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salhum ʾayyuhum bi-dhālika zaʿīmun
Ask them, which of them will aver [any of] that!
— Ali Quli Qarai
68Al-QalamالقلمVerse 40 of 52
The Pen68. Al-Qalamالقلم
al-Qalam
The Pen
MeccanVerse 40 of 52
68Al-QalamالقلمVerse 40 of 52
The Pen
Ask them, which of them will aver [any of] that!
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-Qalam – Verses 39-41
39. Or have you oaths from Us, reaching to the Day of Resurrection that yours will be what you choose?
40. Ask them which of them will guarantee such thing?
41. Or have they partners whom they associate in partnership with Allah who intercede with Allah on their behalf? Then, let them bring their partners if they are truthful!
The blessed Verse 39 is saying that you may not produce logical and narrational arguments as to the veracity of your claims. Have we made a covenant with you which is valid to the Day of Resurrection that justifies what entails your benefits? Who may claim to have made a covenant with God Almighty that He obeys to his inclinations and He unconditionally provides him with privileges such that sinners be ranked with believers? The blessed Verse 40 proceeds with posing such questions to them and thereby leaves no room for such unfounded justifications, saying:
"Ask them which of them will guarantee that God Almighty will provide them with whatever they wish?"
It is in the last stage of such strange investigation that the blessed Verse 41 inquires whether they have objects of worship who intercede with God Almighty on their behalf and render them support. If they are true in their claims, they may present them. Could they produce any argument to substantiate that such worthless and inanimate objects are associated with God Almighty in partnership?
Thus, the blessed Verses in question lead us to the conclusion that to substantiate their claim as to being a on a par with or even superior to believers, they have to make recourse to one of the four means: to provide arguments based on reason, heavenly Scriptures, Divine Covenant, or intercession and testimony of intercessors and witnesses. Their claims are unfounded since they may not provide affirmative answers to such questions.