Surah Az-Zumar (39) — Ayah 64

(Ayah 64) ➊ The sentence after {قُلْ اَفَغَيْرَ اللّٰهِ تَاْمُرُوْٓنِّيْۤ اَعْبُدُ : ’’ قُلْ ‘‘} begins with "fa" (then), but since the interrogative hamzah is always at the beginning of a statement, the "fa" has been placed after it. Similarly, the verbal sentence should have started with the verb {’’ تَاْمُرُوْٓنِّيْۤ ‘‘} and {’’غَيْرَ اللّٰهِ‘‘} should have come after {’’ اَعْبُدُ ‘‘}, but to highlight the insignificance of {’’غَيْرَ اللّٰهِ‘‘}, it has been mentioned first. That is, when Allah is the Creator of everything, He alone is the Guardian over everything, and the keys of the heavens and the earth are with Him alone, then while He exists, do you command me to worship someone other than Him, who does not even have control over his own existence?

➋ The word { اَيُّهَا الْجٰهِلُوْنَ:} (ignorance) is used in contrast to hilm (forbearance) and also in contrast to knowledge; here, it is used in contrast to knowledge. That is, O ignorant ones, who have fallen into the lowliness of worshipping stones, graves, animals, or helpless and powerless creatures like yourselves, despite hearing and seeing with your own ears and eyes the clear proofs that Allah alone is the One and Only God with no partner! You have no knowledge of Allah’s essence and attributes that you should worship Him alone, nor are you aware of the status of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that you dare to invite him to worship other than Allah, nor do you have any awareness of the honor Allah has bestowed upon you by creating you as humans, that being such a high creation, you worship creatures like yourselves or even lower than yourselves. Iqbal has said:

"Man, due to lack of insight, began to worship man.
I have never seen a dog bow its head before another dog."

64. 1. This is in response to the invitation of the disbelievers, which they used to give to the Prophet of Islam, Hazrat Muhammad Rasulullah ﷺ, to adopt their ancestral religion, which involved the worship of idols.

Say: "O ignorant ones! Do you advise me to worship anyone other than Allah [81]?"

[81]
Forms of Compromise Proposed by the Disbelievers:

The disbelievers of Makkah used various tactics to hinder the path of Islam. The most common method among them was to inflict such severe oppression and persecution upon those who embraced Islam that, if they did not return to their former religion, at least others would take heed and not even think of accepting Islam. Despite these hardships, when Islam continued to spread, political solutions began to be considered and negotiations were initiated. Sometimes, through the mediation of Abu Talib, threats were made to you. Sometimes, temptations were presented, and sometimes, proposals for mutual compromise were offered. Even among these compromises, there were several forms. One was that you should also show some flexibility, and we will do the same; this form is mentioned in Surah Al-Qalam, verse 9. Among them was another form: if not more, then at least just once you should prostrate before our idols, and then we will be ready to accept the rest of what you ﷺ say. There was also a type of negotiation upon which you ﷺ were inclined to reflect, but Allah Almighty strictly forbade you even from entertaining such a thought, and this is mentioned in Surah Bani Isra'il, verse 74. Here too, you are commanded to give these polytheists a very firm and unequivocal response and say: O ignorant ones! If Allah is the Creator of all of us, the Owner is also Allah, the Provider is also Allah, and all authority over every kind of matter in the universe belongs to Allah, then for what reason should I worship these idols? Could there be any statement more foolish than this? What kind of misguided advice are you giving me? Moreover, this revelation has already come to me, and the same kind of revelation came to all previous prophets as well, that whoever—and even if I myself—were to commit shirk, then all my deeds would be rendered void. So how could I possibly accept your advice?