17:56 Al-Israa (The Night Journey)

يقول تعالى: { قُلْ } للمشركين بالله الذين اتخذوا من دونه أندادا يعبدونهم كما يعبدون الله ويدعونهم كما يدعونه ملزما لهم بتصحيح ما زعموه واعتقدوه إن كانوا صادقين: { ادْعُوا الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُمْ } آلهة من دون الله فانظروا هل ينفعونكم أو يدفعون عنكم الضر، فإنهم لا { يَمْلِكُونَ كَشْفَ الضُّرِّ عَنْكُمْ } من مرض أو فقر أو شدة ونحو ذلك فلا يدفعونه بالكلية، { وَلَا } يملكون أيضا تحويله من شخص إلى آخر من شدة إلى ما دونها. فإذا كانوا بهذه الصفة فلأي شيء تدعونهم من دون الله؟ فإنهم لا كمال لهم ولا فعال نافعة، فاتخاذهم آلهة نقص في الدين والعقل وسفه في الرأي. ومن العجب أن السفه عند الاعتياد والممارسة وتلقيه عن الآباء الضالين بالقبول يراه صاحبه هو الرأي: السديد والعقل المفيد. ويرى إخلاص الدين لله الواحد الأحد الكامل المنعم بجميع النعم الظاهرة والباطنة هو السفه والأمر المتعجب منه كما قال المشركون: { أجعل الآلهة إلها واحدا إن هذا لشيء عجاب }

يقول تعالى "قل" يا محمد لهؤلاء المشركين الذين عبدوا غير الله "ادعوا الذين زعمتم من دونه" من الأصنام والأنداد فارغبوا إليهم "فـ" إنهم "لا يملكون كشف الضر عنكم" أي بالكلية "ولا تحويلا" أي بأن يحولوه إلى غيركم والمعنى أن الذي يقدر على ذلك هو الله وحده لا شريك له الذي له الخلق والأمر. قال العوفي عن ابن عباس في قوله "قل ادعوا الذين زعمتم" الآية قال كان أهل الشرك يقولون نعبد الملائكة والمسيح وعزيرا وهم الذين يدعون يعني في الملائكة والمسيح وعزيرا.

The gods of the Idolators can neither benefit nor harm; rather they themselves seek to draw close to Allah

Allah says:

قُلْ

(Say) O Muhammad to these idolators who worship things other than Allah,

ادْعُواْ الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُم مِّن دُونِهِ

(Call upon those - besides Him whom you pretend.) such as idols and rivals of Allah. Even if you turn to them,

فَلاَ يَمْلِكُونَ كَشْفَ الضُّرِّ عَنْكُمْ

(They have neither the power to remove the adversity from you) they have no such power at all,

وَلاَ تَحْوِيلاً

(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.

قُلِ ادْعُواْ الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُم

(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."

أُولَـئِكَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ

(Those whom they call upon, desire) Al-Bukhari recorded from Sulayman bin Mahran Al-A`mash, from Ibrahim, from Abu Ma`mar, from `Abdullah:

أُولَـئِكَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ يَبْتَغُونَ إِلَى رَبِّهِمُ الْوَسِيلَةَ

(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)."

وَيَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَهُ وَيَخَـفُونَ عَذَابَهُ

(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.

إِنَّ عَذَابَ رَبِّكَ كَانَ مَحْذُورًا

(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.

Say to them ‘Call on those whom you assumed to be gods besides Him such as the angels Jesus and Ezra ‘Uzayr; yet they have no power to rid you of misfortune nor to transfer it to persons other than you.

That Zabur (the Psalms) has been mentioned particularly in the last sentence of verse 55: وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ زَبُورً‌ا ، (And We gave Dawud the Zabur) has been done, perhaps, because Zabur reports that the Holy Prophet ﷺ will be a ruler along with being a messenger and prophet. This is as it appears in the Qur'an: وَلَقَدْ كَتَبْنَا فِي الزَّبُورِ‌ مِن بَعْدِ الذِّكْرِ‌ أَنَّ الْأَرْ‌ضَ يَرِ‌ثُهَا عِبَادِيَ الصَّالِحُونَ (And We have already written in the Zabur, after the [ previous ] mention, that the land is inherited by My righteous servants - al-Anbiya', 21:105).

At this stage, Imam al-Baghawi says in his Tafsir that Zabur is a book of Allah revealed to Sayyidna Dawud (علیہ السلام) . It has one hundred and fifty surahs or chapters and all surahs are restricted to praises of Allah and prayers to Him. The areas of lawful and unlawful, obligations and limits have not been taken up there.