Transliteration:( Alaa lillaahid deenul khaalis; wallazeenat takhazoo min dooniheee awliyaaa'a maa na'buduhum illaa liyuqar riboonaaa ilal laahi zulfaa; innal laaha yahkumu baina hum fee maa hum feehi yakhtalifoon; innal laaha laa yahdee man huwa kaazibun kaffaar )
5. There are many meanings of the word DEEN. Here, it means to worship, i.e. besides Allah Almighty, nobody is worthy of worship. Or, it could mean the acceptable worship is that which is offered with sincerity.
6. Here, the word 'Protectors' denotes deities, as is understood from the following word 'we worship'. In it, there is refutation of the polytheists who are caught up in polytheism. This word has no link with the true friends of Allah.
7. This means the polytheists of Arabia say "we do not worship these idols by taking them as our creator and lord". We accept Allah Almighty only as our true Creator and Lord. We worship these idols as a means of leading their polytheism.It should be remembered that it is no polytheism to regard someone as a medium of gaining the nearness of Allah. This, fact, has been commanded by Allah Almighty in the following verse: "Oh believers, fear Allah and seek the means of approach to him" (S5:V35).Â
Polytheism is to regard the medium of the idols as deities. To regard the object of medium as a deity and to worship it is polytheism. To prostrate facing the Ka'bah is the essence of worship. To drink the water of Zam-Zam with the intention of gaining the nearness of Allah Almighty is an act of reward. But, prostrating towards the idol, drinking the water of the River Ganges with reverence is polytheism. This verse is for the infidels. Do not connect it to the Prophets, Saints of Allah and to the believers.
 8. From this, emerge two issues:
1. It is infidelity to accept the enemies of Allah Almighty as the medium of reaching Him.
 2. It is polytheism to worship the object of medium. You should worship Allah Almighty alone. The infidels regard their deities as small gods and Allah Almighty as the big deity. They had worshipped these small deities by regarding them as a means of their compelling intercession. All this is polytheism.Â
9. In that He will let the believers enter Paradise and the infidels will go into Hell. Otherwise, the verbal decision has already been made in the world
10. This means as long as the infidel remains in infidelity he will not gain guidance towards doing good deeds or gaining Paradise.
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The tafsir of Surah Az-Zumar verse 3 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Zumar ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 4.
(39:3) Lo, religion is exclusively devoted to Allah.[4] Your religion is entirely consecrated to Him. As for those who have taken others than Allah for their guardians, (they say): “We worship them only that they may bring us nearer to Allah.”[5] Allah will judge between them concerning what they differ about.[6] Verily Allah does not guide anyone who is given to sheer lying, is an utter unbeliever.[7]
4. This is an actual fact and reality, which has been presented as an argument for the above demand. It means: You should worship Allah, making deen exclusively His, for it is only Allah’s right that He should be obeyed and worshiped sincerely and exclusively. In other words, there is no one else who may deserve to be worshiped so that he also should be served and worshiped besides Allah and his commands and laws also obeyed. If a person serves someone else, apart from Allah, sincerely and exclusively, he does it wrong. Likewise, if he combines the worship of someone else with his worship of Allah, this also is against the truth. The best commentary of this verse is the Hadith which Ibn Marduyah has related from Yazid ar-Raqashi. He says: A person asked the Prophet (peace be upon him): We give away our wealth so that we become well-known. Shall we get a reward for this? The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: No. He asked: What, if one has the intention both of Allah’s reward and of reputation in the world? The Holy Prophet replied: Allah does not accept any deed unless it is performed exclusively for His sake. After this he recited this same verse.
5. The disbelievers of Makkah said and the polytheists the world over generally say the same: We do not worship other beings regarding them as our creators: the Creator is only Allah, and He alone is the real Deity; but He is too high for us to have access to Him. Therefore, we make these saintly beings a means to convey our prayers and our petitions to Allah.
6. One should understand it well that unity and concord is possible only through Tauhid: there can be no unity through shirk. The polytheists the world over have never agreed as to which beings are the definite means of access to Allah. Some people have taken some particular gods and goddesses as the means, but even among them there is no agreement on all the gods and goddesses; some others have taken the moon, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, etc. as the means, and they also are not agreed as to which of them holds what rank and which is the real means of approach to Allah. Some others have taken the dead saints as the means, but they also differ widely about them: one believes in one saint and another in another. The reason is that the belief about these different beings is neither based on any knowledge, nor has Allah ever sent down a list telling that such and such persons are His special favorites; therefore, they only should be made the means to have access to Him. This is a creed which has spread among the people only on account of superstitions and whims and blind imitation of the elders. Hence the differences.
7. Here, Allah has used two words for these people, kazib (liar) and kaffar (denier). They have been called kazib because they have falsely invented this creed by themselves, and then they spread falsehood among others. As for kaffar. it has two meanings: (1) A stubborn disbeliever, i.e. the people who insist on their false creed even after the doctrine of Tauhid has come before them. (2) Ungrateful for blessings, i.e. they arc receiving all kinds of blessings from Allah, but are thanking those other beings about whom they have assumed that these blessings are reaching them through their agency and influence.
[1339]- i.e., acceptable to Allāh is that none be associated with Him in worship and obedience.
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