Tafsir of Surah Hood - Verse 35

An Interruption to verify the Truthfulness of the Prophet

This is presented in the middle of the story to affirm the story itself. It is as if Allah, the Exalted, is saying to Muhammad , "Or do these obstinate disbelievers say that he fabricated this and invented it himself"

قُلْ إِنِ افْتَرَيْتُهُ فَعَلَىَّ إِجْرَامِى

(Say: "If I have fabricated it, upon me be my crimes...") This means: such sin would be mine alone.

وَأَنَاْ بَرِىءٌ مِّمَّا تُجْرَمُونَ

(but I am innocent of (all) those crimes which you commit.) This story is not invented, or fabricated falsely. Because he (the Prophet) knows better the punishment of Allah for one who lies on Allah.

Fourthly, it was stated: In your sight these poor people may appear lowly and disgraceful. But, I cannot say as you say that Allah Ta'ala will not bless them with what is good, because good relates to one's heart, not wealth, and only Allah knows the secrets of hearts and He knows whose heart is worthy of receiving good and whose heart is not.

Then, it was said: If I too were to start calling them lowly and disgraceful, I too would become unjust.

Those who said that the Prophet was himself guilty of invention, and that his message had not been sent by God, did not actually disbelieve in revelation or inspiration; they even accepted the previous prophets. Then why did they speak in this way? This was, in fact, not a rejection of Revelation but a rejection of the receiver of Revelation. The individual who spoke on behalf of God appeared to them to be an ordinary man. With their tendency to worship appearances, they were unable to understand how such an ordinary man could be the person whom God had chosen as His messenger. The Prophet Noah said, ‘If I have invented this myself, then may I be punished for my sin! I am innocent of the crimes that you commit.’ These are, in fact, the words of parting, when the addressee does not accept the preacher’s word through argument. If, in spite of clear explanation, the addressee is bent upon rejecting the word of the preacher, then the preacher feels that the final option should be to keep quiet, after stating that both preacher and addressee are bound to be presented before their real Lord and that everybody will be exposed for what he is and everybody will be treated according to what he deserves. When reasoning has run its full course, the preacher is left with no option but to speak in terms of firm faith and keep himself aloof.