Tafseer of The Groups · Az-Zumar · 39:64
Say, [O Muhammad], "Is it other than Allah that you order me to worship, O ignorant ones?"
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 explanation of the saying of the Exalted: قُلْ أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ تَأْمُرُونِّي أَعْبُدُ أَيُّهَا الْجَاهِلُونَ (39:64) (Say: "Do you then command me to worship other than Allah, O you ignorant ones?")
The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says to His Prophet: Say, O Muḥammad, to the polytheists of your people, who call to the worship of the idols: ( أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ ) — O you who are ignorant concerning Allah, ( تَأْمُرُونِّي ) do you command me that ( أَعْبُدُ ) I worship, when worship is due to none other than Him?
The experts of Arabic differed concerning what governs the case (the accusative, naṣb) in His saying ( أَفَغَيْرَ ). Some of the grammarians of Basra said: ( قُلْ أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ تَأْمُرُونِّي ) — he means: "Other than Allah should I worship — do you command me that?", as though he intended the suspension (al-ilghāʾ, the rendering inoperative of the intervening verb) — and Allah knows best — just as you say: "So-and-so went away, he does not know," carried upon the meaning "so he does not know." And some of the grammarians of Kufa said: "ghayr" is in the accusative governed by "aʿbud" (I worship), whether it is omitted or inserted, because it is a marker for the future tense, just as you say: "I want that I strike" and "I want I strike," "it is possible that I strike" and "it is possible I strike" — for in expressing the future tense it is as when you say: "Zayd I shall strike presently." For this reason the [intervening word] is omitted, and what comes after it governs what comes before it, and we have no need of the suspension (al-laghw).
