(20–21) “Or who is it that could serve as an army for you, supporting you besides the Most Merciful? The disbelievers are only in delusion * Or who is it that could provide for you if He withheld His provision? Rather, they persist in arrogance and aversion.”

Allah says to those who defiantly rebel, recoil from His command, and turn away from the truth: “Or who is it that could serve as an army for you, supporting you besides the Most Merciful?” That is, who could support you and ward off harm from you if the Most Merciful willed it for you? In other words, who besides the Most Merciful could grant you victory over your enemies? He alone grants victory, honors, and abases. If all other creatures joined together to support a servant against any enemy whatsoever, they could not benefit him in the least. Thus, after the disbelievers have learned that no one besides the Most Merciful can support them, their persistence in disbelief is nothing but delusion and foolishness.

“Or who is it that could provide for you if He withheld His provision?” That is, all provision comes from Allah. If He withheld His provision from you, who could send it to you? Creatures cannot provide even for themselves, so how could they provide for others? The Provider and Bestower of blessings—from whom alone every blessing that reaches His servants proceeds—is the One who deserves to be worshipped alone. Yet the disbelievers “persist”—that is, continue—“in arrogance,” meaning hardness of heart and refusal to yield to the truth, “and aversion,” meaning that they recoil from the truth.