Al-Hajj · Madani · ayah 71 of 78

Al-Hajj 22:71

وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يُنَزِّلْ بِهِۦ سُلْطَـٰنًا وَمَا لَيْسَ لَهُم بِهِۦ عِلْمٌ ۗ وَمَا لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ مِن نَّصِيرٍ

“And they worship besides Allāh that for which He has not sent down authority and that of which they have no knowledge. And there will not be for the wrongdoers any helper.”

Saheeh International

Essence

They worship what has no warrant from above and no knowledge behind it, and at the reckoning nothing they leaned on will stand with them.

A reflection

A proof with a hand in it

English readers meet the word sulṭān and picture a ruler on a cushion. The Arabic is larger than that. The lexicons trace the root to strength that overpowers and holds down. From it come a ruler's authority, and also a proof: an argument with enough force to take hold of the mind.

So when the ayah says Allah 'has not sent down' any sulṭān for these gods, it means more than missing paperwork. No argument with real force stands behind them. And notice the verb. Authority of this kind is sent down. It comes from above, from the One who owns the matter. It cannot be manufactured from below by the people who want it.

One commentator points to a detail of grammar. The word comes unspecified, and the effect is to shrink it: not even a scrap of proof. Then the ayah names a second absence: 'that of which they have no knowledge'. Two classical readings pair the halves. The first is the proof that would come by revelation. The second is the knowledge a sound mind would reach on its own. Neither is present.

Picture an aircraft engineer handed a replacement part for an engine. There is no certificate from the maker. There is no test record from anyone who examined it. A colleague says it looks right, and the last crew fitted one like it. No engineer signs for that. Lives ride on the signature.

Yet people sign far more than an engine over to the things they worship. The heart, the hopes, the hour of fear are all handed to something with neither warrant. The ayah does not shout. It simply asks for the papers.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.