ﲴ ﲵ ﲶ ﲷ ﲸ ﲹ ﲺ ﲻ ﲼ ﲽ ﲾ ﲿ ﳀ ﳁ ﳂ ﳃ ﳄ ﳅ ﳆ
Those whom they invoke seek means of access to their Lord, [striving as to] which of them would be nearest, and they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment. Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is ever feared.
Tafsir
Verse range: 17:56-57
{Say: "Call upon those whom you claim besides Him"} They are the angels. It is also said: Jesus, son of Mary, and Ezra. It is also said: a group of the Jinn whom some of the Arabs used to worship, then the Jinn embraced Islam without the Arabs realizing it.
{They have no power to remove the harm from you} Meaning: Call upon them, for they are unable to remove harm from you—whether it be illness, poverty, or punishment—nor can they transfer it from one person to another, nor exchange it.
{Those whom they call upon} "Those" (ula'ika) is the subject (mubtada'), "whom they call upon" (alladhina yad'una) is its adjective, and "seek" (yabtaghuna) is its predicate. This means: those gods of theirs seek the wasilah (the means of approach), which is nearness to Allah Almighty.
{Which of them} "Which" (ayyu-hum) is a substitute (badal) for the waw in "seek" (yabtaghuna). "Which" (ayyu) is a relative pronoun, meaning: the one among them who is closest and nearest seeks the means to Allah. So how could those who are not the closest be gods?
Alternatively, "seek the means" implies the meaning of "striving." It is as if it were said: They strive to see which of them will be closest to Allah through obedience, increasing in good deeds, and righteousness. They hope and they fear, just like other servants of Allah. How, then, can they claim they are gods?
{Indeed, the punishment of your Lord is} It is worthy of being feared by everyone—from a favored angel to a sent prophet—let alone anyone else.
{And there is no city but that We will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment. That has been inscribed in the Book.}
