Surah Al-Ankaboot (29) — Ayah 25

(Ayah 25) ➊ { وَ قَالَ اِنَّمَا اتَّخَذْتُمْ مِّنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ اَوْثَانًا …:} After coming out of the fire, Ibrahim (peace be upon him) did not abandon advising his people, rather he explained that there is no rational or transmitted evidence for associating these idols as partners; it is merely due to mutual friendship that you have made them partners. This is only blind imitation, national courtesy and regard, and the pressure of mutual relations because of which you persist in their worship, but this friendship of yours and consensus and unity upon shirk and disbelief is only for the life of this world.

➋ {ثُمَّ يَوْمَ الْقِيٰمَةِ يَكْفُرُ بَعْضُكُمْ بِبَعْضٍ … :} That is, then on the Day of Resurrection you will deny each other, this friendship of yours will turn into intense enmity and you will all curse each other and your abode will be the Fire. ({’’ النَّارُ ‘‘} Due to the definite article on the predicate, the meaning of exclusivity is being conveyed) and there will be no helper for you, as He said: «{ اَلْاَخِلَّآءُ يَوْمَىِٕذٍۭ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ اِلَّا الْمُتَّقِيْنَ }» [ الزخرف : ۶۷ ] "All close friends that Day will be enemies to each other except for the righteous." And He said: «{ كُلَّمَا دَخَلَتْ اُمَّةٌ لَّعَنَتْ اُخْتَهَا حَتّٰۤى اِذَا ادَّارَكُوْا فِيْهَا جَمِيْعًا قَالَتْ اُخْرٰىهُمْ لِاُوْلٰىهُمْ رَبَّنَا هٰۤؤُلَآءِ اَضَلُّوْنَا فَاٰتِهِمْ عَذَابًا ضِعْفًا مِّنَ النَّارِ قَالَ لِكُلٍّ ضِعْفٌ وَّ لٰكِنْ لَّا تَعْلَمُوْنَ }» [ الأعراف : ۳۸ ] "Whenever a group enters (the Fire), it will curse its companion group, until when they have all joined each other therein, the last of them will say about the first of them: 'Our Lord, these are the ones who misled us, so give them a double punishment of the Fire.' He will say: 'For all is double, but you do not know.'" And He said: «{ وَ قَالُوْا رَبَّنَاۤ اِنَّاۤ اَطَعْنَا سَادَتَنَا وَ كُبَرَآءَنَا فَاَضَلُّوْنَا السَّبِيْلَا }» [الأحزاب : ۶۷ ] "And they will say: 'Our Lord, indeed we obeyed our leaders and our great ones, and they misled us from the [right] way.'" And see Surah Al-Baqarah (166, 167).

25-1. That is, these are your powerful idols which are the foundation of your unity and mutual friendship. If you abandon their worship, the fabric of your nationhood and friendship will fall apart.

25-2. That is, on the Day of Resurrection, you will deny each other and instead of friendship, you will curse one another, and the followers will blame the leaders, and the leaders will express disassociation from the followers.

25. And Abraham said to them, "You have taken idols instead of Allah as a bond of love among yourselves in the life of this world, but on the Day of Resurrection you will deny one another and curse one another [39]. And your abode will be the Fire, and you will have no helpers."

[38]
The Foundation of National Unity: Idolatrous Customs

It appears that this statement was made by Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) after he emerged safely from the fire. That is, you people have based your mutual love, brotherhood, and national cohesion on these idolatrous customs so that, in the name of such a religion, the whole nation may remain united and unanimous. Any foundation can be made for national unity, no matter how wrong that foundation may be in itself, just as nowadays people unite and agree upon such wrong foundations as nationalism, patriotism, and racism, and these foundations are becoming a cause of corruption. However, even on such wrong kinds of foundations, people can be gathered together, kept together, and mutual love can exist among them. In exactly the same way, such unity and agreement is possible on the basis of love for saints and idolatrous beliefs. And it was precisely this mutual love among the idolaters that led them to throw Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) into the fire and take revenge on him. The commentators have mentioned another interpretation, which is mentioned in authentic hadiths regarding the idols of the people of Noah: in that nation, there were five elders who were very pious and devoted worshippers, and seeing them would remind people of Allah. When these elders passed away, the later generations did not find the same pleasure in worship as they did in their presence. Then Satan suggested to them that if they are no longer present, it does not matter; if you make their statues and keep them before you, you will experience the same pleasure in worship as you did in their presence. Thus, they placed the statues of these five elders in their places of worship, but they still worshipped Allah alone. Later generations, however, began to worship these statues themselves. In this way, idol worship became prevalent in that nation. And its foundation was their mutual love for the elders. The third interpretation is that all polytheists develop love for their idols or deities, because according to their belief, they are the fulfillers of needs and removers of difficulties. As Allah the Exalted has said: ﴿اَنْدَادًا يُّحِبُّوْنَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللّٰهِ وَالَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْٓا اَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِّلّٰهِ﴾ [165:2] Then, on this basis, mutual love also develops among these polytheists, just as the true love of the worshippers of Allah is for Allah. But the mutual love among the people of Allah also becomes a part of their faith.

[39]
The Denial of Worship by Deities and the Enmity Between Worshippers and the Worshipped

That is, on the Day of Resurrection, the deities themselves will deny the worship of their devotees, saying: "Wretched ones! When did we ever tell you to start worshipping us after we were gone?" And they will also admit that they had no knowledge that these people had made them their deities. When this will be the state of the deities, one can easily imagine what will happen to the worshippers who had attached all sorts of expectations to them. The result will be that both the worshippers and the worshipped will begin to curse each other and become mutual enemies. As much as they show friendship today towards their deities and companions, they will be even greater enemies to each other on that day.