Surah Al-Ma'idah, Ayah 76

The Prohibition of Shirk (Polytheism) and Exaggeration in the Religion

Allah admonishes those who take up rivals with Him and worship the idols, monuments and false deities. Allah states that such false deities do not deserve any degree of Divinity. Allah said,

قُلْ

(Say) O Muhammad, to those from among the Children of Adam, such as the Christians, who worship other than Allah,

أَتَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لاَ يَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرّاً وَلاَ نَفْعاً

(How do you worship besides Allah something which has no power either to harm or to benefit you) meaning, which cannot prevent harm for you nor bring about your benefit,

وَاللَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

(But it is Allah Who is the All-Hearer, All-Knower.) He hears what His servants say and has knowledge of all things. Therefore, how did you worship inanimate objects that do not hear, see or know anything - having no power to bring harm or benefit to themselves let alone others - instead of worshipping Allah Allah then said,

قُلْ يَـأَهْلَ الْكِتَـبِ لاَ تَغْلُواْ فِى دِينِكُمْ غَيْرَ الْحَقِّ

(Say: "O People of the Scipture! Exceed not the limits in your religion beyond the truth,) Meaning: Do not exceed the limits concerning the truth and exaggeration in praising whom you were commanded to honor. You exaggerated in his case and elevated him from the rank of Prophet to the rank of a god. You did this with `Isa, who was a Prophet, yet you claimed that he is god besides Allah. This error occurred because you followed your teachers, the advocates of misguidance who came before your time and who,

وَأَضَلُّواْ كَثِيراً وَضَلُّواْ عَن سَوَآءِ السَّبِيلِ

(...and who misled many, and strayed (themselves) from the right path,) deviated from the straight path, to the path of misguidance and deviation.

Commentary

1. The words: إِنَّ اللَّـهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَاثَةٍ in verse 72, translated here literally as ` Allah is the third of the three,' refers to Sayyidna Masih (Jesus Christ), Ruhul-Quds (The Holy Spirit) and Allah, or to Masih, Maryam (Mary) and Allah - with all three taken as God (Refuge with Allah). Thus, Allah becomes a one-third partner with them, then all three of them become one, and that one is three. This unity in trinity, with three persons in one godhead, is the common belief of Christians. They explain this belief which is supported by neither reason nor revelation with a language that is kept circuitous and ambiguous. When not un-derstood, they declare it to be reality beyond comprehension. (Shabbir Ahmad Usmani - Notes)

Only that Being can be worth worshipping who is Himself not dependent on anybody and who has the power to benefit or harm others. Food is the most significant symbol of man’s dependence. One who is dependent for his food is dependent about everything. One who takes food is a completely dependent being. How can such a being be God? The same is true of conferring benefits or inflicting harm. Somebody’s receiving benefits or suffering harm are events which require the co-ordination of universal factors for them to come into effect. No ordinary human being is capable of organizing such universal factors. Therefore, no human being can elevate himself to a position where he may be treated as worthy of worship. When a man makes somebody the centre of his veneration and love, the underlying feeling is that that ‘somebody’ enjoys a high status in this world of God and that he will be helpful to him before God. But all such hopes are false. In this world of test and trial, the fact that all except God are helpless is not absolutely clear. That is why man suffers from such a misapprehension. But in the Hereafter, when the truth is revealed, man will see that, except for God, all the supports on which he had relied were absolutely valueless.