Ash-Shu'ara · Makki · ayah 73 of 227

Ash-Shu'ara 26:73

أَوْ يَنفَعُونَكُمْ أَوْ يَضُرُّونَ

“Or do they benefit you, or do they harm?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ibrahim asks what all worship is really for, hoped-for gain or feared harm, and shows that neither key was ever in the idols' hands.

A reflection

Two keys, one hand

A junior architect rides home in a taxi after a pitch. Her director said nothing the whole way. Now it is one in the morning and she is replaying his silence. Did he frown at slide nine? Her whole week, she realises, has been arranged around one man's nod. His approval is the benefit she chases. His displeasure is the harm she dreads.

Ibrahim's question reaches straight into that night. Aw yanfaʿūnakum aw yaḍurrūn: or do they benefit you, or do they harm? One commentator explains why he chose exactly these two. Whatever a person worships, he turns to it hoping for gain or fearing loss. Hope and fear are the two hinges of every devotion.

Is that not turning worship into a transaction? No. Ibrahim is meeting his people on their own ground. They served the idols for protection and favour, so he asks whether the idols can give either. Allah deserves worship for who He is. It simply also happens that He alone holds both keys.

The Prophet ﷺ once taught a young boy riding behind him a few words. Know that if the whole nation gathered to benefit you, they could only benefit you with what Allah had already written for you. And if they gathered to harm you, they could only harm you with what Allah had written against you. Al-Tirmidhi recorded it and graded it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. Notice the two verbs. They are the two of this ayah.

Allah needs none of our worship. You are the ones in need of Allah, and He is the Rich, the Praised (35:15). Turning to Him is for your sake. It moves your hope and your fear to the only hand that holds both.

The director still matters at work. But his nod is no longer the ceiling of her sky, and she can sleep. Many people feel a hunger they cannot name: a sense that life is being spent on the wrong audience. This ayah names it, and asks who you have really been performing for.

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.