Surah At-Tawba (9) — Ayah 31

(Ayah31) ➊ {اِتَّخَذُوْۤا اَحْبَارَهُمْ وَ رُهْبَانَهُمْ … : ’’حَِبْرٌ‘‘} comes with both a fatha and a kasra on the letter "ḥā’", and the "bā’" is sukun; it refers to a scholar who speaks very beautifully and eloquently. This is from {’’تَحْبِيْرٌ‘‘}, which means to adorn. "Ruhbān" is the plural of "rāhib", meaning one who fears, that is, someone who, out of fear of Allah, abandons the world and settles in seclusion away from people. The mention of their making the Messiah, son of Maryam (peace be upon them), their Lord has already come above, because a son is considered a partner and successor in the authority of the father, so what is left in making the Messiah (peace be upon him) their Lord by accepting him as the son? As for their scholars and ascetics, some of those who made them Lords were those who truly believed that their command ran in the universe, just as nowadays some Muslims prostrate to saints and ascetics, ask them for children, needs, and wishes, and hold the false belief that the universe is run by "Qutb", "Abdāl", and "Awtād". It is clear that these people, according to the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), are following exactly in the footsteps of those before them. However, some of the People of the Book made them Lords in another way. Thus, ‘Adī bin Ḥātim Ṭā’ī, who had become Muslim, says: I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and there was a gold cross around my neck. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Remove this idol from yourself and throw it away." And I heard him reciting this verse from Sūrah Barā’ah: «اِتَّخَذُوْۤا اَحْبَارَهُمْ وَ رُهْبَانَهُمْ اَرْبَابًا مِّنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ » I said: "No one considers the scholars and monks as Lords." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "They did not worship them, but when they declared something lawful, they considered it lawful, and when they declared something unlawful, they considered it unlawful." [ ترمذی، التفسیر، باب و من سورۃ التوبۃ : ۳۰۹۵ و حسنہ الألبانی ]
So this was their second form of shirk: they gave the authority to declare lawful and unlawful to their elders and scholars, even though this is the exclusive right of Allah Almighty, and it was obligatory upon them to remain firm upon the way and commands given by their Prophet. Exactly the same is the behavior of the followers (muqallidīn) of our time: even if the statement of their Imam clearly contradicts the Qur’an or an authentic hadith, they will still declare lawful what their Imam has declared lawful and unlawful what he has declared unlawful, and then insist upon it. For example, the clear command of the Noble Qur’an is that the complete period of nursing is two years, but some people, instead of accepting this, declared it to be two and a half years on the statement of their Imam; and despite the authentic and explicit statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "Every intoxicant is unlawful," they declared intoxicants made from anything other than dates and grapes to be lawful; they made adultery lawful by calling it "ḥalālah"; they exempted the punishment for adultery with a woman brought for a fee; they abolished retribution (qiṣāṣ) for intentional killing by any means other than a sharp tool or fire; they completely waived many of Allah’s limits for the ruler of the time; they abolished the punishment for theft by a mere claim of ownership over the stolen goods, even without any evidence; they declared music and dance to be spiritual nourishment and gnosis on the statement of their elders; and some elders and scholars began to take an oath of allegiance from the public that "you will obey every command of ours, whether it agrees with the Qur’an and hadith or not." Tell me! What is left in making the scholars and monks of these Muslims Lords? In summary, the statement of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has been completely fulfilled: "You will surely follow the footsteps of those before you exactly." Then, by every group stubbornly clinging to the wrong statements of their leaders, such a rift has arisen among the Muslims that can never be mended except by returning to the Qur’an and hadith. The situation of {’’اِتَّسَعَ الْخَرْقُ عَلَي الرَّاقِعِ‘‘} has arisen, that the rift has become wider than what the patcher can cover. Previously there were (72) sects, now they have become (73). [ فَإِنَّا لِلّٰہِ وَ إِنَّا إِلَیْہِ رَاجِعُوْنَ ]
➋ The Jews and Christians giving their scholars and monks the authority to declare lawful and unlawful was making them Lords. Now, when the Jews and Christians, after seeing the deeds of their scholars and monks, rebelled against them, they gave the authority to declare lawful and unlawful to the majority of the public and made them Lords, and named this new religion "democracy", in which the decision of lawful and unlawful is made by the majority in parliament instead of the command of Allah Almighty, which is clear shirk. Unfortunately, Muslims are following them step by step in this shirk, and even take pride in this rebellion against Islam, praising it day and night, and feel no shame in saying that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) also came to establish democracy. These poor souls do not know that democracy is not just consultation in matters where there is no command from Allah and His Messenger, but it is a separate religion whose Lord is also the public or their representatives, and so are its messengers. Only they have the right to declare lawful and unlawful, permissible and impermissible. In this religion, Allah Almighty, His Messenger, or His Book have no role, except that their names are used for deception.
➌ { وَ الْمَسِيْحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ:} The mention of mentioning again the Messiah, son of Maryam (peace be upon them), as their Lord is because the Jews did not worship ‘Uzayr (peace be upon him) or their scholars and monks in the way the Christians worshipped the Messiah (peace be upon him), nor do they acknowledge ‘Uzayr (peace be upon him) as the son of Allah in the sense that the Christians, due to his being born without a father, consider the Messiah (peace be upon him) the son of Allah. As for the scholars and monks, both Jews and Christians made them Lords in the same sense. Previously, Allah Almighty mentioned Adam (peace be upon him) to render their argument meaningless, for he was created without both father and mother; if he is not Lord, then how can one born from a mother become Lord?
➍ {وَ مَاۤ اُمِرُوْۤا اِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوْۤا اِلٰهًا وَّاحِدًا:} That is, all this absurdity was adopted by the Jews and Christians despite the clear commands present in the Torah that you should not associate anyone with Allah, which, despite the distortions in the Torah, are still found in various words throughout it.

31. 1. Its explanation is clearly given by the hadith narrated by Hazrat Adi bin Hatim. He says that after hearing this verse from the Prophet ﷺ, I submitted, "The Jews and Christians never worshipped their scholars, then why has it been said that they made them their lords?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "It is true that they did not worship them, but this is the case: when their scholars declared something lawful, they considered it lawful, and when they declared something unlawful, they considered it unlawful. This is their worship of them." (Sahih Tirmidhi) Because the authority to declare lawful and unlawful belongs only to Allah Almighty. If anyone accepts this right in someone else, it means he has made him his lord. In this verse, there is a great warning for those who have given their leaders the position of declaring lawful and unlawful, and are not even willing to give importance to the texts of the Quran and Hadith in comparison to their statements.

They have taken their scholars and monks as lords [31] besides Allah, and also the Messiah, son of Mary. Yet they were commanded to worship none but one God; there is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above whatever they associate with Him.

[31]
The People of the Book Making Their Scholars and Monks as Lords:

The second form of shirk of the People of the Book was that they had handed over the authority of declaring things lawful and unlawful to their scholars and monks. Whereas this authority belongs only to Allah. They would not even look at the Book of Allah; whatever their scholars and monks said, they would consider it to be the command of Allah. As for their scholars and monks, their condition was such that they would issue verdicts according to people’s wishes even for a small amount of money. In this way, they had given their scholars and monks the status of lords, as is made clear by the following hadith: Sayyiduna ‘Adi bin Hatim says that I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and there was a golden cross around my neck. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Adi! Throw away this idol.” And I heard the Prophet ﷺ recite this verse from Surah Bara’ah: ﴿اِتَّخَذُوْٓا اَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ اَرْبَابًا مِّنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ وَالْمَسِيْحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ ۚ وَمَآ اُمِرُوْٓا اِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوْٓا اِلٰهًا وَّاحِدًا ۚ لَآ اِلٰهَ اِلَّا هُوَ ۭسُبْحٰنَهٗ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُوْنَ﴾ Then the Prophet ﷺ said, “Those people did not worship those scholars and monks, but when those scholars and monks declared something lawful, they would consider it lawful, and when they declared something unlawful, they would consider it unlawful.” [ترمذي۔ ابواب التفسير]

These two verses have actually come as an explanation of the previous verse in which it was said that the People of the Book do not believe in Allah. That is, in the presence of such various forms of shirk, the claim of believing in Allah has no meaning.