Surah Assaaffat ayat 125 Tafsir Quran 37:125

﴿أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلًا وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَالِقِينَ﴾
[ الصافات: 125]

37:125 Do you call upon Ba'l and leave the best of creators -

Do you call on Baal — this was the name of an idol of theirs which was made of gold from which the name of their city derives with the addition of the suffix bak — that is to say do you worship him and abandon the Best of Creators and not worship Him

Do you invoke the idol Ba`l (Baal), he asked, and neglect the Supreme Creator

إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَلاَ تَتَّقُونَ ( When he said to his people: "Will you not have Taqwa" ) means, `do you not fear Allah when you worship others instead of Him' أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَـلِقِينَ ( Will you call upon Ba`l and forsake the Best of creators, ) Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Qatadah and As-Suddi said that the word Ba`l means lord.
`Ikrimah and Qatadah said, "This is the language of the people of Yemen." According to another report from Qatadah, it is the language of Azd Shanu'ah.
`Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam narrated from his father that it is the name of an idol which was worshipped by the people of a city called Ba`labak ( Baalbek ) which is to the west of Damascus.
Ad-Dahhak said, "It is an idol which they used to worship." أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً ( Will you call upon Ba`l ) means, `will you worship an idol,' أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَـلِقِينَ - اللَّهَ رَبَّكُمْ وَرَبَّ ءَابَآئِكُمُ الاٌّوَّلِينَ ( and forsake the Best of creators, Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers ) means, `He is the One Who is deserving of your worship alone, with no partners or associates.' فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَمُحْضَرُونَ ( But they denied him, so they will certainly be brought forth, ) means, for the punishment on the Day of Reckoning. إِلاَّ عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِينَ ( Save the chosen servants of Allah. ) means, those who believe in Him alone. وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِى الاٌّخِرِينَ ( And We left for him among the later generations. ) means, he is praised and spoken of highly. سَلَـمٌ عَلَى إِلْ يَاسِينَ ( Salam (peace! ) be upon Ilyasin!) Similarly, one might say for Isma`il, Isma`in.
This is the language ( dialect ) of Bani Asad; they say Mikal, Mika'il, and Mika'in.
They say Ibrahim and Ibraham; Isra'il, Isra'in; Tur Sina', Tur Sinin.
All of that is fine. إِنَّا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِى الْمُحْسِنِينَ - إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ( Verily, thus do We reward the doers of good.
Verily, he was one of Our believing servants. ) We have already discussed the meaning of this above.
And Allah knows best.

(37:125) Do you call upon Baal *71 and forsake the Best of the Creators?

Do you call upon Ba'l and leave meaning

*71) Lexically, ba al means master, chief and possessor.
This word was also used for husband, and has been used in this sense at several places in the Qur'an itself, e.g.
in Surah AI-Baqarah: 228, An-Nisa': 127, Hud: 72 and An-Nur: 31.
However; in the ancient times the Semetic nations used it in the meaning of deity or lord; they had even given the name of Baal to a special god.
The chief male god of the Phoenicians, in particular, was Baal and their chief goddess was Ashtoreth, his wife.
The scholars differ as to whether Baal meant the sun or Jupiter, and Ashtoreth the moon or Venus.
In any case, historically it is certain that Baal worship was prevalent from Babylon to Egypt throughout the Middle East, and the polytheistic communities of the Lebanon and Syria and Palestine, in particular, had become its devotees.
When the Israelites settled in Palestine and Jordan after they came out from Egypt, they started contracting marriage and other social relations with the polytheistic nations round about them, in violation of the strict prohibitive injunctions of the Torah, the disease of idol-worship began to spread among them, too.
According to the Bible, this moral and religious decline had started appearing among the Israelites soon after the death of Joshua, son of Nun, who was the first caliph of the Prophet Moses: 'And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim ......
And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtoreth." ( Judges, 2: 11-13 ).
And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites and Hivites, and Jebusites.
And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.' ( Judges, 3: 5-6 ).
At that time worship of Baal had so deeply affected the Israelites that, according to the Bible, in one of their habitations a public altar had been built at which offerings were made to Baal.
A God-worshipping Israelite could not bear the sight; so he pulled down the altar one night.
Next morning a great multitude of the people gathered together and demanded that the man who had cast down the altar he put to death.
( Judges, 6:25-32 ).
This evil, at last, was put to an end by .
Samuel, Saul and the Prophets David and Solomon ( peace be upon them ); they not only reformed the Israelites generally but also eradicated polytheism and idolworship from their kingdom.
But after the death of the Prophet Solomon the mischief was again revived and the Israelite state of northern Palestine was swept away in the Hood of Baal-worship.

 

إِذْ قَالَ لِقَوْمِهِ أَلاَ تَتَّقُونَ ( When he said to his people: "Will you not have Taqwa" ) means, `do you not fear Allah when you worship others instead of Him' أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَـلِقِينَ ( Will you call upon Ba`l and forsake the Best of creators, ) Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, Qatadah and As-Suddi said that the word Ba`l means lord.
`Ikrimah and Qatadah said, "This is the language of the people of Yemen." According to another report from Qatadah, it is the language of Azd Shanu'ah.
`Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam narrated from his father that it is the name of an idol which was worshipped by the people of a city called Ba`labak ( Baalbek ) which is to the west of Damascus.
Ad-Dahhak said, "It is an idol which they used to worship." أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً ( Will you call upon Ba`l ) means, `will you worship an idol,' أَتَدْعُونَ بَعْلاً وَتَذَرُونَ أَحْسَنَ الْخَـلِقِينَ - اللَّهَ رَبَّكُمْ وَرَبَّ ءَابَآئِكُمُ الاٌّوَّلِينَ ( and forsake the Best of creators, Allah, your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers ) means, `He is the One Who is deserving of your worship alone, with no partners or associates.' فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَإِنَّهُمْ لَمُحْضَرُونَ ( But they denied him, so they will certainly be brought forth, ) means, for the punishment on the Day of Reckoning. إِلاَّ عِبَادَ اللَّهِ الْمُخْلَصِينَ ( Save the chosen servants of Allah. ) means, those who believe in Him alone. وَتَرَكْنَا عَلَيْهِ فِى الاٌّخِرِينَ ( And We left for him among the later generations. ) means, he is praised and spoken of highly. سَلَـمٌ عَلَى إِلْ يَاسِينَ ( Salam (peace! ) be upon Ilyasin!) Similarly, one might say for Isma`il, Isma`in.
This is the language ( dialect ) of Bani Asad; they say Mikal, Mika'il, and Mika'in.
They say Ibrahim and Ibraham; Isra'il, Isra'in; Tur Sina', Tur Sinin.
All of that is fine. إِنَّا كَذَلِكَ نَجْزِى الْمُحْسِنِينَ - إِنَّهُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ( Verily, thus do We reward the doers of good.
Verily, he was one of Our believing servants. ) We have already discussed the meaning of this above.
And Allah knows best.

( Will ye cry unto Baal ) will you worship other deities beside Allah; it is also said that this means: will you worship a bull instead of worshipping Allah; it is also said that his people had an idol called Baal which was 30 cubits tall and had four faces ( and forsake the best of Creators ) and forsake the worship of the greatest of Creators, such that you do not worship him at all,

"Will you call upon Ba'l (a well- known idol of his nation whom they used to worship) and forsake the Best of creators,

Page 450 English transliteration