and devote worship purely to Me, and do not set up a partner or rival to Me from My creation, for you know that every favor upon you is from Me.

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The interpretation of His statement: ﴿And you know (22)﴾

The scholars of interpretation differed regarding those intended by this verse:

Some of them said: He intended by it all the polytheists among the Arab polytheists and the People of the Book.

And some of them said: He intended by that the people of the two Scriptures, the people of the Torah and the Gospel.

Mention of those who said: He intended by it all the idol worshippers among the Arabs and the disbelievers of the people of the two Scriptures:

486- Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freed slave of Zayd ibn Thābit, on the authority of ʿIkrima, or on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: This was revealed regarding both groups together, the disbelievers and the hypocrites. And His mention—exalted be He—in His statement: "So do not set up rivals to Allah while you know," means: do not associate other than Him as rivals with Allah that neither benefit nor harm, while you know that you have no Lord who provides for you other than Him, and you have known that what the Messenger calls you to of His Monotheism (Tawhid) is the truth about which there is no doubt.

487- Bishr narrated to us, saying: Yazīd narrated to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda regarding His statement: "while you know," meaning: you know that Allah created you and created the heavens and the earth, yet you set up rivals to Him.