لا أَعبُدُ ما تَعبُدونَ
I do not worship what you worship.
EXEGESIS
In response to their proposal, the Holy Prophet is ordered to make his stance very clear and begins by contrasting his worship with theirs. Most commentators say what you worship is a reference to the idols.
According to some, this verse was meant to negate future worship of any other deity other than Allah, because, according to most exegetes and grammarians, the particle lā only applies to present-future tense verbs, and mā only applies to present-continuous verbs. Thus, the meaning would be: I will never worship [in the future] what you currently worship. A small minority have rejected that lā applies on only present-future tense verbs, such as Ibn Mālik (the author of Mughnī al-Labīb), Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusī, and al-Suhaylī.
EXPOSITION
Najafī, in keeping with his attempt to read the verses in a general manner and not limiting them to the faithless of that time, says that what is meant by what you worship is not restricted to idols alone. Rather, it includes every deity that disbelievers worship in any era. This would include Prophet Jesus (a) as a deity, the angels, or even the sun and moon. Mudarrisi also accepts such a wider interpretation and says it also includes rejection of polytheistic values and morals.
The Arabs at that time only rejected monotheism (tawḥīd) in worship and that is why this verse, with regards to their original request, is only discussing tawḥīd in worship. The atheism that we see today where God’s act of creation is completely negated was not present during that time. The disbelievers accepted Allah as their creator and their sustainer (see 29:61, 29:63, 31:25, 43:9, 43:87, and 10:31) but rejected tawḥīd in worship and thus chose to also worship idols.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
One can wonder that in the phrase I do not worship what you worship Allah is also included, since the Quran indicates that the disbelievers of Quraysh accepted Allah to be their creator (see 31:35). Based on this, how can the verse be understood? As it would be tantamount to the Prophet saying ‘I do not worship your gods that you worship, including Allah’. Three responses have been given:
- According to Makārim Shīrāzī, this verse is talking about worship and not creation. What is apparent is that the disbelievers only accepted Allah as their creator and not as one to be worshipped. In terms of worship, they would worship their idols whom they thought would act as an intermediary between them and Allah.
- According to Najafī, the polytheists would worship Allah while including him in a set of deities. As such they did not accept tawḥīd in worship. However, true worship lies in obeying Allah alone and not placing anything alongside Him. Based on this, when the Prophet says I do not worship what you worship, what is meant is that even the allāh you worship is one that is on par with other deities, whereas I worship the one, true God, alone. The Sunni exegete Maududi also supports this view.
- According to Mudarrisi, the allāh of the disbelievers is not the same as Allah of the believers. The former’s understanding of allāh was one of a being who is weak in front of partners and needs the support of idols, and who cannot control the running of the universe; whereas the latter believe in an omnipotent, majestic Lord, and thus the two conceptions are completely different.
[1] Mizan, 20/373.
[2] Mizan, 20/374; Daqaiq, 14/472; Zamakhshari, 4/808.
[3] Ibn Ashur, 30/510
[4] Najafī, al-Kawthar fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 10/317.
[5] Mudarrisi, 18/404.
[6] Amthal, 20/510.
[7] Najafī, al-Kawthar fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān, 10/317.
[8] Maududi, p. 589 [English translation].
[9] Mudarrisi, 18/404; see also Maududi, p. 560 for a similar exposition.