Surah Al-Mulk 67:20
سُورَةُ المُلۡكِ · Meccan · Verse 20 of 30
أَمَّنْ هَٰذَا ٱلَّذِى هُوَ جُندٌۭ لَّكُمْ يَنصُرُكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ۚ إِنِ ٱلْكَٰفِرُونَ إِلَّا فِى غُرُورٍ
Translation
What force can help you if the Lord of Mercy does not? The disbelievers are truly deluded.
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'Who is this, an army for you, that would help you instead of the Most Merciful? The disbelievers are in nothing but delusion.' Ibn Ashur and al-Razi note the verse strips away the two things people trusted instead of Allah: their forces and their idols. Against His will, what 'army' actually helps? al-Saadi is blunt: were all creation to gather to aid one servant against Allah, it would not avail him an atom's weight. Ask yourself: I quietly bank on my own 'armies', savings, status, connections, plans, as if they were ultimate security. This verse doesn't say they're useless; it says they are not what holds the line. When it truly counts, who is my army, and who actually decides the outcome?
Grounded in classical tafsir: Ibn Ashur, al-Razi, al-Saadi.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Mulk 67:20 is discussed in 3 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Mulk 67:20 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.