Amwatun ghayru ahya-in wama yashAAuroona ayyana yubAAathoon (surah Nahl: 21)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(16:21) They are dead, not living, and they do not know at all when they shall again be raised to life. *19

Amwaatun ghairu ahyaaa`inw wa maa yash`uroona aiyaana yub`asoon

*19) The words employed here to refute man-made deifies clearly indicate that these deities were deceased prophets, saints, martyrs and pious and other extraordinary beings buried in their graves and not angels, jinns, devils or idols. For the angels and devils are alive: therefore, the words, "They are dead, not living" cannot apply to them, and it is out of the question to say about idols of stone or wood that "They do not know at all when they shall again be raised to life" in the Hereafter. As regards the objection to this version that there were no such deities in Arabia, this is based on the lack of knowledge of the history of the pre-Islamic period. It is well known that there was a large number of Jews and Christians living among many clans of Arabia, who used to invoke and worship their Prophets, saints, etc. It is also a fact that many gods of the mushriks of Arabia were human beings, whose idols they had set up for worship after their death. According to a Tradition cited in Bukhari on the authority of Ibn ' Abbas, "Wadd, Sua`, Yaghuth, Ya`uq, and Nasr were pious human beings, whom the succeeding generations had made gods." In another Tradition, related by Hadrat 'A'ishah, Asaf and Na'ilah were human beings. There are also traditions to the same effect about Lat, Munat and 'Uzza. So much so that according to some traditions of the mushriks, Lat and `Uzza were the beloved ones of AIIah who used to pass His winter with Lat and summer with `Uzza. But "Allah is absolutely free from such (absurd) things they attribute to Him. "