And when the Exalted informed that there is no proof for the worshiper of other than Him, and threatened those who oppose, He followed it by stating that the proof is established that that other is in the utmost insignificance. They have no power to repel what their worshipers threaten with, nor against others. So how can they be suitable for that noble rank and the high, lofty plan? He said, calling out to the people of reason, alerting them with a general alert: "O people."

And when the intended purpose of the parable is to comprehend it, not its speaker, it was built for the acted upon by his saying: "An example was struck." Its essence is that those whom you worship are like you; rather, they are more insignificant than you. "So listen," meaning, be attentive and reflect on "it." Then he explained it by saying: "Indeed, those whom you invoke," meaning in your needs, and you make them deities "besides Allah," meaning the Most High King, from these idols of which you are deceived, and for what you claim in them that is fabricated. For the removal of power from them indicates that they are in the lowest ranks. "They will never create a fly," meaning they have no power over that now, nor will this description ever renew for them in any of the times, in any state, despite its smallness. So how about what is greater than it? "And if they gathered," meaning those whom they claimed as partners "for Him," meaning the creation, they are in this like you. "And if" meaning, and more emphatically than this, that they are incapable of resisting the fly, for if "the fly should take away from them," meaning that which has been previously mentioned that they have no power to create, and it is in the utmost insignificance, "anything" from the things, whether great or small, of what you perfume them with or place before them from food or otherwise, "they cannot rescue it," meaning they cannot find its salvation or seek it "from it." They are in this more insignificant than you. The aspect of comparison in this is in the shamelessness of the taking away. Therefore, it is permissible in the context of the slaughtering. If its shamelessness were in the lion, no one would escape from it. However, wisdom necessitated that the strength of the lion be accompanied by repulsion, and the shamelessness of the fly be accompanied by weakness. And it is one, not many. So in the combination of the two, Ibn Ubaidah said: It is the correct view. Then he said: And in "The Book of What the Common People Mispronounce" by Abu Uthman al-Mazini: It is said: This is one fly, and three flies, for the least number, and for the most, it is a fly. And the saying of the people: a fly - is an error, so do not say it.

And when this perhaps indicates the strength of the fly, he clarified that the intended purpose is other than that by saying, thus returning to the speech from the beginning: "The seeker is weak," meaning for the rescue from the fly, which are the idols and their worshipers. "And the sought," meaning the fly and the idols, they gathered in weakness, even if the idols are weaker by degrees.