Here Allah points out the insignificance of the idols and the foolishness of those who worship them.
O mankind! A parable has been made,
meaning, a parable of that which is worshipped by those who are ignorant of Allah and who join others as partners with Him.
so listen to it pay attention and understand.
Verily, those on whom you call besides Allah, cannot create a fly, even though they combine together for the purpose.
Even if all the idols and false gods whom you worship were to come together to create a single fly, they would not be able to do that. Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Hurayrah recorded the Marfu‘ report:
«Who does more wrong than one who tries to create something like My creation? Let them create an ant or a fly or a seed like My creation!»
This was also recorded by the authors of the Two Sahihs via ‘Umarah from Abu Zur'ah from Abu Hurayrah, who said that the Prophet said:
«Allah says: “Who does more wrong than one who tries to create (something) like My creation? Let them create an ant, let them create a grain of barley.”»
Then Allah says:
And if the fly snatches away a thing from them, they will have no power to release it from the fly.
They are unable to create a single fly and, moreover, they are unable to resist it or take revenge against it if it were to take anything from the good and perfumed thing on which it lands. If they wanted to recover that, they would not be able to, even though the fly is the weakest and most insignificant of Allah’s creatures. Allah says:
So weak are the seeker and the sought.
Ibn ‘Abbas said, “The seeker is the idol and the sought is the fly.” This was the view favored by Ibn Jarir, and it is what is apparent from the context. As-Suddi and others said, “The seeker is the worshipper, and the sought is the idol.” Then Allah says:
They have not regarded Allah with His rightful esteem.
meaning, they have not recognized the might and power of Allah when they worship alongside Him those who cannot...