“On the Day when He will muster together all the unbelievers as well as the deities that they worship beside Allah, and He will ask them: “Was it you who caused these servants of Mine to stray away, or did they themselves stray away from the right path?”
(Al-Qur’ān – 25:17)
This ayat of the Qur’ān presents a scene of the Day of Resurrection. The theme discussed here in this ayat finds expression at other places in the Qur’ān as well. For example, it is said in Sūrah Saba: “On the Day when He will gather them all together and say to the angels: ‘Did these people worship you?’ they will say: ‘Glory be to You! You are our Protector and not they; they in fact worshipped the jinns (i.e., Satan). Most of them believed in them’.” (34:40-41)
The word “deities” used in the text here does not mean idols, as the discourse which follows would indicate. Rather, it means the angels, the Prophets, the martyrs and pious persons whom the polytheists of different communities had set up as objects of worship. Apparently the expression wa mā ta‘budūn refers to idols because in Arabic mā is generally used for non-rational beings whereas the world man is used for those who possess the faculty of reasoning. Since the comparison here is between choosing Allah or His creatures as deities, mā has been used instead of man because even the angels and the most pious, notwithstanding their worldly rank and status, obviously amount to nothing when compared with God.