Tafseer Ibn Kathir of SABA' [24]

24. Say: ”Who gives you provision from the heavens and the earth'' Say: ”Allah. And verily, (either) we or you are rightly guided or in plain error.'' 25. Say: ”You will not be asked about our sins, nor shall we be asked of what you do.'' 26. Say: ”Our Lord will assemble us all together, then He will judge between us with truth. And He is the Just Judge, the All-Knower of the true state of affairs.'' 27. Say: ”Show me those whom you have joined with Him as partners. Nay! But He is Allah, the Almighty, the All-Wise.'' Allah tells us that He is unique in His power of creation and His giving of provision, and that He is unique in His divinity also. As they used to admit that no one in heaven or on earth except Allah gave them provision, i.e., by sending down water and causing crops to grow, so they should also realize that there is no god worthy of worship besides Him.

(And verily, (either) we or you are rightly guided or in plain error.) `One of the two sides must be speaking falsehood, and one must be telling the truth. There is no way that you and we could both be following true guidance, or could both be misguided. Only one of us can be correct, and we have produced the proof of Tawhid which indicates that your Shirk must be false.' Allah says:

(And verily, (either) we or you are rightly guided or in plain error.) Qatadah said, ”The Companions of Muhammad said this to the idolators: `By Allah, we and you cannot be following the same thing, only one of us can be truly guided.''' `Ikrimah and Ziyad bin Abi Maryam said, ”It means: we are rightly guided and you are in plain error.''

(Say: ”You will not be asked about our sins, nor shall we be asked of what you do.'') This indicates disowning them, saying, `you do not belong to us and we do not belong to you, because we call people to Allah, to believe that He is the Only God and to worship Him alone. If you respond, then you will belong to us and we to you, but if you reject our call, then we have nothing to do with you and you have nothing to do with us.' This is like the Ayat:

(And if they deny you, say: ”For me are my deeds and for you are your deeds! You are innocent of what I do, and I am innocent of what you do!'') (10:41)

(Say: ”O disbelievers! I worship not that which you worship, Nor will you worship that which I worship. And I shall not worship that which you are worshipping. Nor will you worship that which I worship. To you be your religion, and to me my religion.'') (104:1-6).

(Say: ”Our Lord will assemble us all together...'') means, `on the Day of Resurrection, He will bring all of creation together in one arena, then He will judge between us with truth, i.e., with justice.' Each person will be rewarded or punished according to his deeds; if they are good, then his end will be good, and if they are bad, then his end will be bad. On that Day they will know who has attained victory, glory and eternal happiness, as Allah says: U

(And on the Day when the Hour will be established -- that Day shall (all men) be separated. Then as for those who believed and did righteous good deeds, such shall be honored and made to enjoy luxurious life (forever) in a Garden of Delight. And as for those who disbelieved and denied Our Ayat, and the meeting of the Hereafter, such shall be brought forth to the torment.) (30:14-16). Allah says:

(And He is the Just Judge, the All-Knower of the true state of affairs.)

(Say: ”Show me those whom you have joined with Him as partners...'') means, `show me those gods whom you made as rivals and equals to Allah.'

Nay means, He has no peer, rival, partner or equal. Alla0h says:

But He is Alla0h, meaning, the One and Only God Who has no partner.

the Almighty, the All-Wise. means, the Owner of might with which He subjugates and controls all things, the One Who is Wise in all His Words and deeds, Laws and decrees. Blessed and exalted and sanctified be He far above all that they say. And Alla0h knows best.