Al-Ahqaf · Makki · ayah 28 of 35

Al-Ahqaf 46:28

فَلَوْلَا نَصَرَهُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّخَذُوا۟ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ قُرْبَانًا ءَالِهَةًۢ ۖ بَلْ ضَلُّوا۟ عَنْهُمْ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ إِفْكُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ يَفْتَرُونَ

“Then why did those they took besides Allāh as deities by which to approach [Him][1487] not aid them? But they had strayed [i.e., departed] from them. And that was their falsehood and what they were inventing.”

Saheeh International

Essence

The gods taken as a way to draw near to Allah were nowhere when the storm came; they dissolved like milk in water.

A reflection

A shortcut to nearness that led nowhere

Qurbān comes from a root with a vivid desert picture. The lexicons describe a caravan on its way to water. For days the herders let the camels graze as they walk. When only one evening's march remains, they stop grazing and hurry through the night to reach the water at dawn. That night was laylat al-qarab, the night of drawing near. A king's inner circle were his qarābīn, and the offering brought to be near Allah was a qurbān. The image is established.

The people in this ayah wanted nearness. Two commentaries quote their own words from elsewhere. We only worship them so that they bring us near to Allah (39:3). These are our intercessors with Allah (10:18). They took idols as their qurbān, their way of drawing near. One commentary notes the mockery in the ayah's phrasing: the very things meant to bring them close were absent when they were needed.

Picture a young writer desperate to get her first novel to a major publisher. A man online calls himself an agent with 'connections at every big house'. He charges her a large fee to 'make introductions'. Months pass. Her emails bounce. The connections never existed. She was so eager to draw near that she paid the first person who claimed to stand at the door.

The hunger for nearness to Allah is good; the Quran ends its first revealed surah with 'prostrate, and draw near' (96:19). The tragedy is choosing a false route. Nearness to Him needs no paid intermediary and no carved middleman. The night march towards the water is open to anyone willing to walk it.

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.