وَٱلَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ

35:14; 40:21.

40:51.

Commentary:

The Quranic expression له دعوة الحق rendered in the text as, Unto Him is the true prayer, may be translated in several ways (1) God alone is worthy of worship; (2) it is praying to God alone that can be useful or beneficial for man; (3) the voice of God alone rises in support of truth i.e. the teaching which is really true and useful for man and is free from defects and untruths can come from God alone; (4) the Voice of God alone must prevail i.e. no one can frustrate God’s purpose and stand in His way; for the word حق (true) also means, that which prevails and becomes established.

The words, except as he is answered who stretches forth his two hands toward water that it may reach his mouth, but it reaches it not, embody a great principle. Just as he who ascribes lower status to a higher thing remains deprived of its higher benefits, similarly, he who ascribes higher status to a lower thing deprives himself of its true benefits. The man who looks upon a spurious coin as a genuine one will practically suffer as much as he who unwittingly treats a genuine coin as a spurious one. Idolaters think that their gods will answer their prayers and come to their help, but they can never do so.

In like manner, those who ascribe divine powers to things created by God deprive themselves of even their limited uses. How can those who look upon fire and water as gods think of bringing them under their control? And how can those who look upon Prophets as gods derive from them the real good which they could derive from them by following them as heavenly Messengers?

The verse thus says that the right way to succeed in life is to put all things in their proper places, to give God the status which is His due and to stars, rivers and mountains the position which they rightly possess. Whereas we should worship God, pray to Him and seek His blessings, we should subject created things to our service and derive those benefits from them which the Wise God has placed in them. That alone is the way of success and true happiness.

The words, the prayer of the disbelievers is but a thing wasted, mean that all prayers of disbelievers addressed to false deities will prove fruitless.

7:192; 25:4.

Commentary:

The verse answers a possible objection on the part of the idolaters to the argument contained in the preceding verses. They may say that their deities also possess the requisite knowledge and the power to reveal guidance, but they refrain from doing so only because man does not really need any such external guidance. The present verse answers this objection by saying that perfect knowledge of the unseen, the possession of which is indispensable for giving suitable guidance, can only be possessed by One Who has created man because only the Creator can know all the hidden powers of the things created and their working. But the false gods of the idolaters have not created anything at all. On the contrary, they themselves have been created. Therefore they are incapable of giving right guidance. It is really very surprising that in spite of the fact that the verse has so effectively demolished the claim made on behalf of false deities to the possession of knowledge of the unseen, there should still be found among Muslims people who believe that Jesus possessed knowledge of the unseen or that he had the power to create certain things.

13:15; 35:14.