(28–30) “Whenever they commit a shameful deed, they say, ‘We found our forefathers doing it, and Allah has commanded us to do it.’ Say, ‘Allah does not command shameful deeds. Do you say about Allah what you do not know?’ * Say, ‘My Lord has commanded justice. Set your faces toward Him at every place of worship, and call upon Him, devoting your religion sincerely to Him. Just as He originated you, so shall you return.’ * Some He guided, while others have deserved to go astray, for they took the devils as allies instead of Allah, yet thought that they were rightly guided.”
Allah Most High explains the reprehensible state of the polytheists, who commit sins and then claim that Allah commanded them to do so. “Whenever they commit a shameful deed”—meaning anything regarded as vile and reprehensible, including their circumambulation of the House while naked—“they say, ‘We found our forefathers doing it.’” In this, they spoke the truth. “And Allah has commanded us to do it.” In this, they lied. Allah therefore refuted their claim, saying: “Say, ‘Allah does not command shameful deeds.’” That is, it is incompatible with His perfection and wisdom that He should command His servants to commit shameful deeds—whether the particular deed committed by the polytheists or any other. “Do you say about Allah what you do not know?” What fabrication could be greater than this?
He then stated what He does command: “Say, ‘My Lord has commanded justice’”—that is, fairness in worship and dealings, not injustice or oppression. “Set your faces toward Him at every place of worship”—that is, direct yourselves to Allah and strive to perfect all acts of worship, especially prayer: establish it both outwardly and inwardly, and purify it of every deficiency and anything that would invalidate it. “And call upon Him, devoting your religion sincerely to Him”—that is, seeking His Countenance alone, without any partner. Calling upon Him includes both supplication in which one makes requests and supplication through worship. In other words, do not act to be seen by others, nor seek through your supplication any purpose other than servitude to Allah and His pleasure.
“Just as He originated you” the first time, “so shall you return” for the Resurrection. The One who was able to originate your creation is able to restore it; indeed, restoring it is easier than originating it.
“Some” of you “He guided”—that is, Allah granted them success in following guidance, facilitated its means for them, and removed its obstacles from their path. “While others have deserved to go astray”—that is, going astray became inevitable for them because of what they brought upon themselves and because they pursued the means leading to error.
For “they took the devils as allies instead of Allah,” and “whoever takes Satan as an ally instead of Allah has certainly suffered a manifest loss.” When they cast off allegiance to the Most Merciful and preferred allegiance to Satan, they received an abundant share of abandonment, were left to their own devices, and suffered the gravest loss. “Yet they thought that they were rightly guided,” because realities had been reversed for them, so they imagined falsehood to be truth and truth to be falsehood.
These verses prove that commands and prohibitions accord with wisdom and benefit. Allah Most High states that it is inconceivable for Him to command what sound minds regard as vile and reject, and that He commands only ⦗287⦘ justice and sincerity. They also prove that guidance is granted through Allah’s bounty and favor, while misguidance results from His abandoning a servant when, through ignorance and wrongdoing, that servant takes Satan as an ally and brings misguidance upon himself. They further prove that one who thinks himself rightly guided while actually astray has no excuse, for guidance was within his reach; his mistaken assumption arose only from his wrongdoing in abandoning the path that leads to guidance.