Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:24
See how they will lie about themselves. And lost from them will be what they used to invent.
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 discourse on the explanation of His statement: انْظُرْ كَيْفَ كَذَبُوا عَلَى أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ (6:24) (See how they have lied against themselves, and how that which they used to fabricate has strayed away from them. (24))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to His prophet Muhammad ﷺ: See, O Muhammad, and know how these — the polytheists (al-mushrikūn) who equate to their Lord the idols and the statues — have, in the Hereafter, at the meeting with Allah, lied against themselves with their statement: "By Allah, O our Lord, we were not polytheists," and have there employed the attributes with which they used to adorn themselves in the life of this world, of falsehood and fabrication.
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And the meaning of "seeing" in this place is seeing with the heart, not seeing with the eye. Its meaning is only: become aware, so that you may know how they lied in the Hereafter.
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And He said: "they have lied (kadhabū)," while the meaning is: they lie (yakdhibūn); because, since the report in the preceding āya had already passed, it was treated as something that has already been and occurred.
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— "and how that which they used to fabricate has strayed away from them," He says: and the associates and the idols have departed from them, and they have absolved themselves of them, and have taken a path other than that of theirs, because they perished, [and those who worshipped them were brought back into insolence]. Then they were seized for what they used to fabricate in their statement about that against Allah, and their worship of it, and their equating it within the sovereignty of Allah; so it has strayed away from them, and those who worshipped it were punished for their fabrication.
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And we have already expounded in what preceded that the meaning of "straying (al-ḍalāl)" is: the taking of something other than guidance.
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And it has been mentioned that these polytheists make this statement upon their beholding the extent of Allah's mercy on that day.
Mention of the narration concerning that:
13140 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Muṭarrif, on the authority of al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: A man came to Ibn ʿAbbās and said: I have heard Allah say: وَاللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ (By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists), and He said in another āya: وَلا يَكْتُمُونَ اللَّهَ حَدِيثًا (and they will not conceal from Allah any word) [Surah An-Nisāʾ: 42]? Ibn ʿAbbās said: As for His statement: "By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists" — that is because, when they saw that only the people of Islam enter Paradise, they said: "Come, let us deny," whereupon they said: "By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists"; then Allah sealed their mouths and their hands and their feet spoke, "and they will not conceal from Allah any word."
13141 - Muhammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah, the Exalted whose mention is exalted: وَاللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ (By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists), he said: the statement of the people of polytheism, when they saw that the sins are forgiven, but Allah does not forgive a polytheist — "see how they have lied against themselves," through Allah's giving them the lie.
13142 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, with something similar.
13143 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: وَاللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ (By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists), then He said: وَلا يَكْتُمُونَ اللَّهَ حَدِيثًا (and they will not conceal from Allah any word) [Surah An-Nisāʾ: 42], with their limbs.
13144 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Ḥamza al-Zayyāt, on the authority of a man called Hishām, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "Then their trial will be nothing but that they say: By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists," he said: they swear and make excuses, they say: "By Allah, our Lord."
13145 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Qabīṣa ibn ʿUqba related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, who said: they swear and make excuses: "By Allah, our Lord."
13146 - Hannād related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ḥamza al-Zayyāt, on the authority of a man called Hishām, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, with something similar.
13147 - Hannād related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Sufyān ibn Ziyād al-ʿUṣfurī, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His statement: "By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists" — by Allah: when it was commanded that men be brought out of the Fire, namely the people of professing the oneness (ahl al-tawḥīd), the polytheists who were therein said: "Come, let us say: there is no god but Allah, that perhaps we may be brought out along with these." He said: but they were not believed. He said: then they swore: "By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists." He said: then Allah said: "See how they have lied against themselves, and how that which they used to fabricate has strayed away from them."
13148 - Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and how that which they used to fabricate has strayed away from them," that is to say: the ascribing of associates.
13149 - Al-Ḥārith related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: وَاللَّهِ رَبِّنَا مَا كُنَّا مُشْرِكِينَ (By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists), he said: when the polytheists saw that only a Muslim enters Paradise, they said: come, when we are questioned, let us say: "By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists." Then they were questioned, and they said that, whereupon Allah sealed their mouths, and their limbs testified against them concerning their deeds; then those who disbelieved, when they saw that, wished: "that the earth were levelled with them, and they will not conceal from Allah any word."
13150 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to me, saying: Muslim ibn Khalaf related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: On the Day of Resurrection there comes over the people an hour, when the people of polytheism see that the people of professing the oneness are forgiven; then they say: "By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists." He said: "See how they have lied against themselves, and how that which they used to fabricate has strayed away from them."
13151 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of a man, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: that he used to say: "By Allah, our Lord, we were not polytheists," lowering it [in pronunciation]. He said: they swore and made excuses. Al-Ḥārith said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz said: Sufyān said another time: Hishām related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr.
