Tafseer of Explained in detail · Fussilat · 41:40
Indeed, those who inject deviation into Our verses are not concealed from Us. So, is he who is cast into the Fire better or he who comes secure on the Day of Resurrection? Do whatever you will; indeed, He is Seeing of what you do.
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 saying of the Exalted: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا لا يَخْفَوْنَ عَلَيْنَا أَفَمَنْ يُلْقَى فِي النَّارِ خَيْرٌ أَمْ مَنْ يَأْتِي آمِنًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ اعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ إِنَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ (Indeed, those who deviate concerning Our signs are not hidden from Us. Is then he who is cast into the Fire better, or he who comes secure on the Day of Resurrection? Do what you will; indeed, He is All-Seeing of what you do) (40).
The Exalted, exalted be His praise, means by His saying: ( إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا ) (Indeed, those who deviate concerning Our signs): indeed, those who stray from the truth concerning Our proofs and Our indications, and who turn away from them by denying and rejecting them.
I have already previously expounded the meaning of deviation (al-laḥd) with the testimonies that are sufficient, so that they need not be repeated here.
We shall mention a portion of the disagreement of those who differed over what is intended here by its meaning.
The exegetes differed over what is intended here by the meaning of deviation (al-ilḥād). Some of them said: by this is meant the polytheists' opposing of the Qurʾān with clamor and whistling, in order to mock it.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: ( إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا ) (Indeed, those who deviate concerning Our signs), he said: the whistling (al-mukāʾ) and what is mentioned along with it.
And some of them said: by this is meant the report about their lying concerning the signs of Allah.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا ) (Indeed, those who deviate concerning Our signs), he said: they deny Our signs.
And others said: by this is meant that they stubbornly oppose.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: ( إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا ) (Indeed, those who deviate concerning Our signs), he said: they resist and stubbornly oppose.
And others said: by this are meant unbelief (kufr) and the ascribing of partners to Allah (shirk).
* Mention of who said that:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: ( إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا لا يَخْفَوْنَ عَلَيْنَا ) (Indeed, those who deviate concerning Our signs are not hidden from Us), he said: these are the people of shirk. And he said: deviation (al-ilḥād) is unbelief (kufr) and shirk.
And others said: by this is meant the report about their altering of the meanings of the Book of Allah.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: ( إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي آيَاتِنَا لا يَخْفَوْنَ عَلَيْنَا ) (Indeed, those who deviate concerning Our signs are not hidden from Us), he said: that is, that the word is placed in a place other than where it belongs.
And all these sayings that we have mentioned in the explanation of it are close to one another in meaning, for deviation (al-laḥd) and ilḥād is straying; and it may be a straying from the signs of Allah and a turning away from them by denying them, and it may be by mockery with whistling and clapping of hands, and it may be a breaking with them and stubborn opposition, and it may be a distortion of them and an altering of their meanings.
And no saying deserves more to be considered correct than what we have said, namely that the report about them is general — that they deviated concerning the signs of Allah, just as our Lord, blessed and exalted is He, kept it general.
And His saying: ( لا يَخْفَوْنَ عَلَيْنَا ) (they are not hidden from Us): the Exalted, exalted be His remembrance, says: We have knowledge of them, they are not hidden from Us, and We lie in wait for them when they come to Us. And that is a threat from Allah, exalted be His praise, to them, with His saying: they will know, when they come to Us, what painful punishment (ʿadhāb) they will undergo from Us. Then the Exalted, exalted be His praise, gave a report about what He will do with them when they come to Him, and He said: ( أَفَمَنْ يُلْقَى فِي النَّارِ خَيْرٌ أَمْ مَنْ يَأْتِي آمِنًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ) (Is then he who is cast into the Fire better, or he who comes secure on the Day of Resurrection?). The Exalted, exalted be His remembrance, says to these people who today, in this worldly life, deviate concerning Our signs: on the Day of Resurrection there is the punishment of the Fire. Then Allah said: is then this one who is cast into the Fire better, or the one who comes on the Day of Resurrection, secure from the punishment of Allah on account of his faith in Allah, mighty and exalted is He? This unbeliever (kāfir) — indeed, if he believes in the signs of Allah and follows the command and the prohibition of Allah, then He will, on the Day of Resurrection, secure him from that against which He warned him, of His punishment, were he to come to Him on that day as an unbeliever.
And His saying: ( اعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ ) (Do what you will): this too is a threat from Allah to them, which has been cast in the form of a command. And thus did Mujāhid use to say: Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: ( اعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ ) (Do what you will), he said: this is a threat.
And His saying: ( إِنَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ ) (indeed, He is All-Seeing of what you do): the Exalted, exalted be His praise, says: indeed, Allah, O people, is, with respect to your deeds that you perform, possessor of knowledge and awareness; nothing of them, nor of anything else, remains hidden from Him.
