Al-Mutaffifin · Makki · ayah 13 of 36

Al-Mutaffifin 83:13

إِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ ءَايَـٰتُنَا قَالَ أَسَـٰطِيرُ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ

“When Our verses are recited to him, he says, "Legends of the former peoples."”

Saheeh International

Essence

He does not refute the verses; he labels them, and the label saves him the trouble of listening.

A reflection

"Isn't the Quran just old stories retold?"

The objection is old and still heard. The Quran retells stories found in earlier traditions, so perhaps it simply gathered them.

Notice first who records the charge. The Quran quotes it itself, here and in several other places. It even gives the sharpest versions. 'Tales of the ancients, which he has had written down, and they are dictated to him morning and evening' (25:5). 'We have heard. If we wished, we could say the like of this. These are only tales of the ancients' (8:31). A book trying to hide its weak points does not preserve the best arguments against it.

Then notice the challenge buried in 8:31. They said they could produce the like. They were masters of the Arabic language, surrounded by poets, and they had every motive. They did not produce it.

One classical commentator records two meanings of the charge. Either it meant 'falsehoods from the ancients', or 'falsehoods told to our forefathers, who rejected them, so we are not the first'. Either way, it is a dismissal, not an argument.

Picture a history teacher who accuses a student of copying because her essay covers the same battle as a famous book. Sharing a subject is not the same as copying a source. The Quran says openly that it confirms the scriptures before it (5:48). It tells of the same prophets. But it tells them with its own purpose, its own details and its own voice.

What remains open is the honest work of reading it. The man in this ayah never did that. He heard the verses and reached for a label. The sincere reader is invited to do the opposite.

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.