Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: {Indeed, to Allah belongs the pure religion...}

Question:
Your Eminence! Among the beauties of divine decree is that Your Eminence cited the verse from Surat al-Zumar, and our brother is also asking about its exegesis. He says: Explain to us the saying of the Truth, Blessed and Exalted is He: [al-Zumar:3].

Answer:
As mentioned previously. Yes, they took them—worshipped them—besides Allah to bring them closer to Allah. So their saying: [al-Zumar:3] means they say: [al-Zumar:3]. Before that, the Exalted and Majestic said: [al-Zumar:2]. Then He, the Exalted, said: [al-Zumar:3], meaning the pure worship is for Him alone, the Exalted and Majestic, and He has no partner in that, as He, the Exalted, said: [al-Bayyinah:5] in Surat al-Bayyinah. And the Exalted and Majestic said: [Ghafir:14]. For this reason, He, the Exalted, said: [al-Zumar:3].
Then He said: [al-Zumar:3], meaning they say—these who took [others as gods] say—: , meaning these gods, which are idols, trees, stones, angels, prophets, and others: [al-Zumar:3], meaning: We do not worship them because they create, or provide, or benefit, or harm. No, they know that Allah is the Benefactor and the Harmer. The first polytheists from Quraysh and others know that Allah is the Benefactor and the Harmer, the Creator and the Provider, the Manager, the Giver of Life and the Giver of Death. They know this, as the Exalted and Majestic commanded His Prophet to ask them. He, the Exalted, said to His Prophet: [Yunus:31]. He, the Exalted, said: [Yunus:31], meaning the polytheists say this. He, the Exalted, said: [Yunus:31].
Meaning: Say to them, O Muhammad: Do you not fear associating partners with Allah? And the first part, He, the Exalted, says: (Say), meaning: Say, O Muhammad! to the people—to Quraysh and others—, meaning: Who is it that provides for you from the sky and the earth? Meaning: Who provides for the servants from the sky and the earth? He provides for them from the sky with rain and other things, and from the earth with the plants that Allah grows, the fruits, the animals on earth, the minerals, and other things.
[Yunus:31]. He is the One who controls the hearing and the sight of people. [Yunus:31], meaning in the entire world. Allah the Exalted said: [Yunus:31], meaning these polytheists say: Allah is the Manager of affairs, the Creator, the Provider, the Benefactor and the Harmer, and the One who gives life and death. He explained "bringing out the living from the dead" as bringing out the Muslim from the disbeliever. Yes. And "bringing out the dead from the living" as the disbeliever from the Muslim. And he explained it as bringing out the egg from the hen, and the hen from the egg, and the plant from the dead earth.
All of this is bringing out, a type of bringing out the living from the dead, and the dead from the living. Glory be to Allah.
The point is that the polytheists who worshipped idols know that Allah, the Exalted, is the Benefactor and the Harmer, the Manager of affairs, the Creator and the Provider. But they worship the gods so that they may intercede for them and bring them closer to Allah, not because they benefit or harm. This is unlike the later polytheist disbelievers; these have fallen into major shirk (associating partners with Allah) regarding lordship.
Some of the later polytheists have a greater shirk than those earlier polytheists; because they associated with Allah in lordship, and they thought that some of their gods manage affairs, dispose of affairs, and benefit and harm.
And that Allah granted them this. This is false. This is disbelief regarding lordship, and shirk regarding lordship is greater and more ugly than the shirk of Quraysh and their like.
Allah the Exalted said: [al-Zumar:3]. So He called them liars in their claim that they bring them closer to Allah.
Disbelievers because they worshipped them along with Allah, called upon them, sought aid from them, made vows to them, and drew near to them. So by this, they became disbelievers. For this reason, He, the Exalted, said: [al-Zumar:3], meaning He does not guide them to accept the truth. Otherwise, the guidance of conveying the message had reached them from Him, the Exalted, through the messengers and the books. But He does not guide them: He does not make them successful because of their turning away from the truth, their arrogance regarding the truth, and their stubbornness toward the messengers. We ask Allah for safety and well-being. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, and may He do you good.