that he seeks intercession through it when he asks it to intercede. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, this unbeliever will cry out and scream when he sees the harm the idols have brought him and his entry into the Fire for worshipping them, with no sign of the intercession he claimed for them:

‘One whose harm is nearer than his benefit—what an evil protector and what an evil companion!’

Or ‘he invokes’ is repeated, as though He said:

‘He invokes besides Allah what can neither harm nor benefit him.’

Then He said: ‘One whose harm,’ through being worshipped, ‘is nearer than his benefit,’ through being an intercessor—‘what an evil protector!’”

I say: He thus attributes its harm to its being worshipped, and mentions the harm the worshipper suffers thereby in the Hereafter.

Al-Suddī made a statement encompassing both answers in his well-known commentary. Regarding ‘what cannot harm him,’ he said: “It cannot harm him if he disobeys it.” Regarding ‘what cannot benefit him,’ he said: “The idol cannot benefit him if he obeys it.” Regarding ‘He invokes one whose harm,’ he said: “Its harm is in the Hereafter, because he worshipped it in this world.”

I say: The answer he has given is sound, but he has not explained why there is no contradiction.

We therefore say: His words, “what can neither harm nor benefit him,” deny that whatever is invoked and worshipped besides Allah has any power to benefit or harm. This encompasses everything other than