Al-An'am · Makki · ayah 93 of 165

Al-An'am 6:93

وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ ٱفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَوْ قَالَ أُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ وَلَمْ يُوحَ إِلَيْهِ شَىْءٌ وَمَن قَالَ سَأُنزِلُ مِثْلَ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ ۗ وَلَوْ تَرَىٰٓ إِذِ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ فِى غَمَرَٰتِ ٱلْمَوْتِ وَٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ بَاسِطُوٓا۟ أَيْدِيهِمْ أَخْرِجُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمُ ۖ ٱلْيَوْمَ تُجْزَوْنَ عَذَابَ ٱلْهُونِ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَقُولُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ غَيْرَ ٱلْحَقِّ وَكُنتُمْ عَنْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ تَسْتَكْبِرُونَ

“And who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allāh or says, "It has been inspired to me," while nothing has been inspired to him, and one who says, "I will reveal [something] like what Allāh revealed." And if you could but see when the wrongdoers are in the overwhelming pangs of death while the angels extend their hands,[327] [saying], "Discharge your souls! Today you will be awarded the punishment of [extreme] humiliation for what you used to say against Allāh other than the truth and [that] you were, toward His verses, being arrogant."”

Saheeh International

Essence

No wrong is greater than lying about God; this ayah shows that lie ending in a flood over the head.

A reflection

'Allah says', said lightly

At a family dinner, an uncle pushes away a dish he has never liked. 'Islam says you shouldn't eat this,' he announces. Nobody asks for a source. He has none, and he does not need one. He simply wanted the weight of heaven behind his own taste.

The ayah opens with a question that has no answer: who does greater wrong than one who invents a lie against Allah? Early reports link it to men who claimed prophethood outright. But one classical commentator insists the lesson is not fenced in by its occasion. Whoever attributes to Allah what He is free of, in His being, His attributes or His acts, stands under the same warning.

The root of iftarā pictures a blade on a hide. One cut, measured and stitched, makes a water-bag. Another, careless, ruins the skin. A forged lie about God is truth cut to a private shape.

Another commentator saw a quieter version in his own century. Some people set revealed guidance aside and said, 'It came into my heart', or 'My heart told me'. They treated their own passing thoughts as if heaven had sent them. The ayah's second clause fits them closely: 'or says, it was revealed to me, when nothing was revealed to him'.

Most of us will never claim to be prophets. But we can say 'God wants' when we mean 'I want'. We can quote a half-remembered ruling to win an argument. We can tell a grieving friend exactly why Allah took her child.

The ayah calls all of this ẓulm. The lexicons picture its root as milk poured before its butter formed, or ground dug where no one should dig. It is putting a thing where it does not belong. Our preference, placed in His mouth, is the most misplaced thing there is.

Why call it worse than harming people? Think of a forger who alters the national map. He has hurt no one yet. But every traveller who trusts the map afterwards walks the wrong way. A lie about God bends the very standard by which every other wrong is judged.

The cure is a short sentence the careful have always used: 'I do not know.' It costs a little pride. It keeps the hide whole.

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.