وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنفَعُهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ هَٰٓؤُلَآءِ شُفَعَٰٓؤُنَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ
"They serve, apart from God, what can neither harm them nor benefit them, and they say: 'These are our intercessors with God.' Say: 'Are you informing God of something He does not know in the heavens or on the earth?' He is far above and beyond what they associate with Him."
The logic of the sentence must be recorded: if such an authority to intercede existed, God would know it. Do you suppose you are informing Him of something He does not know? The claim, that is, makes itself impossible.
I record this as an observation, and the same structure will recur in the sūra: the answer given in the sixty-eighth verse to the claim "God has taken a child" is on the same pattern — in ʿindakum min sulṭānin bi-hādhā, a-taqūlūna ʿala'llāhi mā lā taʿlamūn. In both places only one thing is asked: where is the proof?
And this overlaps with the backbone of the sūra: in the thirty-sixth verse it will be said inna'ẓ-ẓanna lā yughnī mina'l-ḥaqqi shayʾā. The claim of mediation is an application of the sūra's conjecture–truth axis.
The third verse had bound intercession to leave. The eighteenth verse shows what happens where that leave is absent.
| Verse | On intercession |
|---|---|
| 3 | Mā min shafīʿin illā min baʿdi idhnih — a note |
| 18 | Hāʾulāʾi shufaʿāʾunā ʿinda'llāh — a claim |
And the words of the claim must be recorded: ʿinda'llāh — "with God". Those who make the claim, that is, do not reject God; they describe a standing with Him. At al-Zumar 39/3 (mā naʿbuduhum illā li-yuqarribūnā ila'llāhi zulfā) the same ground was treated, and it was recorded there: the objection is not to God but to being without an intermediary. I rely on that treatment.
مَا لَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنفَعُهُمْ — and this pair will come back at the end of the sūra in the Prophet's mouth: wa lā tadʿu min dūni'llāhi mā lā yanfaʿuka wa lā yaḍurruk (106). The same two verbs, with their order changed.
| Verse | Order | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Lā yaḍurruhum wa lā yanfaʿuhum — harm first | A statement about them |
| 106 | Lā yanfaʿuka wa lā yaḍurruk — benefit first | Address to the Prophet |
I record this as an observation about the word order. The grammarians explain such changes of order by context; here the first place names the object of worship, the second the object of prayer — and what is expected of prayer is first of all benefit. I give this explanation as my own reading; it is not binding.