Thus, these words with which Allah addressed Adam and the others when He sent them down establish that He obligated them to follow His revealed guidance—the revelation conveyed to His prophets. They also establish that whoever turns away from it, even without denying it, will suffer humiliating punishment on the Day of Resurrection, and that his life will be one of hardship in this world, in the intermediate state after death, and in the Hereafter: a constricted, troubled existence filled with every kind of anxiety, distress, and sorrow. A good life, by contrast, belongs to whoever believes and does righteous deeds.

Whoever holds fast to this guidance will not associate partners with his Lord, for all the messengers commanded people to worship Allah alone and were themselves commanded to do so. He, the Exalted, said:

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

He thus made clear that He invariably reveals the command to worship Him alone to every messenger. He, the Exalted, also said:

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

He thus made clear that He has never prescribed polytheism. These two texts demonstrate that He commanded every messenger to worship Him alone and never commanded the association of partners with Him. From the time Adam was sent down, He commanded him and his descendants to follow His guidance, which He reveals to the prophets. It is therefore established that polytheism arose from abandoning adherence to the prophets and messengers in what they commanded concerning worshipping Allah alone and following His religion—not that polytheism was the cause of disbelief in the messengers. In reality, associating partners with Allah and disbelief in the messengers necessarily accompany one another. This concerns the polytheists who disbelieve in the prophethoods. As for the People of the Book, the Jews were not led into error by what they affirmed