What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (Say: Call upon those you claim [to be gods] other than Him. They have no power to remove any harm from you or to transfer it)
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
His other question, may Allah protect you, is: Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Isra 17:56] What is the meaning of this verse?
The Shaykh:
The meaning of it is to demonstrate the incapacity of the polytheists who call upon other than Allah and think that it benefits them and harms them. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, threatened them and said to them: Call upon those... Call upon those... Yes.
The questioner:
[Al-Isra 17:56] Who?
The Shaykh:
[Al-Isra 17:56].
The questioner:
Yes, so they do not possess it.
The Shaykh:
And "zann" (claiming) is the most false of speech. Yes. So this is evidence that this is a lie against Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, and that He has no partner, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, and that harm and benefit are in the hand of Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
And for this reason He said:[Al-Isra 17:56] And no transfer. As He, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: [Al-An'am 6:17] "Removing harm" means removing it from you, and "no transfer" means transferring it from one place to another, such as transferring it from the hand to the leg, or from the head to the chest, or transferring it from one place to another, or from one person to another, or from one country to another. So the idols and the objects of worship, all of them, do not transfer the disease, do not remove the disease, and do not transfer it from the afflicted person to another except by the permission of Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, and His command. Yes.
His other question, may Allah protect you, is: Allah the Exalted said:
Say, "Invoke those you have claimed [as gods] besides Him, for they do not possess the [ability for] removal of adversity from you or [for its] transfer [to someone else]."
قُلِ ادْعُوا الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُم مِّن دُونِهِ فَلَا يَمْلِكُونَ كَشْفَ الضُّرِّ عَنكُمْ وَلَا تَحْوِيلًاThe Shaykh:
The meaning of it is to demonstrate the incapacity of the polytheists who call upon other than Allah and think that it benefits them and harms them. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, threatened them and said to them: Call upon those... Call upon those... Yes.
The questioner:
Invoke those you have claimed
ادْعُوا الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُمThe Shaykh:
Say, "Invoke those you have claimed [as gods] besides Him
قُلِ ادْعُوا الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُم مِّن دُونِهِThe questioner:
Yes, so they do not possess it.
The Shaykh:
And "zann" (claiming) is the most false of speech. Yes. So this is evidence that this is a lie against Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, and that He has no partner, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, and that harm and benefit are in the hand of Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
And for this reason He said:
for they do not possess the [ability for] removal of adversity from you
فَلَا يَمْلِكُونَ كَشْفَ الضُّرِّ عَنكُمْAnd if Allah should touch you with adversity, there is no remover of it except Him. And if He touches you with good - then He is over all things competent.
وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ اللَّهُ بِضُرٍّ فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُ إِلَّا هُوَ وَإِن يَمْسَسْكَ بِخَيْرٍ فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 1916 - ما المقصود بقوله تعالى: (قل ادعوا الذين زعمتم من دونه فلا يملكون كشف الضر عنكم ولا تحويلا) — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.