Tafseer of The Criterion · Al-Furqaan · 25:60
And when it is said to them, "Prostrate to the Most Merciful," they say, "And what is the Most Merciful? Should we prostrate to that which you order us?" And it increases them in aversion.
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.
The Exalted and Praised says: And when it is said to these people who worship, apart from Allah, that which neither benefits nor harms them: اسْجُدُوا لِلرَّحْمَانِ (prostrate yourselves to the Most Merciful) — that is to say: direct your prostration (sujūd) exclusively to Allah, free of the gods and the idols — they said: أَنَسْجُدُ لِمَا تَأْمُرُنَا (shall we prostrate ourselves to that which you command us?).
The Qurʾān reciters differed over the reading of this. The majority of the reciters of Medina and Basra read it as لِمَا تَأْمُرُنَا — with tāʾ (you) — with the meaning: shall we prostrate ourselves, O Muḥammad, to that which you command us to prostrate ourselves to? And the majority of the reciters of Kufa read it as "limā yaʾmurunā" — with yāʾ (he) — with the meaning: shall we prostrate ourselves to that which the Most Merciful commands us? And some mentioned that Musaylimah bore the name al-Raḥmān, so that when the Prophet ﷺ said to them: "prostrate yourselves to the Most Merciful," they said: "shall we prostrate ourselves to that which the Most Merciful of al-Yamāma commands us?" — meaning Musaylimah.
Abū Jaʿfar says: The correct position on this is that both readings are well-known and widespread readings, each of which was read by scholars among the reciters. Whichever of the two the reciter reads, he is correct.
And His word: وَزَادَهُمْ نُفُورًا (and it increased them in aversion) — He means: the words of the one who said to them "prostrate yourselves to the Most Merciful" only drove these polytheists (mushrikūn) further away from sincere prostration to Allah and from devoting worship to Allah alone, to which they had been called — they fled from it.
