Ash-Shura (Consultation)
Verse 24
Table of Contents
24. Or say they: “He has invented a lie against Allah?” If Allah willed, He could have sealed up your heart. And Allah wipes out falsehood and establishes the truth by His Word. Verily, He knows well what [secrets] are in the breasts [of men].
Regarding the question of Prophetic Call disbelievers and heretics said that the Noble Prophet of the Islamic faith (S) was a man like them and his Prophetic Call was an accusation against God Almighty; likewise they voiced the same accusation regarding the question of Imamate.
Those who did not intend to regard the love for Ahl al-Bayt as a Prophetic Call said:
“Muhammad invents lies against God by saying that his reward is that people love his next of kin.”
The blessed Verse in question is saying had the Messenger (S) invented a lie against Allah, He would vent His Wrath upon him by sealing up his heart.
It is worthy of note that the blessed Verse in question resumes the subject matter of the preceding Verses concerning Prophetic Call and the Reward thereof, love for his next of kin and the Ahl al-Bayt.
In this vein, the blessed Verse is saying that they do not acknowledge Divine Revelation, but say that He invents lies against God and his words are the fruits of his imagination:
(“If Allah willed, He could have sealed up your heart”).
The blessed Verse is in fact an allusion to the well-known logical argument as per which if someone claims to be the Prophet and works miracles and signs and is supported by God, but invents lies against Him, Divine Wisdom will necessitate that the miracles and His Support be taken away and he will be disgraced as it is reflected elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an1 :
“And if he had forged a false saying concerning Us, We surely would have seized him by his right hand [and would have cut the vessel of his heart].”
It is also noteworthy that one of the false accusations made by disbelievers and polytheists was that they said that he had regarded the love for his kith and kin as the reward for his Prophetic Call and had thus forged a false saying concerning God. Taking into account the preceding Verses, the blessed Verse in question rejects such false claim.
However, the contextual meaning of the blessed Verse is not restricted to this sense, since the Holy Qur’an reveals that the enemies of the Noble Prophet (S) forged the same false claim as to the entirety of the Holy Qur’an as Divine Revelation, as it is reflected elsewhere in the Holy Qur’an2 :
“Or do they say: ‘He [Muhammad (S)] has forged it?’ Say: ‘Bring then a Chapter like unto it and call upon whomsoever you can besides Allah, if you are truthful.’”
The following Verse also puts further emphasis on the same:
“Allah effaces falsehood”3 .
It rests with God Almighty to disgrace falsehood and make truth appear. Thus, He never allows anyone to forge a lie against Him and render him assistance and allow him to make miracles at the same time.
It is not imaginable that the Noble Prophet (S) was able to forge a lie against God Almighty without His being Aware of the same, since:
“He is All-Aware of the secrets in breasts.”
As mentioned above under the exegesis of 35:38, the word dhat is not employed in the Arabic tongue in the sense of essence and truth of things, but it is a philosophical term.3
The point is that the word is used in the sense of
“possessor, having.”
Thus, the meaning of the last Verse4 is that God Almighty is All-Aware of the thoughts and beliefs predominating hearts since He is the Possessor of the same. It is a delicate allusion to predominance of thought over the hearts and souls of mankind.