Halfway. Fifteen nights in, fifteen nights to go.
The warm-up is over. From here, we accelerate. The last third — the ten nights of salvation — is coming. But before we get there, the middle ten: the days of forgiveness. Use them.
A brief note before tonight’s tafseer: on the 17th of Ramadan, we commemorate Yawm al-Furqan — the Day of Criterion, the Battle of Badr. The Muslims left Madinah on the 12th of Ramadan, fasting, unprepared for full battle, setting out on the instruction of the Prophet ﷺ immediately after prayer. 313 men. In a few days, they would meet an army of a thousand. What happened at Badr is the most important battle in human history — the moment truth and falsehood were separated with finality. We will cover it over the coming nights insha’Allah.
The Worst Wrongdoer
“Who does more wrong than one who invents a lie against Allah?”
This phrase — faman azlamu mimman iftara ala Allahi kadhiban — appears in multiple places in the Quran. It is one of the gravest charges the Quran levels. And it falls into two categories.
The first is inventing objects or forms of worship and attributing them to Allah. The Quraysh who worshipped idols and claimed these were the daughters of Allah, that Allah commanded their worship — this is the obvious example. Creating your own god and calling it Allah’s command.
The second is subtler and closer to home: declaring halal and haram without knowledge. Pronouncing that something is forbidden or obligatory without proper grounding in revelation — and then attributing this ruling to the Sharia of Allah. This too is lying against Allah. This too is a grave sin.
The early imams understood this acutely. They rarely used the word haram unless something was explicitly stated in the Quran or Sunnah. If their ijtihad pointed toward avoidance, they would say: stay away from it. They would not say haram. Because to declare something haram without certainty is to speak about Allah without knowledge — and that is the very sin this ayah is addressing.
Over time, something interesting happened. When the imam said “stay away from it,” later generations heard: it’s not haram yet — we can still do it. So the scholars had to escalate to “haram.” And then people started asking: is it a major sin or a minor sin? If minor, Allah is most forgiving — carry on. The language had to become stronger because the taqwa had become weaker. The early generation did not need to be told something was haram. The imam’s caution was enough.
Be very careful about declaring things halal or haram. That is the domain of Allah alone.
