Tafsir of Surah Fatir - Verse 41

The Helplessness of the false gods and the Power of Allah

Allah tells His Messenger to say to the idolators:

أَرَءَيْتُمْ شُرَكَآءَكُمُ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ

(Have you considered your partners whom you call upon besides Allah) the idols and rivals.

أَرُونِى مَاذَا خَلَقُواْ مِنَ الاٌّرْضِ أَمْ لَهُمْ شِرْكٌ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ

(Show Me what they have created of the earth. Or have they any share in the heavens) meaning, they have nothing at all of that, they do not possess even the membrane covering the stone of a date.

أَمْ ءَاتَيْنَـهُمْ كِتَـباً فَهُمْ عَلَى بَيِّنَةٍ مِّنْهُ

(Or have We given them a Book, so that they act on clear proof therefrom) meaning, `have We revealed to them a Book on which they base their Shirk and disbelief' This is not the case at all.

بَلْ إِن يَعِدُ الظَّـلِمُونَ بَعْضُهُم بَعْضاً إِلاَّ غُرُوراً

(Nay, the wrongdoers promise one another nothing but delusions.) means, they are merely following their own whims, opinions and wishes which are their personal desires, and they are no more than misguidance and falsehood. Then Allah tells us of His mighty power, by which the heavens and the earth stand by His command, and the forces that He has placed between them to hold them. He says:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُمْسِكُ السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضَ أَن تَزُولاَ

(Verily, Allah grasps the heavens and the earth lest they should move away from their places,) means, lest they should shift from where they are. This is like the Ayat:

وَيُمْسِكُ السَّمَآءَ أَن تَقَعَ عَلَى الاٌّرْضِ إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِهِ

(He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth except by His leave) (22:65), and

وَمِنْ ءَايَـتِهِ أَن تَقُومَ السَّمَآءُ وَالاٌّرْضُ بِأَمْرِهِ

(And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand by His command) (30:25).

وَلَئِن زَالَتَآ إِنْ أَمْسَكَهُمَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ مِّن بَعْدِهِ

(and if they were to move away from their places, there is not one that could grasp them after Him.) means, no one can make them stay and preserve them except Him. He is Ever Most Forbearing and Oft-Forgiving because He sees His servants disbelieving in Him and disobeying Him, yet He is patient and gives them time, He waits and does not hasten the punishment, and He conceals the faults of others and forgives them. He says:

إِنَّهُ كَانَ حَلِيمًا غَفُورًا

(Truly, He is Ever Most Forbearing, Oft-Forgiving.)

In the expression: إِنَّ اللَّـهَ يُمْسِكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ (Undoubtedly, Allah holds back the heavens and the earth - 35:41), the 'holding' of the heavens or the skies does not mean that their movement was stopped. Instead, it means holding them from moving askance - as the word: أَن تَزُولَا (an tazula: from leaving their existing state,) bears it out. Therefore, in this verse, there exists no supporting evidence on either side as to the skies move or they are static.

The creation of the universe, with its unlimited space and the innumerable astronomical bodies suspended in it, is an awe-inspiring phenomenon. Such colossal creation—an unimaginally gigantic feat—cannot be wholly or even partially attributed to any of the beings whom people worship as deities. The fact is that worship of entities other than God is entirely based on fraudulence. Such practices will continue only till Doomsday, for on that Day, they will vanish as if they had never existed.