Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "a straight religion"

Question:
The Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, says regarding the saying of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He: He says: I heard a person say that the intended meaning of "a straight religion" is not tawhid (the oneness of Allah), but rather morals and transactions. Is this statement correct in interpreting the verse?

Answer:
The verse interprets itself: "Indeed, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds. There is no partner for Him. And of that I have been commanded. I am of the religion." And the religion is tawhid (the oneness of Allah); the foundation of tawhid is tawhid, and its basis is tawhid. As for morals and such things, they are branches that follow tawhid. How can we care for the branch while leaving the root? Yes, they are trying to uproot tawhid from these lands and from the educational curricula; they are trying to uproot it. That is their aim. So we are against them, and we warn against them and their propaganda. We do not declare ourselves pure, nor do we say that we know all of tawhid and all the issues of tawhid. What is hidden from us and unknown to us is more hidden.

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.

Answer:
Were not the Companions who went out with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) to the Battle of Hunayn—meaning a group of the Companions—those who said, “Make for us a tree of Anat, just as they have their tree of Anat”? He said, “You are a people who do not know.” They were Companions, and they did not know. How is it with us? Are we not afraid of this? Yes.