(71–73) “Say, ‘Shall we call upon something besides Allah that can neither benefit nor harm us, and be turned back on our heels after Allah has guided us, like one whom the devils have enticed into wandering bewildered through the land, while he has companions calling him to guidance: “Come to us”?’ Say, ‘Allah’s guidance is the only true guidance, and we have been commanded to submit to the Lord of the worlds, to establish prayer, and to fear Him. It is to Him that you will be gathered. He is the One who created the heavens and earth in truth. On the Day He says, “Be!” it will be. His word is the truth, and His is all dominion on the Day the Trumpet is blown. He is the Knower of the unseen and the seen, and He is the All-Wise, the All-Aware.’”
“Say,” O Messenger, to the polytheists who call upon others besides Allah and invite you to their religion. Describe and explain clearly the nature of their deities—a nature whose mere mention is enough to deter any rational person, without any further prohibition being needed. Indeed, once any rational person understands the doctrine of the polytheists, he becomes certain of its falsehood even before the proofs against it are presented. Thus He said: “Shall we call upon something besides Allah that can neither benefit nor harm us?” This description applies to everything worshiped besides Allah: it can neither benefit nor harm and possesses no authority whatsoever. All command belongs to Allah alone.
“And be turned back on our heels after Allah has guided us?” That is, should we revert to misguidance after Allah has guided us, turn from right judgment to error, and leave the path leading to the Gardens of bliss for roads that lead those who follow them to painful punishment? No person of sound judgment would accept such a condition. Anyone in that condition is “like one whom the devils have enticed into wandering through the land”; that is, they have led him astray and made him wander from the road and course that would bring him to his destination. He is thus left “bewildered, while he has companions calling him to guidance,” even as the devils call him to ruin. He remains bewildered between the two calls.
This is the condition of all people except those whom Allah Most High protects. They find within themselves competing attractions and impulses (1): the impulses (2) arising from the divine message, sound reason, and an upright natural disposition call them “to guidance” and to ascend to the highest heights.
The impulses (3) of Satan, those who follow his path, and the soul that persistently commands evil call them to misguidance and to descend to the lowest depths. Some people side with the call to guidance in all or most of their affairs, while others do the opposite. For still others, the two calls are equally strong and the two attractions conflict. It is here that the people of felicity may be distinguished from the people of wretchedness.
His words, “Say, ‘Allah’s guidance is the only true guidance,’” mean that guidance is found only upon the path ⦗262⦘ that Allah prescribed through His Messenger. Everything else is misguidance, ruin, and destruction. “We have been commanded to submit to the Lord of the worlds” by yielding to His monotheism, submitting to His commands and prohibitions, and placing ourselves in servitude to Him. This is the greatest blessing Allah has bestowed upon His servants and the most perfect nurture He has afforded them.
“And to establish prayer” means that we have been commanded to establish prayer with its pillars, conditions, sunnah acts, and complementary elements. “And fear Him” by doing what He has commanded and avoiding what He has forbidden. “It is to Him that you will be gathered”; that is, you will be assembled for the Day of Resurrection, when He will recompense you for your deeds, whether good or evil.
“He is the One who created the heavens and earth in truth” so that He might command and forbid His servants, reward them, and punish them. “On the Day He says, ‘Be!’ it will be. His word is the truth,” in which there is neither doubt nor reversal, and He says nothing in vain. “His is all dominion on the Day the Trumpet is blown,” meaning the Day of Resurrection. He singled that Day out for mention—although He owns everything—because all other dominion will then cease, and no dominion will remain except that of Allah, the One, the All-Subduing. “He is the Knower of the unseen and the seen, and He is the All-Wise, the All-Aware”: His wisdom is perfect, His favor all-encompassing, His benevolence immense, and His knowledge encompasses every secret, inward reality, and hidden thing. There is no deity except Him and no Lord besides Him.