Surah Al Hajj Ayat 73-74 Translation Tafseer

Para 17 - اِقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ

سورة الحج

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بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ

22.73-74

یٰۤاَیُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسْتَمِعُوْا لَهٗؕ-اِنَّ الَّذِیْنَ تَدْعُوْنَ مِنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ لَنْ یَّخْلُقُوْا ذُبَابًا وَّ لَوِ اجْتَمَعُوْا لَهٗؕ-وَ اِنْ یَّسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَیْــٴًـا لَّا یَسْتَنْقِذُوْهُ مِنْهُؕ-ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ وَ الْمَطْلُوْبُ(73) مَا قَدَرُوا اللّٰهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهٖؕ-اِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَقَوِیٌّ عَزِیْزٌ(74)

Kanz-ul-Irfan

O people! An example has been stated so listen to it attentively. Those whom you worship other than Allah are not ˹even capable of˺ creating a fly—even if all of them combine ˹their efforts˺ to do so. And if a fly takes something away from them,[1] they cannot even retrieve it—how weak is the seeker and the sought![2] They did not honour Allah as He should be honoured—Allah is All-Powerful, Predominant.

Commentary

[1]

The powerlessness of the idols is mentioned through an example: even if all idols came together, they could not even create a fly. Moreover, these objects could not even prevent a fly from taking the honey or saffron that is rubbed on them by the polytheists; how strange and foolish is it to consider such powerless idols to be gods.

[2]

“Seeker” refers to the idol-worshipper, and “sought” refers to the idol, because the idol and its worshipper are both weak. Ascribing these verses to the prophets and saints is the way of the Khawārij as the miracles (muʿjizāt) of the prophets and extraordinary actions (karāmāt) of saints are proven from the Quran and Hadith; hence, they are not powerless, rather they possess authority.