In the first verse in discussion the oneness in worship has been described as the prime objective of the apostles of God. It says, “Indeed We sent a messenger to every nation (who said) “Worship God (alone) and stay clear of the worship of every kind of idol (taghut).” This answer was given in reply to those mentioned in verse 35 of Surah Nahl. (they say, “If God had so willed neither we nor are fathers would have worshipped aught but Him.” They used to say, “God wants us to idol worship and He is agreeable to this deed of ours.” In reply to their baseless assumption Qura’n says, “without exception the message of all the apostles of God was for Him and all of them have asked people to refrain from worshipping others. What manner of falsehood do they attribute towards God? the Book then says, “the people were divided into two groups after the invitations by the apostles; the first group desired to seek the truth and so it was guided, the second group was those who opposed the first and they went wayward. “).” So among them were some whom God guided, and among them were others on error was confirmed.”
Then the Book tells us to traverse the world and see the fate of those who denied the truth. “Therefore, travel throughout the world and see what the end of those who rejected (Us) has been.” They were immersed in sin and were surrounded by ill fate therefore, they sank into darkness. This is the way the punishment of God caught hold of them.
One point should be noted here that the guidance of the people has been attributed to God because until He helps and guides no one can reach his desired destination. Waywardness has been attributed to mankind for it is the result of their deeds.
In the second verse this has been mentioned in another manner which is decisive and firm, “And We did not send any Messenger before you but revealed to him that “Verily there is no god but I; so worship Me (alone).” W should note that “Nuhi” denotes eternity or the commandment for the worship of One God was given to the apostles as a basic tenet and they were entrusted to preach this message thoroughly. We can therefore, say that the Oneness of worship has always been the basic tenet during the days of all apostles to be practiced.
The third verse mentions the great Messenger of God Noah and says that no subject had as much importance in his days and preaching than the Oneness of worship and the aloofness from idols. The Books says, ““Indeed We sent Noah to his people and he said, “O my people! Worship God alone; you have no god other than Him.”
This sentence tells us the idolatry is a great obstacle in the path of obeisance. This is the reason the gardeners of the orchard of Oneness (The apostles) readied themselves to smash this obstacle from the path with the hammer of Oneness. There were various kinds of idols in the days of Noah as said in verse 23 of Surah Noah, “And they have said, “You shall not leave your gods”. Wod, Suwa, Yaghus, Ya’ooq and Nasr. These were the five famous idols that looked like man, woman, lion, horse and eagle. Those people worshipped them and were proud about it.
When Noah saw that they persisted with idolatry then he warned them of punishment as has been described in the end of this verse, “Indeed I fear for you a chastisement on a fearful day.” This great punishment was the Deluge which overtook his people and no one was punished so greatly.
There is another view that it may be referring to the punishment on the Day of Judgment. (2)
Tafsir al Mizan tells us that in this short Surah God has mentioned to tenets, Oneness and Day of Judgment and the third is the mention of Prophet hood “Ya Qome Laisa bi Zalalatun” (3)
The fourth verse discusses the Jews and the Christians who had reneged from Tawhid (Oneness). The Jews had declared Ezra to be the son of god and the Christians (who had renounced the world) had declared Jesus as god. They did this despite have been commanded to worship none but the one God. “They were commanded to worship God the only One.” There is no God but him.
It was then reiterated, “pure is He and exalted from what they associate with Him.” The foundation of this law laid by Noah was carried forward by all apostles including Moses and Jesus. It is true that the Christian used to worship Jesus and still do so but the Jews do not worship their Rabbis and the Christians do not worship their Jesuits but they obeyed them without conditions in all the innovations that they made in the religion.
This is why the Hadith says, ‘beware! The Jews and the Christians neither prayed nor fasted for their religious leaders but they made the permissible into the impermissible and vice versa for them. They followed them blindly as if they worshipped them and they did not know. (4) The details will be discussed about this in the Oneness of Obedience.
1. according to some linguists the real word is “Taghuwat” and then it was changed to Taghut
2. These two explanations have been clearly explained by the commentators like Fakhr Razi Tafsir Kabeer Vol.14 Page 149
3. Tafsir Al Mizan Vol.8 Page 180
4. Tafsir Nurus Saqlain Vol.2 Page 209
