Why does man not call Allah when he is in a difficult situation?

- Will you please explain verses 6:40-41, 10:22, 17:67, 29:65?
- It is a strange question but I am asking it to clear my doubts. It is about verses like 10:22 or 17:67.
- What I understand from the verses is this: Allah says that people forget their idols and turn to the one true God for help when they face a matter of life and death. Those verses are related to the people who worship beings other than Allah.   
- My question is this: In matters of life and death like a bad car accident or when the car was flipping over, my passengers would say “O Jesus, help us” or a Hindu might call out to Krishna or Vishnu.
- How does this verse apply to them? They call false gods...

Dear Brother / Sister,

If a person is in a really difficult situation, he will turn to one God, Allah, or he will mention one God in his own language. If it is not the case in some seemingly difficult situations, it is clear that there is no real and extreme difficulty.

After this brief information, let us have a look at the verses mentioned in the question:

The meanings of the verses in question are as follows:

“Say: Think ye to yourselves, if there come upon you the wrath of Allah, or the Hour (that ye dread), would ye then call upon other than Allah. (Reply) if ye are truthful! Nay, - On Him would ye call, and if it be His will, He would remove (the distress) which occasioned your call upon Him, and ye would forget (the false gods) which ye join with Him.” (al-Anam, 6/40-41)

In the verses above, Allah’s unity is proved by the reflexes that arise from the natural outburst of conscience in a very troubled moment.

In those troubled moments, they see with their heart’s eye that all the false gods that the people who are concerned have accepted as gods are useless; so, they ignore them, forget them or pretend to forget them, remember Allah alone and call upon Him.

“He it is Who enableth you to traverse through land and sea; so that ye even board ships;- they sail with them with a favourable wind, and they rejoice thereat; then comes a stormy wind and the waves come to them from all sides, and they think they are being overwhelmed: they cry unto Allah, sincerely offering (their) duty unto Him saying, ‘If thou dost deliver us from this, we shall truly show our gratitude!’” (Yunus, 10/22)

In this verse, the meaning of the previous verse is confirmed and explained with a concrete example.

Thus, in the face of dangerous situations, people not only ignore the causes, but they also think that Allah, whom they beg and supplicate with all their might, is present there as He is present everywhere, and they promise that if they are saved, they will serve Him in a manner worthy of Him from then on.

“When distress seizes you at sea, those that ye call upon - besides Himself - leave you in the lurch! but when He brings you back safe to land, ye turn away (from Him). Most ungrateful is man!” (al-Isra, 17/67)

Attention is drawn to two points in the verse above:

First: The fact that when the lives of human beings are in danger and all their idols and all the causes whose help they expect at other times are worthless is shown.

Second: When they are relieved of the danger in question, they forget their promise to Allah and resume their previous sins. This indicates that humans are shameless and ungrateful creatures.

“Now, if they embark on a boat, they call on Allah, making their devotion sincerely (and exclusively) to Him; but when He has delivered them safely to (dry) land, behold, they give a share (of their worship to others).” (al-Ankabut, 29/65)

In the verse above, the implicit meaning of the previous verse is strengthened, and the fact that people can show very different attitudes in the face of different situations is strengthened with a similar example.

One of the lessons to be learned from those two verses is that one of the instances of wisdom behind the misfortunes and calamities that Allah gives is a precaution to guide people to the right path.  As it is stated in the verse, “But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you”, it is essential to trust in Allah and rely on Him.

Questions on Islam