Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 150 of 165

Al-An'am 6:150

قُلْ هَلُمَّ شُهَدَآءَكُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَشْهَدُونَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ حَرَّمَ هَـٰذَا ۖ فَإِن شَهِدُوا۟ فَلَا تَشْهَدْ مَعَهُمْ ۚ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَآءَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا وَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ وَهُم بِرَبِّهِمْ يَعْدِلُونَ

“Say, [O Muḥammad], "Bring forward your witnesses who will testify that Allāh has prohibited this." And if they testify, do not testify with them. And do not follow the desires of those who deny Our verses and those who do not believe in the Hereafter, while they equate [others] with their Lord.”

Saheeh International

Essence

A claim about God's prohibitions needs witnesses who were there; if false ones speak, do not add your voice or follow the desire behind it.

A reflection

Speaking to the back of the room

A visiting speaker takes questions at a packed student society event. One man at the front challenges him loudly, again and again. The speaker answers calmly, but he is not really speaking to the man at the front. He is speaking to the quiet students at the back. They came unsure, and they are watching how the argument goes.

The ayah's summons has an audience like that. Halumma shuhadāʾakum: bring your witnesses who testify that Allah forbade this. Why summon witnesses who cannot exist? One classical commentary answers that the summons is partly for the onlookers. It brings the claim into the open, so that those who trusted it can see it has nothing under it. Witnesses and followers turn out to be standing on the same empty ground.

The root of 'witnesses', sh-h-d, joins three things in the lexicons: being present, seeing for yourself, and declaring what you saw. The lexicons state this plainly. The challenge turns the followers into witnesses of another kind. They are present. They see the empty chairs where the witnesses should be. Now they know too.

Another classical commentary, on the ayah before last, notes why the leaders guessed at all. They spoke to make their weaker followers imagine they had a proof. So the challenge is a kindness to those followers. It frees ordinary people from leaders who had borrowed Allah's name.

That changes how a believer argues in public. The aim is not to crush the loudest objector. It is to make the truth visible to the people quietly listening, who may have been misled and deserve a clear view.

So when you must answer a false claim in front of others, speak to the back of the room. Stay calm, stay fair and keep it short. The person you are really serving may be the one who never says a word.

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.