Tafseer of The Prophets · Al-Anbiyaa · 21:66
He said, "Then do you worship instead of Allah that which does not benefit you at all or harm you?
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, exalted is His remembrance, says: Ibrāhīm said to his people: Do you worship, O people, that which is of no benefit to you and brings you no harm, while you know that it could not protect itself against whoever intended it evil, and it is not able to speak when it was asked about who brought it harm so that it might inform of that? Are you not ashamed of worshipping something that is so?
As Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, concerning قَالَ أَفَتَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لا يَنْفَعُكُمْ شَيْئًا وَلا يَضُرُّكُمْ (He said: Do you then worship, besides Allah, that which is of no benefit to you and brings you no harm?) — the verse —, he says (may Allah have mercy on him): Do you not see that they could not ward off from themselves the harm that befell them, and that they do not speak to tell you who did this to them? How then can they benefit you or harm you?
