وَأَنَّا ظَنَنَّآ أَن لَّن تَقُولَ ٱلْإِنسُ وَٱلْجِنُّ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا 5
Translations
And we had thought that mankind and the jinn would never speak about Allāh a lie.
Transliteration
Wa anna zananna an lan taqool al-insu wa al-jinnu ala Allah kathiba
Tafsir (Explanation)
The jinn confess that they (both humans and jinn) thought it was impossible for either humans or jinn to attribute lies to Allah, reflecting their initial understanding of divine protection against such a grave sin. This statement reveals the jinn's acknowledgment of Allah's majesty and the seriousness of fabricating false claims about Him. Classical scholars like Ibn Kathir interpret this as the jinn's recognition that such a claim would be so heinous that they believed no rational being would dare make it, yet some humans and jinn have indeed done so through idolatry and false doctrines.
Revelation Context
This ayah occurs within the jinn's testimony regarding their journey of belief after hearing the Quran recited by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The broader context of Surah Al-Jinn describes how a group of jinn listened to the Quran and became believers, subsequently reporting their experience to their people. This particular verse reflects their initial naïveté about human and jinn capacity for falsehood against Allah.
Related Hadiths
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: 'The greatest sin is to associate partners with Allah (shirk) and to attribute false claims to Him.' This relates thematically to Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim's collections on the gravity of lying about Allah and His religion.
Themes
Key Lesson
This ayah reminds us that both humans and jinn possess an innate recognition of Allah's grandeur and the severity of attributing falsehoods to Him; we should protect ourselves from such transgressions through sincere devotion to truth and reliance on authentic religious knowledge rather than speculation or cultural innovations (bid'ah).