The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 186
CH. 11 HUD PT. 12 وَمَا ظَلَمُنْهُمْ وَلَكِنْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمُ And We did not wrong. 102 فَمَا أَغْنَتْ عَنْهُمْ أَلِهَتُهُمُ الَّتِي يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ لَمَّا جَاءَ أَمْرُ رَبَّكَ وَمَازَادُوهُمْ غَيْرَ تَتَّبِيْبِ ® them, but they wronged themselves; and their gods on whom they called beside Allah were of no avail to them at all when the command of thy Lord came; and they added to them naught but perdition. 1482 1482. Commentary: a3:118; 16:34. The Quran repeatedly emphasizes the fact that God never punishes a people unjustly and that it is their own misdeeds that bring down punishment upon them. It denies the theory of predestination or of man's being the victim of a blind fate. It also contradicts the view that God makes nations rise and fall arbitrarily, without just or real cause. This is why, wherever the Quran speaks of punishment, it does not fail to add that punishments or rewards are the results of men's own doing. This is what is hinted at in the words, And We did not wrong them but they wronged themselves. The verse also points out that of all things it is their idols that are of absolutely no use to idolaters. All other things in nature such as fire, snakes, poisons, etc. have their uses. The swords of disbelievers were also of some service to them, because with them they killed some Muslims, but what proved of entirely no use to the idolaters were their gods, upon whom they had staked their whole future. The words, and they added to them do not naught but perdition, contradict the well-known Quranic dictum that idols can do disbelievers neither good nor evil, for where the Quran denies that idols can do harm, it is intentional harm that is meant; but where it says that idols do serious harm to their votaries, as in the unintentional harm, for what greater present verse, it means involuntary or sin there can be than committing shirk, (idol-worship) of which idols are the unconscious cause. The words "but perdition" also point to the moral that shirk generally renders idolaters lax in their efforts to better their condition and thus is indirectly instrumental in bringing about their eventual destruction. When at the Fall of Mecca, some of the idolaters who, on account of their most atrocious crimes against Muslims were proscribed from the general amnesty, took shelter in the Ka'bah, thinking that the idols therein would protect them, they were ordered by the Holy Prophet to be slain. Had they known that their idols could render them no help whatsoever, they would have sought safety in flight. Thus the words "but 1394