Tafsir of Surah As-Saffat - Verse 125

إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَلاَ تَتَّقُونَ

(When he said to his people: "Will you not have Taqwa") means, `do you not fear Allah when you worship others instead of Him'

أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَـلِقِينَ

(Will you call upon Ba`l and forsake the Best of creators,) Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Qatadah and As-Suddi said that the word Ba`l means lord. `Ikrimah and Qatadah said, "This is the language of the people of Yemen." According to another report from Qatadah, it is the language of Azd Shanu'ah. `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam narrated from his father that it is the name of an idol which was worshipped by the people of a city called Ba`labak (Baalbek) which is to the west of Damascus. Ad-Dahhak said, "It is an idol which they used to worship."

أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً

(Will you call upon Ba`l) means, `will you worship an idol,'

أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَـلِقِينَ - اللَّهَ رَبَّكُمْ وَرَبَّ ءَابَآئِكُمُ الاٌّوَّلِينَ

(and forsake the Best of creators, Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers) means, `He is the One Who is deserving of your worship alone, with no partners or associates.'

فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَمُحْضَرُونَ

(But they denied him, so they will certainly be brought forth,) means, for the punishment on the Day of Reckoning.

إِلاَّ عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِينَ

(Save the chosen servants of Allah.) means, those who believe in Him alone.

وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِى الاٌّخِرِينَ

(And We left for him among the later generations.) means, he is praised and spoken of highly.

سَلَـمٌ عَلَى إِلْ يَاسِينَ

(Salam (peace!) be upon Ilyasin!) Similarly, one might say for Isma`il, Isma`in. This is the language (dialect) of Bani Asad; they say Mikal, Mika'il, and Mika'in. They say Ibrahim and Ibraham; Isra'il, Isra'in; Tur Sina', Tur Sinin. All of that is fine.

إِنَّا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِى الْمُحْسِنِينَ - إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

(Verily, thus do We reward the doers of good. Verily, he was one of Our believing servants.) We have already discussed the meaning of this above. And Allah knows best.

The word: بَعل (ba'l) in verse 125: أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلًا (Do you invoke literally means husband, master etc. But, it was the name of a particular idol that the people of Sayyidna Ilyas (علیہ السلام) had taken to as the object of their worship. The history of the worship of ba` l (Baal) goes way back in time. It was worshipped in the country of Syria during the time of Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) and it used to be the most popular idol-god they had. Ba'labakk, (Baalbek or ancient Heliopolis in present Lebanon), the once famous city of Syria was also named after it. Some people think that Hubal, the well-known idol of the pre-Islam people of Hijaz, was this very ba` l (Qasas-ul-Qur’ an, p.28, v.2).

In the next sentence of the same verse, it was said: وَتَذَرُ‌ونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَالِقِينَ (Do you invoke Ba'l, and ignore the Best of the creators). This refers to Allah Ta ala while the expression: أَحْسَنَ الْخَالِقِينَ (alzsanul-khaligin: the best of the creators) never means that there could be, God forbid, some other creator as well. On the contrary, the drive and the sense of the statement is that He is the one most exalted of all those false objects of worship they had taken to as being some sort of a creator (Qurtubi). Some commentators have said that the word: خَالِق (khaliq: creator, maker) has been used here in the sense صَانع (sani` : maker), that is, 'He is far ahead and far better than all other makers.' What do all other makers really do? They do no more than take different components, put them together and here is something they have made. Bringing something out from nothingness into existence is what they do not have under their power and control - and Allah Ta’ ala does. He has that inherent power to make what is not become what is. (Bayan-ul-Qur’ an)

Ascribing the attribute of creation to anyone other than Allah is not permissible

At this point, it should be borne in mind that خَلَق (khalq) means to create, that is, to bring something from the state of non-being into the state of being solely on the strength of the creator's inherent power. Therefore, this attribute is particular to Allah Ta’ ala. Ascribing it to someone else is not permissible. Hence, the custom prevailing in our time that the articles of writers, compositions of poets and paintings of painters are readily referred to as their 'creations' is simply not permissible. How can people who write become 'creators' of those articles? It is not correct. Allah is the khaliq, the creator. This is Him alone - no one else can be. Therefore, their good writings should be called articles or something else that alludes to their effort, imagination, research work or whatever applies as appropriate - but, not 'creation.'

Elijah (Elias or Ilyas) was probably a descendant of Aaron (Harun). He lived in the ninth century B.C. at a time when Israel (Palestine) was governed by the Jewish King, Ahab, while Lebanon, was ruled by Phoenicians, polytheists who worshipped Baal (ba‘l). Ahab married the daughter of the King of Lebanon. Under the influence of their Queen, the Jews began worshipping Baal. Then, Elijah calling upon the Jews to worship One God, which was their original (ancestral) religion. A detailed account of Elijah is given in the Bible. Only a few Jews supported Elijah in his mission. Many of them opposed him to the extent of hatching plots to murder him. But Elijah subsequently attained a high status among the Jews. Now, in Jewish history, he is treated as a great prophet.