Tafheem ul Quran
Surah 22 Al-Haj, Ayat 73-73
يٰۤـاَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسۡتَمِعُوۡا لَهٗ ؕ اِنَّ الَّذِيۡنَ تَدۡعُوۡنَ مِنۡ دُوۡنِ اللّٰهِ لَنۡ يَّخۡلُقُوۡا ذُبَابًا وَّلَوِ اجۡتَمَعُوۡا لَهٗ ؕ وَاِنۡ يَّسۡلُبۡهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيۡـئًـا لَّا يَسۡتَـنۡـقِذُوۡهُ مِنۡهُ ؕ ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ وَالۡمَطۡلُوۡبُ
﴿22:73﴾
(22:73) O people, a parable is set forth: pay heed to it. Those who call
upon aught other than Allah shall never be able to create even a fly, even if
all of them were to come together to do that. And if the fly were to snatch
away anything from them, they would not be able to recover that from it. Powerless
is the supplicant; and powerless is he to whom he supplicates.123
Notes
123. This parable has been cited to impress upon the idolworshipers that
their deities are absolutely powerless, for even if they all collaborated to
create an insignificant thing like a fly, they could not; nay, even if a fly
snatched away anything from them they could not prevent it. This shows how weak
they themselves are and how powerless are the idols they supplicate.