Surah Ghafir (40) — Ayah 73

(Ayah 74,73) ➊ { ثُمَّ قِيْلَ لَهُمْ اَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْ تُشْرِكُوْنَ (73) مِنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ:} Then, to humiliate them and to make clear the helplessness of their self-made problem-solvers and fulfillers of needs, it will be said to them: Where are those whom you used to associate as partners with Allah? If they were truly partners and you worshipped them so that they would help you in times of difficulty, then bring them, where are they, why are they not helping you?

➋ { قَالُوْا ضَلُّوْا عَنَّا:} This is the real truth of the human conscience; accordingly, at first, they will helplessly admit that they have vanished from us, they are found nowhere, nor are they visible.

➌ { بَلْ لَّمْ نَكُنْ نَّدْعُوْا مِنْ قَبْلُ شَيْـًٔا:} Then they will think that saying they have vanished from us is actually an admission that we used to call upon others besides Allah, and this admission is becoming a testimony against us. Thus, due to the baseness of their nature and their habit of lying, at this very moment, they will retract this admission and blatantly lie, saying that this statement just slipped from our mouths, but the real matter is that before this, we never used to call upon anything. Elsewhere, Allah Almighty has said that they will swear by Allah and deny the polytheism they committed in the world, He said: « وَ يَوْمَ نَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيْعًا ثُمَّ نَقُوْلُ لِلَّذِيْنَ اَشْرَكُوْۤا اَيْنَ شُرَكَآؤُكُمُ الَّذِيْنَ كُنْتُمْ تَزْعُمُوْنَ (22) ثُمَّ لَمْ تَكُنْ فِتْنَتُهُمْ اِلَّاۤ اَنْ قَالُوْا وَ اللّٰهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِيْنَ (23) اُنْظُرْ كَيْفَ كَذَبُوْا عَلٰۤى اَنْفُسِهِمْ وَ ضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ مَّا كَانُوْا يَفْتَرُوْنَ » [ الأنعام : ۲۲ تا ۲۴ ] "And the Day We gather them all together, then We will say to those who associated partners, 'Where are your partners whom you used to claim?' Then their only excuse will be that they will say, 'By Allah, our Lord, we were not those who associated partners.' See how they lied against themselves, and lost from them what they used to invent as lies."

➍ {كَذٰلِكَ يُضِلُّ اللّٰهُ الْكٰفِرِيْنَ:} In this way, Allah leads the disbelievers astray and confounds them, sometimes something comes out of their mouths, sometimes something else. They say one thing and then themselves deny it. Shah Abdul Qadir (may Allah have mercy on him) has given another interpretation, which is also very excellent, he says: "At first, they had already denied that we did not take partners. Now, out of panic, it will slip from their mouths, then regaining composure, they will deny, so Allah has made their denial slip (caused them to falter, made them forget) by His wisdom." (Mawduh) That is, Allah Almighty, by His wisdom, made them falter from their denial and made them admit to associating partners from their own mouths.

➎ One interpretation of this verse is that at first, they will say that those whom we used to call upon have vanished from us, then they will say, the real matter is that those whom we used to call upon were nothing at all, nor did they exist anywhere, rather we only used to worship and call upon {’’لَا شَيْءٌ ‘‘} and our own conjectures and assumptions. If they truly existed, then today they would be found somewhere or would be of use to us. Regarding this, Allah Almighty has said: « وَ مَا يَتَّبِعُ الَّذِيْنَ يَدْعُوْنَ مِنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ شُرَكَآءَ اِنْ يَّتَّبِعُوْنَ اِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَ اِنْ هُمْ اِلَّا يَخْرُصُوْنَ » [یونس : ۶۶ ] "And those who call upon others besides Allah are not following any partners at all. They follow nothing but conjecture, and they do nothing but guess." And He said: « اِنْ يَّتَّبِعُوْنَ اِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَ مَا تَهْوَى الْاَنْفُسُ» [ النجم : ۲۳ ] "They are only following conjecture and what their souls desire." Another example of {’’لَا شَيْئٌ ‘‘} is the statement of Allah Almighty: « قُلْ يٰۤاَهْلَ الْكِتٰبِ لَسْتُمْ عَلٰى شَيْءٍ حَتّٰى تُقِيْمُوا التَّوْرٰىةَ وَ الْاِنْجِيْلَ وَ مَاۤ اُنْزِلَ اِلَيْكُمْ مِّنْ رَّبِّكُمْ » [ المائدۃ : ۶۸ ] "Say, O People of the Book! You are on nothing until you uphold the Torah and the Gospel and what has been revealed to you from your Lord."

The exegesis of this verse has been done along with the previous verse.

The tafsir of this ayah is included with the following verse(s).