Al-Ahqaf Verse 28

Why then did those ˹idols˺ they took as gods—hoping to get closer ˹to Him˺—not come to their aid? Instead, they failed them. That is ˹the result of˺ their lies and their fabrications.

Why is it that they were not helped by those [idols] whom they took as gods besides Allah so that they might bring them closer to Him? Rather, they were lost from them. Such was [the outcome of] their falsehood and the lies they used to fabricate.

Then why did those not help them that they had taken to themselves as mediators, gods apart from God? Not so; but they went astray from them, and that was their calumny, and what they had been forging.

so why did their gods not help them, those they set up as gods besides God to bring them nearer to Him? No indeed! They failed them utterly: it was all a lie of their own making.

Then wherefore succoured them not those whom they had taken for gods beside Allah, as a means of approach? Aye! they failed them. And that was their lie, that which they had been fabricating.

Why then was no help forthcoming to them from those whom they worshipped as gods, besides Allah, as a means of access (to Allah)? Nay, they left them in the lurch; but that was their falsehood and their invention.

So why did those whom they had set up as gods apart from Allah, hoping that they would bring them nearer to Him, not come to their aid? Instead, they failed them. This was the end of the lie they had fabricated and the false beliefs they had invented.

Why then did the gods they had taken apart from God as propitiators, not come to their aid? In fact they strayed away from them. It was all a lie what they had contrived!

So why did they – the ones whom they had chosen as Gods as a means of attaining Allah’s proximity – not help them? In fact the disbelievers lost them; and this is just their slander and fabrication.

So why did not those [fake deities] help them whom they had taken as gods besides Allah, as a means of nearness [to Him]? Indeed, they forsook them; that was their lie and what they used to fabricate.

So, why did those whom they took for deities apart from God as a means of nearness (to God) not help them (against God’s punishment)? Rather, they failed them. That was (the end result of) their falsehood and all that they used to fabricate (of slanders against God).

Why then, did not those beings whom they had taken up for gods apart from Allâh to bring (them) close (to Him) help them? Instead (of being any help to them) they were lost to them. Such was (the outcome of) their lie and (of) what they fabricated (that their gods were a means to bring them close to God).

So if only those whom they took (as) an approachment to God, gods from other than God gave them victory/aid (if only their gods that they worship other than God would give them victory), but they misguided from them, and that (is) their lies/falsehood, and what they were fabricating/cutting and splitting.

So why did they - the ones whom they had chosen as Gods as a means of attaining Allah’s proximity - not help them? In fact the disbelievers lost them; and this is just their slander and fabrication.

Why did not then those help them whom they took for gods besides Allah to draw them nigh (to Him)? Nay! They were lost to them; and this was their lie and what they forged.

Then why did those whom they had taken for aliha (gods) besides Allah, as a way of approach (to Allah) not help them? Nay, but they vanished completely from them (when there came the torment). And that was their lie, and their inventions which they had been inventing (before their destruction).

And certainly We destroyed the towns round about you, and We repeat the messages that they may turn.

Why did not then those help them whom they took for gods besides Allah to draw (them) nigh (to Him)? Nay! they were lost to them; and this was their lie and what they forged.

Then why did those whom they had chosen for gods as a way of approach (unto Allah) not help them? Nay, but they did fail them utterly. And (all) that was their lie, and what they used to invent.

Why did the idols, whom they worshipped as a means of pleasing God, not help them? In fact, they proved to be the cause of their going astray and it were lies which they had falsely invented lies.

Why did not those who they took, other than Allah, as mediating gods help them! Indeed, they went astray from them! Such were their lies and what they were forging.

As for those whom they had taken for gods besides Allah, as the means of approach to Him, why then did they not aid them Nay, but they vanished completely from them. And that was their falsehood, and what they were fabricating.

so why did their gods not help them, those they set up as gods besides God to bring them nearer to Him? No indeed! They failed them utterly: it was all a lie, a fabrication of their own making.

Why then did the idols, whom they worshiped as means of nearness to God, not help them? In fact, they abandoned them. It was their lie, a fabrication of their own making.

So why did they not help them, by averting from them the chastisement, those whom they had chosen besides God, that is to say, other than Him, as [a means of] nearness, through whom they may secure nearness to God, to be gods?, alongside Him, and these are the idols (the first object of ittakhadh, `they had chosen', is the omitted pronoun referred to by the relative clause [alladhna, `those who ...'], and it is hum, `they'; qurbnan, `nearness', is the second [object], with lihatan, `gods', as its substitution). Nay, but they forsook them, when the chastisement came down [on them], and that, that is to say, [that] choosing of theirs of idols as gods as a means of nearness [to God], was their lie and what they used to invent -- the lies they used to speak (m, `what', either relates to the verbal action [`their lying'], or it indicates a relative clause with the referential pronoun omitted, this being fhi, `about').

فَلَوْلَا نَصَرَهُمُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ قُرْبَانًا الِهَةً

so that perhaps they might return.

As for those whom they had taken for gods besides Allah, as the means of approach to Him, why then did they not aid them?

meaning, did they help them when they were in the greatest need for them?

بَلْ ضَلُّوا عَنْهُمْ

but they vanished completely from them.

Rather, they completely left them alone when they needed them the most.

وَذَلِكَ إِفْكُهُمْ

And that was their falsehood, (meaning, their lie).

وَمَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ



and what they were fabricating.

which means that they fabricated lies by taking them as gods, and they lost and failed in their worship of them and their reliance upon them -- and Allah knows best