Surah Saad (38) — Ayah 6

(Ayah 6) ➊ For the explanation of {وَ انْطَلَقَ الْمَلَاُ مِنْهُمْ …: ’’ الْمَلَاُ ‘‘}, see Surah Al-Baqarah (2:246), that is, the leaders and prominent people among the disbelievers, after hearing the call to monotheism, left your gathering saying, "Continue following your religion and your ways, and remain steadfast upon your gods," just as the people of Nuh said: «لَا تَذَرُنَّ اٰلِهَتَكُمْ وَ لَا تَذَرُنَّ وَدًّا وَّ لَا سُوَاعًا وَّ لَا يَغُوْثَ وَ يَعُوْقَ وَ نَسْرًا » [ نوح : ۲۳ ] "Never leave your gods, and never leave Wadd, nor Suwa', nor Yaghuth, and Ya'uq, and Nasr."
➋ Some commentators have said that these people are emphasizing to each other so much to remain firm upon falsehood and polytheism, so the people of truth should be even more steadfast upon the truth and should emphasize to each other to remain firm, just as Allah Almighty has said: «وَ الْعَصْرِ (1) اِنَّ الْاِنْسَانَ لَفِيْ خُسْرٍ (2) اِلَّا الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْا وَ عَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ وَ تَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَ تَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ» [ العصر : ۱ تا ۳ ] "By the time! Indeed, mankind is surely in loss, except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience."
➌ { اِنَّ هٰذَا لَشَيْءٌ يُّرَادُ :} That is, the word of monotheism he has presented before us is something whose proclamation and implementation in every situation has already been decided, now there is no way to stop him from it, so leave him to his state and remain steadfast upon your gods.

6. 1 That is, remain firm on your religion and continue worshipping idols, do not listen to the words of Muhammad ﷺ!

6. 2 That is, he wants to detach us from our deities in order to actually make us follow him and establish his own leadership.

6. And their leaders set out, saying, “Go and remain steadfast in worshipping your gods [5]. This is surely a matter intended for some other purpose [6].”

[5]
A 25-Member Delegation Comes to Abu Talib for Reconciliation:

The background of the revelation of these verses is that in the 10th year of Prophethood, Abu Talib fell ill (he passed away from this illness, and in the same year, Umm al-Mu’minin Sayyidah Khadijahؓ also passed away. Therefore, that year is called ‘Aam al-Huzn’—the Year of Grief—because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ suffered these two great losses that year). At that time, Abu Talib was 80 years old, and the hardships he endured in supporting the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as well as the hunger he suffered in the Valley of Abu Talib, had greatly weakened him. It seemed that the days of his life were numbered. The chiefs of Quraysh thought that if, after Abu Talib’s death, they wronged his nephew Muhammad ﷺ, all of Arabia would taunt them, saying that while the uncle was alive, they could do nothing, but after his death, they began to oppress him. Therefore, while Abu Talib was still alive, a 25-member delegation of the chiefs of Quraysh came to Abu Talib with the intention of reconciliation and said, “Call your nephew. We want that we do not interfere in his religion; let him worship as he wishes according to his religion. But these people should not interfere in our religion, nor should they speak ill of our gods and elders. Let them leave us to our religion, and we will leave them to theirs.” So Abu Talib called you. At that time, there was a vacant spot near Abu Talib for one person. Abu Jahl immediately got up and sat there so that you would not be able to sit close to him. Anyway, when you ﷺ sat a little apart, Abu Talib said, “These are the noble people of your nation, and they have come to make a reconciliation and covenant on such a matter. What do you think?” Your answer: Worship one Allah and become rulers of Arabs and non-Arabs: You ﷺ replied, “Shall I not tell them a word, that if they accept it, all of Arabia will submit to them, and they will rule over the non-Arabs, and they will pay them tribute?” Hearing this, Abu Jahl said, “By your father! Not just one, even if you present ten such things, we are ready to accept them.” You ﷺ said, “Say: La ilaha illallah, and abandon all those whom you worship besides Allah.” At this, all of them slapped their hands and said, “Muhammad! All the gods replaced by just one God! This is a very strange thing.” Then they said among themselves, “Get up from here and remain firm on the religion of your forefathers. This man will never accept anything you say.” On this occasion, the first seven verses of this Surah were revealed. [ابن هشام 1: 417 تا 419]

The same incident has been narrated briefly by Imam Tirmidhi as follows: Ibn Abbasؓ says that once Abu Talib fell ill, so the Quraysh came to him, and the Prophet ﷺ also came to him, and there was only one person’s place to sit near Abu Talib. Abu Jahl got up to prevent you ﷺ from sitting there. Then those people complained to Abu Talib about you ﷺ. Abu Talib said to you ﷺ, “Nephew! What do you want from your people?” You ﷺ replied, “Just one word: if they accept it, they will become rulers over the Arabs and will take tribute from the non-Arabs.” Abu Talib said, “Just one word?” You ﷺ replied, “Yes, just one word.” Then you said, “Dear uncle! You people should accept that there is no one worthy of worship except Allah.” The Quraysh said, “Shall we worship only one God (and leave all others)? This is a very strange thing. We have never heard such a thing in the recent religion. This is nothing but a fabricated matter.” It was regarding these people that these verses were revealed. [ترمذي۔ كتاب التفسير]

In Arabia, every tribe had its own separate idol. Their belief was that each tribe’s idol would remove the difficulties of that tribe’s people and fulfill their needs, and the great God or Lord of the Worlds was only supervising them. Therefore, it seemed far-fetched, even impossible, to them that a single Lord could fulfill the needs of all the people of the worlds.

[6]
The Quraysh’s Notion That This Prophet Seeks Power:

That is, there must be something dubious in this call; it seems that the real intention of this Prophet is that, by invoking the name of the One God, he should make us all his followers and subordinates and establish his own rule. How can we ever let this happen? We will never accept this at any cost. Some commentators have also taken it to mean that the determination and steadfastness with which Muhammad ﷺ is presenting his call shows that he will never turn away from it, and such a revolution could indeed occur; therefore, as much as possible, remain firm in protecting your ancestral religion.