The benefits of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Indeed, to Allah belongs the pure religion, and those who take others besides Him as allies – we do not worship them except to bring us closer to Allah in nearness. Indeed, Allah will judge between them concerning that over which they differ…”

Then Allah the Exalted said . Among the benefits of this phrase is that Allah does not accept anything but a pure religion . As for anything other than that, it is not for Allah, even if you associate it with Allah – lower your voices, everyone – because the religion of Allah is what? It is the pure one, free from the impurities of shirk (associating partners with Allah). Good. If someone were to ask: If an act is pure at its beginning but shirk is mixed into it at its end, does the entire act become invalid? Or does only the part containing shirk become invalid? Or what? We say: There is a detail in this: If the act of worship in which shirk occurred is such that its parts are built upon one another, then it becomes invalid. For example, prayer: A man enters into prayer with sincerity for Allah, and during it, he hears someone around him and thinks about it during his prayer, in the middle of the act of worship. What do we say? We say: The prayer becomes invalid; it becomes entirely invalid because its beginning and its end are built upon one another. However, if the parts are not built upon one another, then what was pure is valid, and what was mixed is not valid. For example, a man who was giving charity from a thousand riyals; whenever a poor person came, he gave him from it. He spent five hundred riyals purely for Allah. And during the spending, some people came and he saw them. Does the first charity, which had sincerity, become invalid? No. Why? Because its parts are not built upon one another; each dirham is separate, or each riyal is separate from the one before it. Complete? This is an important issue. The second issue: Sometimes riya' (showing off) attacks the heart, and the person resists it. Does this affect his sincerity? No, the answer is no, it does not affect it as long as he resists it and turns away from it, because he is now in jihad, in jihad against his enemy. And Satan constantly comes to the person from every direction. Allah the Exalted said about him in Surat al-A'raf: , meaning in every place. He comes to the person to discourage him from worship, to discourage him from seeking knowledge, to discourage him from maintaining family ties, from dutifulness to parents, and the like of what Allah has made obligatory upon you. So when he sees from him determination to perform the worship, he comes to him from another direction, which is exaggeration in worship, increasing in it, and affectation and difficulty. So when he fails from this side, he comes to him from the side of intention, that you are a hypocrite. But the person must defend against Satan to the best of his ability, seeking help from Allah Mighty and Majestic.
Among the benefits of the noble verse in His saying: is the self-sufficiency of Allah Mighty and Majestic. The self-sufficiency of Allah is complete self-sufficiency. The aspect of this is: If Allah does not accept anything except what is pure, that indicates His self-sufficiency from the deeds of the servants. Because – and may He be far from that – if He were poor and in need of that, He would have been content with what comes to Him from them, even if it were shared, like a needy person who accepts from you what is exclusively for him and what is shared. So when Allah does not accept anything except what is pure, it is known by this that He is self-sufficient from the servants. And to this points His saying in the Qudsi Hadith: . Yes.
Then Allah the Exalted said to the end. Among the benefits of this verse is that the worshippers of idols have taken the idols as their protectors and allies.
And among its benefits is that they – namely the worshippers of idols – deceive the people. They say: We do not worship them except for a purpose, which is: that they bring us closer to Allah in nearness.
And among its benefits is that we can extend this ruling to all the people of falsehood: They claim that they are doing a good deed, and they are liars. Let us give an example of this with the people of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes): The people of ta'til claim that by their ta'til, what are they doing? They are purifying Allah, and that their intention is to purify Allah Mighty and Majestic from deficiency and from resembling the created beings. And they are liars in this, because if they deny Him of the perfection of His attributes, that is the opposite of purification. These people say: We do not worship them except to bring us closer to Allah in nearness. And the reality is that this worship distances them from Allah; it distances them from Allah by great distances.
Good, among the benefits of this noble verse is the acknowledgment of the polytheists that they worship their idols . So they explicitly state that they worship them, but they do not say: We worship them to get close to them, but rather: to bring us closer.
And among its benefits is that the polytheists in the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) acknowledge the existence of Allah, and that He is greater than every great thing, due to their saying: . So they are acknowledging Allah Mighty and Majestic and that He is greater than their idols. For this reason, they made them a means to Him or to getting close to Him.
And among its benefits is that there will be between these polytheists and their allies a dispute and contention on the Day of Resurrection, due to His saying: .
And among its benefits is that the judgment belongs to Allah Mighty and Majestic alone on that day – I mean the Day of Resurrection – and that the reference is to Him.