“He chastises whom He will and forgives whom He will. To Him all of you will be sent back. You cannot overpower Allah, neither on earth nor in the heaven. None can protect you from Allah nor come to your aid against Him.”
(Al Qur’ān – 29:21-22)
These ayahs underline the fact that howsoever he tries man is unable to escape the grasp of God. Man cannot flee to some far-away place, whether it be the deepest recesses of the earth or the greatest heights of the sky, to escape God’s wrath. He will be seized wherever he might be and will be made to stand before Him for reckoning. A similar challenge is thrown to the jinn and human beings elsewhere in the Qur’ān in the following words:
“O company of jinn and men, if you have the power to go beyond the bounds of heaven and the earth, go beyond them! Yet you will be unable to go beyond them for that requires infinite power.” (Al-Raḥmān 55:33)
The believers are plainly told that they neither have the power to elude God’s grasp, nor will any powerful patron or guardian protect them against God or enable them to escape His punishment. No one in the entire universe has any authority to protect those who committed unbelief and polytheism, refused to obey God’s commands, audaciously defied God and spread injustice and corruption on earth. No one has the power to prevent the enforcement of God’s punishment against them. Nor will anyone dare plead with God for forgiveness on their behalf.