Tafseer of Taa-Haa · Taa-Haa · 20:14
Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
إِنَّنِي أَنَا اللَّهُ — Allah, exalted be His praise, says: Truly, I am the Worshipped One for Whom worship is exclusively fitting; there is no god but I — so worship none other than Me, for there is no worshipped one to whom worship rightfully belongs apart from Me. فَاعْبُدْنِي — He says: devote worship exclusively to Me and to none other than Me. وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ لِذِكْرِي (and establish the prayer for My remembrance).
The scholars of tafsīr have differed concerning the explanation of this. Some say: the meaning is: establish the prayer for Me, for when you perform it, you remember Me.
Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ لِذِكْرِي : he said: "When someone performs the prayer, he remembers his Lord."
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ لِذِكْرِي : he said: "When a servant remembers his Lord."
Others say: the meaning is: establish the prayer at the moment when you remember it.
Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His word وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ لِذِكْرِي : he said: "One performs it when one remembers it."
Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Wahb related to me, saying: My paternal uncle ʿAbdullāh ibn Wahb related to me, saying: Yūnus and Mālik ibn Shihāb related to me, saying: Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyab informed me, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: 'Whoever forgets a prayer, let him perform it when he remembers it. Allah said: وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ لِذِكْرِي .' Al-Zuhrī used to read it: وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ لِذِكْرَى with the maqṣūra-alif, on the pattern of a substantive.
Abū Jaʿfar says: The correct of the two explanations in my view is the explanation of him who says: the meaning is: establish the prayer so that you may remember Me therein, for this is the more obvious of the two meanings. If the meaning were 'when you remember it,' the text would have read: aqim al-ṣalāta li-dhikrika-hā. And in the formulation لِذِكْرِي (for My remembrance) there lies a clear proof for the correctness of what Mujāhid said in his explanation. If the reading which we have related from al-Zuhrī were a widespread reading among the modes of recitation of the Islamic lands, then the explanation of him who explained it as 'establish the prayer when you remember it' would also be correct. For al-Zuhrī directed his reading وَأَقِمِ الصَّلاةَ لِذِكْرَى — with alif, not as an addition — toward the meaning of 'establish it for the remembrance thereof,' whereby the hāʾ and the alif are dropped although they are intended, in order to make it harmonize with the other verse-endings that end in alif and fatḥa.