Tafsir of Al-Mu'minoon 23:70

"Or do they say, 'In him is madness?' Nay, he has brought them the truth..."

His saying—the Exalted—"Nay, he has brought them the truth" is an interruption (idrab) of what the preceding context indicated. That is, the matter is not as they have claimed regarding the Quran and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him); rather, he has brought them the truth—meaning the established reality from which there is no turning away. What is intended by this is monotheism (tawhid) and the religion of Islam, which the Quran encompasses. It is also permissible that it refers to the Quran itself.

"...and most of them are averse to the truth."

This is because of the completeness of deviation and crookedness inherent in their nature. The apparent meaning is that the pronouns refer to the Quraish. The ruling is restricted to "most of them" because among them were those who refused Islam and the following of the truth out of fear of being reproached by their people or similar reasons, not out of hatred for the truth as truth. Thus, there is no validity to what has been said: "Whoever loves a thing hates its opposite; therefore, whoever loves remaining in disbelief must necessarily hate transitioning to faith."

Ibn al-Munir said: It is possible to interpret "the most" as encompassing "all," just as "the few" is sometimes used to denote negation, though there is remoteness in this. The same applies to what he chose regarding the pronoun in "most of them" referring to all people, not just the Quraish; thus, the statement would be analogous to His saying—the Exalted—"And most of the people, even if you strive [for it], are not believers."

It may be said: Since the intent was to establish the aversion to the truth as a continuous state, and Allah—the Exalted—knew that among them were those who would believe and follow the truth, there was no choice but to restrict the ruling to the majority.

The apparent meaning, based on the majority rule regarding the repetition of a definite noun (ma'rifah), is that the second "truth" is identical to the first. It is made explicit here, in the place of a pronoun, because it is more emphatic than a pronoun; a pronoun might have led to the misconception that it referred to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).

It has been said: The definite article (al) in the first instance is for referring to a specific entity already mentioned, while in the second, it is for totality or for the genus—meaning, most of them are averse to the truth, that is, any truth, not just this specific truth. This is indicated by the explicit mention of "averse" (karihun). Specifying the majority with this description does not imply anything other than that some of them are not averse to every kind of truth, and that does not contradict their aversion to this truth. There is a point of contention here, as it is hardly acceptable that most of them are averse to every kind of truth.