Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:24

"Or do they say"—meaning, do they say—"He has fabricated"—referring to Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)—"a lie against Allah" by claiming prophethood or the Quran? The hamzah is for interrogative denunciation. Bal (or) is for idrab (turning away/transitioning) without invalidation; it is an idrab that is more emphatic than the first. It is more emphatic because establishing what they are upon of legislation—even if it is evil and polytheism—is closer [to acceptability] than labeling the manifest truth, which is supported by brilliant proof and is [clearly] the most noble, gentle, and intellectually sound among them, as a fabrication, and furthermore, a fabrication against Allah, the Almighty.

It is as if it were said: Do they possess the audacity to utter such a claim, attributing one like him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to fabrication, and then to fabrication against Allah—the greatest and most heinous of lies—without their tongues being scorched? In this is the most perfect indication of his (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) distance from fabrication. How could it be otherwise, when it is followed by His saying, the Almighty: "And if Allah willed, He could seal your heart." The implication of this style is to reject the possibility of fabrication from one such as him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and that in terms of remoteness [from such an act], it is equivalent to polytheism against Allah—the Sublimely Exalted—and entering into the fold of those whose hearts have been sealed.

It is as if it were said: "If Allah, the Sublimely Exalted, willed, He would make you one of those whose hearts are sealed so that you would fabricate a lie against Him, for none dares to fabricate a lie against Allah, the Exalted, except one who is in their state." It is in the sense of: "If He willed, He would make you like them," because they are the fabricators who legislated in religion what Allah did not permit. How excellent is this insinuation that they are the fabricators, and that in this very assertion, they are fabricating against their own fabrication.

A parallel to this verse in what was mentioned is the saying of a trusted person accused of treachery: "Perhaps Allah, the Almighty, has forsaken me; perhaps Allah, the Almighty, has blinded my heart." He does not intend to affirm abandonment or blindness of the heart; rather, he intends to reject the possibility that one like him would commit treachery, and to alert [the listener] that he has been charged with a grave matter. Thus, the speech is a justification for denying their claim. He used the conditional 'in' (if) even though the non-existence of His, the Almighty's, will [regarding that] is certain. It is said that this is to "loosen the reins," and it is said that it is to signal His majesty, the Almighty, and that He is free of all needs from the worlds.

Then He appended it with His saying, the Almighty: "And Allah wipes out falsehood and establishes the truth by His words," as a confirmation of what was understood from the preceding [part]: that he [the Prophet] is not in any way a fabricator. That is to say: How could it be a fabrication, when it is His custom, the Almighty, to wipe out and eradicate falsehood, and to establish the truth through His revelation or His decree? What he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) brought increases in strength and dominion every day. Had he been a fabricator as they claim, Allah, the Almighty, would have exposed his fabrication, eradicated it, and cast truth against falsehood, thereby shattering it.

The present tense verb [in yamhu] denotes continuity, and the clause is an ibtida’i (independent) sentence; thus, yamhu is in the nominative case (marfu'), not the jussive (majzum) by way of conjunction to yakhtim. The letter waw was omitted in the script of most codices, following its omission in pronunciation due to the meeting of two vowelless letters, as in "Sana'du ad-zabaniyah" (We will call the angels of punishment) and "Yad'u al-insanu bish-sharr" (Man prays for evil). The rule of orthography would be to retain it, but the orthography of the Mus-haf (Quranic text) is not bound by the rules of standard orthography. Supporting the independence of the clause over conjunction to yakhtim is the repetition of the majestic name [Allah] and the nominative case of yuhiqq.

This is what Jar Allah [az-Zamakhshari] mentioned regarding the two clauses and the explanation of their connection to what preceded them. He scrutinized this and produced that which the critics admired, such that the eminent scholar At-Tibi said: "If there were nothing in his book but this, it would suffice as a merit and virtue." He [at-Tibi] also permitted regarding His saying, the Almighty: "And He wipes out..." that it is a promise from Allah to His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) of victory—that is, Allah, the Almighty, wipes out their falsehood and what they slandered you with, and establishes the truth that you are upon by means of the Quran and His decree, which has no repeller. In this case, it acts as a parenthetical clause that confirms the previous discourse regarding their being people of falsehood in this attribution [of fabrication] to the most truthful of people in speech, with the most truthful of words, from the most truthful of speakers.

Regarding the first clause, he [Jar Allah] said in Irshad al-'Aql as-Salim: "It is a proof of the invalidity of what they said, by explaining that if he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had fabricated a lie against Allah, the Almighty, He would have certainly prevented him from it." The verification of this is that their claim that the Quran is a fabrication is an assertion from them that He, the Almighty, does not will its issuance from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but rather wills its non-issuance from him—and it is a necessity that He would have prevented him from it decisively. It is as if it were said: "If it were a fabrication against Him, He would have willed its non-issuance from you; and if He willed that, He would seal your heart so that no meaning of its meanings would cross your mind and you would not utter a single letter of its letters." Since the matter was not so, but rather the revelation came successively from time to time, it is clear that it is from Allah, the Almighty.

In the second clause, he mentioned what Jar Allah mentioned regarding the two possibilities. It is not hidden from you the objection raised against his discourse, despite the fact that it makes the object of the will something other than what the response [to the conditional] indicates—that being the aforementioned "non-issuance"—while the obvious interpretation is that the object is the "sealing," as is known in similar structures. That is, "If Allah, the Almighty, willed to seal your heart, He would seal it." And it [also] risks implying that the Quran originated from him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) rather than being sent down upon him.

As-Samarqandi said: The meaning is, "If He willed, He would seal your heart as He did theirs." This is a consolation to him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and a reminder of His benevolence toward him and His honoring of him, so that he might thank his Lord, the Almighty, and show mercy to those whose hearts were sealed, such that they became worthy of their Lord's wrath. Were it not for that, he would not have dared to attribute what he mentioned. Thus, the reasoning leads to the implied meaning, which is that they dared to do this because they are stamped for error.

From Qatadah and a group: "He seals your heart"—meaning He makes you forget the Quran. The intent, according to what Ibn Atiyyah said, is to refute the assertion of the disbelievers and clarify its falsehood. It is as if it were said: "How can it be valid for you to be a fabricator while you are under the sight and hearing of Allah, the Almighty, and He, the Almighty, is capable? If He willed, He would seal your heart, so you would not comprehend, nor speak, and your fabrication would not continue." The objection here is that the wording is too narrow to convey this meaning.

Al-Qushayri mentioned that the meaning is: "If Allah, the Almighty, willed, He would seal the hearts and tongues of the disbelievers and treat them with punishment." He shifted from the third-person [implied in yakhtim] to the second-person, and from the plural to the singular. Its essence is: "He seals your heart, O you who says that he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) fabricated a lie against Allah." This has a high degree of remoteness, given that the disbelievers have already had their hearts sealed.

Mujahid and Muqatil said: The meaning is, "If He willed, He would bind upon your heart with patience against their harm so that it would not burden you that they call you a fabricator." There is no obstacle to conjoining yamhu to the answer of the conditional; in fact, it is the most apparent interpretation, so the omission of the waw is due to it being [grammatically] jussive, and yuhiqq is then an isti'naf (new sentence). That is: "If He willed, He would wipe out their falsehood immediately." But He, the Almighty, did not do so due to wisdom, or [the verse is understood] absolutely, and He, the Almighty, has indeed done so in the end and manifested His religion.

It is said: There is no obstacle to conjoining it to some of the previous interpretations as well, meaning: "If He willed, He would wipe out your fabrication, if you were to fabricate." And it is as you see. Similarly, it was permitted that the clause be a state (hal), although that would require estimating a subject, which is an unnecessary complication.

It may be said that the clause "If Allah willed, He would seal your heart" is a completion of their statement, derived from "He has fabricated." It is as if it were said: "He has fabricated a lie against Allah, [and] if Allah willed, He would seal his heart because of his fabrication, so he would not comprehend anything." Or it is as if it were said: "You have fabricated against Allah, [and] if He willed, He would seal your heart as a penalty for that." However, the subtlety of choosing the third-person in one clause and the second-person in the other, upon its outward meaning, and that it is an indication that whoever fabricates deserves to be faced with the penalty, is not something that delights the listener, in my view.

Perhaps it is best that "If He willed..." and so on, be derived from their speech, uttered in a tone of mockery toward them. In that case, there is no harm in conjoining yamhu to the answer of the conditional, and "falsehood" refers to what is falsehood by their claim. It is as if it were said: "Or do they say, 'He has fabricated against Allah'? So [let them] say [it], if Allah willed, He would seal your heart and wipe out what they claim is false." This is what you say to someone who informs you that Zayd has fabricated against you while you know that he is lying and that he only conveyed what you ordered him to do: "So let us discipline him, take revenge on him, and wipe out his fabrication," intending thereby mockery of the speaker.

This verse, as Al-Khafaji said, is one of the most difficult that has passed in the Great Speech of Allah. May Allah, the Almighty, grant us and you success in understanding its meanings and standing upon its secrets and hidden depths. "Indeed, He is All-Knowing of that which is in the breasts." (24) That is, He, the Sublimely Exalted, knows what is in your breast and their breasts, so He, the Almighty, will recompense the matter according to that.