Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 71 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:71

يَـٰٓأَهْلَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ لِمَ تَلْبِسُونَ ٱلْحَقَّ بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُونَ ٱلْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

“O People of the Scripture, why do you mix [i.e., confuse] the truth with falsehood and conceal the truth while you know [it]?”

Saheeh International

Essence

Truth can be hidden two ways, by dressing it in falsehood or by keeping it silent, and both are done knowingly.

A reflection

Every frame real, the caption false

A video of a real street protest from five years ago is reposted with a new caption about this morning. Every frame is genuine. The lie is entirely in the label. Within an hour it has been shared a hundred thousand times.

'Why do you cover the truth with falsehood?' The verb labasa has the picture of a garment in its root. A garment covers you, clings close and goes where you go. To labasa a matter was to cloak it until no one could see what lay beneath.

A classical commentator observes that there are only two ways to hide a truth. One is to throw a doubt over it, so that the false seems plausible. The other is to keep back the evidence that would show the true. The ayah names both: dressing truth in falsehood, and concealing truth.

Commentators give several examples of the first. Mixing what was revealed with what had been altered. Pairing clear passages with ambiguous ones to confuse the less learned. A public show of faith in the morning, withdrawn by evening, to sow doubt.

What makes the method so effective is that it needs truth to work. A plain lie is easy to spot. A lie wearing the clothes of truth passes inspection.

The digital age has made all of us potential tailors of this kind. A real quote with the context cut. A true statistic placed beside a false conclusion. Before you share anything, ask what it is wearing, and what is underneath.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.