(41–43) “The likeness of those who take protectors besides Allah is that of a spider that builds itself a house; yet the frailest of all houses is surely the spider’s house, if only they knew. Allah surely knows whatever they invoke besides Him, and He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. These are the parables We set forth for humanity, but none truly comprehend them except those who possess knowledge.”
This is a parable Allah sets forth for anyone who worships another alongside Him, seeking thereby honor, strength, and benefit. Yet the result is the very opposite of what he seeks. His likeness is that of a spider which builds itself a house to protect it from heat, cold, and harm. “Yet the frailest of all houses”—the weakest and most feeble of them—“is surely the spider’s house.” The spider is a weak creature, and its house is among the weakest of houses; by building it, the spider only increases its weakness. The same is true of those who take protectors besides Allah. They are needy and helpless in every respect; and when they take protectors besides Him, seeking honor and victory through them, they only add weakness to their weakness and frailty to their frailty.
They rely upon these protectors for many of their interests, entrust those interests to them, and abandon their own efforts on the assumption that those protectors will attend to them. But they forsake them: they gain nothing worthwhile from them, nor do they receive even the slightest measure of their aid.
Had they possessed true knowledge of their own condition and that of those whom they took as protectors, they would never have taken them as such. They would have disavowed them and instead taken as their Protector the Almighty, Most Merciful Lord. When His servant takes Him as his Protector and places his trust in Him, He suffices him in the affairs of his religion and worldly life, and the servant’s existing strength is increased—in his heart, body, condition, and deeds.
Having explained the extreme weakness of the polytheists’ deities, Allah proceeds to a still more emphatic point: those deities are nothing at all. They are merely names the polytheists have coined and suppositions they have embraced. Upon careful examination, a rational person recognizes their falsehood and unreality. Thus He says: “Allah surely knows whatever they invoke besides Him.” That is, He—exalted is He, the Knower of the unseen and the seen—knows that what they invoke besides Allah is nothing in reality and no true deity, as He says: “They are nothing but names that you and your forefathers have coined, for which Allah has sent down no authority.” He also says: “Those who invoke partners besides Allah follow nothing; they follow only conjecture and do nothing but speculate.”
“And He is the Almighty,” to whom all power belongs and by whose power He has subdued every created being; “the All-Wise,” who places all things in their proper places, has made everything He created excellent, and has perfectly ordered all that He decrees.
“These are the parables We set forth for humanity”—that is, for their benefit and instruction, because parables are among the means by which knowledge is made clear. They bring abstract matters closer to understanding through perceptible examples, thereby clarifying the intended meaning. They are therefore beneficial to people generally.
“But none truly comprehend them”—by understanding them, reflecting upon them, applying them to what they were intended to illustrate, and retaining them in the heart—“except those who possess knowledge”; that is, those endowed with true knowledge, whose knowledge has reached their hearts.
This praises the parables Allah sets forth, encourages people to contemplate and comprehend them, and commends those who understand them. Their comprehension is a sign that they are people of knowledge. It follows that anyone who fails to comprehend them is not among those who possess knowledge.
The reason is that the parables Allah sets forth in the Quran concern momentous matters, lofty aims, and weighty questions. People of knowledge recognize that these are more important than other matters because Allah has given them special attention and urged His servants to comprehend and contemplate them. They therefore exert their utmost effort to understand them.
As for one who fails to comprehend them despite their importance, this proves that he is not among the people of knowledge. For if he does not understand the most important questions, then he is even less likely to understand other matters. This is why Allah most frequently sets forth parables concerning the fundamental principles of religion and similar subjects.