alone, in accordance with what He commanded through Muhammad. Whoever disbelieves in Muhammad can never have his deeds count as worship of Allah. The declaration that they are devoid of the worship of Allah uses the same wording: a nominal sentence indicating that their very selves are devoid of worship of Allah, rather than merely negating the act. He did not need to say of them:

“Nor are you worshippers of what I have worshipped,”

as he said of himself:

“Nor am I a worshipper of what you have worshipped,”

for two reasons.

The first is that every believer is commanded to recite this surah, and some believers formerly worshipped something other than Allah. Had such a person said, “Nor are you worshippers of what I have worshipped,” they could have replied, “On the contrary, we worship what you used to worship when you were a polytheist.” This would not apply if he said, “Nor are you worshippers of what I worship at this time.”

Nor did he say, “what I am a worshipper of,” since the speaker himself may not worship Him at all times. An individual may worship something other than Allah in the future; someone who does not worship what that individual worships in the future would therefore not be blameworthy. By contrast, when a believer addresses others with this surah, he worships none but Allah at the time he recites it. He is thus saying to the disbelievers, “Nor are you worshippers of what I worship now.”

The negation concerning the disbelievers is repeated in both sentences so that each corresponds closely to its counterpart. Thus, when he said:

“I do not worship what you worship,”

negating the act, he then said:

“Nor are you worshippers of what I worship.”