Saba · Makki · ayah 27 of 54

Saba 34:27

قُلْ أَرُونِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَلْحَقْتُم بِهِۦ شُرَكَآءَ ۖ كَلَّا ۚ بَلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

“Say, "Show me those whom you have attached to Him as partners. No! Rather, He [alone] is Allāh, the Exalted in Might, the Wise."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Bring your partners into the light and set them beside Him: the comparison collapses, and what remains is Allah, the Mighty, the Wise.

A reflection

Hang them beside the original

Arūnī: show me. It is an odd request. The Prophet ﷺ could see the idols of Makkah every day. They stood around the Kaʿba in plain view.

A commentator on language asks the same question and answers it. The point was not to see them. It was to make the idolaters see their own error, by setting the idols beside Allah in front of their eyes. Once the comparison is made openly, it falls apart by itself.

A later commentator gives an image from Arab speech. You say to a boastful man: 'Tell me about this father of yours.' He had been comparing his father with a nobleman. You do not want the name. You know that naming him will expose the boast.

Picture a gallery that hangs a forgery next to the original, under identical light. Alone on a wall, the copy had fooled collectors for decades. Side by side, the visitors fall silent. The brushwork is dead. Nobody needs a lecture.

The ego is also an attached partner. We set our own planning beside His decree, our own cleverness beside His provision. In private we say 'I made this happen'. 'Show me' is aimed at that too. Bring your self-sufficiency into the light and stand it next to the One who holds the heavens. The pride drains out quietly.

Some ask whether a God who forbids partners is simply jealous of rivals. But a partner would mean a share in creating and providing. The idols created nothing. Denying them a share is not insecurity. It is refusing to sign a forged painting with a master's name.

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.