“I follow the religion of my forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is not for us to associate anything whatsoever with Allah. This is part of Allah’s favor upon us and upon mankind, but most people are ungrateful. * My two fellow prisoners! Are many disparate lords better, or Allah—the One, the All-Subduing? * What you worship besides Him are nothing but names that you and your forefathers have devised, for which Allah has sent down no authority. Judgment belongs to Allah alone. He has commanded that you worship none but Him. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know.”
“I follow the religion of my forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” He then explained that religion by saying: “It is not for us”—that is, it is neither proper nor fitting for us—“to associate anything whatsoever with Allah.” Rather, we single Allah out in worship and sincerely devote religion and worship to Him alone.
“This is part of Allah’s favor upon us and upon mankind.” That is, this is among the greatest blessings, kindnesses, and favors He has bestowed upon us and upon those whom Allah has guided as He guided us. There is no favor Allah bestows upon His servants greater than Islam and the upright religion. Whoever accepts and submits to it secures his share of it and thereby obtains the greatest blessings and most sublime merits.
“But most people are ungrateful.” Thus, the blessing and kindness come to them, yet they neither accept them nor render Allah His due. This contains an unmistakable encouragement to follow Joseph’s path. Once it had become clear to him that the two young men regarded him with esteem and reverence—as one who did good and possessed knowledge—he told them that his entire condition was due to Allah’s favor and kindness: Allah had blessed him by enabling him to abandon polytheism and follow the religion of his forefathers. This was how he attained the state they had witnessed, so they too ought to follow the path he had followed.
He then openly called them to faith, saying: “My two fellow prisoners! Are many disparate lords better, or Allah—the One, the All-Subduing?” That is, are powerless, feeble lords that can neither benefit nor harm, neither give nor withhold—and that are divided among trees, stones, angels, the dead, and the other kinds of objects of worship adopted by the polytheists—better, “or Allah,” who possesses every attribute of perfection, “the One” in His essence, attributes, and actions, with no partner in any of them?
He is “the All-Subduing,” to whose might and sovereignty all things submit. Whatever He wills comes to pass, and whatever He does not will cannot come to pass: “There is no living creature but that He holds it by its forelock.” It is self-evident that the One whose nature and attributes are such is better than those disparate gods, which are mere names possessing neither perfection nor power to act. He therefore said: “What you worship besides Him are nothing but names that you and your forefathers have devised.”
That is, you have clothed them in names and called them gods, though they are nothing and possess none of the attributes of divinity. “Allah has sent down no authority for them.” Rather, Allah has sent down the authority prohibiting their worship and demonstrating its falsehood. Since Allah has sent down no authority for them, there can be no valid path, means, or proof supporting their worship.
For judgment belongs to Allah alone. He is the One who commands and forbids, lays down religious laws, and ordains rulings. It is He who commanded you “to worship none but Him. That is the upright religion”—that is, the straight religion that leads to every good. All other religions are not straight; rather, they are crooked and lead to every evil.
“But most people do not know” the true realities of things. Otherwise, the difference between worshipping Allah alone, without any partner, and associating partners with Him is among the clearest and most evident of all matters.
Yet because most people lack this knowledge, they have fallen into polytheism. Thus Joseph (peace be upon him) called his two fellow prisoners to worship Allah alone and sincerely devote their religion to Him. It is possible that they responded and submitted, so that the blessing upon them was made complete; and it is possible that they persisted in their polytheism, in which case the proof was thereby established against them. Joseph (peace be upon him) then began interpreting their two dreams, as he had promised them, saying: