Tafsir of Az-Zukhruf 43:20

{And they said, "If the Most Merciful had willed, we would not have worshipped them."}

These are two additional acts of disbelief added to the previous three. They are: their worship of the angels instead of Allah, and their claim that their worship was by the will of Allah—just as their brethren, the Mujbira (determinists), say.

If you ask: What do you deny regarding one who says, "They said this mockingly, and had they said it seriously, they would have been believers"?

I reply: There is no evidence that they said it mockingly, and claiming something without evidence is invalid. Furthermore, Allah the Exalted has recounted this from them by way of condemnation and testimony to their disbelief: that they assigned to Him a portion from His servants, that He took daughters while favoring Himself with sons, and that they made the honored angels females. They worshipped them and said, "If the Most Merciful had willed, we would not have worshipped them."

If they had spoken these words mockingly, then the preceding statements—which are acts of disbelief—would have been considered "faith" if they were spoken seriously, and their utterance would have been a praise for them. Since those preceding statements were clearly words of disbelief spoken by them, it remains that they were serious. All of these statements share the quality of being words of disbelief.

If they say, "We will treat this last statement alone as being spoken mockingly, unlike the ones before it," then they are doing nothing but distorting the Book of Allah—to which falsehood cannot come from before it or behind it—in order to align it with their invalid doctrine.

If this were a true statement spoken mockingly, then the saying of the Exalted, {They have no knowledge of that; they are only guessing}, would have no meaning. For if someone were to say, "There is no god but Allah" mockingly, the obligation would be to rebuke him for his mockery, not to call him a liar; for it is not permissible to call a speaker of truth a liar, whether he is serious or joking.

If you ask: What is your opinion of one who interprets "They have no knowledge of that" as referring to their saying, "The angels are the daughters of Allah," and that "they are only guessing" applies to that statement, not to their attributing their worship to the will of Allah?

I reply: This is the artifice of a falsifier and the distortion of an obstinate person. Similar to this is the saying of the Exalted: {Those who associate partners with Allah will say, "If Allah had willed, we would not have associated, nor would our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything." Likewise did those before them deny} (Al-An'am: 148).

{Or have We given them a book before this, so that they are holding fast to it? Nay, but they say, "Indeed, we found our fathers upon a religion, and indeed, we are, upon their footsteps, guided."}