Continuation of the explanation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: << The likeness of those who take others besides Allah as allies is the likeness of a spider who takes a house, and the weakest of houses is the house of the spider, if only they knew
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This is why the people of Ibrahim said: [Al-Anbya 21:68] They support them and hope for victory from them. This is why these idols were named . And His saying: [Al-Baqarah 2:23] means other than Him. The evidence that the intended meaning here is "other than Him" is that this appeared in multiple verses, such as His saying: Yes, and the expression "al-dun" (other than) is used because of the lowly rank of these idols relative to whom? Relative to Allah, Mighty and Majestic. [Al-'Ankabut 29:41] So who are the ones who took as awliya (close friends of Allah) other than Allah? The intended meaning is the mushrikin (those who associate partners with Allah), who are like them. meaning like the web of the spider. The spider is a well-known small creature that makes a house for itself from the web. This house of web is what it sets up and comes out of. And Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is capable of all things. This spider, when it falls from a height, immediately secretes this web and clings to it so that it does not fall to the ground. Then, in addition to that, it secretes it and clings to it, and you find it hanging by this thread. And if it wishes to ascend by it, it ascends, turning over so that its head is the highest, and it climbs with this thread which it secreted immediately. Then, also, when it catches its prey—and most of what it catches is flies—what does it do with it? It binds it with these threads until it destroys it. And this is part of what Allah the Exalted said: [Taha 20:50] He guided this creation to what is in its benefit. The point is that this spider took a house, meaning it made a house for itself from where? From the web that it weaves. The author said: for itself, to which it takes refuge. "And this is observed. Weaker. [Al-'Ankabut 29:41]" This is the speech of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, who is the Knower of what we have not encompassed in knowledge. How many of the creations of Allah the Exalted have houses, and we do not know about these houses except what we observe of them. And how much is hidden from us. And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: [Al-'Ankabut 29:41] And He affirmed this phrase [Al-'Ankabut 29:41] with , and the letter "lam" is for the affirmation of the weakness of these awliya (close friends of Allah). Just as these houses to which the spiders take refuge are weak, indeed they are the weakest of houses and the most fragile. So these awliya (close friends of Allah) are also the weakest of awliya (close friends of Allah), for they do not benefit their worshippers. Indeed, Allah says in the Qur'an: [Al-Anbya 21:98-99] "They did not enter it," meaning the gods or those who deified them? It includes both. If they were true gods, they would have prevented themselves from entering the Fire and would have prevented their worshippers from entering the Fire. But they are false gods that do not benefit. This is the aspect of the similarity in His saying: [Al-'Ankabut 29:41] This simile is one that the rhetoricians call "tashbih al-tamthili" (representative simile), meaning that it is composed of a sentence. If you say: "So-and-so is like the sea in generosity," this is a simile, but it is a "tashbih ifradi" (individual simile); you compared an individual to an individual. But if you bring something where you compare a story to a story or a case to a case, then the simile here is "tamthili" (representative), composed of multiple aspects of the compared thing and the compared-to, and the aspects of similarity are also multiple. So we call this simile a "tashbih tamthili" (representative simile) because it is composed of a complete story. That is, it was not intended to compare the worshippers to the spider alone and the worshipped to the houses alone. It was intended to compare the complete case to the complete case so that the picture becomes clear to the addressee. His saying: [Al-'Ankabut 29:41] The author said in explaining this illusion: "It does not ward off from it heat or cold" Yes, it does not ward off heat or cold, nor does it protect it from calamities, such as something falling on it or the like. This house is the weakest of houses. So these idols do not benefit their worshippers. On this basis, we say: These who worshipped these idols did not take refuge in a useful refuge, but in a refuge that is neither useful nor preventing nor repelling. And for this reason, Allah compared that to the house of the spider. In another verse, He compared these idols and their invocation to a man stretching his hands to water to reach his mouth. Does he reach it? A man has water in front of him and he is thirsty, so he stretches his hands to the water like this, wanting to reach the mouth. Can he reach it? It is impossible that he can reach it ever. So these idols also do not benefit their worshippers, just as this water does not reach the mouth of this thirsty man. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: [Al-Baqarah 2:102] That is what they worshipped. " This is a conditional sentence, and the action of the condition is His saying: and its answer is implied in the author's words. And what is its implied meaning? And it should not be connected to the phrase before it, because if you connected it to what came before it, the weakness of the spider's house would be conditioned by their knowledge, whereas it is the weakest of houses whether they knew it or not. And for this reason, it is necessary to stop at His saying: Then we say: [Al-Baqarah 2:102], The author says: "They did not worship them" It is possible that the answer is: meaning if they were among those with beneficial knowledge, this matter would not have been hidden from them. So if this matter was not hidden from them, they would not have engaged in worship. In any case, this indicates the ignorance of these worshippers, no matter how much intelligence they reached or how good their management in the world was. In this regard, they are fools; they have no knowledge and no intellect. This verse reminds us of a verse in which many people also make a mistake, in Surat al-Takathur: [At-Takathur 102:5] Some people connect it and say: [At-Takathur 102:5-6] And this is an error, because the meaning is corrupted by it with clear corruption. Because if you connected it, it would be the answer to , and the matter is not so. Rather, is a new, independent sentence in which Allah the Exalted informed us that we will see the Hellfire. So it is necessary to stop at His saying: [At-Takathur 102:5] Yes.