And when their disgrace came upon them with the challenge, and they had among them the disgrace of contradiction without the disgrace of opposition, they would prefer it over the latter. No one among them spoke one day of anything that opposed it, knowing that by doing so they would fall into a disgrace that could not be washed away, just as Musaylimah did. This is because they were the most intelligent of the Arabs, and the estimation was as the context guided: for indeed, you are equal to them in relation to Allah's creation for you. He, glorified and exalted is He, is their Creator just as He is your Creator, and there is no specificity for you from Him according to their claim: Is He their Creator just as He is your Creator? Therefore, it is necessary for them to bring forth something like what you bring forth. This was based on their acknowledgment of Allah and their claim of his falsehood, blessings and peace be upon him. He, glorified and exalted is He, countered them with a rebuke and revealed disgrace that is more shameful than what they fled from in opposition by His saying, on the condition that they would be deniers of the deity or claim to be deities: "Or were they created" meaning, did their creation occur in this precise manner "from nothing" so that they would be contradicting clear reason? For the connection of creation to the Creator is a necessity of the name, just as its connection to the created being is necessary. So they must concede that you bring forth what they are unable to oppose, because you are stronger than them by virtue of your reliance on a Creator, while they do not rely on anything. Or they could be stronger than you and higher, so that they would have the arrogance over you. "Or are they the creators?" meaning, those who have this description, so they would have created themselves, thus being partners, and the Creator and the created would be one. This is similar to the previous section in the lack of reliance on anything, or the establishment of this description for them necessitating that they be confident in what they say and arrogant over you. For if they claimed that, the lowest of creation would judge them by their madness.