Tafseer of The Night Journey · Al-Israa · 17:81
And say, "Truth has come, and falsehood has departed. Indeed is falsehood, [by nature], ever bound to depart."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Allah, exalted be His remembrance, says: Say, O Muḥammad, to these polytheists (mushrikīn) who had almost contrived to drive you from the land in order to banish you from it: De waarheid is gekomen en het valse is vergaan.
The exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the meaning of the truth which Allah commanded His Prophet ﷺ to make the polytheists know has come, and the falsehood concerning which He charged him to tell them that it has perished. Some said: the truth here in this place is the Qurʾān, and the falsehood is the Shayṭān.
Account of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words wa-qul jāʾa al-ḥaqq — he said: the truth is the Qurʾān wa-zahaqa al-bāṭil inna al-bāṭila kāna zahūqan.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: wa-qul jāʾa al-ḥaqq — he said: the Qurʾān wa-zahaqa al-bāṭil — he said: the falsehood has perished; and that is the Shayṭān.
Others said: what is meant by the truth is the armed struggle (qitāl) against the polytheists, and by the falsehood is meant shirk.
Account of who said that:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His words wa-qul jāʾa al-ḥaqq — he said: the fighting is near wa-zahaqa al-bāṭil — he said: shirk and what they profess therein.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Abū Maʿmar, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ entered Mecca while there were three hundred and sixty idols standing around the Kaʿba; he began to prod them and to say: jāʾa al-ḥaqq wa-zahaqa al-bāṭil inna al-bāṭila kāna zahūqan.
The most correct of these statements in the interpretation of this is to say: Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, commanded His Prophet ﷺ to inform the polytheists that the truth has come — and that is everything with which Allah is pleased and through which He is obeyed — and that the falsehood has perished: that is to say, everything that does not please Him and through which He is not obeyed has vanished; everything that constitutes disobedience to Him and obedience to the Shayṭān is gone. For indeed, the truth is everything that runs counter to obedience to Iblīs, and the falsehood is everything that accords with that obedience. Allah, great is His name, did not restrict His report to announcing that a part of the acts of obedience to Him has come, nor that a part of the acts of disobedience to Him has vanished; rather, He made the report comprehensive concerning the coming of all that is true and the vanishing of all that is false. With this the Qurʾān and the Revelation came down, and for its sake the Messenger of Allah ﷺ fought (qātala) against the people of shirk — I mean: for the establishment of all that is true and the destruction of all that is false.
His words, Mighty and Great: wa-zahaqa al-bāṭil — its meaning is: the falsehood has vanished; derived from their expression zahaqat nafsuhu: when his soul has departed from him; and I caused it to depart (azhaqa-hā); also from their expression azhaqa al-sahm: when the arrow passed beyond the target and continued onward in its direction. One says: zahaqa al-bāṭil, yazhaqu zuhūqan, and azhaqa-hu Allāh: that is to say: He caused it to vanish.
With what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have also said.
Account of who said that:
ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: inna al-bāṭila kāna zahūqan — that is to say: passing away.
