Surah Al-Ahqaf (46) — Ayah 4

(Ayah 4) ➊ { قُلْ اَرَءَيْتُمْ مَّا تَدْعُوْنَ مِنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ …:} As has been explained in detail in the commentary of the previous verse, the greatest and clearest proof of Allah being the only deity and all other deities being false is His creation of the universe. This is a rational argument that no person of intellect can reject. To make clear the helplessness of the disbelievers in responding to this, it was commanded to present it in a dialectical manner, that you say to them: Tell me, those beings whom you call upon besides Allah, show me what thing on earth they have created, or if they have any share in the heavens, then show that? Obviously, they cannot show any such thing, so then why do they worship any other deity? Here, a long matter has been summarized; the original was: Show me what thing in the earth or the heavens is there that they have created entirely, or show me anything in the earth or the heavens, if not entirely, at least in whose making or running they have any share. In the first sentence, only the earth is mentioned and the heavens are omitted; in the second sentence, the heavens are mentioned and the earth is omitted. It is self-evident that both are meant in both sentences; in the terminology of rhetoric, this is called ihtibak.

Some commentators have written here that the negation of creating anything on earth and the negation of partnership in anything in the heavens is because, apparently, in some things of the earth, there seems to be their partnership, which is not even apparent in the heavens. But this is not correct, because elsewhere Allah has clearly negated their partnership in anything of both the earth and the heavens. Therefore, the correct commentary is the one given above. See, Allah says: « قُلِ ادْعُوا الَّذِيْنَ زَعَمْتُمْ مِّنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ لَا يَمْلِكُوْنَ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ فِي السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ لَا فِي الْاَرْضِ وَ مَا لَهُمْ فِيْهِمَا مِنْ شِرْكٍ وَّ مَا لَهٗ مِنْهُمْ مِّنْ ظَهِيْرٍ» [ سبا :۲۲] “Say: Call upon those whom you claim besides Allah; they do not possess even an atom’s weight in the heavens nor in the earth, nor do they have any share in either of them, nor is any of them a helper to Him.”

➋ {اِيْتُوْنِيْ بِكِتٰبٍ مِّنْ قَبْلِ هٰذَاۤ اَوْ اَثٰرَةٍ مِّنْ عِلْمٍ ……: ’’ اَثٰرَةٍ ‘‘ ’’أَثَرَ يَأْثِرُ أَثَرًا وَ أَثَارَةً وَ أَثْرَةً‘‘} (Ḍ, N) {الْحَدِيْثَ‘‘} To transmit a statement. {’’مَأْثُوْرٌ‘‘} Meaning “transmitted.” {’’ اَثٰرَةٍ مِّنْ عِلْمٍ ‘‘} Transmitted or the remaining knowledge of previous people. This is the transmitted proof against shirk, meaning if you cannot present a rational proof for shirk, then bring any reliable transmitted proof. Bring proof of shirk from any previous heavenly book, such as the Torah or the Gospel, etc., a proof that has reached us through a trustworthy method, because without that, its being a heavenly book is not established. Or bring any transmitted hadith from the sayings of previous prophets, which is not merely based on conjecture but brings knowledge and certainty, such that it is transmitted with an authentic chain or through tawatur, because something based on doubt and conjecture is not called knowledge, as He said: « وَ مَا لَهُمْ بِهٖ مِنْ عِلْمٍ اِنْ يَّتَّبِعُوْنَ اِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَ اِنَّ الظَّنَّ لَا يُغْنِيْ مِنَ الْحَقِّ شَيْـًٔا» [النجم : ۲۸ ] “Although they have no knowledge about it, they only follow conjecture, and indeed conjecture is of no use against the truth at all.” But you will not find any such reliable ancient heavenly book or any prophet’s hadith in which there is even a hint of shirk, because every messenger taught only tawhid. He said: « وَ لَقَدْ بَعَثْنَا فِيْ كُلِّ اُمَّةٍ رَّسُوْلًا اَنِ اعْبُدُوا اللّٰهَ وَ اجْتَنِبُوا الطَّاغُوْتَ» [ النحل : ۳۶ ] “And indeed, We sent to every nation a messenger, [proclaiming]: Worship Allah and avoid Taghut.” And He said: « وَ مَاۤ اَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ مِنْ رَّسُوْلٍ اِلَّا نُوْحِيْۤ اِلَيْهِ اَنَّهٗ لَاۤ اِلٰهَ اِلَّاۤ اَنَا فَاعْبُدُوْنِ» [ الأنبیاء : ۲۵ ] “And We did not send any messenger before you except that We revealed to him that there is no deity except Me, so worship Me.” Some scholars have said that “even if here by ‘book’ is not meant the divine book and by ‘remaining knowledge’ is not meant the knowledge left by prophets and righteous people, then even in any scientific book of the world or in the research of any expert of religious or worldly sciences, it has never been pointed out that such and such thing of the earth or the heavens was created by any saint or deity besides God, or among the blessings that humans enjoy in this universe, such and such blessing was created by any deity instead of God.” But this is not entirely correct, because many atheist scientists try to prove through their research that the universe came into being by itself and is running by itself. Those who consider time as the creator and owner call this ignorance of theirs “research.” Therefore, by “book” should be meant the heavenly book, because from another verse it is clear that by “book” is meant the book revealed by Allah, as He said: «قُلْ اَرَءَيْتُمْ شُرَكَآءَكُمُ الَّذِيْنَ تَدْعُوْنَ مِنْ دُوْنِ اللّٰهِ اَرُوْنِيْ مَا ذَا خَلَقُوْا مِنَ الْاَرْضِ اَمْ لَهُمْ شِرْكٌ فِي السَّمٰوٰتِ اَمْ اٰتَيْنٰهُمْ كِتٰبًا فَهُمْ عَلٰى بَيِّنَتٍ مِّنْهُ بَلْ اِنْ يَّعِدُ الظّٰلِمُوْنَ بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا اِلَّا غُرُوْرًا » [ فاطر: ۴۰ ] “Say: Have you seen your partners whom you call upon besides Allah? Show me what they have created of the earth, or do they have any share in the heavens, or have We given them a book so that they are upon a clear proof from it? Nay, the wrongdoers promise one another nothing but delusion.” From these verses, it is known that as proof in religion, only a heavenly book or hadiths containing heavenly revelation can be presented; besides these, no one’s writings or statements can be presented as proof.