Az-Zumar (The Groups)

38. And indeed if you ask them: “Who created the heavens and the earth?” Surely they will say: “Allah.” Say: “Tell me then, [Have you thought about] the things that you invoke besides Allah? [Indeed] if Allah intended some harm for me, could they remove His harm? Or if He intended some Mercy for me, could they withhold His Mercy?” Say: “Sufficient for me is Allah. In Him those who trust must put their trust.”

Idolaters believed in God’s creativity but also believed in idol’s lordship and intercession. The blessed Verse in question says that one who deserves to be worshipped is supposed to be able to intend assistance or harm for others.

The preceding Verses treated of disbelievers’ and polytheists’ errors and their evil consequences. The Verse in question deals with the arguments for Divine Unity to produce further arguments in order to complete the discussion.

The foregoing Verses concerned with the sufficiency of Divine Succor and the same is resumed in this Verse and it is accompanied with arguments. The Verse opens with the question:

“If you ask them: ‘Who created the heavens and the earth?’ Surely they will say: ‘Allah.’”

It would be unwise to believe that such immense world be created by an earthly being let alone by inanimate idols devoid of understanding.

Thus, the Holy Qur’an asks them to make use of their intellect, conscience, and primordial disposition in order to reinforce in their hearts the first pivot of Divine Unity which is the creation of the heavens and the earth.

Then, mention is made of the question of assistance and harm in human affairs to substantiate the fact that idols play no role therein, saying:

“Say: ‘Tell me then, [Have you thought about] the things [i.e., objects of worship] that you invoke besides Allah? [Indeed] if Allah intended some harm for me, could they remove His harm? Or if He intended some Mercy for me, could they withhold His Mercy?’ Say: ‘Sufficient for me is Allah. In Him those who trust must put their trust.’”

Now that they are neither creators nor are they able to render assistance or harm, their worship is meaningless.

Why do you turn away from the Originator of the creation of the world within His Control lie any assistance and harm and resort to such beings that are devoid of capability and understanding?

Even if objects of worship happen to possess understanding, e.g. jinn and angels worshipped by some idolaters, they are neither creators nor have they any control over assistance and harm.

In this vein, the blessed Verse in question presents a general and final conclusion saying:

“Sufficient for me is Allah. In Him those who trust must put their trust.”

The belief held by polytheists as to the creation of the sky and the earth by God is oft-repeated in the Holy Qur’an¹ .

It indicates that they firmly believed in it and the same serves as the best argument against polytheism, since monotheistic Creatorship, Lordship, and Sovereignty in the world of existence is the best argument for monotheistic servantship which leads to trust in Divine Pure Essence and turning away from all entities besides Him.

It is also worthy of note that the pronouns whose antecedents are false objects of worship and also the plural forms denoting the same are all feminine in gender

(hunna “them [feminine];” kashifat “remover [feminine];” mumsikat “withholder [feminine]”).

It is worthy of note that firstly, well known idols worshipped by Arabs bore feminine names (e.g. Lat, Manat, and ‘Uzza) since they believed in the weakness of the fair sex and God Almighty intends to reveal the weakness of the idols as per their own beliefs; secondly, many an object of worship were inanimate and feminine plural forms have been used at times for inanimate objects as mentioned in the blessed Verse in question.

It is also worthy of note that owing to the precedence of

‘alayh (“in”),

the clause:

“In Him those who trust must put their trust”

indicates limitation and restriction (hasr), i.e., those who put trust solely rely on Him.