—among its adherents, whose religions have crumbled, whose hearts are unsettled, and who are more astray than cattle.

At other moments the Qur’an invites to tawḥīd by describing the noble reward it yields in this world and the next, the wholesome life enjoyed throughout the three abodes, and by setting that against the immediate and deferred punishments affixed to its opposite—showing that the final lot of the polytheists has ever been the worst and most miserable outcome.

In short: every good, whether near or far, springs from tawḥīd, and every evil, whether near or far, is the fruit of shirk. Allah knows best.