ḍarr × nafʿ: harm and benefit as a paired standard
ضَرًّا وَلَا نَفْعًا
ḍarran wa-lā nafʿan — harm nor benefit
The Qur'an repeatedly sets ḍarr (harm) against nafʿ (benefit) as a fixed pair, using their joint absence to define what is powerless—above all the beings worshipped or called upon apart from Allah.
The roots ḍ-r-r and n-f-ʿ occur together as a matched pair across these verses, sometimes as the accusative nouns ḍarr and nafʿ and sometimes as the verbs yanfaʿu/yaḍurru, and almost always negated. The pairing functions as a comprehensive standard of effective power: something either harms you or benefits you; if it can do neither, it has no claim on worship or invocation. This is the argumentative core of the polemical verses: (5:76) asks whether one worships something that "does not possess for you [any] harm nor [any] benefit"; (10:18) says they serve what "can neither harm them nor benefit them"; (21:66) and (25:55) repeat the same structure with ʿ-b-d; (22:12) applies it to duʿāʾ, calling on what neither harms nor benefits "the far-reaching straying"; (10:106) makes the same point as a command to the messenger. The pair also frames the messenger's own position: (7:188) has him disclaim control of "benefit nor harm" for himself except what Allah wills. It extends to the calf (20:89), to created gods (25:3) and to protectors taken apart from Him who possess for themselves neither benefit nor harm (13:16), to the idols of Abraham's people (26:73), and even to humans on the day of judgment, where none possesses benefit or harm for another (34:42). Only (2:102) uses the pair positively, of sorcery: what is learned "harms them and does not benefit them"—the learners acquire ḍarr without nafʿ, the inverse of the worshipped objects, which have neither.
Where it occurs
- 2:102 The only positive use: sorcery learners acquire what harms them and does not benefit them.
- 5:76 Rhetorical question against worshipping what possesses neither harm nor benefit for the worshippers.
- 6:71 Frames calling upon what neither benefits nor harms as turning back after guidance.
- 7:188 The messenger disclaims controlling benefit or harm for himself except by Allah's will.
- 10:18 Serving what neither harms nor benefits, paired with the claim of intercession.
- 10:106 Command not to call upon what neither benefits nor harms, on pain of being among the wrongdoers.
- 13:16 Protectors taken apart from Allah do not possess benefit or harm even for themselves.
- 20:89 The calf neither returns speech nor possesses harm or benefit.
- 21:66 Abraham's question: do you serve what does not benefit you at all nor harm you?
- 22:12 Calling on what neither harms nor benefits is named the far-reaching straying.
- 25:3 Created gods lack harm and benefit, along with death, life, and resurgence.
- 25:55 Serving what neither benefits nor harms, with the one who covers truth as a supporter against his Lord.
- 26:73 Brief question: do the idols benefit or harm?
- 34:42 On the day named, no one possesses benefit or harm for another.
All Qur'anic expressions