Fabi-ayyi ala-i rabbikuma tukaththiban (surah Rahman: 30)

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

(55:30) Which of your Lord's laudable attributes will you twain ' you men and jinn ' then deny? *28

Fabi ayyi aalaaa`i Rabbikumaa tukazzibaan

*28) Here, alaa seems to have been treed in the sense of qualities and glories Every person who commits polytheism of any kind, in fact, disavows one or the other of Allah's attributes, A person's saying that such and such a saint has removed his disease, in fact, amounts to saying that Allah is not the Remover of disease and Restorer of health but the saint, Another one's saying that such and such a holy one has got him a job, in fact, amounts to saying that AIIah is not the Sustainer and Lord but the particular holy person. Still another one's saying that his prayer has been answered at a particular shrine, in fact, amounts to saying that the command governing the world is not Allah's but the shrine's, In short, every polytheistic belief and utterance, in the final analysis, leads up to the disavowal of the Divine attributes. Polytheism is nothing but that one should ascribe the Divine attributes of being All-Hearing and AII-Seeing, Almighty and All-Powerful, etc.. to others than Allah, and should deny that AIIah alone is the Possessor of all these attributes.