وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يُنَزِّلْ بِهِ سُلْطَانًا وَمَا لَيْسَ لَهُم بِهِ عِلْمٌ  

And they worship, besides Allah, that for which He has sent no authority, and that of which they have no knowledge;

    This Ayah applies to people who worship anything other than Allah, be it:

1. Idols,

2. Ideas,

3. Money,

4. Power, or

5. Authority, among many others.

    These people are beset with personal wrong choices and may become devoted to them to the degree of worship.  Their obsession becomes like idols, occupying all their time and energy.  In other words, they are making idols out of their choices.  So, they are in effect worshipping these fallacies rather than Allah (swt).

Ø A person who devotes his time and energy to things other than Allah (swt) is sadly mistaken.  He is wasting himself, his energy, and his effort, since the True One is Allah and He is the One to be served, and for His cause we are to spend our energies.

Ø Therefore, the one who is devoted to Allah (swt) and works in every field (scientific or otherwise) for the sake of Islam is on the true path, while the one who devotes himself to something else to the exclusion of Allah is on the wrong path.

ٌ وَمَا لِلظَّالِمِينَ مِن نَّصِير 

and there shall not be any helper for the wrongdoer.

    The disbelievers exclude Allah and His Directives from their hearts, or simply pay it lip service.  They believe in ideologies and concepts of their own.  By so doing, the disbelievers feel free to do as they please, to any degree they please, in any direction they desire, as if there will be no Day of Judgment and they will not have to answer!

    The certainty of death is sure, and such disbelievers will account in front of Allah Most High in full detail for:

1. their earthly deeds and actions,

2. their beliefs, and

3. anything they idolized and worshiped, be it money, power, authority, or ideology.

    The disbelievers will be without anyone to help them in the Hereafter, since what they had idolized or worshiped will be without power or significance.  What helps and upholds man on the Day of Judgment is his devotion to faith and his good deeds, they are his saviors.

وَإِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُنَا بَيِّنَاتٍ تَعْرِفُ فِي وُجُوهِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الْمُنكَرَ 

When Our lucid verses are recited to them,

you will see repugnance on the faces of those who disbelieve;

    This Ayah refers to the actions of the disbelievers, who follow their own belief and ideology, however baseless and weak.  Their hearts are not open to observation and intelligent conclusions, even though nature is an open book inviting them to Allah.  They leave an invisible wall between themselves and the evidence around them.

Ø Such are they that if Allah's Revelations are read to them, they reject, or contest.  You can see expression of fear on their faces as if too frightened to hear the Truth.  So the disbelievers insist on their wrong ideology and what they believe in.

Ø These disbelievers don't argue with evidence, because theirs is a weak one.  They cannot prove their beliefs, so they become emotional and may want to use force and violence.

 يَكَادُونَ يَسْطُونَ بِالَّذِينَ يَتْلُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِنَا 

well-nigh they leap upon those who recite Our verses to them.

    This is a further description of the disbelievers.  When Allah's Revelations are read to them they disclaim them, though deep in their hearts they know the Revelations are the Truth.  They don't want to believe in them, but at the same time they know their beliefs are false.  So they become frustrated and their faces show signs of hostility, anger, and ill-intent.

    The intensity of their feelings may be so they almost assault the believers, the well-meaning people reading to them Allah's Revelations.  Such are they and all the disbelievers throughout the ages.

قُلْ أَفَأُنَبِّئُكُم بِشَرٍّ مِّن ذَلِكُمُ  

النَّارُ وَعَدَهَا اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ  

(O' Muhammad) Say to them, "Shall I inform you of something worse than this?  (It is) Hell-Fire, which Allah has promised to those who disbelieve; wretched is their final end."

    Allah addresses Himself to Muhammad (pbuh).  "Say to those disbelievers," Allah says, "that whatever force or coercion you use, and however arrogant you are, none of this matters.  You will receive much more pain than the one you inflict on others.  Your case is a lost one."  For the disbelievers there is a painful doom, the Hell-Fire which Allah has promised.  Such people, be they big or small, influential or rich, black or white, Hell Fire is awaiting them.

    He who does not heed Allah or obey His Directives or has no faith in Him, the case of such a person is hopeless, he will end up in Hell.

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ 

O mankind, a parable is set forth, so give heed to it:

    Allah gives an analogy to mankind, and the disbelievers are to take notice in particular, since they are everywhere, in every country, and of every race.

    An analogy is given to show the Power and Might of Allah, especially when compared with man's, since ours is so trivial.  It shows the insignificance of man and his limited power.

 إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ اجْتَمَعُوا لَهُ  

Verily, those upon whom you call, besides Allah, cannot create a fly, even if they all join together for the purpose;

    Of all things Allah took the fly as an example.  He challenged every disbeliever by the small, insignificant fly!  He challenged: "Whatever you follow, be it scientific or not, conceptual or not, let such create a fly, even if all band together for the purpose!"

    The answer is obvious, of course they cannot.  So, even the fly has defeated them, it has defeated the disbelievers and everything they believe in.  This analogy brings man to his senses, to realize how weak and powerless he is compared to Allah's Power.

 وَإِن يَسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيْئًا لايَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ  

and should the fly carry off something from them, they cannot retrieve it (from the fly).

    Think of this Ayah and see how Allah has indirectly described the viruses and bacteria!

    He says man cannot create a fly, but if the fly robs man of something, man cannot believe it was done by this fly.  The thing seized are actually the viruses and the bacteria which flies infect people with to cause sickness and death.  So the fly takes away life through disease, and Allah's challenge to the disbelievers is to bring back life to the one who dies of the disease.

    This analogy was to destroy the ego of the disbelievers and to show them their insignificance.  Allah did not choose the lion or the tiger as the example because these animals may represent power in the disbelievers' eyes.  He chose the insignificant fly and challenged them with it.

ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ وَالْمَطْلُوبُ  

Feeble are those who invoke and those whom they invoke!

    Allah (swt) says: "See how feeble the fly is, yet you are challenged by it.  See how feeble you are when your Deities are not able to create a fly nor are you able to stop a simple fly from giving you life threatening disease."

    In other words, both the disbelievers and their deities are feeble and trivial; that the True Power is only that of Allah (swt).

مَا قَدَرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ  

Indeed, they do not give Allah His rightful measure,

surely Allah is Mighty and Exalted.

    After defeating the disbelievers, Allah reminds them they have not given Him His due measure:  They were to believe in Him and submit.  They were not to ignore or deny Him, or worship something else.

The disbelievers have not given Allah the rightful measure by:

§ worshiping what cannot even create a fly,

§ refusing to acknowledge Allah and submit to Him.

Then Allah reminds us He is the Mighty and the Exalted.