Quran Garden

Session 405

Chapter 3

Verse 78

Among them is a group who twist their tongues with the Scripture to make you think that what they say is part of the Scripture when it is not; they say it is from God when it is not; they attribute lies to God and they know it. (Chapter 3: Verse 78)

If you take two or more strings and twist them together, you end up with a rope.  By twisting the strands, you strengthen the overall structure.  A rope has higher strengths than the sum of its individual strands. 

That is the same reason some of the People of the Book twist their tongues with words and then claim them from their scriptures.  They do so because they are corrupt and have a weak argument.  In other words, they want to strengthen their position against the believers by fabricating words and then claiming that they are quoting parts of the Bible.  God says,

Some among the Jews distort the words out of context and say: "We have heard and do not obey," and "hear without listening," and "listen to us," twisting their tongues and reviling the faith.  But if they had said: "We have heard and obey," and "hear and regard us," it would have been better for them and more appropriate. But God has disgraced them for their lack of belief; and so only a few of them believe. (4:46)

And in another chapter,

When they were told, "Settle in this town and eat freely there as you will, but say, "Unburden us!" and enter its gate humbly: then We shall forgive you your sins, and increase the reward of those who do good."  The wrongdoers among them substituted another saying for that which had been given them, so We sent them a punishment from heaven for their transgression. (7:161-162)

In the example above, the Israelites accompanying Prophet Moses were ordered to say "Unburden us!" translated from the origin حِطَّةٌ (Hitta), asking for God's forgiveness and the unloading of their sins.  In exchange, they would be pardoned and granted access to the Holy land.  But some, out of arrogance and ridicule, distorted God's command and said "hinta," which is a type of grain.  The casual listener may not recognize the subtle difference because they deliberately twisted their tongue as they said it.    

This type of trickery was not only employed with the pronunciation of the words but the meaning of God's words was also twisted.  The corrupt among the people of the book distorted the meaning of the Bible away from what God intended.  They did so to misguide the believers and sow doubt in their faith.  God says, "to make you think that what they say is part of the Scripture when it is not."

Their assertion "it is from God" is perhaps the strongest evidence of their lies.  They wanted to distance themselves from the lie and blame God. Isn't this tactic common among criminals?  A guilty person goes out of his way to repeatedly and loudly blame others for the crime.  Parents know that the child who volunteers to tell on others for no reason is often the troublemaker! God exposes the unjust.  He says, "they say it is from God when it is not."

And just in case you want to give them the benefit of the doubt and say, "maybe they forgot the exact wording of the scripture, or maybe they made a mistake," Allah informs you that "they attribute lies to God and they know it." They are liars who know exactly what they are doing. 

But what exactly is lying?  Most people would answer that lying is saying something that does not match reality.  It is the opposite of being truthful.  We answer that lying goes a bit deeper than that.  Every time I speak, my speech passes through three different levels.  The first level is mental where, before I speak, I run the issue in my mind.  The second level is lingual, which happens after my brain gives the signal to my tongue to speak.  The third level is a question of whether what I say matches reality or not.  Only when there is agreement on all three levels, I am being truthful; otherwise, I am lying.  

To better understand this concept, listen to the following verse:

When the hypocrites come to you, they say, 'We bear witness that you are the Messenger of God.' God knows that you truly are His Messenger, and He bears witness that the hypocrites are liars (63:1)

This verse, often pointed out by the critics of the Quran, relates to the incident of the hypocrites coming to the Prophet Muhammad to declare their faith.  God affirms that their statement is correct, yet at the same time, He calls them liars.  How could this be? The answer is found within the hypocrites' hearts. 

Let's measure the statement of the hypocrites against the three levels of speech.  Does the statement "you are the Messenger of God" match reality? It does.  God affirmed it in the verse: "God knows that you truly are His Messenger." Did the hypocrites voluntarily say this statement to Prophet Muhammad? Yes, they did.  So, where is the lie? It is in the statement "We bear witness." The hypocrites only testified with their tongues that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, while their hearts denied it.  For a person to be truthful, what he or she says must match what is in the heart.  Thus, although the statement "you are the Messenger of God" is true, the hypocrites were liars. 

This brings us back to the verse.  The phrase "they attribute lies to God, and they know it" means that they intentionally say words that do not match the reality of things, and that is, by definition, a lie. 

We should also distinguish between the reliability of the information and the credibility of the informant.  For example, if you see your neighbor up all night reading a book the day before the exam, you would assume that he is studying.  You may tell your friends that your neighbor was up all night studying while, in reality, he was reading a novel.  In this case, you were honest; however, the information you had was inaccurate.  You were not truthful because the information you delivered did not match the reality, yet you were not a liar because you honestly believed in what you said.  But in the case of the verse, we find that the corrupt people of the book were intentionally lying.  They knew their scripture by heart but decided to say something different.