Tafsir of Az-Zukhruf 43:20

"And they said, 'If the Most Merciful had willed, we would not have worshipped them.'" This is a conjunction linked to His saying, Exalted is He, "And they have made the angels..." It is an indication that this statement is of the same nature as their claim regarding the femininity of the angels, in that they uttered it without knowledge.

The intention behind this statement, as stated by some eminent scholars, is to argue—through the negation of Allah Almighty's will regarding the abandonment of the worship of the angels (peace be upon them)—for the impossibility of it being forbidden, or for its goodness. It is as if they said: "Allah Almighty did not will that we abandon the worship of them; and had He, the Glorified, willed that, it would have been realized. Since their worship is what has actually occurred, it must be commanded or good, and it is impossible for it to be forbidden or ugly."

This is a false argument, for the Will does not necessitate a command or goodness, because the Will is merely the preference of some possibilities over others, whether that preference is good or ugly. Therefore, He characterized their saying as: "They have no knowledge of that"—meaning, the statement as they intended it. The essence of this returns to an indication of their claim that the Will necessitates that the command conforms to it, or that whatever the Will relates to is good. "...[anything of knowledge]—referring to any basis—[they are but lying]."

(Meaning: they are lying, as interpreted by more than one scholar. Al-Khars is also used for estimation/guessing, and it is common. Indeed, it is said that it is the root [of the word]. In any case, it is a statement based on assumption and conjecture.)