Transliteration:( Falaw laa nasarahumul lazeenat takhazoo min doonil laahi qurbaanan aalihatam bal dalloo 'anhum' wa zaalika ifkuhum wa maa kaanoo yaftaroon )
79. The polytheists had been saying that these are small deities, but Allah Almighty is the greatest God. The worship of these idols would gain us the closeness of Allah, and if at any time the Great Allah is angry with us then these idols would save us from Him.
Says Allah Almighty that if they were on the true path then why did their idols not save them from the punishment? This verse has no link with the Saints and Prophets of Allah Almighty. For this reason the word God is used here. They accept anyone as god and one worthy of worship. This is an act of polytheism. But to accept the beloved servants of Allah as saints and intercessors is an act of faith. Says Allah Almighty: "And seek the means of approach to Him" (SS:V35). These pious servants in times of difficulties certainly give assistance. On the Day of Judgement the first act would be to seek an intercessor. Thereafter people will turn to other work.
80. It should be remembered that it is total infidelity to regard the enemies of Allah as our intercessors or helpers, while regarding the beloved servants of Allah Almighty as our helpers, intercessors and means of obtaining closeness of Allah is the essence of Faith.
Observe, prostrating in the direction of the Holy Ka'bah and respecting the water of Zam-Zam are acts of faith, while prostrating to the idol and respecting the water of the Ganges are acts of infidelity. Says Allah Almighty: "Whosoever obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah" (S4:V80). Thus, to apply this verse to the Prophets and Saints is displaying the highest ignorance.
The tafsir of Surah Ahqaf verse 28 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Ahqaf ayat 26 which provides the complete commentary from verse 26 through 28.
32. That is, they had put faith in those things in the beginning with the idea that they were favorite servants of God and through them they would attain nearness to Him, but then gradually they made them their gods. They started invoking them for help; they formed the belief that they had the powers to change their destinies and could answer their prayers and remove their hardships. To deliver them from this error Allah sent His revelations through His Messengers over and over again in different ways to bring them to the right path, but they persisted in the worship of their gods, and continued to insist that they would still invoke them instead of Allah. Now consider this: When the torment of Allah visited these polytheists because of their deviation, where had their redressers of grievances and removers of hardships disappeared? Why didn’t they come to their rescue at the time of affliction?
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