سورة يوسف

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Basir and Ishaq ibn Ammar have narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that in explaining the verse: وَ مَا یُؤْمِنُ أَکْثَرُهُمْ بِالله إِلَّا وَ هُم مُّشْرِکُونَ [And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others (with Him)] he said: "It means that they obey Satan in a way that they themselves do not realise, and as a result they commit shirk (associating partners with Allah)."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): What is meant is shirk in obedience, not in worship; and the sins they commit are shirk of obedience — that is, by committing sin they obeyed Satan, and since they obeyed other than Allah, they associated partners with Allah in obedience to other than Him. What is meant is not shirk in worship, that they would worship other than Allah.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): What is meant by the polytheists in the verse وَ وَیْلٌ لِلْمُشْرِکِینَ [And woe to the polytheists] (Fussilat/6) are those who have professed and acknowledged Islam but commit shirk in their deeds. This is the very matter that Allah has stated in the following verse, saying: وَ مَا یُؤْمِنُ أَکْثَرُهُمْ بِاللهِ إِلاَّ وَ هُم مُّشْرِکُونَ [And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others (with Him)] — meaning that they commit shirk by means of their deeds. Whenever they are commanded to do something, they act contrary to what Allah has said. For this reason Allah has called them polytheists.

Imam Baqir and Imam Sadiq (peace be upon them): This is regarding blessings as being shared (with other than Allah).

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): This is a kind of shirk (associating partners with Allah) that does not reach the level of kufr (disbelief).

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Yaqub ibn Shu'ayb said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the saying of Allah the Exalted: وَ ما یُؤْمِنُ أَکْثَرُهُمْ بِاللهِ إِلَّا وَ هُمْ مُشْرِکُونَ [And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him]. He said: "They used to say: it is due to the setting of such-and-such a star that rain fell upon us, and due to the setting of such-and-such a star that no rain fell upon us. Even some of them used to go to soothsayers and believe the words that they spoke."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Malik ibn Atiyyah reports from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) that regarding the verse وَ مَا یُؤْمِنُ أَکْثَرُهُمْ بِالله إِلاَّ وَ هُم مُّشْرِکُونَ [And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him] he said: "The intent is that a person says: had it not been for so-and-so, I would have fallen into such-and-such, or had it not been for so-and-so, my family and dependents would have been lost. Do you not see that he has appointed a partner alongside Allah who provides for him and wards off calamity and misfortune from him?" I said to the Imam: "Some say thus: had it not been for the kindness and mercy of Allah upon me and had He not sent so-and-so to my aid, I would have perished; what is the ruling on such an expression?" The Imam said: "There is no problem with that."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "By the One in whose hand is my soul! Among you is a man (Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him)) who will fight the opponents over the ta'wil (inner interpretation) of the Quran just as I fought the polytheists over its tanzil (revelation) [tanzil means the outer meaning of the Quran and ta'wil means its inner meaning], and this is while the opponents of Ali (peace be upon him) bear witness that there is no god but the One Allah, [yet] وَ ما یُؤْمِنُ أَکْثَرُهُمْ بِالله إِلَّا وَ هُمْ مُشْرِکُونَ [And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him]; killing them will appear hard and heavy upon the people, such that they will censure the wali of Allah and express displeasure at his action, just as Musa (peace be upon him) became angry at the piercing of the ship, the killing of a youth, and the setting up of the wall [by Khidr (peace be upon him)]; even though the piercing of the ship, the killing of the youth, and the setting up of the wall were the cause of Allah's pleasure, [yet] they made Musa (peace be upon him) angry."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ja'far ibn Muhammad ibn Abi Fatimah said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to me: "O son of Abi Fatimah ... be good to one another and visit one another, so that Allah may delay your death, increase your wealth, and grant you well-being in all your affairs. And indeed your prayer, your fasting, and your seeking nearness to Allah are superior to the prayer of others." Then he recited this verse: وَ ما یُؤْمِنُ أَکْثَرُهُمْ بِالله إِلَّا وَ هُمْ مُشْرِکُون [And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him].

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): In the Holy Quran, shirk (associating partners with Allah) is also spoken of in four aspects ... The second aspect of shirk is the shirk of deeds. Allah says: وَ ما یُؤْمِنُ أَکْثَرُهُمْ بِاللهِ إِلَّا وَ هُمْ مُشْرِکُونَ [And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him]. In another place He has said: [They] took their scholars and monks as lords besides Allah. (Tawbah/31) Of course, it is clear that they did not fast for their religious leaders and did not pray for them either, but whatever they said, the people obeyed them; they made the lawful things forbidden for them, and made the forbidden things lawful, and as a result the people worshipped them while they did not know that they were worshipping them, and they call this to me: shirk in deeds and acts of obedience.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): For Him (Allah) are the beautiful names, by which none other than Him is named, and Allah has referred to this very matter in the Quran: "Call Him by them, and forsake those who deviate concerning His names" (al-A'raf/180) — if they do so out of ignorance and unawareness. So whoever, out of ignorance concerning the names of the Exalted Lord, falls into deviation, without knowing it he has associated partners [with Allah] and has disbelieved in Allah, while he thinks he is doing a good deed. It is for this reason that Allah has said: وَ ما یُؤْمِنُ أَکْثَرُهُمْ بِاللهِ إِلاَّ وَ هُمْ مُشْرِکُونَ [And most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him]. So it is this very group who out of ignorance fall into deviation concerning the names of Allah and place these names where they do not belong.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): What is meant is the People of the Book, who have faith in Allah and the Day of Resurrection and the Torah and the Injil, but they become polytheists through their denial of the Quran and the prophethood of the Final Prophet.