[1842] In the face of incessant asking and demands, this puts the scope of the Prophetic mission into proper perspective; he is not a miracle weaver nor is he privy to much of the Unseen, unless God allows him it. He is no more than a deliverer of the Message so people need to listen, heed and Believe; but only the mindful will benefit from him (cf. al-Wāḥidī, al-Wajīz, Ibn Kathīr).
[1843] Adam, the single soul, and Eve its mate (q) (cf. 4:1, 39:6; al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī). That all humans are the offspring of a single pair of people calls for considering the very likely prospect of resurrection; as much as creation from sheer nothingness was possible, re-creation is a more likely probability (cf. Abū Ḥayyān). Thus people are reminded to be Mindful of God Almighty: “O people, be Mindful of your Lord, Who created you from a single soul and from it He created its mate, and from both of them He dispersed scores of men and women…” (4: 1).
[1844] “And of His Signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find assuagement in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reflect” (30: 21).
[1845] Exegetes hold two standpoints on who these two individuals actually were. The first, which is that of al-Ṭabarī, al-Wāḥidī, al-Samʿānī and Ibn al-Jawzī, hold them to be Adam and Eve themselves who could not conceive children at an early stage in their nuptial life so Satan whispered to them to dedicate their child to another besides God. However, Ibn Kathīr debunks this view on the basis that it draws on apocryphal Biblical sources (known as isrā’īliyyāt), thus he along with a host of other exegetes, al-Zamakhsharī, al-Rāzī, al-Qurṭubī, Ibn al-Qayyim, hold that these two are generic for many human couples thereafter. Since there is no traditional evidence in support of this view either, some tried to find textual evidence from the aya and those that follow in this passage. However, no matter who the exact referents of the pronouns in this episode were, it highlights how ungrateful humans can be to their Lord Who created them from a single soul, blessed him with a soul-mate, made the wife bear children and her pregnancy uncumbersome in its early stages, and dispersed a well-portioned posterity thereof.
[1846] Ṣāliḥan means good, well, healthy and righteous. Many exegetes, for example, Ibn Kathīr, al-Saʿdī, al-Shinqīṭī, take that the parents, as would normally be the case, prayed that their child would be birthed free from deformation. Yet al-Ṭabarī sees no point in limiting it to one meaning in particular as such would lack proper evidence.
[1847] The idols they create and worship (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, al-Shawkānī): “He said: “Do you worship that which you carve, *while God created you and whatever you make?” (37: 95-96).
[1848] How can they worship such so-called ‘gods’ who cannot even help themselves? But they are heedless: “…his example is that of a dog, when you chase it away, it pants and when ˹even˺ you leave it, it pants. That is the example of the people who denied Our Signs; so recount ˹Muhammad˺ the stories perchance they may ponder. *Sordid is the example of the folk who denied Our Signs and did themselves a great injustice.” (7: 176-177).
[1849] The arguments in the previous passage are reinforced and expounded upon in this one (cf. Abū Ḥayyān). Both relate to the sura’s central theme, being God’s sole rightfulness to worship, hence they are to be found in the closing, wrapping up, passages.
[1850] Invocation (duʿā’) is singled out of all acts of devotion because in it a servant asks something of a power that has the ability to change the course of matters. Yet the ‘gods’ they invoke are nothing more than ‘subjects’ themselves to a higher Power and that is Almighty God (cf. al-Ṭabarī, Ibn Kathīr, Ibn ʿĀshūr): “He merges Night into Day, and He merges Day into Night, and He has subjected the sun and the moon ˹to His will˺: each one runs its course for a term appointed. Such is Allah your Lord: to Him belongs all Dominion. And those whom you invoke besides Him have not the least power. *If you invoke them, they do not hear you, and even if they could hear, they would not respond to you. On the Day of Resurrection, they will reject your having Associated them with God, and no one can inform you ˹of the Truth˺ like the One Who is All-Aware” (35: 13-14); “And who is more misguided than one who invokes, besides Allah, such as will not answer him until the Day of Judgement, and who are not even aware of his call” (46: 5).
[1851] The spelling out of the arguments here highlight how desperately impervious the Associators were to basic logical reasoning (Ibn ʿĀshūr). They are urged to see that they are more well-endowed with the tools of action and perception than their chosen gods (cf. al-Ṭabarī, al-Baghawī, al-Shawkānī).
[1852] This outrightly daring challenge further highlights the powerlessness of their gods (cf. al-Ṭabarī); as opposed to Almighty God Who should deservedly be relied upon (cf. al-Rāzī).