In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.
Allaah [The Most High] said:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ اجْتَمَعُوا لَهُ ۖ وَإِن يَسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيْئًا لَّا يَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ۚ ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ وَالْمَطْلُوبُ
مَا قَدَرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ
O mankind! A similitude has been coined, so listen to it (carefully): Verily! Those on whom you call besides Allah, cannot create (even) a fly, even though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly snatched away a thing from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought. They have not estimated Allah His Rightful Estimate; Verily, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty. [Hajj: Ayah: 73-74]
Imaam Ibnul Qayyim (rahimahullaah) said:
It is obligated on a servant [of Allaah] to pay attention-to this parable – with his heart and ponder upon it as it properly because it cuts off the desire of shirk. The gods worshipped by the idolaters cannot create even a fly, even if they all come to together to create it, then how about what is greater than it? They are neither able to create a fly which is one of the weakest animals, nor are they able to gain the upper hand against it to recover what it took away from them. There is nothing more disabled and feebler than them, so how can a sensible person deem it good to worship idols [or the things worshipped by the idolaters].
This Ayah nullifies shirk and shows the ignorance of its people. It is a testimony that Satan plays about with them more than kids play with a ball due to the fact that they assign Godhood to images and statues that are deprived of the ability to create the most insignificant creature of the True God, even if they [i.e. those statues and images] gathered and supported one another to do so, whereas Godhood necessitates having absolute power over all the existence, absolute knowledge of all sources of knowledge, having no need of all the creation, [whilst the creation is completely dependent] upon the Lord for their needs, for relief, [to remove their] distress and anxiety and [respond to their] invocations. [Source: An Excerpt from ‘Badaa-i At-Tafseer Al-Jaami Limaa Fassarahu Al-Imaam Ibnu Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah: 2/221-222. slightly paraphrased]
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