Al-Mulk (The Sovereignty)

20. Who is he besides the Most Gracious that may serve as your host against God Almighty? The disbelievers are preoccupied with nothing but vanity.

The blessed Verse in question makes a reference to the point that the disbelievers may not find any support against God Almighty, asking:

“Who may render you assistance against God Almighty? They are not only unable to render you support at the time of afflictions, but if God Almighty wills, He assigns them to cause affliction for you.”

Water, wind, dust, and fire are subservient to you and constitute the pillars on which your life rests. Nonetheless, God Almighty assigned them to cause the perdition of the disobedient peoples. Numerous instances of such disobedience and the consequent torments befalling on the disobedient are to be found in the history of mankind.

The closest associates of the kings, Pharaohs, and the rebellious cause their perdition. Contemporary history also attests to numerous instances of the rebellions staged by the closest and the most loyal forces of the tyrannical regimes against them and causing their perdition. However, the disbelievers are solely preoccupied with their vanity and delusion.

The veils of vanity and ignorance have been cast on their intellect impeding them from taking lessons from historical instances.

The Arabic word jund originally denotes uneven and rough surface of the earth where stones and gravel abound, hence the connotation of hosts and armies. Some Qur’an exegetes maintain that the term is herein applied to idols unable in the least to render assistance to the polytheists. However, the contextual meaning of the blessed Verse in question is broad in its semantic scope and reference to idols merely constitutes one of the semantic elements of the same.