Tafsir of Al-`Ankabut 29:41

The Purpose: To liken that which they have taken as a support and reliance in their religion—taking them as allies instead of Allah—to that which is proverbial among people for frailty and weakness of strength: the spider’s web. Do you not see the conclusion of the simile, which is His saying: “And indeed, the weakest of homes is the home of the spider”?

If you ask: What is the meaning of His saying: “If they only knew,” when everyone knows the frailty of a spider’s web?

I say: Its meaning is: If they only knew that this is their likeness, and that the state of their religion has reached this extreme degree of frailty.

Another perspective: Since it is established that what they rely upon in their religion is likened to a spider’s web, and it is established that the weakest of homes is the spider’s home, it becomes clear that their religion is the weakest of religions, if they only knew.

Or: The speech is expressed, after establishing the simile, in the form of a metaphor. It is as if He said: "And indeed, the weakest thing relied upon in religion is the worship of idols, if they only knew."

One might say: The likeness of the polytheist who worships an idol, compared to the believer who worships Allah, is like a spider that builds a house, compared to a man who builds a house with bricks and plaster, or carves it from rock. Just as the weakest of houses, if you were to examine them one by one, is the spider’s house, so too the weakest of religions, if you were to examine them one by one, is the worship of idols, if they only knew.

(Note: The word "tad'una" [you call upon] was read with both the 'ta' and the 'ya'.)

This is an emphasis on the simile and an addition to it, as He did not make what they call upon a "thing."

{And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise} In this is an attribution of ignorance to them, for they worshipped that which is not a "thing," as it is inanimate, possessing no basis of knowledge or power whatsoever. They abandoned the worship of the One who is All-Powerful, Subduer of all things, the Wise, who does nothing except with wisdom and decree.

{And these examples We present to the people, but none will understand them except the knowledgeable.}