively to the truth, is following the straight path in all its ordinances and ways. “But most people do not know”: they do not recognize the upright religion, and even when they recognize it, they do not follow it.

“Turn to Him in repentance, and fear Him.” This explains what it means to set one’s face toward the religion. Turning to Allah is the heart’s return to Him and the attraction of all its impulses toward what pleases Allah Most High.

This necessarily entails impelling (2) the body to act in accordance with what is in the heart, and thus encompasses both outward and inward acts of worship. That cannot be completed without abandoning outward and inward sins. He therefore said, “and fear Him.” This encompasses carrying out what has been commanded and abandoning what has been forbidden.

Among the commanded acts, He singled out prayer because it calls one to turn to Allah and fear Him, as Allah Most High says: “Establish prayer, for prayer restrains from shameful and wicked deeds.” This is how prayer assists one in attaining fear of Allah.

He then said, “And the remembrance of Allah is greater.” This is how prayer encourages one to turn to Him. Among the forbidden acts, He singled out their root—polytheism, alongside which no deed is accepted—saying, “and do not be among the polytheists,” because polytheism is opposed to turning to Allah, the very essence of which is complete sincerity to Him in every respect.

He then described the condition of the polytheists in terms that expose its disgrace and ugliness, saying: “those who divided their religion,” even though the religion is one: devoting worship sincerely to Allah alone. Yet these polytheists divided it. Some worship idols and images; some worship the sun and moon; some worship saints and righteous people; and some are Jews while others are Christians.

He therefore said, “and became sects.” That is, every group belonging to polytheism banded together and became fanatically committed to supporting the falsehood it possessed, repudiating all others and fighting them.

“Each faction rejoicing in what it possesses”—namely, bodies of knowledge contrary to the knowledge conveyed by the messengers. They rejoice in it, judge it to be the truth, and deem everyone else to be following falsehood. This contains a warning to Muslims against scattering and splitting into factions, with each faction fanatically defending whatever truth and falsehood it possesses. They would thereby resemble the polytheists in their division, even though the religion is one, the Messenger is one, and God is one.

Consensus has been established among the scholars and leading authorities regarding most religious matters, and Allah has established and bound the brotherhood of faith with the firmest of bonds. Why, then, should all of that be cast aside, while division and discord among Muslims are built upon obscure questions or disputed subsidiary issues, over which they declare one another misguided and distinguish themselves from one another?

Is this anything but one of Satan’s greatest incitements and one of the chief designs by which he plots against the Muslims?

And is striving to unite them and eliminate the discord among them that is founded upon this false principle anything but one of the finest forms of striving in Allah’s cause and one of the best deeds by which nearness to Allah is attained?

After Allah Most High commanded them to turn to Him—and the turning commanded here is voluntary, maintained in hardship and ease, prosperity and distress—He mentioned the compelled turning that arises only when a person is in distress and anguish. Once his distress is removed, he casts it behind his back. Such turning is of no benefit. He therefore said: