Surah Yunus Ayat 105 (10:105 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(10:105) and to adhere exclusively and sincerely to the true faith,^[108] and not to be one of those who associate others with Allah in His divinity.^[109]

108. The force of the Arabic words “direct your face toward the religion” of the text means “dedicate yourself sincerely, exclusively and steadfastly to this faith”, is worth deep consideration. The purpose might have been served by the use of such words as “Adopt this faith” or “Follow this faith”. But Allah considered such expressions as weak and incapable of serving the real purpose, which is implied in the wording of the text. For the literal meaning is “Set your face steadfastly”, which implies: You should steadfastly turn your face in one direction only, without turning it even slightly to right or left, or backward, and go on marching in the same direction. Though these words were in themselves quite sufficient, the addition of the word made it all the more forceful. For hanif is one who turns away from all others and exclusively turns to one direction. Thus what Allah demands is this: Adopt this faith, this way of the worship of Allah and this way of life in such a manner that your worship, subjection, submission, servitude and obedience should be dedicated exclusively to Allah, the Lord of the universe, so that you do not deviate in the least after adopting this way. You should have nothing to do with those ways that you have discarded and that you should not even have a look at the crooked paths that erroneous people follow.

109. This negative way of forbidding from shirk has been purposely adopted. It implies this: You should not at all be one of those, who set up in any way whatsoever other gods as partners with Allah in His essence, His attributes, His rights and His powers, whether that god be one’s own self or another man or a group of men or some spirit or jinn or angel or some material or imaginary being. The demand of Tauhid has been made both in the positive form, “Dedicate…. faith”, and in the negative form, “and do not be of those who associate partners (to Allah).” Thus it forbids shirk both in deed and in creed, in individual and in collective life, in places of worship and in education, in courts and in legislative assemblies, in political and in economic activities. Therefore it demands from the worshiper of Tauhid to adopt a different way in every aspect of life from the way of those who adulterate Godworship with ungodly worships, for the former can never be a fellow traveler with those who practice shirk. As such things can never be expected from him, it can never be imagined that he would follow them.

Thus it is clear that it cuts at the very root of shirk, both jali (open) and khafi (hidden). As a matter of fact, shirk in its latter form is even more dangerous and should therefore be avoided most scrupulously. This warning is necessary, as some foolish people consider it to be almost harmless just because it is hidden. The fact is that open shirk is like an avowed enemy who makes an attack in the open and hidden shirk is like an enemy in the guise of a friend. Or the former is like a disease of which the symptoms are quite apparent and the latter like the hidden disease that gradually undermines one’s health. Thus it is obvious that when the open shirk comes into conflict with the faith of Tauhid, it may be cured. But the one who suffers from the hidden shirk does not realize the threat posed by it and slowly and gradually succumbs to it, while the victim remains quite unaware that his faith is being devoured by the deadly secret enemy.

Ibn-Kathir

The tafsir of Surah Yunus verse 105 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Yunus ayat 104 which provides the complete commentary from verse 104 through 107.