"It is those who believe not in the Signs of Allah, that forge falsehood: it is they who lie." In what sense is lie used in the verse above?

Dear Brother / Sister,

This verse was sent down about the unbelievers who accused the Prophet (pbuh) of slandering:

"It is those who believe not in the Signs of Allah, that forge falsehood: it is they who lie." (an-Nahl, 16/105)

The "lie" mentioned in the verse is not like an ordinary lie; it is a lie that leads man to unbelief. 

The chapter of an-Nahl, verses 101-105:

"101. When We substitute one revelation for another,- and Allah knows best what He reveals (in stages),- they say, "Thou art but a forger": but most of them understand not.

102. Say, the Holy Spirit has brought the revelation from thy Lord in Truth, in order to strengthen those who believe, and as a Guide and Glad Tidings to Muslims.

103. We know indeed that they say, "It is a man that teaches him." The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this is Arabic, pure and clear.

104. Those who believe not in the Signs of Allah,- Allah will not guide them, and theirs will be a grievous Penalty.

105. It is those who believe not in the Signs of Allah, that forge falsehood: it is they who lie."

EXPLANATION

101. When a verse is replaced by another one, it is called naskh (abrogation). The pervious verse is called mansukh (abrogated) and the latter is called nasikh (abrogating). The unbelievers tried to put forward the issue of abrogation like a doubt about the prophethood of Hz. Muhammad (pbuh); there are still many unbelievers who follow this method. This verse answers them. That is, when We abrogate a verse and substitute it with another verse (Allah knows better what He sent down and what He will send down), its abrogation and substitution is not due to His ignorance – God forbid – but His knowledge and wisdom. Both the previous verse and the latter are sent down based on divine wisdom and for the benefits of the slaves. What is useful for a time period might be harmful for another one. The opposite might also be true. For, the situations in the world change. The sari’ahs are in compliance with the benefits of the slaves both in the world and the hereafter. However, Allah sent down the shari’ah of Hz. Muhammad so that it will be dominant for the benefits of various ages up to the Day of Judgment.

Although Almighty Allah knows what He sent down and what He will send down, they said to the Prophet he was a slanderer, not a prophet, when He substituted a verse with another one. They dared to say that he made up the Quran and that he slandered Allah. They dared to say, “Would it have been changed if it were the word of Allah?” According to a narration, when a harsh verse was sent down first and when a soft one was sent down after it, Qurayshi unbelievers would say, "Muhammad is mocking his friends. He orders something today and prohibits it the next day. He either makes them up or slanders Allah." No, most of them do not know. Although there are some people who know among them but act stubbornly and conceitedly, what most of them does is not in compliance with knowledge. They do not know the truth of the Quran and the benefits and wisdom behind the abrogation and substitution of some verses.

102. Say (O Muhammad), the Holy Spirit has brought the revelation from thy Lord in Truth.

RUHUL-QUDUS (HOLY SPIRIT): It means the spirit of holiness, the spirit of cleanliness that cannot be blemished by any stains and the blessed and clean spirit that is reliable: Jibril (Gabriel). As a matter of fact, the spirit of Faith and Truth in the following verse is also Jibril: "With it (the Quran) came down the spirit of Faith and Truth." (ash-Shuara, 26/193)

"We strengthened him with the holy spirit." (al-Baqara, 2/87) As it is seen in the verse, that Jibril is mentioned with the title the Holy Spirit is related to the wisdom of rejecting the slandering of the unbelievers severely and determining his complete cleanliness and holiness. That is, O Muhammad! The Quran is such a holy book that the Holy Spirit, who is impossible to be blemished with any stains or faults, brings it down to you from your Sublime Lord and delivers it to you truly without any wrong knowledge. In that case, this book is a holy book that is completely true with its abrogating and abrogated verses and you are a true Prophet that has the Holy Spirit. Your Lord sent it down like that so that it would strengthen those who believe, make them firm in their belief and be a guide and glad tiding for the believers who surrender to the decree of Allah. Thus, abrogation is related to the wisdom of strengthening belief, guiding and giving glad tidings.

103. The repetition of the word Muslims here indicates verse (16/89) above and reminds verse (16/90).

We know indeed that they say, "It is a man that teaches him (the Quran)." That is, they say the Holy Spirit does not bring down Muhammad the Quran but a man teaches him. This statement of theirs denies their confessing that he was not educated and trained by anybody and saying that he makes them up. They cannot say, "A man taught him." That is, everybody knows that before Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) declared his prophethood, he did not learn and study anything from anybody; therefore, they cannot dare to claim such a thing. However, they used is as an excuse in the face of the extraordinary state they witnessed and said, "He cannot have done it himself since he has not been educated up to now. It is not logical to accept that a person who cannot read and write can prepare a book like that. Somebody is definitely teaching Muhammad now." However, they do not want to believe that Allah educates him and hence they say a man is educating him. They mock him and slander by saying, “Somebody is writing the Quran for Muhammad and he wants to present what he learns as word of Allah.”

The following is stated in the narrations about the reason why this verse was sent down: In Makkah, Amir b. Hadrami had a slave of Byzantine origin called "Jawra" or "Ya’ish"; he could read and write; he was from the People of the Book. The Messenger of Allah, who invited everybody to Islam, sometimes talked to him in his place in Marwa. Qurayshi polytheists got angry with this and wanted to make fun of him by saying this Christian teaches Muhammad. In addition, two Byzantines called Jabra and Yasara made swords in Makkah and read the Torah and the Gospel. The Prophet sometimes visited them and listened to them if they happened to read at that time. Some of them used this as an excuse. In addition, Abisa, who was Huwaytib bin Abduluzza’s slave, had some books. He became a Muslim; when the polytheists saw this, they dared to say, "This man teaches Muhammad". They also mentioned Salman al-Farisi. However, this person became a Muslim in Madinah; therefore, it was opposed that this claim was put forward for the reason for the revelation of this verse since it was sent down in Makkah. 

To sum up, the polytheists who did not want to accept the prophethood of Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) wanted to show the Messenger of Allah as a new student who had just started to learn and an impostor who wanted to attribute what others did to himself and to cast doubts that somebody else was teaching him; they made propaganda by attributing what he conveyed to other people. As a matter of fact, some Christians have recently published similar things stating that he took Islam from Christians. It is seen that a certain name is not mentioned but "a man" is used in the verse to comprehend all of them; thus, the aim is to eliminate all doubts. For, the real bad intention of the slanderers was to put forward doubts that somebody was teaching Hz. Muhammad (pbuh). This is the reason for their mistake. Do those people who say so in order to deny that the Quran is a book sent down by Allah not think that the language of the person they think is teaching the Prophet is not Arabic? It is not Arabic but a language that is foreign to his mother tongue. That is, the reason why they say a man is teaching him is to confuse people and to make them think that it is not Allah but a man who teaches him. However, what they say is contrary to the mind. For, the person they want to show as the teacher of Muhammad (pbuh) is not an Arab. If there had been such a teacher among Arabs when the Quran challenged the whole universe, would he not have said, “Am I not the one who taught you?” Or, would he not have written something similar to the Quran and distributed it to people? 

All of the orators and rich people of Arabs were dealing with it and the Prophet had no material and spiritual compelling power. There were so many reasons and documents to oppose him that it was impossible for such a person not to introduce himself. Therefore, it was clear in terms of research, logic and evidences that such a teacher did not exist among Arabs. Therefore, such an imaginary person could have been a non-Arab person from a different community. Thus, Arabs acted irreligiously based on a non-Arab, not an Arab, as it is mentioned above. However, the Quran is clear Arabic. It is such an Arabic book that it challenged all Arab literary men but they could not write something similar. How could a non-Arab person do it? How could such brilliant Arabic be attributed to the teaching of a non-Arab person? It is not normally possible for a non-Arab person to learn Arabic very well and then to teach it others. However, it is virtually impossible for a foreigner to learn brilliant Arabic and to know Arabic better than all Arabs. It is illogical to put forward such a theory except for thinking about and accepting Allah’s extraordinary grace and grant to such a foreigner.

The claim of the deniers who do not accept Allah's teaching and revelation and who say "a man is teaching him" as if it is logical in order to confuse people is more illogical and contradictory. They accept two extraordinary things as logical so as not to accept an extraordinary thing. They do not understand that when they say "a man is teaching him", the brilliantness of the Quran does not fade and that the imaginary person is given more importance.  

It can be said that what they mean is as follows: "A non-Arab person teaches him the meaning of the Quran and he expresses it in brilliant Arabic." However, to claim this means to confess that the Quran was sent down and that it is a miracle with the eloquence and rhetoric in its Arabic verse having the ability to silence those who oppose it.  To sum up, the deniers are so confused in their slandering and contradictory in their thoughts.

104. Those who believe not in the Signs of Allah,- Allah will not guide them, and theirs will be a grievous Penalty.

105. It is those who believe not in the Signs of Allah, that forge falsehood: it is they who lie.

That is, O Muhammad! Those unbelievers who call you a slanderer are slanderers. You are definitely truthful. This Quran is not something taught by a man but "the revelation brought to you by Jibril from your Lord" (an-Nahl, 16/102) with its verse and meaning. Therefore, those who believe should avoid falling into unbelief by being deceived by the words of the deniers.

(ELMALILI MUHAMMED HAMDİ YAZIR, KUR'AN-I KERİM TEFSİRİ)

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