Tafsir of Al-An'am 6:24

(Observe how they lied)—that is, in their saying, "We were not polytheists." Some have replied that the intended meaning is not that they lied in the Hereafter, but rather it means: Observe how they lied against their own selves in this worldly life. This has been refuted by the argument that the verse does not indicate this meaning in any way, nor does it apply to it, because it concerns their loss and their affairs in the Hereafter, not in the worldly life. In fact, the context rejects this interpretation most strongly, as the beginning and the end of the noble arrangement [of the verses] are regarding that [the Hereafter]. Therefore, inserting an explanation of their state in the worldly life is a dismantling of the [coherence of the] text and a forced interpretation.

What the majority of scholars have held is also supported by the words of the Almighty: (On the Day when Allah will resurrect them all, they will swear to Him as they swear to you, and they will think that they are upon something. Surely, they are the liars), following the words of the Glorified: (And they swear to lies while they know), where He compared their lying in the Hereafter to their lying in the worldly life. The command to "observe" also points to this comparison, as is not hidden to anyone who reflects.

Ibn al-Munayyir mentioned that in the verse is clear evidence that informing of a thing contrary to how it actually is constitutes a lie, even if the informer does not know that his report contradicts the reality. Do you not see that the Almighty labeled their reports and their disavowal as a "lie," even though He—Glorified be He—reported about them by His saying: (And lost from them what they used to fabricate)? That is, they were deprived of the knowledge of it at that moment due to bewilderment and confusion; yet, that did not negate the absolute application of the term "lie" to them. You know that interpreting this sentence with what has been mentioned is not apparent.

It is narrated from al-Hasan that "what" (ma) is relative, and what is intended by it are the idols they used to worship and regarding which they would say: "These are our intercessors with Allah," or words to that effect. Applying the [term] "fabrication" to them—even though it is, in reality, occurring upon their states—is for the sake of hyperbole regarding their affair, as if they were the very fabrications themselves. That is, the idols concerning which they fabricated what they fabricated ceased and vanished from them, and they did not avail them anything against Allah.

It has also been said that "what" (ma) is a particle of the infinitive (masdariyyah), meaning: "Their fabrication went astray," just as in His saying: (Their effort went astray), meaning it did not benefit them. As for the sentence, some said it is independent, while others—and this is what the Shaykh al-Islam chose—said it is a conjunction to [the verb] "lied," included with it in the ruling of wonder, since the preceding interrogative is what invites this "observation." Thus, the meaning—based on the probability of the relative and infinitive [forms]—becomes: Observe how they lied by means of the grave, false oath against their own selves by denying the occurrence of what had occurred from them, and how their fabrication—or what they used to fabricate of polytheism—strayed from them, i.e., vanished and departed, to the point that they denied its occurrence entirely and disavowed it completely.