[62] Who is it Who listens to the oppressed one when he invokes Him, and Who relieves him of his affliction?76 And (Who is it Who) makes you vicegerents in the earth?77 Is there besides Allah another god (to do this)? How little you reflect!
76The Arab polytheists themselves knew and acknowledged that Allah alone could avert a disaster. Therefore, the Qur'an reminds them again and again that they implore Allah alone for help when they are confronted by a calamity. But when the calamity is removed, they start invoking others besides Allah. (For details, see E.N.'s. 29 to 41 of Al-An`am, Yunus: 21-22, E.N. 46 of An-Nahl, and E.N. 84 of Bani Isra'il). And this is not only true of the Arab polytheists but of all polytheists; so much so that even the Russian atheists who are regularly campaigning against God-Worship, had to invoke God when in the Second World War they were tightly encircled by the German forces.
77This has two meanings: (1) "He raises one generation after the other and one nation after the other"; and (2) "He gives you power and authority to rule in the earth"
