Understanding ‘Ilah’

when all people will be gathered, those who associate partners with God will find no helper. The verse states: “Your Lord creates whatever He wills and chooses whomever He pleases. They have no choice. Praise be to God—exalted is He above anything they associate with Him! Your Lord knows what they hide in their hearts and what they reveal. He is God: there is no deity but Him. All praise is due to Him in this world and the hereafter. His is the judgment, and to Him you shall return.” (Quran, 28:68-70) The entire context here indicates that there is no reference to social or political authority. The truth is that the word “hukm” ( ) حكم here appears in the sense of judgment or decree. It either refers to the judgment that is supernaturally enforced upon all things in this world or the judgment that will be enforced between people in the Hereafter. Scholars have considered both interpretations, though the majority lean towards the latter. A few opinions are as follows: “Wa lahu al-hukmu” ( ُ ) وَلَهُ الُْكْم He says: “And to Him belongs the judgment”— meaning: “And to Him belongs the decree among His creation.” (Tafsir Al-Tabari, Vol. 19, p. 612)