An-Najm · Makki · ayah 23 of 62

An-Najm 53:23

إِنْ هِىَ إِلَّآ أَسْمَآءٌ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَآ أَنتُمْ وَءَابَآؤُكُم مَّآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَـٰنٍ ۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهْوَى ٱلْأَنفُسُ ۖ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَهُم مِّن رَّبِّهِمُ ٱلْهُدَىٰٓ

“They are not but [mere] names you have named them - you and your forefathers - for which Allāh has sent down no authority. They follow not except assumption and what [their] souls desire, and there has already come to them from their Lord guidance.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Much of what people bow to is a name with nothing underneath it, held up by guesswork and wanting, while real guidance sits unopened at the door.

A reflection

A grand name over an empty box

In hiya illā asmāʾun: 'they are nothing but names.' The sentence is built like a door slammed shut. A negation, then 'except', then one bare word. Everything the idols were supposed to be is denied, and only a label is left standing.

The commentaries draw out how sharp this is. The idols are mere names, with nothing named beneath them. Not lesser gods, not weak gods, but nothing at all where a god should be. One commentary points out that Arabs used the same turn of speech to belittle a person: 'So-and-so is only a name.' A king who rules nothing is 'only a name'. The title is real. The thing it claims is missing.

Notice how cleverly the names had been chosen. One commentary records that al-ʿUzzā was taken from al-ʿAzīz, the Mighty, and al-Lāt from the very name of Allah. Another remarks drily: you called one of them 'the Mighty' and there is no might in her. The worshippers had borrowed the grandeur of the true God's names and hung it on stone and trees.

Picture a young man in his first job. A friend tells him about a new digital coin with a magnificent name: Eternal Gold. The website shows lions and a crown. He puts in his savings. Within a week the coin is worth nothing, and the name is still there on the screen, as grand as ever. The name never had anything underneath it.

We still build lives on names like that. 'Security' that is a number in an account. 'Success' that is a title on a lanyard. 'Freedom' that turns out to mean being owned by our cravings. None of them is evil to want. But when we bow to them as if they could save us, the ayah's verdict applies. Asmāʾun: names. Look underneath before you kneel.

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.