Surah An-Nahl, Ayah 73

Denouncing the Worship of anything besides Allah

Allah tells us about the Mushrikin who worship others besides Him, even though He alone is the bountiful Provider, the Creator and Sustainer, without partners or associates, but they still worship idols and make rivals for Him. He says:

مَا لاَ يَمْلِكُ لَهُمْ رِزْقًا مِّنَ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ شَيْئًا

(such as do not have power to grant them any provision from the heavens or the earth) meaning, nobody can cause rain to fall, or make plants and trees grow. They cannot do these things for them- selves, even if they wanted to. Thus Allah says:

فَلاَ تَضْرِبُواْ لِلَّهِ الاٌّمْثَالَ

(So do not give examples on behalf of Allah.) meaning, do not set up rivals to Him or describe anything as being like Him.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ

(Truly, Allah knows and you know not.) meaning, He knows and bears witness that there is no god but Him, but you are ignorant and associate others in worship with Him.

Commentary

In verse 72: جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا (Allah has created spouses from among you), a special blessing has been mentioned in that Allah Ta’ ala has created spouses from the same genus so that they remain mutually familiar and their distinction and nobility inherent in the human species also remains stable through generations.

Given here, there may be another hint towards the fact that spouses belong to each other's genus and, as such, their needs and feelings are common to both, therefore, mutual consideration is but necessary for them.

The next sentence of the verse: وَجَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَزْوَاجِكُم بَنِينَ وَحَفَدَةً has been translated as: 'and created for you from your spouse’ s sons and grandsons.

With the help of a simple analogy here, the belief that God has some partners and that these so-called partners have been given some powers has been shown to be wrong. In this world the division of material assets is not uniform. It is generally seen that one person has a great deal while another has so little that he is compelled to be the servant or slave of one who has plenty. Now an affluent person does not distribute his wealth among his servants in order to remove the difference between him and them. So, by analogy, it is not correct to believe that God has distributed His powers among others. Nobody denies his own greatness. Then how can God want to do something which even a man would not like to do? The fact is that a man has no possessions of his own, while the possessions of God are His own and not gifted by others. The fact is that all such beliefs are inconsistent with the image of God!