وَاتَّخَذوا مِن دونِ اللَّهِ آلِهَةً لَعَلَّهُم يُنصَرونَ

They have taken gods besides Allah [hoping] that they might be helped.

EXEGESIS

Ālihah (gods) refers to the idols, demons, kings, or rulers they worshipped. They worshipped these false gods so that they could get their help and support in return.^{‎[1]Tibyan, 8/476.}

EXPOSITION

Ālihah (gods) is the plural of ilāh; ilāh is one worthy of worship. When we say lā ilāha illā allāh, we mean that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah. As mentioned earlier, worship is the highest form of expression of gratitude. As such, worshipping the Creator is rational, natural, and intuitive. Worshipping anything besides the Creator is counter-intuitive and irrational. But why do some people worship things or beings other than their Creator? This verse explains that they do so to receive support and help from them. This type of worship is usually driven by superstition rather than the intuitive sense of gratitude. It is motivated by fear, worries, agonies, and a sense of insecurity. Because of this sense of insecurity and desertedness, people try to grab anything they imagine to be helpful; to receive their help, they start worshipping them.

Polytheism and idolatry are a product of false imaginations and conjectures, making a person ungrateful to God and His blessings. They abandoned God, the creator of the universe, to replace Him with false and powerless creatures that cannot even defend themselves, let alone defend others. Neither can they solve their life problems, Do they ascribe [to Him] partners that create nothing and have been created themselves, and can neither help them nor help themselves? And if you call them to guidance, they will not follow you: it is the same to you whether you call them or whether you are silent. Indeed those whom you invoke besides Allah are creatures like you. So invoke them: they should answer you if you are truthful. Do they have any feet to walk with? Do they have any hands to grasp with? Do they have any eyes to see with? Do they have any ears to hear with? Say: ‘Invoke your partners [that you ascribe to Allah] and try out your stratagems against me without granting me any respite’ (7:191-195).

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘The Messenger of God (s) took me to the idols, and told me: “Sit,” so I sat beside the Kaaba, then the Messenger of God (s) stood on my shoulders, and told me: “Stand up and lift me to the idol,” and I lifted him up. Then, when he saw my weakness in keeping him up, he said: “Sit,” so I sat, and he came down from my shoulder. Then the Messenger of God (s) sat down for me and told me: “Get on mine, O Ali,” so I got on his shoulders, and then the Messenger of God (s) stood up and lifted me, and when he (s) lifted me, I felt like I could reach the heavens. Then I got on the Kaaba, and once the Messenger of God (s) moved, I threw the biggest idol of Quraysh from the top, which was made of copper and tied strongly to the pegs of iron on the ground.’^{‎[2]Ahmad, 1/84.}
2. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘There are three worshippers [worshipping other than God]: worshippers of their masters, worshippers of their lust, and worshippers of their greed.’^{‎[3]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/1801.}
3. Imam Ali (a) said: ‘Whoever worships the world and prefers it over the hereafter has beseeched a painful end.’^{‎[4]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/1801.}
4. The Messenger of God said: ‘Damned and damned [from the mercy of God] is who worshipped the dinar and the dirham [wealth].’^{‎[5]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/1801.}
5. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘Whoever obeys someone in disobedience of God, has worshipped him.’ In another narration, he said: ‘Worship is not only prostration or bowing, rather it is the obedience of men; whoever obeys a creature in disobedience to the Creator, has worshipped him.’^{‎[6]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/1801.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

The idol worshippers are ready to defend their false gods; They said: ‘Burn him [Abraham], and help your gods, if you are to do anything!’ (21:68). So, instead of learning from Prophet Abraham (a) and turning to God, the priests of Nimrod started asking the polytheists to support their false and useless gods who could not defend themselves; instead, their worshippers had to defend them.^{‎[7]Razi, 26/107.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them … Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven: Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.’”^{‎[8]Exodus 20:4-5, 22-23.}
2. Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.^{‎[9]Leviticus 26:1.}
3. But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see. They have ears, but cannot hear, noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, feet but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.^{‎[10]Psalms 115:4-8.}

[1] Tibyan, 8/476.
[2] Ahmad, 1/84.
[3] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/1801.
[4] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/1801.
[5] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/1801.
[6] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 3/1801.
[7] Razi, 26/107.
[8] Exodus 20:4-5, 22-23.
[9] Leviticus 26:1.
[10] Psalms 115:4-8.