قُلْ أَرَءَيْتُمْ شُرَكَآءَكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ أَرُونِى مَاذَا خَلَقُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ أَمْ لَهُمْ شِرْكٌ فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ أَمْ ءَاتَيْنَـٰهُمْ كِتَـٰبًا فَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَيِّنَتٍ مِّنْهُ ۚ بَلْ إِن يَعِدُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ بَعْضُهُم بَعْضًا إِلَّا غُرُورًا 40
Translations
Say, "Have you considered your 'partners' whom you invoke besides Allāh? Show me what they have created from the earth, or have they partnership [with Him] in the heavens? Or have We given them a book so they are [standing] on evidence therefrom? [No], rather, the wrongdoers do not promise each other except delusion."
Transliteration
Qul ara'aytum shurakaa'akumulladhina tad'una min dunit-Allahi arunee matha khalaqoo minal-ardi am lahum shirkun fis-samawati am atayna hum kitaba fahum 'ala bayyinatin minhu bal in ya'idul-zalimuna ba'duhum ba'dan illa ghruura
Tafsir (Explanation)
Allah commands the Prophet (ﷺ) to challenge the polytheists by asking them to produce evidence that their idols and partners with Allah possess any creative power or authority. The ayah presents four rhetorical questions demonstrating the utter futility of shirk: (1) What have your deities created from the earth? (2) Do they have any share in the creation of the heavens? (3) Have We given them a book proving their divinity? (4) All the polytheists do is deceive one another with false promises and illusions. According to Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi, this ayah powerfully exposes the irrationality of polytheism by demanding tangible proof of the idols' divine attributes.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears in Surah Fatir, revealed in Mecca during the early period of Islamic preaching when the Quraysh staunchly defended their polytheistic practices. The surah's overarching theme is Allah's creative power and absolute uniqueness (tawhid), and this ayah specifically addresses the illogicality of attributing partners to Allah by challenging the pagans to provide evidence for their beliefs.
Related Hadiths
The principle is reflected in the hadith reported by Muslim where the Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'Whoever dies while associating partners with Allah shall enter the Fire,' emphasizing the seriousness of shirk. Additionally, Ahmad reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) stated that Allah does not forgive shirk but forgives what is less than that to whom He wills.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches believers to recognize that polytheism has no rational or evidential foundation—it rests entirely on inherited tradition and mutual deception. For modern readers, it emphasizes the importance of seeking truth through reason and evidence rather than blindly following cultural or societal norms that contradict monotheism.