Ala lillahi addeenu alkhalisu wallatheena ittakhathoo min doonihi awliyaa ma naAAbuduhum illa (surah Zumar: 3)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(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

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

*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 din exclusively His, for it is only Allah's right that He should be obeyed and worshipped sincerely and exclusively." In other words, there is no one else who may deserve to be worshipped so that he also should be served and worshipped besides Allah and his commands and laws also obeyed. If a person serves another, apart from Allah, sincerely and exclusively, he does wrong. Likewise, if he combines the worship of another 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 Holy Prophet: "We give away our wealth so that we become well-known. Shall we get a reward for this?" The Holy Prophet 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 alI 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 favourites; 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 occount 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; and (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.