Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:56
And We send not the messengers except as bringers of good tidings and warners. And those who disbelieve dispute by [using] falsehood to [attempt to] invalidate thereby the truth and have taken My verses, and that of which they are warned, in ridicule.
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 explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: وَمَا نُرْسِلُ الْمُرْسَلِينَ إِلا مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ وَيُجَادِلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِالْبَاطِلِ لِيُدْحِضُوا بِهِ الْحَقَّ وَاتَّخَذُوا آيَاتِي وَمَا أُنْذِرُوا هُزُوًا (18:56)
Allah, exalted be His mention, says: We send Our messengers only to announce (tabshīr) to those who believe and affirm Allah the sublime reward in the hereafter, and to warn (indhār) those who reject and deny Him of His severe punishment and painful torment (ʿadhāb), so that they might cease ascribing partners to Allah (shirk) and turn away from disbelief (kufr) in Him and from disobedience to Him.
وَيُجَادِلُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِالْبَاطِلِ لِيُدْحِضُوا بِهِ الْحَقَّ — Allah says: those who deny Allah and His Messenger dispute by means of falsehood — as when they asked the Prophet ﷺ: tell us about young men who set out on a journey in the early times and no one knew what became of them, and about the man who reached the easternmost and westernmost regions, and about the spirit, and similar matters with which they disputed with him in order to make him stumble. Allah then said to them: We do not send you Our messengers for debate and contests of words; We send them only as bearers of good news to the believers about the Garden (janna), and as warners to the disbelievers about the Fire. But you disputed with them by means of falsehood, striving to nullify the truth that My Messenger has brought you.
لِيُدْحِضُوا بِهِ الْحَقَّ — in order thereby to nullify, efface, and cause the truth to vanish. One says: "daḥaḍa al-shayʾ" when it vanishes and goes away. One also says: "hādhā makān daḥḍ" — a smooth, slippery ground on which neither a camel's foot, nor a hoof, nor a human foot finds purchase. From this comes the verse:
رَدِيتُ وَنَجَّى اليَشْكُرِيَّ حِذَارُهُ — وَحَادَ كَمَا حَادَ البَعِيرُ عَنِ الدَّحْضِ (I fell down, while his wariness saved the Yashkurī — he veered aside as a camel veers aside from the slippery ground.)
And: "adḥaḍtuhu anā" — when one nullifies and annuls something.
وَاتَّخَذُوا آيَاتِي وَمَا أُنْذِرُوا هُزُوًا — Allah says: the disbelievers have taken His proofs, His Book that He sent down to them, and the warnings with which He warned them as an object of mockery — they say: إِنْ هَذَا إِلا أَسَاطِيرُ الأَوَّلِينَ اكْتَتَبَهَا فَهِيَ تُمْلَى عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلاً (This is nothing but the fables of the ancients which he has had written down, and they are recited to him morning and evening), and: لَوْ نَشَاءُ لَقُلْنَا مِثْلَ هَذَا (If we wished, we could say the like of this).
