لَهُۥ دَعْوَةُ ٱلْحَقِّ وَٱلَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِۦ لَا يَسْتَجِيبُونَ لَهُم بِشَىْءٍ إِلَّا كَبَٰسِطِ كَفَّيْهِ إِلَى ٱلْمَآءِ لِيَبْلُغَ فَاهُ وَمَا هُوَ بِبَٰلِغِهِۦ
"The true call is to Him. Those they call upon besides Him answer them with nothing; they are like a man stretching out his palms towards water so that it may reach his mouth — and it will not reach it."
| Element | What it is |
|---|---|
| Bāsiṭu kaffayh | The one who spreads out his palms — there is movement |
| Ila'l-māʾ | Towards the water — the target is real |
| Li-yablugha fāh | So that it may reach his mouth — the aim is legitimate |
| Wa mā huwa bi-bālighih | It will not reach — the one thing that is missing |
I record this as my own reading: what is wrong in the similitude is neither the intention nor the target nor the effort — the water really is there, and the man really does reach out. What is missing is that the water does not come to the mouth of itself. The call, that is, is made not into a void but to a place that cannot answer.
And the same matter was treated in three stages at Fāṭir 35/13-14 (they do not hear; if they heard they could not answer; in the end they reject). Al-Raʿd gives the same thing in a single similitude.
وَمَا دُعَآءُ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ إِلَّا فِى ضَلَٰلٍ — ḍalāl: being lost, straying from the way. The prayer, that is, is not lost — it loses its way.