Surah Al-Hajj 22:73 — translation and meaning
الحج · Verse 73 / 78 · Page 341
ۖ ۚ ۚ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ اجْتَمَعُوا لَهُ وَإِن يَسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيْئًا لَّا يَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ وَالْمَطْلُوبُ
Word by Word
Transliteration
Yaaa ayyuhan naasu duriba masalun fastami'oo lah; innal lazeena tad'oona min doonil laahi lai yakhluqoo zubaabanw wa lawijtama'oo lahoo wa iny yaslub humuz zubbabu shai'al laa yastan qizoohu minh; da'ufat taalibu walmatloob
Translation
O people, an example is presented, so listen to it. Indeed, those you invoke besides Allah will never create [as much as] a fly, even if they gathered together for that purpose. And if the fly should steal away from them a [tiny] thing, they could not recover it from him. Weak are the pursuer and pursued.
Verse interpretation (Tafsir)
O people! A parable is about to be narrated, so listen carefully and take lesson from it! Indeed, those idols and other things you worship instead of Allah cannot even create a fly despite its small size, because of their incompetence. Even if they were to convene in trying to do so they would not be able to achieve it. And if a fly was to take anything away from them, i.e. perfume etc. they would not have the power to reclaim it. By their incapability of creating a fly and reclaiming anything from it, their incapability of doing anything greater than that becomes evident. How can they then worship it instead of Allah? This seeker - which is the worshipped idol that is totally incapable of reclaiming whatever the fly has taken from it, together with the sought-after fly, are both weak.
Source: Al-Mukhtasar Tafsir — Tafsir Center for Quranic Studies.
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