Hūd: (18-19) And who is more unjust than...

Know that the disbelievers had many customs and various paths. Among them was their intense eagerness for the world and their desire to acquire it. Allah nullified this path by His saying: {Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornment...} (Hūd: 15) until the end of the verse. Another of their practices was denying the prophethood of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and criticizing his miracles. Allah the Exalted nullified this by His saying: {Is he who is on a clear proof from his Lord...} (Muhammad: 14). Another practice was their claim that the idols were their intercessors with Allah. Allah the Exalted nullified this with this verse, because this speech is a fabrication against Allah the Exalted. Since He explained the warning for those who fabricate against Allah, this speech is included therein.

Know that His saying: {And who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah?} is mentioned in the context of exaggeration. It indicates that fabricating against Allah the Exalted is the greatest type of injustice.

Then, He the Exalted explained the warning for them by His saying: {Those will be presented to their Lord...}. He did not describe them this way because they are exclusively subject to this presentation, as the presentation is general for all servants, as He said: {And they will be presented before your Lord in rows} (Al-Kahf: 48). Rather, He intended that they will be presented so that they are disgraced when the witnesses say upon their presentation: {These are the ones who lied about their Lord}. Thus, they will receive immense shame and punishment. There are some questions regarding this:

First Question: If it is not permissible for Allah the Exalted to be in a location, how can He say: {They will be presented to their Lord}? Answer: They will be presented in the places prepared for reckoning and questioning. It is also possible that this presentation is before whomever Allah wills of creation, by Allah's command, such as the angels, the prophets, and the believers.

Second Question: Who are the witnesses to whom this saying is attributed? Answer: Mujāhid said: They are the angels who were recording their deeds over them in the world. Qatādah and Muqātil said: {The witnesses} are the people, just as it is said, "in the presence of witnesses" (i.e., in front of the people). Others said: They are the Prophets (peace be upon them), as Allah says: {Then We will surely question those to whom [the messengers] were sent, and We will surely question the messengers} (Al-A'rāf: 6). The benefit of considering the saying of the witnesses is to exaggerate the exposure of their disgrace.

Third Question: Al-Ashhād (الأشهاد) is a plural form; what is its singular? Answer: It could be the plural of shāhid (شاهد), like ṣāḥib (صاحب) and aṣḥāb (أصحاب), or nāṣir (ناصر) and anṣār (أنصار). It could also be the plural of shahīd (شهيد), like sharīf (شريف) and ashrāf (أشراف). Abū ʿAlī al-Fārisī said: This latter possibility seems stronger, because what has come in the Revelation of this form is on the pattern of faʿīl, such as His saying: {And the Messenger will be a witness over you} (Al-Baqarah: 143) and {We have brought you as a witness over them} (An-Nisā’: 41).

Then, after informing about their state in the punishment of the Hereafter, He informed about their state in the present time by saying: {Indeed, the curse of Allah is upon the wrongdoers}. This indicates that they are cursed by Allah in this very moment. Then He mentioned among their characteristics that they turn people away from the way of Allah and seek to make it crooked. This means that just as they wronged themselves by adhering to disbelief and misguidance, they added to that the prevention of the true religion and the casting of doubts, and the distortion of the straight proofs. This is because one does not say about a sinner that he "seeks crookedness" (yabghī ʿawajan); rather, this is said about one who knows the manner of straightness and the manner of crookedness due to casting doubts and establishing falsehoods.

Then He said: {And in the Hereafter, they will be the losers}. Al-Zajjāj said: The word (hum - هم) is repeated for emphasis, to confirm their steadfastness in disbelief.