Tafseer of The Light · An-Noor · 24:15
When you received it with your tongues and said with your mouths that of which you had no knowledge and thought it was insignificant while it was, in the sight of Allah, tremendous.
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 mention, says: A grievous punishment would have afflicted you for what you plunged into concerning ʿĀʾisha, for your taking it up with your tongues. The word "idh" (إذ) is connected to His words "lakamassakum." And by "you took it up" (تَلَقَّوْنَهُ) He means: you take up the slander that the slanderers brought, and you accept it, and you relate it one to another. It is mentioned that in the reading of Ubayy it is "idh tatalaqqawnahu" with two tāʾ letters, and according to that the people of the great cities read, except that they read it as تَلَقَّوْنَهُ with one tāʾ, because that is how it stands in their copies of the Qurʾān.
It has been related from ʿĀʾisha concerning this word, according to what Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam related to me, saying: Khālid ibn Nazār related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Mulayka, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ, that she used to read this verse as: "idh taliqūnahu bi-alsinatikum" ("when you cast forth the lie with it"), and she said: "It is only walq — the casting forth of the lie," and she said: "They were only casting forth the lie." Ibn Abī Mulayka said: "And she knows that better than anyone, for it was sent down concerning her." Nāfiʿ said: "And I heard some of the Arabs say: al-layq means: the lie."
Ibn Humayd related to us, saying: Yahyā ibn Wāḍih related to us, saying: Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Maʿmar al-Jumaḥī related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Mulayka, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, that she used to read: "idh taliqūnahu bi-alsinatikum" — and she knows this best, for it was sent down concerning her. Ibn Abī Mulayka said: "It is from walq al-kadhib — the casting forth of the lie."
Abū Jaʿfar said: It is as though ʿĀʾisha directed the meaning, with her reading "taliqūnahu" — with a kasra under the lām and softening of the qāf — toward: "when you persist in your lies about her and your fabrications with your tongues," as one says: "fulān walaqa fī al-sayr fa-huwa yaliq" — "so-and-so continued on without stopping" when he kept on at it — and as the versifier said:
Indeed al-Julayd is slippery and al-Zumliq — he brought him to a horse from al-Shām, galloping, with a hungering belly, of kalbī nature.
It has also been related from the Arabs concerning al-walq (the lie): al-alq and al-ilq, both with fatḥa and with kasra under the hamza. Some also said:
Who will help me with the wearer of the cold coat, friend of unguents and of obstinate lies?
And the reading which I will not replace with any other is: إِذْ تَلَقَّوْنَهُ — as I described from the reading of the great cities, because the authoritative reciters are agreed upon it.
According to what we have said about this, the exegetes of the interpretation also spoke.
*Mention of those who said this:
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Husayn related to us, saying: Hajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning إِذْ تَلَقَّوْنَهُ بِأَلْسِنَتِكُمْ : "You relate it one to another."
Muhammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Hārith related to me, saying: al-Hasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīh, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning إِذْ تَلَقَّوْنَهُ : "You relate it one to another."
And His words: وَتَقُولُونَ بِأَفْوَاهِكُمْ مَا لَيْسَ لَكُمْ بِهِ عِلْمٌ ("and you say with your mouths that of which you have no knowledge"): Allah, exalted be His mention, says: You say with your mouths that of which you have no knowledge concerning the matter that you relate. وَتَحْسَبُونَهُ هَيِّنًا ("and you reckon it trifling"): you think that your speaking and your relating with your tongues and your taking it up one from another is a trifling and light thing, with no sin or harm upon you in it. وَهُوَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ عَظِيمٌ ("while it is, with Allah, tremendous"): and your taking it up and your speaking it with your mouths is, with Allah, a tremendous matter, for by it you caused distress to the Prophet ﷺ and his wife.