Surah Saba, Ayah 42

The Angels will disown Their Worshippers on the Day of Resurrection

Allah tells us that on the Day of Resurrection, He will rebuke the idolators before all of creation. He will ask the angels whom the idolators used to worship, claiming that their idols were in the form of these angels and that they could bring them nearer to Allah. He will ask the angels:

أَهَـؤُلاَءِ إِيَّاكُمْ كَانُواْ يَعْبُدُونَ

(Was it you that these people used to worship) meaning, `did you command them to worship you' Allah says in Surat Al-Furqan:

أَءَنتُمْ أَضْلَلْتُمْ عِبَادِى هَـؤُلاَءِ أَمْ هُمْ ضَلُّوا السَّبِيلَ

(Was it you who misled these My servants or did they (themselves) stray from the (right) path) (25:17). And He will say to `Isa, peace be upon him:

Commentary

This verse has appeared a little earlier (36) almost in the same words. As obvious, the same thing has been mentioned here, however, it has a difference. At this place, there is an addition of: مِنْ عِبَادِهِ (out of His servants) after: مَن يَشَاءُ whomsoever He wills) and: لَہ، (lahu: for him or whomever) after: یَقدِر (yaqdir: straitens). From the statement: مِنْ عِبَادِهِ (min 'ibadihi: from His servants), it is gathered that this rule of guidance has been put forth for His particular servants, that is, for the believers, and the purpose is to alert people of faith that they should not start loving wealth and comfort to the extent that their hearts choke when it comes to spending at occasions and on rights enjoined by Allah Ta’ ala. As for the earlier verse (36) that carries the same text, it was addressed to disbelievers and polytheists who prided on the worldly assets of wealth and children and declared these to be the proof of their success in the Hereafter. Thus, any discordance between the addressee and the purpose of address stands eliminated. Maulana Ashraf ` Ali Thanavi (رح) ، in his khulasah of Tafsir Bayn ul-Qur'an, has taken the same approach by first adding 'the believers' in parenthesis while explaining this verse.

Angels are not visible to human beings. It was the prophets who told human beings of the angels. This they did as they wanted the people to realize the majesty of God and devote themselves to prayers. But, Satan, in his devious manner, misled them by saying that it was difficult to achieve nearness to God directly and, as such, they should first worship the angels and through them come near to God. So, throughout the world, idols of angels were set up and worshipped. The concept of gods and goddesses stems in fact from this perverse belief in angels. For example the angel who was appointed for rains was considered the rain-god; and the angel for winds was taken as the god of winds, etc. In the Hereafter, the angels will dissociate themselves from such worshippers and neither God nor the angels will give them any support. Such people will become eternally helpless.