Among the many striking parables found in the Qur’an is one that quietly draws upon a physical reality every human being experiences, yet rarely thinks about. Allah says:
لَهُ دَعْوَةُ الْحَقِّ وَالَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِهِ لَا يَسْتَجِيبُونَ لَهُمْ بِشَيْءٍ إِلَّا كَبَاسِطِ كَفَّيْهِ إِلَى الْمَاءِ لِيَبْلُغَ فَاهُ وَمَا هُوَ بِبَالِغِهِ ۚ وَمَا دُعَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ
To Him belongs the call of truth. Those whom they call upon besides Him do not respond to them in anything except like one who stretches out his hands toward water so that it may reach his mouth, but it will never reach it. And the supplication of the disbelievers is nothing but in vain error. (Qur'an 13:14)
A Simple Yet Powerful Illustration
Imagine a thirsty person standing beside flowing water. Instead of cupping the water with his hands and bringing it to his mouth, he merely stretches out his hands and waits for the water to rise to him on its own.
The Qur’an says of such a person:
“…but it will never reach it.”
The image is vivid because every reader instinctively knows the outcome. Water does not rise by itself to a person’s mouth.
Although the Qur’an is not presenting a scientific lesson, the effectiveness of this parable rests upon a universal physical law that governs our world: gravity. It is gravity that causes water to flow downward rather than upward. It is gravity that makes the scenario described in the verse impossible. The statement, “but it will never reach it,” underscores the certainty of that reality. Without this physical law, the force of the parable would disappear.
The Point of the Parable
The Qur’an compares this physical impossibility with another impossibility. Just as water will never rise by itself to satisfy the thirsty person who merely stretches out his hands, so too the idols and false deities invoked besides Allah will never hear, answer, or respond to those who call upon them.
The comparison is impossible, not simply unlikely. The Qur’an chooses an everyday scene that every person recognises to illustrate the futility of directing supplication to those who possess no power to respond.
A Reflection
This verse is a beautiful example of how the Qur’an builds profound theological lessons upon familiar realities from everyday life. Rather than explaining gravity itself, the Qur’an employs a physical reality that everyone observes to construct a memorable and compelling parable.
It is one of the many Laṭāʾif al-Qur’an—the subtle observations that attentive readers discover when reflecting on the Qur’an’s language, imagery, and method of argumentation.