Tafsir for verse: 42:24
أَمۡ يَقُولُونَ ٱفۡتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبٗاۖ فَإِن يَشَإِ ٱللَّهُ يَخۡتِمۡ عَلَىٰ قَلۡبِكَۗ وَيَمۡحُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡبَٰطِلَ وَيُحِقُّ ٱلۡحَقَّ بِكَلِمَٰتِهِۦٓۚ إِنَّهُۥ عَلِيمُۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ ٢٤ ﴿24
24Is it that they say, “He has forged a lie against Allah”? So, if Allah wills, He may put a seal on your heart. And Allah blots out falsehood and establishes truth with His words. Surely, He is fully aware of what lies in the hearts.
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Commentary

And when it was established that He revealed the Book with truth, and it was indicated to that until He concluded with the negation of the purpose in the message, the cutting off occurred with the content of the report. It was as if it was said in denial against them and a reprimand to them: Did they act upon what We alerted them to regarding what they claim to be deeply rooted in, such as maintaining family ties and turning towards the heights of morals by avoiding sins and committing good deeds, and staying away from lying, boasting, and slander? They believed that it is true and that it is a revelation from Allah based on the evidence that supports it: 'Or do they say' in obstinacy: 'He has fabricated' meaning deliberately to cut off. He preceded the mention of the greatest King as a reminder that there is nothing more heinous than lying against the King of kings, with the understanding of the object of the word 'fabrication.' He said: 'against Allah,' who encompasses the attributes of perfection. For Him is the comprehensive knowledge of those who speak falsely against Him and the complete ability to punish them for 'lying' when they claimed that this Qur'an is from Him and that He sent it for this religion.

And when the determination is decisive: they certainly say that, and their saying to him is a saying known for its falsehood. This is because he challenged them with something like it, claiming that he has a counterpart to know the truth of their words. Yet they did not bring anything forth. And although they may claim that he prevents them from that, they do not permit themselves to lie. No sane person doubts the falsehood of that from them as well, because they did not ask from them to forget what they bring to Allah. If he had asked them for that, it would not have been an excuse, because no one doubts that necessities permit prohibitions, and that one commits the lesser of two harms to avert the greater of them. Thus, bringing forth simple words can quell long trials and cut off great evils in the best of ways, for the matter is easy. So that was while they commit greater than that, which is severing ties of kinship and dividing the word for killing souls, destroying homes, and wasting wealth. This is a decisive proof that they only leave it out of inability, resulting from their saying this, which is their attributing to him the intention of lying. Allah, the Exalted, responded to them by clarifying their falsehood in what they said, by clarifying what he, blessings and peace be upon him, has of the light of the heart necessary for the correctness of the saying: 'So if...' And He manifested majesty and did not conceal glorification of the matter by stating that the sealing can only be done by one who possesses all attributes of perfection without being bound by any condition at all. So He said: 'Allah wills,' meaning the One who has the encompassing perfection, 'to seal.' And it followed the previous style in addressing the greatest of those with understanding. He expressed it with a tool of elevation: 'upon your heart.' So it prevents him from accepting the spirit of this revelation just as He sealed the hearts of your enemies from accepting that. Thus, at that time, you would be equal to them in the inability to bring forth anything from it. And if you were to say, and may Allah protect you from what they say, which can be rightly attributed to falsehood, you would not say it except with the evidence standing against its falsehood, just as they are also continually exposed by the evidence against their sayings standing against their falsehood. The original in the speech was: 'Do they say that?' And they are indeed lying in it because Allah has opened your breast and illuminated your heart. So do not say a saying except that the evidence is standing for its truth. However, He conveyed the speech this way because, while being fair, it indicates a connection with the accusation of sealing the hearts. And that is certainly indicative that they are the liars due to what is upon their hearts from the sealing that necessitates that they say what the evidence stands against its falsehood.

And when the decree was as indicated by the context: but He did not wish that, rather He wished to make it receptive to the spirit of revelation and aware of the arts of knowledge. So it casts forth various types of knowledge, and it calls out to receive the wonders of subtleties. And Allah establishes all of that without any hindrance or diversion. He then added His saying: ﴿And Allah will erase﴾, meaning the One who has all the attributes of perfection, ﴿the falsehood﴾, which is their saying 'He fabricated' and every lie, so He does not leave it with any trace. There, the loss of the denier becomes evident, and the tongue of the most stubborn adversary is cut off. It has not been mentioned that the means of erasing the words and others is a belittlement of it, by indicating that sometimes He erases it by Himself without a reason, and sometimes with the weakest of causes, and sometimes with something greater than it. And its 'waw' has been omitted in the script in all the copies of the Qur'an, although it is a new beginning not included in the answer, for He, glorified and exalted is He, erases falsehood absolutely, indicating that He, glorified is He, obliterates its elevation, superiority, and dominance, which the 'waw' indicated in accordance with both its script and its wording. Its meaning is an affirmation of the good news that He erases it in a way that leaves no eye or trace for whoever has established for His might. And He remained patient as He commanded for His situation, relying on the truthful promise of Allah, believing in the unseen, and trusting in the messengers, blessings and peace be upon them. And in the omission, there is also a resemblance to the action of the command, indicating that the occurrence of this erasure must be in the most complete, most precise, highest, and most perfect manner, just as the commanded action is from the obeyed king. As for the truth, it is firmly established and greatly multiplied, so He said: ﴿And He establishes﴾, meaning it is established in a way that cannot be removed ﴿the truth﴾, meaning everything concerning it is stability, for He has permitted it and confirmed it. And the greatness of the truth and its establishment is mentioned by the mention of the means of action, for He said: ﴿By His words﴾, meaning those ﴿If the sea were ink﴾ [Al-Kahf: 109], the verse which they say what has come to them of the expression about it is a fabrication of lies. The result is that He, glorified is He, established the purity of His essence, the luminosity of His heart, the correctness of His saying, and the success of His command, and the darkness of their hearts and the falsehood of their sayings, an establishment coupled with its evidence. As for the people of insight, it is due to their inability to oppose it, and as for the foolish, it is the establishment of His saying and the erasure of their saying.

And when they knew that He was upon the truth and they were upon falsehood, and whoever's knowledge encompasses something is able to do what he wants with that thing, He clarified that with His saying, reasoning in a way of affirmation that their action is the action of one who thinks that Allah does not know their plotting: ﴿Indeed, He is All-Knowing﴾, meaning profound ﴿of what is in the breasts﴾, meaning what is in it that its owner knows and what he does not know, so He invalidates their falsehood and establishes their truth, even if the creatures dislike that. ﴿And you will surely know its news after a time﴾ [Sad: 88]. And indeed, Allah has spoken the truth, so He established by the blessing of this Qur'an all that he, blessings and peace be upon him, used to say, and He invalidated with the sword of this proof all that they used to oppose him in it. And who is more truthful than Allah in speech?

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