Tafsir of Yunus 10:17

Surah Yunus (10): Verse 17

[17] Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah or denies His verses?

Commentary:

Know that the connection of this verse to the preceding verses is clear. This is because they demanded that he [the Prophet] bring a Qur'an composed by himself, attributing it to his own invention. Then, he established the overwhelming and evident proof that this was false and that this Qur'an is only by the revelation and sending down of Allah, the Exalted.

At this point, He said: {Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah?}

The meaning here is: If this Qur'an were not from Allah, there would be no one in the world more unjust to himself than me [the Prophet], for having falsely attributed it to Allah. However, since I have established the proof that the matter is not so, but rather it is by revelation from Allah, it must be said that there is no one more ignorant or more unjust to themselves than you [the disbelievers]. For when it became evident through the aforementioned proof that it is from Allah, if you deny it, you have indeed lied about the verses of Allah. Therefore, you must be the most unjust of people.

In summary, the purpose of {Who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah?} is to negate falsehood from Himself [the Prophet]. And the purpose of {Or denies His verses?} is to attach severe warning to them because they denied the proofs of Allah and disbelieved in His verses.

As for His saying: {Indeed, the criminals will not succeed}, it is an affirmation of the two preceding statements. And Allah knows best.

[18] And they worship besides Allah that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allah." Say, "Do you inform Allah of that which He knows not in the heavens or on the earth?" Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him.