Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:5
They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie.
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.
The exposition of the explanation of the words of the Exalted: مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ وَلا لآبَائِهِمْ كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ إِنْ يَقُولُونَ إِلا كَذِبًا (18:5)
His words: مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ — He says: Those who make this statement — what is meant is their statement اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا — have no knowledge about بِهِ : that is, about Allah; the pronoun in His words بِهِ refers to Allah. The actual meaning of the text is: These people who make this statement have no knowledge of Allah — namely, that it is not permissible for Him to have a child — and it is because of their ignorance of Allah and His greatness that they say this.
His words وَلا لآبَائِهِمْ — He says: Nor did their forefathers, who passed away before them upon the same path as the one on which they find themselves today, have any knowledge of Allah and His greatness.
His words: كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ — The Qurʾān-reciters differed over the manner of reciting this. The great majority of the reciters of Medina, Kūfa, and Baṣra recited: (kaburat kalimatan) with the accusative (naṣb) of kalimatan, in the sense of: Their statement was great as a statement (kalimatan) that serves as an explicative distinction (tafsīr), as one says: niʿma rajulan ʿAmrun — "What a man ʿAmr is!" Some grammarians of the school of Baṣra said: the accusative of kalima is because it stands in the meaning of: "How great is it as a statement!" — just as Allah, Exalted be His praise, said: وَسَاءَتْ مُرْتَفَقًا . They held that its accusative corresponds to the word of the poet:
"وَلَقَـدْ عَلِمْـتُ إذَا اللِّقاحُ تَرَوَّحَتْ / هَدَجَ الرّئالِ تَكُبُّهُنَّ شَـمالا"
— that is: the north wind throws them down; it is as though he said: "That statement was tremendous" — and it is related from some reciters of Mecca that they recited: (kaburat kalimatun) with the nominative (rafʿ), as one says: ʿaẓuma qawluka — "Your word is great" — and kabura shaʾnuka — "Your affair is great." If one reads it thus, then in His words (kaburat kalimatun) there is nothing concealed (implicit), but it is an attribute of the statement.
The most correct reading of it, in my judgment, is that of the one who reads: (kaburat kalimatan) in the accusative, on account of the unanimity of the authoritative reciters upon it. The explanation of the text is then: Great is the statement — as a statement — that comes out of the mouths of these people who say: Allah has taken a child, and the angels are daughters of Allah.
As Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, who said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, concerning كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ : their statement that the angels are daughters of Allah.
His words: إِنْ يَقُولُونَ إِلا كَذِبًا — Allah, Exalted be His admonition, says: These sayers of "Allah has taken a child" say, with this statement of theirs, nothing other than a lie and a calumny that they have fabricated against Allah.
