Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:89
We would have invented against Allah a lie if we returned to your religion after Allah had saved us from it. And it is not for us to return to it except that Allah, our Lord, should will. Our Lord has encompassed all things in knowledge. Upon Allah we have relied. Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth, and You are the best of those who give decision."
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 statement concerning the interpretation of His words: قَدِ افْتَرَيْنَا عَلَى اللَّهِ كَذِبًا إِنْ عُدْنَا فِي مِلَّتِكُمْ بَعْدَ إِذْ نَجَّانَا اللَّهُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَكُونُ لَنَا أَنْ نَعُودَ فِيهَا إِلا أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّنَا وَسِعَ رَبُّنَا كُلَّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا عَلَى اللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا رَبَّنَا افْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِالْحَقِّ وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْفَاتِحِينَ (89) ("We would surely have invented a lie against Allah if we returned to your creed after Allah has saved us from it. It does not befit us to return to it, unless Allah, our Lord, should will it. Our Lord encompasses all things in knowledge. Upon Allah we place our trust. Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth, and You are the best of those who decide.") (7:89)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says: Shuʿayb said to his people — when they called upon him to return to their creed and to enter into it, and threatened him with banishment, him and whoever followed him, out of their city, if he and they would not do so: (قد افترينا على الله كذبًا) — "we would surely have invented a lie against Allah" — He says: we would have fabricated a lie against Allah and falsely invented statements about Him, if we were to return to your creed, and were to return into it after Allah had saved us from it, by causing us to perceive its error and the correctness of the guidance upon which we stand. And it does not befit us to return to it, so as to submit ourselves to it and abandon the truth upon which we stand. And (إلا أن يشاء الله ربنا) — "unless Allah, our Lord, should will it" — unless it has already been established in Allah's knowledge that we would return to it, so that then Allah's decree would be fulfilled upon us and His will would be carried out upon us. And (وسع ربنا كل شيء علما) — "our Lord encompasses all things in knowledge" — He says: for the knowledge of our Lord indeed encompasses all things and has enclosed it, so that nothing remains hidden from Him, neither anything that has been, nor anything that will be. So if it has already been established in His knowledge that we would return to your creed — and nothing remains hidden from Him, neither anything that has been, nor anything that will be — then inevitably what is established in His knowledge must come to pass; and otherwise we shall not return to your creed.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
14853 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (قد افترينا على الله كذبًا إن عدنا في ملتكم بعد إذ نجانا الله منها وما يكون لنا أن نعود فيها إلا أن يشاء الله ربنا وسع ربنا كل شيء علما على الله توكلنا ربنا افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق) — He says: it does not befit us to return to your shirk after Allah has saved us from it, unless Allah, our Lord, should will it; and Allah does not will shirk. But he says: unless Allah has known something, for He encompasses all things in knowledge.
* * *
And His words: (على الله توكلنا) — "upon Allah we place our trust" — He says: upon Allah we rely in our affairs and upon Him we depend with regard to the evil that you announce to us, O people; for He is sufficient for whoever relies upon Him (tawakkul).
* * *
Then he — the blessings of Allah be upon him — turned to his Lord with supplication against his people, when he despaired of their prosperity and his hope for their submission to Allah in obedience and their acknowledgment of his message was cut off, and he feared for himself and for the believers of his people who followed him destruction and ruin at the hands of the corrupt among them, through the hastening of vengeance. So he said: (ربنا افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق) — "our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth" — He says: judge between us and them with Your true judgment, in which there is no injustice, no distortion, and no oppression, but which is justice and truth. And (وأنت خير الفاتحين) — "and You are the best of those who decide" — He means: the best of those who judge.
* * *
Al-Farrāʾ has mentioned that the inhabitants of ʿUmān call the judge "al-fātiḥ" and "al-fattāḥ."
And another of those learned in Arabic has mentioned that it belongs to the language of Murād, and has cited from one of them a line of verse, namely:
"Come now, convey to the sons of ʿUṣm a message: that I have no need of your adjudication (futāḥa)."
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
14854 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Misʿar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: I did not know what His words (ربنا افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق) — "our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth" — meant, until I heard the daughter of Dhū Yazan say: "Come, and I will decide between us (ufātiḥuka)," by which she meant: I will enter into litigation with you.
14855 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: (ربنا افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق) — He says: judge between us and our people.
14856 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ibn Dukayn related to us, saying: Misʿar related to us, saying: I heard Qatāda say: Ibn ʿAbbās said: I did not know what His words (ربنا افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق) meant, until I heard the daughter of Dhū Yazan say: "Come, and I will decide between us (ufātiḥuka)."
14857 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words: (افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق) — that is: judge between us and our people in truth.
14858 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, saying: Maʿmar related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق) — judge between us and our people in truth.
14859 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: as for His words (افتح بيننا) — "decide between us" — he says: judge between us.
14860 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: "iftaḥ" means: judge between us and our people; and إِنَّا فَتَحْنَا لَكَ فَتْحًا مُبِينًا [al-Fatḥ: 1] ("We have indeed given you a clear decision") — We have rendered for you a clear judgment.
14861 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "iftaḥ" — judge.
14862 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr related to us, saying: Misʿar related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: I did not know what (افتح بيننا وبين قومنا بالحق) meant, until I heard the daughter of Dhū Yazan say to her husband: "Come along, and I will decide between us (ufātiḥuka)."
