Surah Al-Isra 17:56

The gods of the Idolators can neither benefit nor harm; rather they themselves seek to draw close to Allah

Allah says:

(Say) O Muhammad to these idolators who worship things other than Allah,

(Call upon those - besides Him whom you pretend.) such as idols and rivals of Allah. Even if you turn to them,

(They have neither the power to remove the adversity from you) they have no such power at all,

(nor even to shift (it from you to another person.)) to lift the distress from you and give it to someone else. The meaning is that the only one Who is able to do that is Allah Alone, with no partner or associate, Who is the One Who creates and issues commands.

(Say: "Call upon those whom you pretend) Al-`Awfi reported from Ibn `Abbas, "The people of Shirk used to say, `we worship the angels and the Messiah and `Uzayr,' while these (the angels and the Messiah and `Uzayr) themselves call upon Allah."

(Those whom they call upon, desire) Al-Bukhari recorded from Sulayman bin Mahran Al-A`mash, from Ibrahim, from Abu Ma`mar, from `Abdullah:

(Those whom they call upon, desire a means of access to their Lord,) "Some of the Jinn used to be worshipped, then they became Muslims." According to another report: "Some humans used to worship some of the Jinn, then those Jinn became Muslim, but those humans adhered to their religion (of worshipping the Jinn)."

(they hope for His mercy and fear His torment.) Worship cannot be complete or perfect unless it is accompanied by both fear and hope. Fear stops one from doing things that are forbidden, and hope makes one do more good deeds.

(Verily, the torment of your Lord is (something) to be afraid of!) meaning, one should beware of it and be afraid lest it happen. We seek refuge with Allah from that.

Sabab nuzul ayat ini ialah sebagaimana diriwayatkan oleh al-Bukhari dari Ibnu Mas'ud bahwa ada manusia yang menyembah manusia dan jin. Jin tersebut sebagian masuk Islam, dan sebagian lagi tetap dalam keyakinannya. Maka turunlah ayat ini.

Dalam ayat ini, Allah memerintahkan Rasul-Nya agar mengatakan ke-pada kaum musyrikin Mekah ucapan berikut ini, "Pada saat kamu ditimpa bahaya, seperti kemiskinan dan serangan penyakit, cobalah panggil mereka yang kamu anggap tuhan selain Allah, apakah tuhan-tuhan itu mampu menghilangkan bahaya yang menimpa kamu?" Maka dalam ayat ini Allah menegaskan bahwa orang-orang yang mereka anggap tuhan itu tidak akan mampu menolak bahaya atau memindahkannya kepada orang lain. Sebab, mereka memang tidak mempunyai kekuasaan untuk melakukan yang demikian. Yang mempunyai kekuasaan dan kemampuan untuk menghilang-kan bahaya itu ialah Pencipta alam semesta ini dan sekaligus Pencipta mereka, yaitu Allah Yang Maha Esa. Oleh karena itu, Allah itulah yang harus disembah.