أَمَّن هٰذَا الَّذي هُوَ جُندٌ لَكُم يَنصُرُكُم مِن دونِ الرَّحمٰنِ ۚ إِنِ الكافِرونَ إِلّا في غُرورٍ
Who is it that is your host who may help you, besides the All-Beneficent? The faithless only dwell in delusion.
EXEGESIS
Jund: host, army, troops. It means a group and multitude of people that support and help a person, an organisation, or a set of principles.
EXPOSITION
Verses 20-22 build on the previous discussion by saying that the only source of help and provision for mankind is God. Thus, what was established for God in the previous verses is now denied from other than Him, which results in God’s unity (tawḥīd). These verses also involve the sense of admonition, warning, and threat that flows in the whole chapter.
This verse draws the attention of the reader to the utter weakness and helplessness of man, such that he has no protector except God: Say: ‘Who can guard you, day and night, from [the punishment of] the All-Beneficent?’ Rather, they are disregardful of their Lord’s remembrance. Do they have gods besides Us to defend them? Neither can they help themselves, nor can they provide them with an escort against Us (21:42-43). This includes not only material idols, but any source of help and influence that is sought and deemed to be effective other than God. The disbelievers stand by their idols and refuse to let go of them, while these idols cannot assist them at all: They have taken gods besides Allah [hoping] that they might be helped. [Yet] they cannot help them, while they [themselves] are ready warriors for them (36:74-75).
On the other hand, if they have God’s help and support, they can overcome every force and power in the world: If Allah helps you, no one can overcome you, but if He forsakes you, who will help you after Him? So in Allah let all the faithful put their trust (3:160). The last part of this verse indicates the condition for qualifying for God’s help: to have trust in Him.
That explains what is meant by The faithless only dwell in delusion. Their delusion and deception is that they perceive feeble and helpless creatures to be sources of help and support for them. This mistake is because they see the apparent impact of various forces and beings in this world, but they fail to realise that any force or impact in this world falls under the system designed by God, and nothing has any independent impact of its own. 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 (7:191-193).
It is because of this illusion that the disbelievers subscribe to other-than-God and direct their love, devotion, and attention to these illusory gods: Among the people are those who set up compeers besides Allah, loving them as if loving Allah … though the wrongdoers will see, when they sight the punishment, that power altogether belongs to Allah, and that Allah is severe in punishment (2:165). They will only realise this after death, when it is too late (6:94).
The Quran identifies the means of delusion and deception elsewhere as the life of this world, Satan, and long ambitions: Do not let the life of the world deceive you, nor let the Deceiver [Satan] deceive you concerning Allah (31:33 and 35:5); and [false] hopes deceived you (57:14). In fact, persistence in misguidance and error would eventually appear as truth to the person: they have been deceived in their religion by what they used to fabricate (3:24).
The reason why other-than-God cannot be a source of help is: 1. They are not the independent owners of anything. 2. Not only that, but they are not even the partners and associates of God in creation. 3. They are not helpers or supporters of God in His creation in the slightest. These three points have been mentioned in order in, Say: ‘Invoke them whom you claim [to be gods] besides Allah! They do not control [even] an atom’s weight in the heavens or the earth, nor have they any share in [either of] them, nor is any of them [that is, the gods worshipped by the polytheists] His supporter’ (34:22).
Of course, God is all-beneficent, as described in this verse, and that is why He does not send His punishment upon His servants right away. His mercy precedes His anger and punishment. Therefore, it might be that the attributes of all-beneficent and Lord in such verses mitigate the sense of threat and wrath in these verses, and allude to God’s all-encompassing mercy. Shall I take gods besides Him? If the All-Beneficent desired to cause me any distress their intercession will not avail me in any way, nor will they rescue me. Indeed then I would be in manifest error (36:23-24).
The claim made in this verse – that other-than-God cannot help mankind – is actually verified by the story of many previous nations, such as the tribe of ʿĀd: So why did not those [false gods] help them whom they had taken, besides Allah, as gods, as means of nearness [to Him]? Rather, they forsook them; and that was their lie and what they used to fabricate (46:28), as well as Korah: So We caused the earth to swallow him and his house, and he had no party that might protect him from Allah, nor could he rescue himself (28:81).
In short, help comes only from Allah, the all-mighty, the all-wise (3:126); Besides Allah you do not have any guardian or any helper (2:107). Moreover, every being in the heavens and earth and at any level of existence is a part of God’s troops: To Allah belong the hosts of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is all-mighty, all-wise (48:7).
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- Imam al-Sajjād (a) supplicates to God and describes Him as follows: ‘O God … dislodge the malice from our breasts with Thy providing, distract us not from Thee through other-than-Thee, and cut none of us off from the stuff of Thy goodness; for the rich is he to whom Thou hast given riches, and the safe he whom Thou hast protected! No one has any defence against Thee, nor any means to bar Thy penalty. Thou decides what Thou wilt for whom Thou wilt and Thou decreest what Thou desirest for any whom Thou desirest! So to Thee belongs praise for protecting us from affliction, and to Thee belongs thanks for conferring upon us blessings.’
[1] Tahqiq, under j-n-d.
[2] Sahifah, supplication 36.