18:52

وَيَوۡمَ يَقُولُ نَادُواْ شُرَكَآءِيَ ٱلَّذِينَ زَعَمۡتُمۡ فَدَعَوۡهُمۡ فَلَمۡ يَسۡتَجِيبُواْ لَهُمۡ وَجَعَلۡنَا بَيۡنَهُم مَّوۡبِقٗا

Wayawma yaqoolu nadoo shurakaiya allatheena zaAAamtum fadaAAawhum falam yastajeeboo lahum wajaAAalna baynahum mawbiqan

And [warn of] the Day when He will say, "Call 'My partners' whom you claimed," and they will invoke them, but they will not respond to them. And We will put between them [a valley of] destruction.

Word by word
  1. وَيَوۡمَAnd the Day
  2. يَقُولُHe will say
  3. نَادُواْCall
  4. شُرَكَآءِيَMy partners
  5. ٱلَّذِينَthose who
  6. زَعَمۡتُمۡyou claimed
  7. فَدَعَوۡهُمۡthen they will call them
  8. فَلَمۡbut not
  9. يَسۡتَجِيبُواْthey will respond
  10. لَهُمۡto them
  11. وَجَعَلۡنَاAnd We will make
  12. بَيۡنَهُمbetween them
  13. مَّوۡبِقٗاa barrier
Al-Kahf · 18:52Makkah

Call your partners now. No answer comes.

The silence of false supports


That Day
call themthe ones you claimed
they call
no responsesilence
between them
destructionno way to reach
What answers when you call
what I leaned onwill speak for me
Allah alonethe One who answers

Allah will address the idolators before all creation: call those you claimed, to save you from where you are. They call, and they will not answer them. Ibn Abbas and Qatadah said Mawbiq means destruction, a gap neither side can cross.

You text a friend at 2am in a crisis and they are asleep. The money in the account does not comfort you in the scan room. Allah is the One who always answers when you call.

The things I lean on will come through when it matters.

Only Allah answers every call. I want to know Him before I need Him most.

Try this

Make one dua today in a calm moment, not only in crisis.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And (remember) the Day He will say: "Call those (so-called) partners of Mine whom you claimed." Then they will cry unto them, but they will not answer them, and We shall put Mawbiq between them (52)And the criminals shall see the Fire and apprehend that they are to fall therein. And they will find no way of escape from it (53)

Their Partners are not able to respond and the Criminals are brought to the Fire

Allah tells us how He will address the idolators on the Day of Resurrection before all of creation, rebuking and scolding them,

نَادُوا شُرَكَائِيَ الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُمْ

(Call those (so-called) partners of Mine whom you claimed.) meaning, in the world. Call them today to save you from the situation you are in! Allah says:

وَلَقَدْ جِئْتُمُونَا فُرَادَىٰ كَمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَتَرَكْتُم مَّا خَوَّلْنَاكُمْ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِكُمْ ۖ وَمَا نَرَىٰ مَعَكُمْ شُفَعَاءَكُمُ الَّذِينَ زَعَمْتُمْ أَنَّهُمْ فِيكُمْ شُرَكَاءُ ۚ لَقَد تَّقَطَّعَ بَيْنَكُمْ وَضَلَّ عَنكُم مَّا كُنتُمْ تَزْعُمُونَ

(And truly, you have come unto Us alone as We created you the first time. You have left what you were given behind your backs and We do see not with you your intercessors whom you claimed were your partners. Now all relations between you and them have been cut off, and all that you used to claim has vanished from you.)[6:94]

فَدَعَوْهُمْ فَلَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَهُمْ

(Then they will cry unto them, but they will not answer them.) As Allah says:

وَقِيلَ ادْعُوا شُرَكَاءَكُمْ فَدَعَوْهُمْ فَلَمْ يَسْتَجِيبُوا لَهُمْ

(And it will be said (to them): "Call upon those partners of yours," then they will call upon them, but they will not answer them.)[28:64] And the Ayah:

وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّن يَدْعُو مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَن لَّا يَسْتَجِيبُ لَهُ

(And who is more astray than one who calls others besides Allah, such as will not answer him)[46:5] Until the end of the two Ayat;

وَاتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ آلِهَةً لِّيَكُونُوا لَهُمْ عِزًّا - كَلَّا ۚ سَيَكْفُرُونَ بِعِبَادَتِهِمْ وَيَكُونُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضِدًّا

(And they have taken gods besides Allah, that they may grant them honor. Nay, but they will deny their worship of them, and become opponents to them.)[19:81-82]

وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُم مَّوْبِقًا

(and We shall put Mawbiq between them.)

Ibn 'Abbas, Qatadah and others said: "Destruction." The meaning is that Allah is stating that these idolators will have no way of reaching the gods they claimed in this world. He will separate them in the Hereafter and neither party will have any means of reaching the other. There will be devastation, great horrors and other terrible things in between them. 'Abdullah bin 'Amr understood the pronoun in the phrase "between them" to refer to the believers and the disbelievers, meaning that the people of guidance and the people of misguidance will be separated. This then is like the Ayat:

وَيَوْمَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَتَفَرَّقُونَ

(And on the Day when the Hour will be established – that Day shall (all men) be separated.)[30:14]

يَوْمَئِذٍ يَصَّدَّعُونَ

(On that Day men shall be divided.)[30:43],

وَامْتَازُوا الْيَوْمَ أَيُّهَا الْمُجْرِمُونَ

((It will be said), "And O you the criminals! Get you apart this Day (from the believers).)[36:59]

وَيَوْمَ نَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ نَقُولُ لِلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا مَكَانَكُمْ أَنتُمْ وَشُرَكَاؤُكُمْ ۚ فَزَيَّلْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ

(And on the Day when We shall gather them all together, then We shall say to those who joined partners, "Stop in your place! You and your partners." Then We shall separate between them...) until,

وَضَلَّ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ

(And what they invented will vanish from them.)[10:28-30]

وَرَأَى الْمُجْرِمُونَ النَّارَ فَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُم مُّوَاقِعُوهَا وَلَمْ يَجِدُوا عَنْهَا مَصْرِفًا

(And the criminals shall see the Fire and apprehend that they are to fall therein. And they will find no way of escape from it.) meaning when they see Hell with their own eyes, since it is being dragged forth by seventy thousand reins, each pulled by seventy thousand angels. When,

وَرَأَى الْمُجْرِمُونَ النَّارَ

(the criminals shall see the Fire), they will realize that they cannot escape being thrown into it, and that will only intesify their anxiety and distress, because the anticipation and fear of punishment is in itself a real punishment.

وَلَمْ يَجِدُوا عَنْهَا مَصْرِفًا

(And they will find no way of escape from it.) means, they will have no way of fleeing, it will be inevitable.