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fa-ʿbudū mā shiʾtum min dūnihī qul ʾinna l-khāsirīna lladhīna khasirū ʾanfusahum wa-ʾahlīhim yawma l-qiyāmati ʾa-lā dhālika huwa l-khusrānu l-mubīnu
You worship whatever you wish besides Him.’ Say, ‘The losers are those who ruin themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection.’ Indeed, that is a manifest loss!
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Zumar - Verses 14 - 15
14. Say: “Allah Alone I worship while I have rendered the faith pure for him.”
15. So worship what you like besides Him. Say: “[real] losers are those who will lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed that will be a manifest loss!”
Monotheism surpasses prophetic teachings. Sincere devotion has been so far mentioned four times in this Chapter since history reveals that accretion of superstitions, idiosyncratic tastes, and distortions have been the worst blights of religion. Following an exposition of the seven injunctions in the preceding Verses, i.e., fear of God, doing righteous good deeds, emigration, patience, sincere devotion, total submission [to Divine Will], and dread of the Master of the day of judgment, emphasis is once more put on ethical norms particularly those against diverse motives behind polytheism, saying:
They neither made use of their own life, nor did their families could have led them to deliverance, nor could they provide them with honor and intercession at Divine Threshold.
The word
is thrice reiterated to awaken man and make him aware of the loss of the soul on the Day of Resurrection.