An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 50 of 176

An-Nisa 4:50

ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ ٱلْكَذِبَ ۖ وَكَفَىٰ بِهِۦٓ إِثْمًا مُّبِينًا

“Look how they invent about Allāh untruth, and sufficient is that as a manifest sin.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Claiming Allah's approval for yourself is a lie told about Him, and that one lie is enough, plainly, to leave a person behind.

A reflection

The lie that sounds like faith

Unẓur kayfa yaftarūna ʿalā Allāhi al-kadhib: look how they fabricate lies about Allah.

What was the lie? Not a curse or an insult. In context, it was a flattering claim: that they were pure, beloved, already approved. One classical commentator explains why that counts as lying about Allah. To claim you are pure before Him is to claim that He accepts you and is pleased with you. It attributes to Him an approval He never gave. And, he adds, they lied about themselves too, claiming the opposite of what they were.

The most dangerous lies about God are rarely hostile. They are pleasant. 'He understands me.' 'He would not mind this.' 'People like us are fine.' Each puts words of approval into His mouth.

Picture a fourteen-year-old handing a teacher a form for a weekend trip. 'My mum says it's fine,' she says. Her mother has never heard of the trip. The girl is not attacking her mother. She is borrowing her mother's authority for her own wish.

That is the shape of this lie. It borrows Allah's name to sign a permission He did not give.

Is this not what every religious person does, claiming God is on their side? The ayah's target is claiming His approval as a settled status. The Prophet ﷺ taught the opposite posture. Both Sahihs record him saying that no one's deeds will enter him into Paradise. His Companions asked: not even you? Not even me, he said, unless Allah covers me with His mercy.

If he did not claim entitlement, no one can. A believer may hope for Allah's acceptance, and work for it, and ask for it. What he may not do is announce it.

So listen for the small sentences in your own head that begin 'Allah won't mind'. Each one is worth checking against what He actually said.

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.