His words, “Nor do you worship what I worship,” negate worship in the unqualified sense; they do not negate what may be called worship with a qualification. When a polytheist worships Allah and worships another besides Him, it may be said that he worships Allah and another, or that he worships Him while associating partners with Him. It is not said, without qualification, that he worships. The denier who worships nothing is worse than he is. Worship in its unqualified, proper form is what is accepted, whereas the polytheist’s worship is not accepted.

This is further clarified by His words:

“Or were you witnesses when death approached Jacob?”

And the rest of the verse. In it, they said, “We worship your God and the God of your fathers,” then said, “one God.” According to the more evident of the two grammatical interpretations, the latter phrase stands in apposition to the former. An indefinite noun may stand in apposition to a definite one, as in His words:

“We shall surely seize him by the forelock—a lying, sinful forelock.”

The forelock is thus mentioned in definite form and then described. Likewise, they said, “We worship your God,” identifying Him with a definite expression, then said, “one God,” describing Him.

An appositional construction sometimes has the force of repeating the governing element, as in His words:

“The arrogant chiefs among his people said to those who were deemed weak—to those among them who believed.”

The implied wording is therefore: “We worship your God; we worship one God, and to Him we submit.” They thus combined two affirmations: that they worship his God, and that they worship only one God. Whoever worships two gods does not worship his God and the God of his fathers. Only someone who worships one God worships his God. If someone who worshipped Allah while also worshipping another besides Him were considered a worshipper of Him, then worship of Him would be of two kinds: worship involving partners and worship devoted exclusively to Him. If that were so, it would not be