Al-Israa 17:56
The Night Journey · ayah 56 of 111
Quli odAAu allatheena zaAAamtum mindoonihi fala yamlikoona kashfa addurriAAankum wala tahweela
Saheeh International translation
Other English translations
Abdel Haleem (Oxford)+
"Say, ‘Call upon those you claim to be deities beside God: they have no power to remove or avert any harm from you.’"
Pickthall (classic)+
"Say: Cry unto those (saints and angels) whom ye assume (to be gods) beside Him, yet they have no power to rid you of misfortune nor to change."
Yusuf Ali (classic)+
"Say: "Call on those - besides Him - whom ye fancy: they have neither the power to remove your troubles from you nor to change them.""
Tafsīr · classical commentary
Ibn Kathir
Abridged English, public domain
+
Ibn Kathir
Abridged English, public domain
The gods of the Idolators can neither benefit nor harm; rather they themselves seek to draw close to Allah
Allah says:
(Say) O Muhammad to these idolators who worship things other than Allah,
(Call upon those - besides Him whom you pretend.) such as idols and rivals of Allah. Even if you turn to them,
(They have neither the power to remove the adversity from you) they have no such power at all,
(nor even to shift (it from you to another person.)) to lift the distress from you and give it to someone else. The meaning is that the only one Who is able to do that is Allah Alone, with no partner or associate, Who is the One Who creates and issues commands.
(Say: "Call upon those whom you pretend) Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas, "The people of Shirk used to say, `we worship the angels and the Messiah and `Uzayr,' while these (the angels and the Messiah and `Uzayr) themselves call upon Allah."
(Those whom they call upon, desire) Al-Bukhari recorded from Sulayman bin Mahran Al-A`mash, from Ibrahim, from Abu Ma`mar, from `Abdullah:
(Those whom they call upon, desire a means of access to their Lord,) "Some of the Jinn used to be worshipped, then they became Muslims." According to another report: "Some humans used to worship some of the Jinn, then those Jinn became Muslim, but those humans adhered to their religion (of worshipping the Jinn)."
(they hope for His mercy and fear His torment.) Worship cannot be complete or perfect unless it is accompanied by both fear and hope. Fear stops one from doing things that are forbidden, and hope makes one do more good deeds.
(Verily, the torment of your Lord is (something) to be afraid of!) meaning, one should beware of it and be afraid lest it happen. We seek refuge with Allah from that.