Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Arabic Text:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَاسْتَمِعُوا لَهُ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ اجْتَمَعُوا لَهُ ۖ وَإِن يَسْلُبْهُمُ الذُّبَابُ شَيْئًا لَا يَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ۚ ضَعُفَ الطَّالِبُ وَالْمَطْلُوبُ ۝ مَا قَدَرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِۦ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَقَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ ۝

English Translation (M. A. S. Abdel Haleem): “People, here is an illustration, so listen carefully: those you call on beside God could not, even if they combined all their forces, create a fly; and if a fly took something away from them, they would not be able to retrieve it. How feeble are the petitioners and how feeble are those they petition! They have no grasp of God’s true measure: God is truly most strong and mighty.” (Quran 22:73–74)

Scientific Reflection

The Quranic verses above present a striking scientific imagery: even the smallest living creature – “a fly” – lies beyond the creative power of all beings apart from God. Modern biological science strongly resonates with this claim. To this day, no scientist or engineer has succeeded in creating life de novo (from scratch) in the laboratory. Despite cutting-edge attempts in synthetic biology and artificial life research, “no one… has convincingly made artificial life—though not for any lack of trying,” as a 2023 review in Scientific American conceded ​scientificamerican.com. Researchers can clone or genetically modify organisms and even assemble simple cells using pre-existing biological components, but they cannot originate a self-sustaining living organism from raw, non-living materials. In other words, humanity has never truly “created” life, let alone something as complex as a fly, from inert matter. The Quran’s ancient challenge – that all of creation together cannot produce even one fly – thus remains scientifically apt. It speaks to the profound gap between manipulating life’s building blocks and actual creation. As Carl Sagan famously quipped, “To really make an apple pie from scratch, you must begin by inventing the universe” ​thequran.love. Without the pre-existing toolkit of nature (the elements, the molecules of DNA/RNA, the cell machinery), our efforts fall short. Modern science humbly acknowledges this limitation: we are able to engineer within life, but not initiate life’s spark on our own​ scientificamerican.com. This underscores the Quran’s point about human impotence before the mystery of life. Even the simplest bacterium or a tiny fly embodies the “great secret of life” that eludes our creative grasp​ quran-wiki.com.

Beyond the mere fact of life’s origin, contemporary biology and materials science shed light on the intricate complexity packed into something as “insignificant” as a fly. Take, for example, the neurological and biomechanical sophistication of a common fruit fly. The brain of a fruit fly (roughly the size of a pinhead) contains on the order of 100,000 neurons forming a dense network, which enables the fly to see through compound eyes, swiftly avoid threats, find food, navigate flight, and reproduce – all with minimal energy use​ npr.org. One neuroscience team marveled that a fly can “fly, walk, detect predators, mate, [and] survive – using just 100,000 neurons”​ npr.org. In contrast, our most advanced artificial intelligence systems require billions of electronic components and vast energy to mimic even fragments of such capability ​npr.org. Likewise, engineers in robotics have tried for years to build insect-sized flying machines (such as Harvard’s famous “RoboBee”), yet these devices remain rudimentary compared to a living fly. A Scientific American report noted that “we cannot yet make a RoboBee fly under its own power” – early prototypes had to be tethered to external power just to achieve liftoff​ scientificamerican.com. Even with cutting-edge micro-actuators and materials, replicating the agility, self-powered flight, and environmental awareness of a fly has proved extraordinarily difficult ​scientificamerican.com. The fly’s tiny muscle fibers and wing dynamics, grown naturally from cells, outperform our miniaturized motors and fabricated wings in efficiency and control. Its exoskeleton – composed of composite biopolymers like chitin – provides an ultralight yet durable structure that material science can only partially imitate. All these observations from modern science deepen our appreciation of the verse’s implication: a fly is not a trivial assembly of matter that we can easily manufacture; rather, it is a marvel of bioengineering on a microscale, the product of billions of coordinated molecular processes. The “essence of a single fly,” as one medieval thinker put it, ultimately exhausts the efforts of the human mind​ onejourney.net.

The verse goes further to present a vivid scenario: “If a fly took something away from them, they would not be able to retrieve it.” Intriguingly, modern biology explains why. Flies have a unique way of eating – they externally digest their food. A housefly doesn’t chew solid food; instead, it spits out enzyme-rich saliva to dissolve the food on which it lands, turning the morsel into a liquid “soup” that can be sucked up through its proboscis​ asknature.org​sydney.edu.au. In other words, from the very moment a fly “snatches away” a crumb of food, it chemically breaks it down. The stolen bit is swiftly liquefied and absorbed into the fly’s body. What was once a crumb or a drop of sweetness is now irrecoverable – no human hand can reassemble and reclaim that bit of food from the fly’s digestive tract. It is remarkable that “a fly is the only animal which breaks food outside of its body” with such enzymes, as classical commentators noted with amazement centuries later​ al-islam.org. The Quran’s imagery precisely captures this scientific reality: “If a fly steals something from them, they will never be able to catch it” ​al-islam.org – for it is already dissolved and lost. Moreover, the verse’s wording “they cannot retrieve it from it” can be seen as a subtle allusion to the irreversible transformation that occurs. Modern entomology thus illuminates the verse: the impotence of the idols (or people) is illustrated by a simple natural fact – once a fly takes a thing, it is as good as gone. On another level, science shows that a fly can “steal” not just material food but even health from humans. Flies are notorious vectors of disease; a fly landing on prized food may deposit microbes that cause tuberculosis, typhoid, dysentery, and other serious illnesses​ quran-wiki.com. In effect, a tiny fly can rob a person of well-being or life itself – “a weak and contemptible fly can rob a human being of what he can never retrieve,” as one commentary notes​ quran-wiki.com. No idol or human power can reverse the damage if a fly infects someone with a deadly pathogen. Here, biology and medicine underscore the Quran’s point: the weakest of creatures can defeat the mightiest of humans, and our technology often cannot undo the harm. Such scientific reflections, far from antiquating the verse, actually amplify its message. They reveal layers of wisdom in the Quran’s choice of a humble fly to dramatize the limits of human power. The natural world, through modern eyes, confirms that creating life and controlling its smallest agents lie ultimately beyond us – pointing, in the Quranic worldview, to the unrivaled creative power of God.

Philosophical Reflection

Philosophically, Quran 22:73–74 invites deep reflection on human power vs. human limitations, the nature of creation, and our metaphysical dependence on a higher reality. The verses establish a dramatic contrast: on one side, the collective strength of “those you call upon besides God” – which can be understood to include not only idols, but by extension any created powers, human or otherwise – and on the other side, a tiny fly. No matter how much humans glorify their own achievements or venerate worldly powers, they remain unable to bestow life or defeat death in even the lowliest creature. This humbling message resonates with philosophical perspectives across cultures. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th-century philosopher-theologian, wrote that “all the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.”​ onejourney.net In saying so, Aquinas echoed an idea that the Quran here vividly illustrates: the simplest creature contains mysteries that dwarf our comprehension. If we cannot fully know a fly’s “essence” (its true nature and all its workings), how could we ever presume to create one or control its fate absolutely? Thus, human knowledge and power, however great, have intrinsic limits. The finite cannot grasp, let alone unilaterally produce, the spark of being that even a fly possesses. Our creativity, remarkable as it is, always operates within a framework of existence that we did not establish. We shape materials, employ natural laws, and rearrange what already is, but we do not originate being itself. This is a classic theme in Islamic thought: the distinction between “making” (which humans do) and “creating” in the absolute sense (which only God can do). The verses under study encapsulate this by using the act of creation as the decisive test which mortals and false gods fail.

The nature of creation at stake here is not merely assembling parts, but bringing into existence a living, self-organizing entity endowed with will and purpose. Philosophers term God the Necessary Existent – the one being whose existence is inherent and underived – while all other beings are contingent, dependent on something outside themselves for their existence. The challenge “they cannot create (even) a fly” points to this metaphysical hierarchy. To create even a fly, one would need to impart existence and life to it – a power contingent beings do not possess. In Islamic philosophy (and similarly in classical Western philosophy), it is understood that contingent beings can be causes of change or artifacts, but they cannot be the ultimate cause of being. Only a Necessary Being (God) can actualize existence from non-existence. The Quran’s argument can be seen through this metaphysical lens: those beings regarded as “gods” or sources of help besides the one God are ontologically impotent – they cannot cause a new being to exist, because they themselves are caused beings. All power they appear to have is borrowed or derived from the sustaining power of the true Creator. The verse thus highlights a fundamental dependence: humans and all created powers depend on God for existence at every moment, whereas God depends on nothing ​islam-universe.com. When people overestimate their own power or that of worldly idols, they fall into what the Quran in verse 74 calls “not valuing God with His true measure.” Philosophically, this is akin to failing to recognize the Absolute in contrast to the relative. They treat relative, limited beings as if they had absolute powers, thereby neglecting the only actual source of being and power.

The imagery of the fly sharpens a philosophical lesson about humility. It reminds us that even the minutest part of creation isn’t fully under our dominion. We might split the atom or map the genome, but creating the simplest life or undoing the smallest damage by a tiny creature escapes us. This brings to mind the Socratic paradox of knowledge: the more we truly learn about nature, the more we realize how little we control it. In an era of scientific advancement, one might argue that eventually humans will manufacture life or consciousness artificially. Yet even such hypothetical future feats would rely on using the fundamental principles and materials already embedded in the cosmos. A contemporary commentator notes that any such achievement would be “building on God’s already present creations” – essentially a form of reverse-engineering life, not originating it ​thequran.love. To actually meet the Quranic challenge of creating a fly, one could not piggyback on DNA, cells, or elements that exist; one would have to summon forth a fly ex nihilo (from nothing). This thought experiment quickly exposes our metaphysical dependence: we cannot start from absolute zero. As one modern writer mused, we would need to create the atoms and molecules, the very fabric of the universe, to truly start “from scratch.” ​thequran.love In philosophical terms, this underscores creatio ex nihilo (creation from nothing) as a capacity belonging solely to the divine. Human “creation” is always co-creation at best – working within the canvas of existence that is gratuitously given. The Quran’s bold challenge, then, functions as a reductio ad absurdum for any claims of independence from God: if all humanity (or all false gods) combined cannot produce a fly, how misplaced is the notion that we are self-sufficient or that our idols rival the Creator?

Finally, the verses carry a message about power and value. They force us to rethink what counts as powerful or important. A fly, typically seen as trivial, becomes the decisive evidence of true power. This inversion has a philosophical poignancy: it is often the humble and overlooked aspects of reality that reveal the deepest truths. The verse hints at a kind of metaphysical irony – those who seek strength and security in anything apart from God are defeated by a fly, the very emblem of frailty. Thus, human arrogance is deflated by a tiny winged insect, illustrating the Qur’anic principle that “God is most strong and mighty” (22:74) and all others are weak. It calls to mind the famous anecdote (found in Islamic lore) of the tyrant Nimrod who claimed divinity and was said to be killed by the bite of a mosquito; the mightiest ruler fell to one of the smallest of God’s creatures. Such stories and parables underscore the contingency of worldly power and the ultimate triumph of the subtle might of the Creator. In summary, the philosophical reflections prompted by Quran 22:73–74 revolve around recognizing the limits of human creative power, the inherent dependency of all creation on the one Source, and the folly of placing ultimate value on anything but God. By contemplating the fly and our inability to master it, we are guided to a posture of intellectual humility and spiritual awareness of the ground of being that sustains everything.

Theological Reflection

From a theological standpoint, verses 22:73–74 serve as a direct polemic against idolatry (shirk) and an affirmation of tawḥīd (the oneness and omnipotence of God). Classical Islamic scholars consistently interpreted this passage as an eloquent challenge and parable demonstrating the utter powerlessness of false gods and the weakness of those who worship them. The verse addresses “O people” – a universal call – and then says “an example is set forth, so listen”, indicating that what follows is a decisive illustration meant for all humanity​ quran-wiki.com. The example (maṯal) is simple yet sweeping: all the beings invoked besides Allah (whether idols of wood and stone, deified heroes, angels, or any other entities) “shall never be able to create even a fly, even if they all came together for that purpose.” As one modern commentary summarizes, “even if all the idols and false gods whom you worship were to come together to create a single fly, they would not be able to do that.” ​islam-universe.com This statement is as absolute as it is vivid – lan yakhluqū dhubāban uses the Arabic “lan” (never) to stress that it will never happen ​islam-universe.com. The impotence of the so-called gods is thereby exposed in the strongest terms. Imām al-Ṭabarī (d. 923 CE), the great early exegete, emphasizes this point and notes that the verse equates creating a fly with creating much larger creatures: any act of true creation is impossible for others besides God​ quran-wiki.com. In fact, the Qur’ān deliberately picks a fly, an insect often seen as despicable or lowly, to heighten the contrast. “Creating a fly is just as impossible [for false gods] as creating a camel or an elephant,” precisely because the miracle of life is present in the fly no less than in bigger creatures ​quran-wiki.com. By choosing a tiny fly for the example, the Qur’an also adds a touch of subtle derision toward the idols: these so-called deities cannot even handle a fly! Some classical commentators (such as al-Zamakhsharī and others) point out the rhetorical wisdom here: had the Qur’an said “they cannot create a camel or horse,” the listeners might think the size or grandeur of the creature was the issue. By using “even a fly,” the smallest example, it generates a “more profound feeling of powerlessness”​ quran-wiki.com. Al-Qurṭubī (d. 1273) and others note how the verse thus humiliates the false gods – it reduces them to beggars bested by a mere insect.

The second part of verse 73 adds another image: if the fly snatches something from them, they cannot recover it. Exegetes historically explained this in very tangible terms. They described how idol-worshipers in Arabia would often adorn their idols with perfumes, sweet oils, or offerings of food. Flies would inevitably be attracted to these offerings and would land on the idols, eating or carrying off bits of the sweet substances. The idol could do nothing to stop this or to get back what was taken. “They are unable to resist [the fly] or take revenge against it if it were to take anything from the good and perfumed thing on which it lands,” observes Ibn Kathīr (d. 1373) in his tafsīr​ islam-universe.com. This almost comic scenario – a fly stealing the offerings right under the nose of a god – drives home the absurdity of worshiping such powerless entities. The Tafsīr al-Jalālayn (15th c.) succinctly paraphrases: “Those whom you invoke besides Allah would not manage to create even a fly… and if a fly stole anything from them, they cannot recover it – so weak are both the seeker and the sought!” The phrase “ḍa‘ufa al-ṭālib wa ’l-maṭlūb” (literally, “weak is the seeker and the sought”) at the end of verse 73 was given special attention by classical scholars. They asked: Who is the “seeker” here and who is the “sought”? On the face of it, it could refer to the worshipper (seeker of benefit) and the idol (the object sought for help). Indeed, several authorities like al-Suddī (8th c.) took it this way: the human supplicant is weak and the idol supplicated to is equally weak ​islam-universe.com. However, a report from the Companion Ibn ‘Abbās (d. 687) intriguingly reversed the terms: he said, “the seeker (al-ṭālib) is the idol, and the sought (al-maṭlūb) is the fly.” ​islam-universe.com In other words, the idol itself is depicted as “seeking” to reclaim the stolen object from the fly, but being too feeble to do so. Imām al-Ṭabarī favored Ibn ‘Abbās’s interpretation ​islam-universe.com, likely because it adds a layer of sarcasm: the “god” becomes the helpless pursuer of a fly, turning the tables on the idolater’s imagination. In either case, the meaning is essentially the same – both parties in this false worship relationship are weak. Whether one considers the devotee and his object of devotion, or fancifully the idol and the fly that bested it, none has any real power. Classical commentators like Ibn Kathīr drive the point home: “This shows how weak they themselves are and how powerless are the idols they supplicate.” ​islamicstudies.info The “seeker” (be it the human or the idol) fails, and the “sought” (be it the idol or the fly) offers no help. Thus the verse concludes that those who fall into such worship have “no grasp of God’s true measure” (22:74). They have not appreciated the difference between the Almighty Creator and these impotent created things​. In Qur’anic theology, to not measure God as is His due (mā qadarū Allāha ḥaqqa qadrih) is essentially to commit shirk – to assign to others what only belongs to God (whether it be worship, lordship, or attributes of power) ​islam-universe.com.

The classical tafāsīr elaborate on verse 74 by explaining that if people truly understood God’s greatness, they would never equate Him with or worship lesser beings. Qāḍī Bayḍāwī (13th c.) comments that associating others with God in any capacity stems from a failure to comprehend His omnipotence and self-sufficiency. The verse reasserts that “indeed, Allah is All-Strong (Qawiyy), All-Mighty (‘Azīz)” – in contrast to the weakness just illustrated​ islam-universe.com. This is a theological reminder that all strength resides in God, and anything else deemed strong or mighty (gods, kings, forces of nature) are only as strong as God allows and cannot rival His power. To further emphasize God’s exclusive creative power, Ibn Kathīr cites a hadīth qudsī (a “sacred saying” of God reported by the Prophet) related in the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad and in the Ṣaḥīḥayn (Bukhārī and Muslim). In this narration, Allah says: “Who does greater wrong than one who tries to create something like My creation! Let them create a seed, or let them create an ant, or a fly!”​ This hadith encapsulates the theological challenge: those who arrogate God’s role (whether literally fashioning idols or, in modern terms, claiming human omnipotence) are invited to demonstrate their ability by producing the smallest of creatures. They will inevitably fail, proving their injustice and folly. Such traditions were used by scholars to underscore that life and creation are a divine domain. Even when humans make representations or imitations of living things, they cannot endow them with a soul or true life – a theme also echoed in hadiths discouraging picture-making, where it’s said the artists will be told “breathe life into what you have made” and will be unable to do so. The theological moral is clear: there is only one Creator (al-Khāliq), and everything else is creation (makhlūq), no matter what god-like titles or honors people give to it.

Major tafsir authorities throughout history have reiterated the lessons of these verses in their works. Al-Qurṭubī highlights how the verse uses even the lowliest creature to prove a point, noting that God does not disdain to give the example of a gnat or fly to convey truth (he references a similar idea in Quran 2:26) ​fountainmagazine.com. Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210) in his Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb stresses that the parable is addressed to all people, indicating the universality of its argument: no matter the civilization or era, no idol or demigod has ever created life, confirming the timeless truth of God’s uniqueness as Creator. Modern expositors like Abul A‘la Maududi (d. 1979) also succinctly summarize: “This parable impresses upon the idol-worshipers that their deities are absolutely powerless – even if they all collaborated to create an insignificant thing like a fly, they could not; nay, even if a fly snatched away anything from them they could not prevent it.” ​islamicstudies.info Thus, in traditional and modern Quranic commentary alike, 22:73–74 is seen as a devastating refutation of polytheism and a reminder of human frailty. After establishing this, the following verses (22:75–78) go on (as noted by commentators) to mention that even angels and prophets – revered by some polytheists – are merely Allah’s messengers and not gods, and urges people to devote themselves to Allah alone ​islamicstudies.info​islamicstudies.info. In the larger context of Sūrat al-Ḥajj, these two verses stand out as a self-contained challenge concluding one section of the surah. They cap the argument by inviting the audience to listen carefully and ponder the simple truth that no savior or sustainer exists besides God.

In conclusion, the classical theological understanding of Quran 22:73–74 is that Allah, in His wisdom, uses the parable of the fly to expose the fraudulence of all forms of idolatry and false dependence. It’s a call to recognize that all worship, trust, and hope should be placed in the One who alone can create and control even the smallest creature. The verses convey, with almost didactic clarity, the Qur’anic doctrine of God’s exclusive lordship (rubūbiyyah). As one exegesis put it, “every affair and every matter…is presented before Allah for decision. Therefore you should not invoke anyone else, for all others are utterly helpless and powerless” ​islamicstudies.info. The tone of these verses is both argumentative and evocative – they provide a rational proof (the impotence of idols) and evoke an image that sticks in the mind (the fly that cannot be caught). Theologically, they remind believers and skeptics alike that to undervalue God is not merely a conceptual error but a form of ignorance that leads to absurdity, like worshipping what can be overcome by a fly. By appreciating this lesson, one is led to a truer estimate of God’s greatness: “Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Mighty” (22:74), beyond all comparison and worthy of all worship. Each element of creation, down to the tiniest insect, thus becomes a sign (āyah) of this truth – a proof of the Creator’s unmatched power and a humbling reminder of our place in the order of being.