His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: ﴿And of the camels, two, and of the cattle, two. Say, 'Is it the two males that He has forbidden, or the two females, or what the wombs of the two females contain? Were you witnesses when Allah commanded you this? So who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah to mislead the people without knowledge? Indeed, Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.﴾ The saying in this verse - regarding the meaning and the arrangement of the division - is like the previous saying in His words - glorified is He -: ﴿Of the sheep, two, and of the goats, two.﴾ [Al-An'am: 143]; and as if He said: 'Are you the ones who claim that Allah has forbidden certain characteristics of these animals? So His prohibition must be either regarding the two males or regarding what the wombs of the two females contain; but He has not prohibited either this or that; so there remains only that there has been no prohibition.' And His saying - exalted is He -: ﴿Or were you witnesses when Allah commanded you this?﴾; the verse is an interrogative for the purpose of reprimand; as there remains for them the impossible claim and the assertion that they witnessed Allah's command to them regarding this. And 'witnesses' is the plural of 'witness'; then His saying - exalted is He - 'So who is more unjust' includes the state of the one who invents lies against Allah - exalted is He - and confirms the excess of his wrongdoing. Al-Suddi said: Those who declared animals sacred and made them unlawful would say: 'Allah commanded us this'; then He clarified the evil of their intent in their fabrication; for if someone were to fabricate a lie against Allah without any meaning, it would be a great injustice; so how if he intended by it to mislead a nation? And it may be that the 'lam' in 'to mislead' is a lam of purpose. Then He firmly declared the ruling - there is no Lord other than Him - that He does not guide the wrongdoing people; meaning: 'He does not guide them'; and this is general in appearance; and it has become clear that its specification is what the Shari'ah necessitates, that Allah - exalted is He - guides many wrongdoers through repentance.