Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:88
That is the guidance of Allah by which He guides whomever He wills of His servants. But if they had associated others with Allah, then worthless for them would be whatever they were doing.
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 His word: ذَلِكَ هُدَى اللَّهِ يَهْدِي بِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَلَوْ أَشْرَكُوا لَحَبِطَ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ (88) ("That is the guidance of Allah, with which He guides whom He wills of His servants. And had they associated partners (with Allah), there would have been lost to them whatever they used to do" (6:88)).
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — exalted be His mention — means by His word "That is the guidance of Allah": this guidance with which I guided those whom I have mentioned of the prophets and messengers, and with which I made them succeed in attaining the true religion — by attaining which they acquired the good pleasure of their Lord, as well as the honor of the worldly life and the honorable reception of the Hereafter — that is "the guidance of Allah." He says: it is the favor of Allah and His benevolence, with which He guides whom He wills and is benevolent toward whom He loves of His creatures, until he turns to obedience to Allah, to making the deed sincere for Him, to the acknowledgment of the oneness (of Allah), and to the rejection of the idols and the carved images.
"And had they associated partners (with Allah), there would have been lost to them whatever they used to do." He says: and had these prophets whom We have mentioned associated partners with their Lord — exalted be His mention — and worshiped another besides Him, "there would have been lost to them," that is: then the reward of their deeds which they performed would have been nullified and vanished, because Allah, in the case of associating partners with Him (shirk), does not accept any deed at all.
