Commentary on Tafsir al-Jalalayn: “When he said” in this state that continued with him “to his father and his people,” rebuking them, “What” — what is it that — “you worship

In this state that continued with him We say of this, as we said of “When his Lord came to him,” that it is a new sentence to explain the state of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). So his heart was sound and righteous in itself, and yet he tries to reform others. “Rebuking them” The author said, “Rebuking them” So the interrogation here means rebuke, and rebuke necessitates denial of them and more, because you may deny a person without rebuking him, but if you rebuke him, your rebuke necessitates denial of him. His saying, Allah named this father in Surat al-An'am, saying:
And his father was a polytheist, and he (peace be upon him) promised him that he would seek forgiveness for him, so he sought forgiveness for him, but when it became clear to him that he was an enemy of Allah, he disavowed him. His dialogue between him and his father in Surat Maryam is clear; he used to address him with gentleness and softness, but here he addresses him with severity and harshness. He said to him, meaning: Leave me and let me be, for a long time. This is an interrogative sentence, but is *dha* cancelled or a relative pronoun? Both views are permissible. If we make it a relative pronoun, we parse *ma* as the subject and *dha* as its predicate, and we make the resumptive pronoun omitted, with the meaning: What is it that you worship? This is if we make it a relative pronoun. And if we make it cancelled, we parse *madha* entirely and say: *Madha* is an interrogative noun, the object placed before *ta'budun*, or we say: *Ma* is an interrogative noun placed before, and *dha* has no grammatical position, it is a letter or in the position of a letter, it has no grammatical position. In any case, parsing does not concern us; rather, the meaning is that he denied them and said: What is it that you worship? Do you worship a true god, or do you worship a false god?
Regarding the two hamzas, as previously mentioned, and it is the precise and the facilitated reading, facilitating the second and inserting an alif between them in the precise and the facilitated reading, so the readings become four. He says, “*Afkan* is the object for which, and *alaatan* is the object of *tardun*, and *al-afk* is the worst of lies, meaning: Do you worship other than Allah?” The author (may Allah have mercy on him) parsed this sentence and said that *afkan* is the object for which, meaning the object for the sake of which, and that his saying *alaatan* is the object of *tardun*, and *dun Allah* is a description of *alaatan*. The interrogation in his saying, is like the one before it, for what reason? For rebuke. Meaning: Do you seek gods other than Allah for the sake of falsehood and lying? This falsehood and lying compels you to this falsehood, which is the worst of lies. The meaning is: Do you seek gods other than Allah to worship? So *iradah* here means intention, and *alaatan* means the deified, i.e., the worshipped. You seek that for the falsehood which you fabricated, and it is the worst of lies. And there is no doubt that the worst of lies and the most unjust of lies is making another god alongside Allah, for he is the most lying of liars and the most unjust of liars. Allah the Exalted said, And here he said *dun Allah*, meaning other than Him and besides Him. And perhaps *dun* implies the lowly, meaning that they are not equal to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So how do you seek them as gods and intend them?
Now he says, If you worshipped other than Him, that He will leave you without punishment in the Hereafter. His saying, The interrogation here is an interrogative of threat, according to the author's statement. Meaning: What do you think Allah will do to you if you worshipped other than Him? Do you think He will leave you? And the answer is no. And it is possible that the meaning is: If you took other than Allah as a god, what is your opinion of Him? Do you think He will accept this association? Allah (Mighty and Majestic) will not accept it. He said, Or: What is your opinion of the Lord of the worlds? Meaning: What is your opinion of His greatness and majesty? If you had honored Him with true honor, you would not have associated others with Him. So the important thing is that this interrogation in his saying, includes all these meanings: What is your opinion of Him, that He will leave you neglected without punishment? What is your opinion of Him, if you took other than Him, that you have diminished Him? What is your opinion of Him, that He is pleased that you worship others alongside Him? All this is a matter: if they only thought it, they had a bad opinion of Allah and did not honor Allah with His due honor. But these opinions bind them if they took other than Allah alongside Him; they cannot escape from them. And his saying, It has been mentioned to us previously that the meaning of *al-'alamin* here is everything other than Allah the Exalted. Everything other than Allah is a world, and they are called *'alamin* because they are a sign of Allah, and one infers Him by His creations, as He said, [Ar-Rum: 22] to the end of what Allah used as evidence of Himself from His signs. So his saying, The meaning of *al-'alamin* is those other than Allah, and they are called *'alamin* because they are a sign of their Creator and evidence of Him. And his saying, Is the lordship here general or specific? It is general, and for this reason he said *al-'alamin* with the inclusion of everyone.