Al-A'raf 140: Moses said; “While Allah has elevated you (as human beings) above the worlds, am I to look for a deity other than Allah?”

Surah Al-A'raf, verse 140.

Moses said: While Allah has made you superior to the worlds, shall I seek for you a god other than Allah? it says. Now they explain this part wrongly too. What does it say here? The verse is right, but apparently in the, uh, they make a mistake when they explain it.

Moses said: While Allah has made you superior to the worlds, shall I seek for you a god other than Allah? it says. They explain this as follows. Exalted Allah saved the Children of Israel from Pharaoh's oppression, brought them across the sea and gave them certain blessings in the Sinai desert. Despite this, when the Children of Israel abandoned Allah and, like the calf they saw among the Amalekites, wanted a god, Allah Almighty, reminding them of the blessings He had given them, said the following, it says. Now: While Allah has made you superior to the worlds, shall I seek for you a god other than Allah?

Some also say this: Relative to that time, they say. Because they had attained a position above the idol worshippers, over the idol worshippers He made you above the worlds, what does it say? Above the worlds, He made you superior to the worlds, it says. He raised you to a level above the worlds. He made you superior to the worlds. But in fact, to me it is neither as they tell it, nor as they interpret it. In what form did Allah Almighty create the people of the Children of Israel? He created them in human form. While Allah created you superior to the worlds, created you as the noblest of creatures, and made you vicegerents on earth: this is the sense in which he says it.

He says it of them as human beings. But they apply this verse only to the people of Israel: the people of that time supposedly worshipped idols, and since they held a position above them, they were supposedly above them. So they were superior to the worlds, they say. But when it says superior to the worlds, it means all the worlds. It means all created beings. Yes.

Moses said: While Allah has made you superior to the worlds, shall I seek for you a god other than Allah? Moses' address to his people, "O my people, while Allah has made you superior to the worlds, shall I seek for you a god other than Allah?": what he means here by "while He has made you superior to the worlds" is: O my people, since Allah Almighty created us as human beings, yes, because He created us as human beings, and since He has created no being more honourable than humans, shall I make what was placed at your command into gods for you? What was placed at your command, the creatures given for us into our service: shall I make them gods? he says.

Shall I seek for you gods other than Allah? It means: is there any people superior to human beings? Of course, this superiority holds for those who are governed by the verses of Allah Almighty. Superiority, people's superiority over one another, belongs to those nearest to Allah Almighty, according to their degrees.

Whoever denies the verses of Allah, they are the very ones who have gone astray. Such people are people who wrong their own selves. So, while Allah has guided you like this, shall I seek for you another god besides Allah? he says.