Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:41
No, it is Him [alone] you would invoke, and He would remove that for which you invoked Him if He willed, and you would forget what you associate [with Him].
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.
The explanation of His word: بَلْ إِيَّاهُ تَدْعُونَ فَيَكْشِفُ مَا تَدْعُونَ إِلَيْهِ إِنْ شَاءَ وَتَنْسَوْنَ مَا تُشْرِكُونَ (6:41) (Nay, it is Him you call upon, and He removes that for which you call upon Him, if He wills, and you forget what you associate as partners.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says — while declaring these people, who set the idols on a par with Him, to be liars: You, O polytheists (mushrikīn) who assign alongside Allah gods and equals to Him, will — if the punishment (ʿadhāb) of Allah befalls you or the Hour comes upon you — seek refuge in nothing other than Allah in the state of the severe terror that descends upon you, neither in gods, nor in an idol, nor in a carved image. Nay, there it is precisely your Lord, who created you, whom you call upon; with Him you seek help, and to Him you flee, to the exclusion of all else.
فَيَكْشِفُ مَا تَدْعُونَ إِلَيْهِ ("and He removes that for which you call upon Him") — He says: Then He delivers you, when you implore Him for help and humble yourselves before Him, from the tremendous trial that has descended upon you, if He chooses to remove that from you; for He it is who has power over all things and is the Possessor of all things, to the exclusion of that which you call upon as a god from among the idols and carved images.
وَتَنْسَوْنَ مَا تُشْرِكُونَ ("and you forget what you associate as partners") — He says: And you forget — when the punishment of Allah befalls you or the Hour with its terrors comes upon you — that which you assign alongside Allah as a partner in your worship of Him, and what you make into an equal to Him from among an idol, a carved image, or anything else that you worship alongside Him and call upon as a god.
