Ash-Shuraa · Makki · ayah 21 of 53

Ash-Shuraa 42:21

أَمْ لَهُمْ شُرَكَـٰٓؤُا۟ شَرَعُوا۟ لَهُم مِّنَ ٱلدِّينِ مَا لَمْ يَأْذَنۢ بِهِ ٱللَّهُ ۚ وَلَوْلَا كَلِمَةُ ٱلْفَصْلِ لَقُضِىَ بَيْنَهُمْ ۗ وَإِنَّ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“Or have they partners [i.e., other deities] who have ordained for them a religion to which Allāh has not consented? But if not for the decisive word,[1420] it would have been concluded between them. And indeed, the wrongdoers will have a painful punishment.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Only Allah can open a way to Him; rival 'legislators' who invent a religion He never permitted lay down paths that lead nowhere.

A reflection

A family custom nobody could trace

Or do they have partners who laid down for them, as religion, what Allah has not permitted? The question echoes the verb from 42:13, where Allah laid down the religion of Nuh and the prophets. Here the same verb is used for rivals. One commentator explains: they invented a religion Allah never allowed them to invent.

The word for permission, idhn, has a root that begins with the ear. The lexicons explain that hearing and knowing meet in it. To adhina is to listen and to know; idhn is letting someone know the way is open. Only the One who owns the way can say it is open.

That is a claim of majesty. No one else has the standing to tell people how to approach Allah. Not a tribe, not a tradition, not a charismatic voice.

Picture a family where every wedding includes an expensive ritual: a particular gift exchange that costs the bride's family a small fortune. Everyone assumes it is part of the religion. One year, a young imam marrying a cousin asks gently where it comes from. Nobody can say. The grandmothers say their grandmothers did it. It turns out to have no source at all. It was simply laid down, generations ago, by people with no permission to lay down anything.

The ego loves to legislate. It enjoys being the one who decides what is proper, what is shameful, what is required. And it is tempting to dress our preferences in religious clothing, because then they cannot be questioned.

Some will ask whether it is authoritarian for God alone to set the terms of religion. But think of the root of sharʿ: the way down to water. Only the One who knows where the water is can open a path to it. Paths laid down by others may look impressive. They do not reach the spring.

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.