Surah Al-Kahf — Verse 5

Word Meanings:

• مَا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ – They have no knowledge or proof of what they claim.
• وَلَا لِآبَائِهِمْ – Nor did their forefathers, whom they blindly followed, have any knowledge of it.
• كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً – How grave and monstrous is this statement!
• تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ – A word that comes out of their mouths without any basis in reason or revelation.
• إِن يَقُولُونَ إِلَّا كَذِبًا – They utter nothing but sheer falsehood.

Tafsir (Explanation):

These polytheists claimed that Allah has taken a son, yet they possess not a shred of knowledge or evidence to support such a claim. Neither they nor their forefathers, whom they blindly imitated, had any proof for this grave assertion. How monstrous and abhorrent is this word that escapes their lips! It is a statement uttered without reflection or understanding, a claim so baseless that it collapses under the slightest scrutiny. In truth, they speak nothing but lies — fabrications that have no foundation in reality, reason, or divine revelation.

This verse exposes the emptiness of falsehood: when people abandon the guidance of Allah and rely on inherited traditions or their own whims, they fall into the most severe errors — attributing to Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, what is utterly incompatible with His majesty and perfection. The Quran challenges such claims with logic and clarity, showing that the pure and untainted human nature (fitrah) recoils from such an idea, and all revealed scriptures affirm Allah’s absolute oneness and transcendence.

Dear reader, reflect on the greatness of this Quranic rebuke: it strips falsehood of every support and leaves it naked before the court of truth. When you know Allah through His names and attributes — the Self-Sufficient, the Eternal, the One who neither begets nor is begotten — your heart finds peace in pure monotheism (tawhid), and you are saved from the darkness of conjecture and blind imitation. Let this verse be a reminder to always seek knowledge and certainty in matters of faith, and to submit wholeheartedly to the clear truth of the Quran, which guides to the straight path and to the eternal happiness in the Hereafter.