The Holy Quran 43:20 — Surah Az-Zukhruf

Arabic text

وَقَالُوا۟ لَوْ شَآءَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ مَا عَبَدْنَـٰهُم ۗ مَّا لَهُم بِذَٰلِكَ مِنْ عِلْمٍ ۖ إِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ

Translation

They say, “If Allaah willed, we would not have worshipped (served) them (our gods)." They have absolutely no justification (reason) for this (statement) and only speculate. (Whereas Allaah has given them the choice to do good and evil, they shift the blame from themselves by claiming that Allaah made them commit Shirk.)

Tafsir (excerpt) — Tafsir Usmani

and see — they even put forward a rational argument for the permissibility and commendability of these idolatrous insolences of theirs: that if Allah had willed, He would have stopped us from worshipping things other than Him. Since we kept on doing it and He did not stop us, it is proven that these deeds are good and pleasing to Him.

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