Ash-Shuraa · Makki · ayah 24 of 53

Ash-Shuraa 42:24

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ ٱفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا ۖ فَإِن يَشَإِ ٱللَّهُ يَخْتِمْ عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ ۗ وَيَمْحُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْبَـٰطِلَ وَيُحِقُّ ٱلْحَقَّ بِكَلِمَـٰتِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ

“Or do they say, "He has invented about Allāh a lie"? But if Allāh willed, He could seal over your heart.[1422] And Allāh eliminates falsehood and establishes the truth by His words. Indeed, He is Knowing of that within the breasts.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Accused of inventing the Qur'an, the Prophet ﷺ is answered by Allah, who wipes away falsehood like wind clearing cloud.

A reflection

The wind that clears the cloud

"And Allah wipes out falsehood and makes the truth stand by His words." The verb yamḥu, wipes out, has a weather picture behind it. The lexicons say the root means taking a thing away so that no trace remains. The north wind was called Maḥwa, because it wipes the clouds from the sky. Writing was wiped from a tablet, and dawn erased the night.

One commentator explains that this is His established way. He wipes out falsehood and establishes truth, by His revelation or by His decree. Another adds a pointed observation. What the Prophet ﷺ brought grew stronger every day. If it had been a fabrication, Allah would have exposed it and crushed it.

Picture a sailor in a small harbour town after three days of grey drizzle. The headlands have vanished. The far shore might not exist. Then one morning a cold, dry wind comes in from the north. By noon the sky is scrubbed blue, and every cliff, lighthouse and field across the bay stands out sharp, as if newly made.

That is the picture of maḥw. Falsehood is cloud. It can cover a great deal for a while. It cannot survive the wind.

The ego relies on cloud more than it admits. Small lies, flattering stories about ourselves, versions of events that leave us blameless. We assume they will hold. The ayah says the One who wipes falsehood away is the same One who knows what is in the chests. No cloud lasts against His wind.

A sceptic may ask why, if this is true, falsehood so often seems to thrive. The surah has already answered part of that: a word has gone before, deferring the final separation to its time (42:14, 42:21). The wind comes. Sometimes in a season, sometimes in a generation, finally on the Day.

Hold on to what is true, even while the cloud is thick. It is the cloud that is temporary.

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.