Ghafir · Makki · ayah 43 of 85

Ghafir 40:43

لَا جَرَمَ أَنَّمَا تَدْعُونَنِىٓ إِلَيْهِ لَيْسَ لَهُۥ دَعْوَةٌ فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا وَلَا فِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ وَأَنَّ مَرَدَّنَآ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَأَنَّ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ هُمْ أَصْحَـٰبُ ٱلنَّارِ

“Assuredly, that to which you invite me has no [response to a] supplication in this world or in the Hereafter; and indeed, our return is to Allāh, and indeed, the transgressors will be companions of the Fire.”

Saheeh International

Essence

What they worshipped could not call and would not answer; everything, the believer included, was on its way back to Allah.

A reflection

It will not answer

We often assume that the things we lean on instead of Allah at least give something back. A career repays loyalty. Status opens doors. People we please will remember us.

The believer says the opposite about everything his people worshipped. Laysa lahu daʿwatun fī al-dunyā wa-lā fī al-ākhira. It has no call in this world or the next.

The early authorities explain it bluntly. One said: the idol is nothing. Another: it neither benefits nor harms. A third: it does not answer the one who calls on it, in this world or in the next. Elsewhere the Quran says the same. If you call them, they do not hear your call; and if they heard, they would not answer you (35:14).

A man gives thirty years to one firm. He works late, misses school plays, answers emails on holiday. At his leaving do, the director reads his name from a card and gets his years of service wrong. After that week, nobody from the office ever rings him again.

The firm was not cruel. It simply could not give what he had asked of it. He had called on something that had no call to give back.

This is the quiet tragedy the ayah names. It is not that false gods punish their worshippers. It is that they do not answer. A life poured into something that cannot respond ends in silence.

Allah is the opposite. He calls first, and He answers: call on Me, I will respond to you (40:60). The ayah asks us where our calls are going, and whether anyone is listening at the other end.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.