Argument and quibbling (6)

Referring to their saints and intercessors, Allah leaves no doubt about their status: “Verily, those whom you pray to besides Allah are servants like you. So call upon them and let them answer, if you speak the truth.” (7: 194).

Allah challenges those who still insist there are individuals with special powers who can answer prayers. In verse after verse, Allah emphasizes the futility of praying to anyone other than Him: “Those whom you pray to other than Allah do not even possess a Qitmeer [the thin membrane that covers a date stone].” (35: 13).

“If you pray to them, they will not hear you. Moreover, even if they did hear you, they could not answer your prayers. Then, on the Day of Judgment, they will deny that they asked you to worship them. Who can inform you of those things better than Allah, He Who knows all things?” (35: 14).

“Those whom they pray to other than Allah have not created a single thing. In fact, they themselves were created. Dead, utterly lifeless, they know not when they will be raised up.” (16: 20-21).

And: “Do they associate partners with Allah that cannot create anything, partners that were created themselves? These partners cannot help those who pray to them, nor can they even help themselves!” (7: 191-192).

The polytheists who lived during the time of the Prophet Muhammad agreed with him that Allah created everything and that the gods they worshiped created nothing. How it then, Allah asks them in the Qur’an, that they worshipped something that had been created instead of worshipping the Creator who created everything?

The polytheists answered this by claiming that their ancestors had all prayed to other gods besides Allah. These ancestors and the Prophet Muhammad’s ancestors were among them, who had believed in the power of such gods. In addition, was it not true, they asked, that their ancestors were known for their wisdom and intelligence? How then, could one question their religion?

Allah answers their argument in the Qur’an by challenging their ancestors’ wisdom in matters of religion. He characterises them as misguided and incapable of understanding, as seen in the following verses: “They found their fathers on the wrong path, so they hastily followed their footsteps.” (37: 69-70).