is other than it by making its forgiveness subject to His will. He thus states that He does not forgive associating partners with Him for anyone who has not repented of it, but forgives anything less than that for whomever He wills.

As for His words:

“Say: ‘O My servants who have transgressed against themselves, do not despair of Allah’s mercy. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins.’”

This concerns those who repent. Hence He speaks generally and without qualification. The context of the verse, together with the circumstances of its revelation, makes this clear.

He, glorified is He, has stated in several places that people, earlier and later, were commanded only to do this. One example is the surah that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, recited to Ubayy when Allah Most High commanded him to recite it specifically to him, to convey it to him and let him hear it. He says:

“Those who were given the Scripture did not become divided until after clear evidence had come to them.”

“And they were commanded only to worship Allah with sincere devotion to Him alone, upright in faith,”

and the rest of the verse. This is the true meaning of the declaration, “There is no god worthy of worship except Allah.”

With this He sent all the messengers. Allah Most High says:

“We never sent a messenger before you without revealing to him: ‘There is no god but Me, so worship Me.’”

And He says:

“Ask those of Our messengers whom We sent before you: did We appoint gods besides the Most Merciful to be worshipped?”

And Allah Most High says:

“We certainly sent a messenger to every nation, saying: ‘Worship Allah and shun false gods.’”

All the messengers began their call with this foundation, as Noah, peace be upon him, said:

“Worship Allah; you have no deity worthy of worship except Him.”

Likewise, Hūd, Sālih and Shuʿayb, peace be upon them, and others—each said:

“Worship Allah; you have no deity worthy of worship except Him.”

Especially the greatest