حُنَفَآءَ لِلَّهِ غَيْرَ مُشْرِكِينَ بِهِۦ ۚ وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِٱللَّهِ فَكَأَنَّمَا خَرَّ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ فَتَخْطَفُهُ ٱلطَّيْرُ أَوْ تَهْوِى بِهِ ٱلرِّيحُ فِى مَكَانٍ سَحِيقٍ
Commentary:
Man is the noblest creation of God. The whole universe—the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the oceans, the mountains, etc., have been made to serve him. He can rise morally and spiritually so high as to reflect in his person the Divine attributes. So if man whom God has given the highest place in His whole creation degrades himself so low as to worship lifeless objects, he falls, as it were, from the heights of spiritual eminence to the depths of moral and intellectual degradation. This, in brief, is the purport of this verse.
A brief note on idolatry is here called for. Broadly speaking idolatry consists in the paying of Divine honours to idols, images or any created object; the ascription of Divine powers to natural agencies and the excessive admiration, veneration or love for any person or thing. Besides this, idolatry has several other subtler forms. Some of these are as follows:
1. To believe that there are more beings than one who possess equal and similar powers and attributes and who have equal share in the creation and control of the universe with God.
2. To show allegiance or veneration to beings or objects other than God in the form of acts and movements of the body which are expressive of the highest veneration for those beings or objects and which are prescribed by different religions to be offered only to the Supreme Being and which have been regarded as part of worship, such as prostration, etc.
3. To rely fully and completely upon material means for the fulfilment of one’s needs to the entire exclusion of trust in God.
4. To ascribe to human beings attributes which are God’s own exclusive prerogatives, such as His being Eternal and Everlasting and His attribute of creation or quickening the dead.
5. To think of a person that he has attained to such stage of nearness to God that God is bound to and does accept all his prayers. This amounts to ascribing Divine powers to him.
6. To entertain feelings of love, veneration for, or fear of, any human being greater or even equal to those which he has for God. All these different forms of idolatry have been expressed by the four words used by the Quran, viz. ند (like or equal); شریک (co-partner or sharer); اله(worthy of worship) and رب (sustainer).
Man is the noblest creation of God. The whole universe—the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the oceans, the mountains, etc. have been made to serve him. He can rise morally and spiritually so high as to reflect in his person Divine attributes. So if he degrades himself so low as to worship lifeless objects, he falls, as it were, from the heights of spiritual eminence to the depths of moral and intellectual degradation.