Al-Tawbah (The Repentance): (119) O you who have believed...

And know that when the Almighty decreed the acceptance of the repentance of those three individuals, He then mentioned what serves as a deterrent against repeating past actions, namely, lagging behind the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in Jihad. He said:

"...be upright. O you who have believed, fear Allah in disobeying the command of the Messenger, and be with the truthful."

This means: be with the Messenger and his Companions in the battles, and do not be among those who stay behind and sit with the hypocrites in their homes. In this verse, there are several issues:

Issue 1: The Obligation of Being with the Truthful and the Proof for the Consensus of the Ummah

The Almighty commanded the believers to be with the truthful. Whenever being with the truthful is obligatory, the existence of truthful people at all times must be necessary. This prevents the entire community from unanimously agreeing upon falsehood. If they unanimously agree upon something, it must be correct. Therefore, this indicates that the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the Ummah is a proof (ḥujjah).

Objection: Why can it not be argued that the meaning of "and be with the truthful" is: "be upon the way/method (ṭarīqah) of the truthful," just as when a man tells his son, "Be with the righteous," it only implies adherence to their path?

Response: Even if we grant that, we say this command existed only during the time of the Prophet (PBUH), so it was a command to be with the Prophet. Thus, it does not indicate the existence of truthful people in other eras.

Further Objection: Even if we grant that, why can it not be that the "truthful" refers to the infallible one (al-maʿṣūm) whose existence in every age of obligation is necessary, as the Shi'a claim?

Answer to the First Objection: The statement "and be with the truthful" is a command to agree with the truthful and a prohibition against separating from them. This is conditional upon the existence of the truthful. Whatever is necessary for an obligation to be fulfilled is itself obligatory. Thus, this verse indicates the existence of truthful people. As for the claim that it means being upon their way, we say this is deviating from the apparent meaning without evidence.

Answer to the Second Objection (that the command is specific to the Prophet's era): This is false for several reasons:

1. It is established by overwhelming transmission (tawātur) that the obligations mentioned in the Qur'an are addressed to the accountable people until the Day of Resurrection. Thus, this command is also applicable across all times.
2. The grammatical form (ṣīghah) encompasses all times, evidenced by the validity of exceptions.
3. Since a specific time is not mentioned in the wording of the verse, attributing the verse to some times is no more appropriate than attributing it to others. Either it is not attributed to any time, leading to nullification (which is false), or it is attributed to all times, which is what is sought.
4. The command, "O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared," commands them to have piety. This command only applies to those who are capable of not being pious, meaning those who are capable of error. Thus, the verse indicates that whoever is capable of error must be following one who is divinely protected from error (wājib al-ʿiṣmah), and these are those whom Allah has decreed to be truthful. This shows that it is obligatory for the one capable of error to be with the one protected from error so that the protected one can prevent the one capable of error from erring. This meaning persists in all eras, so its occurrence in all eras is necessary.

Answer to the Third Objection (that the truthful means the infallible one existing in every age): We agree that there must be an infallible one in every age. However, we say that this infallible one is the entire Ummah (majmūʿ al-ummah), whereas you claim that this infallible one is a single individual among them. We say the latter is false because Allah obligated every single believer to be with the truthful. This is only possible if the believer knows who that truthful one is, not if he is ignorant of who they are. If he were commanded to be with them, it would be imposing a burden beyond capacity (taklīf mā lā yuṭāq), which is impermissible. We do not know any specific individual described by the attribute of infallibility, and the knowledge that we do not know this individual is self-evident. Therefore, it is established that "and be with the truthful" is not a command to be with a specific person. Since this interpretation is void, the intended meaning must be being with the entire Ummah, which indicates that the saying of the entire Ummah is true and correct. This is precisely what we mean by ijmāʿ.

Issue 2: The Virtue and High Rank of Truthfulness

The verse indicates the virtue and high rank of truthfulness. This is supported by several points:

1. It is narrated that a man came to the Prophet (PBUH) and said: "I wish to believe in you, but I love wine, adultery, theft, and lying. People say you forbid these things, and I cannot abandon them all. If you accept me abandoning just one of them, I will believe in you." The Prophet (PBUH) said: "Abandon lying." The man accepted this and then embraced Islam. When he left the Prophet (PBUH), wine was offered to him. He thought: "If I drink it and the Messenger asks me about it, and I lie, I will have broken the covenant. If I tell the truth, he will impose the legal punishment upon me." So he abandoned it. Then adultery was offered to him, and the same thought occurred to him, so he abandoned it, as well as theft. He returned to the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) and said: "How excellent is what you have done! Since you forbade me from lying, the doors of sins were closed upon me." He then repented from all of them.

2. It is narrated from Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "Adhere to truthfulness, for it leads to righteousness (birr), and righteousness leads to Paradise. A servant speaks truthfully until Allah records him as a truthful one (ṣiddīq). Beware of lying, for lying leads to wickedness (fujūr), and wickedness leads to the Fire. A man lies until Allah records him as a liar. Do you not see that it is said: 'You have spoken the truth and acted righteously,' and 'You have lied and acted wickedly'?"

3. Regarding the saying of the Almighty, recounting Iblis's words: "By Your might, I will surely mislead them all, except Your chosen servants among them" (Sad: 82-83). It is said that Iblis mentioned this exception because if he had not mentioned it, he would have been a liar in claiming to mislead everyone. It is as if he was too proud to lie, so he mentioned this exception. If lying is something Iblis refrains from, then a Muslim is even more deserving of refraining from it.

4. Among the virtues of truthfulness is that faith (īmān) stems from it, not from other acts of obedience. Among the defects of lying is that disbelief (kufr) stems from it, not from other sins.

People differed regarding what causes the ugliness (qubḥ) of lying:

• Our companions (Ash'arites/Maturidites): The cause of its ugliness is that it undermines the welfare of the world and the welfare of the self.
• The Mu'tazila: The cause of its ugliness is that it is inherently a lie.

Our proof is the Almighty's saying: "O you who have believed, if there comes to you a disobedient one (fāsiq) with information, investigate, lest you harm people out of ignorance and become regretful over what you have done" (Al-Hujurat: 6). This means: Do not accept the word of a disobedient person, for it might be a lie, and accepting that lie could lead to an action for which you will become regretful. This indicates that Allah obligated rejecting what might be a lie because of the potential for it to lead to something contrary to welfare. Therefore, the cause of the ugliness of lying must be its leading to corruption (mafāsid).

The Qadi (Al-Quda'i) argued for his position by saying that if a person can achieve a benefit or avert harm by lying or by telling the truth, the intellect intuitively knows that it is impermissible to turn away from truthfulness toward lying. If he could achieve the goal by telling the truth, it would be permissible to switch between the two (lying or truth-telling). If lying were good for achieving a benefit or removing harm, his situation would be the same as telling the truth. Since it is not so, it is known that lying can only be ugly. Furthermore, if lying were permissible, Allah would have to command it when it serves an interest, which would lead to a lack of trust in His reports.

Response to the First Argument (Mu'tazila): What is established in a person from the beginning of his life is the condemnation of lying because it undermines the welfare of the world. This condemnation becomes fixed in his sight and imagination. When this rare instance [of considering lying] occurs, the deeply ingrained habit judges it as ugly. If you posit a person devoid of this habit, and you assume truthfulness and lying are equal in achieving the desired outcome, then under this assumption, we do not concede that preference occurs.

Response to the Second Argument (Mu'tazila): You establish the impossibility of Allah lying by stating that lying is ugly. If you establish this meaning by asserting its impossibility to originate from Allah, it leads to circular reasoning (dawr), which is false.

{ 9:119 }

**{ It was not for the people of Medina and those around them of the wandering Arabs to remain behind the Messenger of Allah and not prefer themselves over his life. That is because no thirst or fatigue or hunger befalls them in the cause of Allah, nor do they tread any ground that enrages the disbelievers, nor do they inflict upon an enemy any infliction, except that there is written for them thereby a righteous deed. Indeed, Allah does not allow to be lost the reward of those who do good. Nor do they spend any expense, small or great, nor do they cross any valley except that it is written for them that Allah may reward them with the best of what they used to do. }*