Tafsir of Ash-Shura 42:24

"Or do they say, 'He has invented a lie about Allah'?"

{Am} (Or): This is a munqati‘ah (disjunctive) particle. The meaning of the hamza within it is one of rebuke. It is as if it were said: "Do they dare to attribute something like this to fabrication, and then to fabrication against Allah, which is the greatest and most heinous of all lies?"

{If Allah willed, He could seal your heart}: Meaning, if Allah willed, He could make you one of those whose hearts are sealed, such that you would fabricate lies against Him. For no one dares to fabricate lies against Allah except one who is in a state like theirs. The implication of this style is to deem it impossible for someone like him (the Prophet) to fabricate, and that such an act is, in its remoteness, akin to associating partners with Allah and entering the ranks of those whose hearts are sealed.

An example of this is when a trustworthy person is accused of betrayal, and he says, "Perhaps Allah has abandoned me; perhaps Allah has blinded my heart." He does not intend to affirm abandonment or blindness of the heart; rather, he intends to deem it impossible that someone like him would betray, and to alert others that he considers the accusation against him a grave matter.

{And Allah eliminates falsehood and establishes the truth by His words}: That is, by His revelation or His decree, as in His saying: "Rather, We dash the truth against falsehood, and it destroys it" (Al-Anbiya: 18). This means: If he were a fabricator as you claim, Allah would have exposed his fabrication, annihilated him, and dashed the truth against his falsehood to destroy it.

It is also possible that this is a promise to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) that He will eliminate the falsehood they are upon—namely, their slander and denial—and establish the truth you are upon through the Quran and His decree, which cannot be averted, by granting you victory over them. “Indeed, Allah is Knowing of what is in your breast and their breasts,” and He will cause matters to unfold accordingly.

Regarding {He seals your heart}:

• Qatadah said: It means "He would make you forget the Quran and cut off the revelation from you." That is, if he had fabricated lies against Allah, He would have done that to him.
• It is also said: It means "He binds your heart with patience," so that their harm does not weigh heavily upon you.

If you ask: If His saying, {And Allah eliminates falsehood}, is a new sentence not conjoined to {seals}, why is the waw (and) omitted in the script?

I reply: Just as it is omitted in His saying, {And man invokes evil} (Al-Isra: 11), and His saying, {We will call the angels of punishment} (Al-‘Alaq: 18)—noting that it is indeed present in some copies of the Mushaf.

{And it is He who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons misdeeds, and He knows what you do.}