مَا لَكُمْ لَا تَنطِقُونَ 92
Translations
What is [wrong] with you that you do not speak?".
Transliteration
Mā lakum lā tanṭiqūn
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah is Prophet Ibrahim's (Abraham) rhetorical rebuke to the idols his people worshipped, questioning why they do not speak in response to his call. Classical scholars like Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari explain that Ibrahim uses this as a logical argument to demonstrate the futility of idol worship—objects that cannot speak, hear, or respond cannot possibly be worthy of worship or divine status. The silence of the idols becomes proof of their powerlessness and the absurdity of directing worship toward them.
Revelation Context
This ayah appears within the narrative of Prophet Ibrahim's intellectual and spiritual struggle against his people's idolatry (37:83-98). The context is Ibrahim's deliberate destruction of the idols and his subsequent dialogue with his people, using reason and evidence to challenge their false beliefs. This Meccan surah addresses the early Muslim community facing similar pressures to abandon monotheism.
Related Hadiths
While no specific hadith directly quotes this ayah, Sahih Bukhari records that the Prophet Muhammad emphasized the importance of using reason and clear signs in calling people to Allah, reflecting the methodology Ibrahim employed in this passage.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah teaches us that faith must be grounded in reason and evidence, not blind following of traditions. It reminds us to use logical arguments when confronting falsehood, recognizing that silence and absence of response from false beliefs are themselves evidence of their invalidity.