The Troops
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[39:36]
IS NOT God enough for His servant? And yet, they would frighten thee with those [imaginary divine powers which they worship] beside Him!
But he whom God lets go astray can never find any guide,

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* v.36 : Or: “instead of Him.” This relates not merely to false deities, but also to saints alive or dead, and even to certain abstract concepts which the popular mind endows with charismatic qualities – like wealth, power, social status, national or racial pre-eminence, the idea of man’s “self-sufficiency,” etc. – and, finally, to all false values which are allowed to dominate man’s thoughts and desires. The godless always stress the supposed necessity of paying attention to all these imaginary forces and values, and frighten themselves and their fellow-men by the thought that a neglect to do so might have evil consequences in their practical life.