وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ ٱفْتَرَىٰ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا أَوْ قَالَ أُوحِىَ إِلَىَّ وَلَمْ يُوحَ إِلَيْهِ شَىْءٌۭ وَمَن قَالَ سَأُنزِلُ مِثْلَ مَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ ۗ وَلَوْ تَرَىٰٓ إِذِ ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ فِى غَمَرَٰتِ ٱلْمَوْتِ وَٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ بَاسِطُوٓا۟ أَيْدِيهِمْ أَخْرِجُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمُ ۖ ٱلْيَوْمَ تُجْزَوْنَ عَذَابَ ٱلْهُونِ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَقُولُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ غَيْرَ ٱلْحَقِّ وَكُنتُمْ عَنْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ تَسْتَكْبِرُونَ
And who is more unjust than one who invents a lie about Allah or says, "It has been inspired to me," while nothing has been inspired to him, and one who says, "I will reveal [something] like what Allah revealed." And if you could but see when the wrongdoers are in the overwhelming pangs of death while the angels extend their hands, [saying], "Discharge your souls! Today you will be awarded the punishment of [extreme] humiliation for what you used to say against Allah other than the truth and [that] you were, toward His verses, being arrogant."
Introduction
This is āyah 93 of Sūrat Al-An'aam (The Cattle), the 55th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 7. Meccan verses tend to address faith, the oneness of God, and the hereafter.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Meccan
- Order revealed
- 55 of 114
- Surah
- Al-An'aam (6)
Who does greater wrong than he who forges a lie against God? In the tongue of commentary placing lies on God and tying lies to Him is what we explained and clari- fied in the story of Musaylima and ʿAnsī.12 As for the tongue of the folk of allusion and the tasting of the chevaliers of the Path, this has another secret and intimation, by virtue of the report given by MuṣṬafā, “Every verse has an outwardness and an inwardness.” The reality of this secret is that anyone who claims recognition of God is a forger in reality, for the majesty of Unity is pure and not in any need of recognition by water and dust. This is why the pirs of the Tariqah have said, “Whoever remembers has forged, whoever shows patience has been audacious, and whoever recognizes is cut off.” Junayd said, “My greatest sin is my recognition of Him.” In other words, “It is that I should fancy and claim that I have recognized Him as is fitting for Him in the rightful due of His reality and the limits of His exaltedness.” But such recognition does not come from the Adamite, nor do his understanding and imagination reach it. This recognition fits only into the Lordhood's own knowledge, for in reality He recognizes Himself and knows Himself. God says, “They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure” [6:91]. The attributes of new arrival have no access to eternity, and everything that comes from the compass of power to the world of ignorance is im- prisoned by variegation, and variegated things have no access to stability. Whenever someone is guided by gazing and inference, he is walking in his own tracks. Whoever walks in his own tracks is nothing but deluded. Whoever hopes for recognition is seeking his own portion, and whoever seeks his own portion is nothing but self-nurturing and self-worshiping. Quit being the companion of self-nurturing habit-worshipers! Kiss the dust beneath the feet of those who have disowned self! [DS 972] The Adamite was not, then he was. That which was not, then was, is nonbeing. How can recogni- tion of being come from nonbeing? Someone who exists between two nonexistences is nothing at all. How can all things come to a nothing? Good fortune does not come by artifice, nor recognition by causes. Felicity does not come by worship, nor recognition by sufficiency. Shiblī said, “You did not recognize Him with your recognition. On the contrary, you perceived Him with your knowledges and your opinions and you intellected Him with your imaginations and your understandings. You measured Him with your beliefs and your hearts, and all that is turned back upon you and created like you.”
Tafsir
Hafiz Ibn Kathir
Chains of transmission
Oral — isnād
- ~610–632 CERevelation & memorisation
Received by the Prophet ﷺ and preserved by the ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) among the Companions.
- 1st century AHMutawātir transmissionawaiting curation
Carried by mass-transmission through the generations of qurrāʾ.
- TodayLiving chainsawaiting curation
Continuous ijāzah chains link reciters today back to the Prophet ﷺ.
Verified isnād chains for this āyah will be added by curators.
Written — the manuscript record
- ~650 CEʿUthmānic codicesawaiting curation
The standardised muṣḥaf sent to the great cities (e.g. the Topkapı and Samarqand codices).
- 8th–10th c.Early Ḥijāzī & Kūfic foliosawaiting curation
Surviving leaves in Birmingham, Sanaa, Paris (BnF) and beyond.
- Modern printModern printawaiting curation
The 1924 Cairo edition → today: the standard printed muṣḥaf used worldwide.
A curated chain of manuscript images for this exact āyah — roughly one per century — is coming. Help us source and verify them.
And now — what do you think?
The text, its history and the classical commentary are laid out above. Share your own understanding, ask a question, or reason with others.
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