Tafseer Ibn Kathir of HUUD [53]

53. They said: ”O Hud! No evidence have you brought us, and we shall not leave our gods for your (mere) saying! And we are not believers in you. 54. All that we say is that some of our gods (false deities) have seized you with evil (madness). He said: ”I call Allah to witness and bear you witness that I am free from that which you ascribe as partners in worship, 55. Besides Him (Allah). So plot against me, all of you, and give me no respite.'' 56. I put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord! There is not a moving creature but He has the grasp of its forelock. Verily, my Lord is on the straight path (the truth). Allah, the Exalted, informs that they said to their Prophet,

(No evidence have you brought us.) This means that they claimed that Hud had not brought them any proof or evidence for what he claimed.

(and we shall not leave our gods for your (mere) saying!) They were saying how could his mere statement, ”Leave these gods,'' be sufficient proof for them to leave their idols

(and we are not believers in you.) This means that they did not believe what he was saying was true.

(All that we say is that some of our gods have seized you with evil.) They were saying, ”We think that some of our idols have afflicted you with madness and insanity in your intellect because you are trying to stop them from being worshipped and defame them.''

(He said: ”I call Allah to witness and bear you witness, that I am free from that which you ascribe as partners in worship besides Him (Allah).)﴿11:54-55﴾ Here, he is saying, ”Verily, I am innocent of all of the rivals and idols (that you associate with Allah).

(So plot against me, all of you,) you and your gods if they are true.''

(and give me no respite.) the blinking of an eye.'' Then, Allah says,

(I put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord! There is not a moving creature but He has the grasp of its forelock.) Every creature is under His (Allah's) power and His authority. He is the Best Judge, the Most Just, Who does not do any injustice in His ruling. For verily, He is upon the straight path. Verily, this argument contains a far-reaching proof and absolute evidence of the truthfulness of what Hud had come to them with. It also proves the falsehood of them worshipping idols that could not benefit nor harm them. Rather, these idols were inanimate objects that could not hear, see, befriend, or make enmity. The only One Who is worthy of having worship directed solely towards Him is Allah alone, without any partners. He is the One in Whose Hand is the sovereignty and He is in control of all things. There is nothing except that it is under His owner- ship, power and authority. Thus, there is no deity worthy of worship except Him and there is no Lord other than Him.