Commentary
And when the denial of the messengers occurs, sometimes it is by establishing something they did not legislate, and sometimes by rejecting what they legislated in word and deed. And He informed that the deniers are the people of the Fire. He explained this by saying: ﴿So who is more unjust﴾ meaning: more heinous in injustice ﴿than one who fabricates﴾ meaning: deliberately ﴿against Allah﴾ meaning: the Most High King ﴿a lie﴾ meaning: like one who legislates in food and clothing other than what He legislated, or claims that he is inspired and rules by the existence of what does not exist ﴿or denies His signs﴾ meaning: by rejecting what the messengers informed of, thus ruling by the denial of what exists.
And when the response is: no one is more unjust than this, rather he is the most unjust of people, and it is known that the unjust is deserving of punishment, so how about the most unjust? He said: ﴿Those﴾ meaning: the far ones from the divine presence ﴿will have their share of the Book﴾ meaning: that which was written when the spirit was blown into them or from the lifespans that He - glorified and exalted is He - set for them and the provisions that He divided. This is to emphasize the response to the objection of those who said: if we have opposed, why does He not destroy us? Then He restricted the attainment of the share by saying: ﴿Until when Our messengers come to them﴾ meaning: those whom We allocated for them from Our greatness as We wished while they are in the state of ﴿taking their souls﴾ meaning: they take their souls completely from all their bodies ﴿they said: where are what you used to invoke﴾ in defiance like one who is in his nature ﴿besides Allah﴾ meaning: you claim that they are intermediaries for you with the Most Great King and you invoke them while you are turning away from Allah. Invoke them now to prevent you from the humiliation of the punishment that We will make you taste ﴿they said: they have strayed﴾ meaning: they have disappeared ﴿from us﴾ so there is no helper for us. And when the deity does not disappear, they realized their misguidance by their absence from them - He said, translating this: ﴿And they will testify against themselves﴾ meaning: they will be excessive in their confession ﴿that they were disbelievers﴾ meaning: covering up in defiance of what the light of reason revealed to them, so there is no barrier against it except the whims of the souls and the necessity of misery.
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