He worships Him with his tongue rather than with his heart. “If some good befalls him”—sound health and ample provision—“he is content with it”: that is, he is pleased with it and finds reassurance in it. “But if a trial befalls him”—an affliction in his body and hardship in his livelihood—“he turns back on his heels”: he apostatizes and returns to the former state of disbelief in which he had been. “He loses this world”: that is, this doubter loses this world by being deprived of what he had hoped for, “and the Hereafter,” through the loss of his religion and abiding forever in the Fire. Ya'qub recited it as khāsir (“a loser”), with an alif, and recited “the Hereafter” in the genitive case. “That is the clear loss”: that is, the evident loss.

“He calls upon, besides Allah, that which can neither harm nor benefit him. That is the farthest straying. He calls upon one whose harm is nearer than his benefit. What an evil patron and what an evil companion!” (12) (13)

“He calls upon, besides Allah, that which does not harm him” if he disobeys it and does not worship it, “nor benefit him” if he obeys and worships it. “That is the farthest straying”: far removed from truth and right guidance.

“He calls upon one whose harm is nearer than his benefit.” This verse is among the intricate passages of the Quran and raises several questions.

The first is this: Allah says in the first verse, “He calls upon, besides Allah, that which does not harm him,” yet here He says, “one whose harm is nearer.” How are these two statements reconciled?

It is said: His saying in the first verse, “He calls upon, besides Allah, that which does not harm him,” means that abandoning its worship does not harm him; while His saying, “one whose harm is nearer,” means the harm resulting from worshipping it.

If it is asked: He says, “one whose harm is nearer than his benefit,” yet there is no benefit at all in worshipping an idol. How then can this be said?

It is said: This accords with Arab usage, for they describe something that does not exist at all as being distant. Thus Allah, Most High, says: “That is a far-fetched return” (Qaf: 3), meaning that there will be no return at all. Since any benefit from an idol is remote—in the sense that it has no benefit whatsoever—it is said that its harm is nearer, because its harm does exist.

The third question concerns His saying, “one whose harm is nearer”: what is the function of this lam? They differed over it. Some said that it is an additional particle, so that the meaning is: “He calls upon one whose harm is nearer” (1). Ibn Mas'ud likewise recited it this way. It was also said that “one whose harm is nearer” means: to that one whose harm is nearer than his benefit. Another view is that “he calls upon” means “he says,” with the predicate omitted; that is, he says: “He whose harm is nearer than his benefit is a god.”